Latest in office workspace

Velcro was invented by a Swiss engineer who couldn't help but discover a good use for the nasty burrs of burdock that would stick to his clothes and his dog's fur after hunting trips. He examined the burrs under a microscope and saw hundreds of hooks. The name Velcro is a made-up word based on two French words: velours and crochet (hook). The other day I picked up some adhesive Velcro spots in black and white at a local shop.
Keep Reading »

If you spend a lot of time on your computer you probably spend a lot of time sitting. Slowly, over the course of hours, you may experience pain. The pain goes away after a few minutes or hours – at first. Over time, however, minor pains can add up to serious health concerns. Ergonomic office chairs help, but are also expensive, which is why most people don’t buy them.
Keep Reading »

Cable clutter is one of technology's biggest annoyances. While it's easy to conceal your messy cable collection in a closed box, the cables that catch dust under your table are a completely different story. Try to vacuum those tangled beasts or remove a single cable from the mess. Fortunately, the Internet is a treasure trove for great ways to organize and clean up the cable monsters under your desk.
Keep Reading »

Don’t you hate those ugly tangles of spare cables? Eventually, we all end up with drawers or boxes full of cable spaghetti. And good luck if you actually need to find something. Not so long ago I moved into a new apartment. I had lived a semi-nomad lifestyle for over two years and moved in [...]
Keep Reading »

If Christian’s tablet experiment piqued your interest in ditching your PC, then you should know that a smartphone will perform the same function. You only need a handful of additional software and accessories. This article gives a run-down of the hardware, accessories, and software that users can use to replace their desktop with a smartphone.
Keep Reading »

I've been a freelance writer for over five years now, and it actually scares me a little to think how long I have spent glued to my computer (not literally, of course) during that time. I do know (thanks to the Health option of Defraggler) that in the three years since I bought my current laptop it's been running for a total of 653 days. So, it's on around two-thirds of the time. I don't get out much, in case you were wondering.
Keep Reading »

There's a current craze emerging for standing desks, literally desks that you stand at while working. Having spent the last five years as a self-employed freelance writer who spends most of his days sat at a desk, I've experienced back problems as well as instances of the seemingly unavoidable repetitive strain injury. Perhaps a standing desk is the solution to my problems.
Keep Reading »

Laptops are small, light and portable. They are also, in a strange twist of fate, often far more uncomfortable than the bulky desktops they replace. Being forced to place the screen, touchpad and keyboard in a compact box creates all sorts of ergonomic issues. And then there’s the matter of carrying it around. Using a laptop as your primary PC doesn’t demand that you sacrifice comfort, however.
Keep Reading »

Ever since I started using a second monitor, I realized that I just can't get enough screen space. Every task seems to require so much display real estate. When I'm editing, I like to have the article I'm editing open, my research websites up in another browser window, and my email client available in the background. When I'm writing articles, I like to have a browser open that's dedicated to researching, and a separate browser window where I do my writing work.
Keep Reading »

Suppose you have a long thesis paper that you need to write for school, or you have a number of reports that need to be finished for work, or you just have a lot of computer-related activities to do. Would you rather do all of that in a ragged room of splintering walls, chipped paint, and moldy ceilings? Or would you prefer a clean, well-maintained room with proper furniture?
Keep Reading »

Writing full-time keeps me sitting at a desk nearly eight hours a day. My office chair is not one of those Lexus ergonomic models designed to take away the pain of sitting, and though I’ve tried using “take a break” apps like Time Out, I often sit way too long for my health. So after reading articles and studies about standing while typing, I decided to try it for myself. This article is about my experiment with changing a habit we take for granted.
Keep Reading »

I work in a tiny apartment, and use two 24” monitors. I needed a workstation that fits into a tiny niche, but can still accommodate me for many hours every day and let me work productively. This called for a custom solution, and I rose to the challenge, designing my one-of-a-kind workstation. While it’s fun to show and tell, I think I’ve learned some valuable lessons along the way.
Keep Reading »

If you're a freelancer who moves about a lot, you probably recognise the value of a good freelancer-friendly workplace. Maybe you have a list of coffee shops and libraries you regularly haunt which have decent Internet, a place to plug in a laptop and hopefully some good coffee to keep you going while you work.
Keep Reading »

A couple of months ago, James revealed his home setup and challenged the rest of the MakeUseOf team to do the same. I don't work from a static location, so I don't have a home setup. I adjusted my setup for mobility and have tested and improved my 'system' while traveling across Canada for the past couple of weeks.
Keep Reading »

I was talking to one of my friends, who is an avid Linux user. He told me that one of the Linux features he simply can’t do without is "virtual desktops". I can now tell my friend that such a thing does exist in the Windows world – maybe not as a native feature, but in the form of the powerful Dexpot application. In fact, the app bills itself as "the tool Windows lacks".
Keep Reading »