subject: The USB Fan - is it the essential desktop gadget for the summer? [print this page] The USB Fan - is it the essential desktop gadget for the summer?
Everyone should have a USB Gadget on their desk these days, not only are they great to look at but most (!) of them actually do something useful too! Take the USB fan for example; quirky, fun and actually works. Whilst everyone else in the office is sweating away in what is sure to be the hottest summer for years (honest), you can sit cool, calm and collected in the gentle breeze.
USB Fans come in several guises, you can get USB fans for laptops which have a bendy neck for perfect positioning and desktop fans like your traditional retro office fan.
The USB Retro Fan is a mini version of the free standing upright fan, and is sure to make people do a double take as they pass by your desk, and the USB Desktop Fan offers a bit more positioning ability with an adjustable bendy neck.
If you work in a sweatshop, or an office with continual Air Conditioning Wars (don't we all?), stop relying on everyone else's perception of warm / cold and sort out your own workspace. Even the low hum created by the fan when operating is a calming influence, made better by the fact that you're sitting there nice and cool whilst others around you are really feeling the heat.
It's unusual to find something that's quite novel and functional, rather than a straight forwards USB hub which is about as novel as house brick, it's there, it does a job, and you stop noticing it after a while. The same could be said for USB Pen Drives, although there just ins't the excitement when you get one, open it up, put some data on it, then off into the drawer of no return and it's months or years later when you dig it out and can't remember why you needed it.
USB Gadgets can be great fun, there is a lot of variety out there, but nine times out of ten, they don't really have much use other than an initial wow factor.
That's part of the attraction of the USB Fan, you don't stop noticing it's there, and it's not because of the faint hum, even when you don't need the temperature reducing, a fresh breeze is a nice addition to the work space.
