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Three Luxuries That Became Essentials

This article is more than 10 years old.

At times, my desk is a graveyard of my own bad choices. Piles of disused technology and papers, things that should work that do not work, or things that don't work how I expected them to work in my daily home office life.

Every so often, I'll make a good call and have something I'll actually like. Then there're the rare times where I get something on a whim that becomes a necessity. Here're three of them that have become essential to my well-being and sanity.

The Neat Scanner

At first blush the Neat seemed a peripheral (and expensive at $400 for the top-of-the-line scanner) purchase - one that would be far less useful than a normal scanner. Except, kind of like Evernote, Neat scans everything to your computer, and then uploads it to the internet. I found myself putting everything into it - letters I was sure I'd lose, business cards (they give you a little clip-on tool to make them fit), bills, invites to things, medical records - and suddenly I was able to make up for my own developmental/organizational disorder dyspraxia thanks to a wonderful hunk of plastic. It's simpler to use than any other scanner I've found, and unlike most things it works well on a Mac. Disclosure: They sent me one.

New Trent iCarrer

I have a portable battery already, but it was only 6000 mAh. That, for non-ultra-techy people like me (IE: most people) means that it'll power up your iPhone twice or so before it cops out and needs recharging. In contrast, the Trent iCarrier is a beast at 12,000 mAh and only slightly heavier than most other batteries. It has two USB ports so my fiancé and I don't have to flip a coin to see who's going to go without power for the day. It fits in my bag. It's heavy enough that I could hit someone with it and they'd probably bruise. It just plain works. I'd personally never heard of New Trent before I bought it, but the many Amazon reviews and recommendations from comments on The Verge made me take a leap - and at $76, I was happy.

The Native Union Curve BT Dock

I have mocked a lot of people for using those normal-looking phones with their iPhones. However, the Curve...well, it works. I put my iPhone into it, it connects via Bluetooth. If someone calls me, it rings loudly, like a normal phone, and it answers when I pick it up. When I put it down, the call disconnects. Blissful simplicity, and one that charged my iPhone pretty quickly. Most BT devices don't work this well or this simply. Disclosure: I was sent one.

In the event I had to buy the two that I didn't pay for, I definitely would.