Ideas for tomorrow's office

[KenSilver]

Anyone got ideas or wishes for their "office of the future" I can use? I'm upgrading my home office, and as I'm a bit of a gadget guy I'm looking for new ideas. They can be weird or wonderful - the only qualification is that they be useful and futuristic.

I find the immediate, short-term future is boring. Media center PC's, whole office automation, home theater... I've got all this - as much as I need anyhow. I had a Roomba vacuum (www.roomba.com) and Beamer videophone (www.vialta.com/) when they first came out, so I'm a classic early adopter.

So I'm really looking further ahead for a gee-whiz factor that will make my day-to-day work fun and interesting. The hand gesture computer sequence by Tom Cruise in "The Minority Report" was great, but in that film they still had a desk with a keyboard in the drawer. Is that the hard limit of the future? I don't think so... but it takes imagination and a creative mind to dream up something better.

Since many on this forum are computer-savvy, perhaps there's some ideas floating around.

Here's my setup at the moment so you know what I'm building on:

- Windows XP Home.
- Broadband (goes without saying!)
- Two 19" HP flatscreen monitors side by side. I use UltraMon (www.ultramon.com) to link them as one.
- 15" flatscreen satellite TV next to the monitors.
- Plantronics headset phone connected to Outlook XP.
- Desk weather monitor.
- Logitech MX700 wireless mouse.
- Old Mac Powerbook laptop connected to room speakers. I've set up QuicKeys to speak timed announcements, reminders etc. For such a simple setup, that's the thing that impresses people most.
- Aeron (fully adjustable) office chair, coming in 9 long weeks.

Since you've all been so helpful with an earlier post of mine for my wife's watch, maybe someone can come up with something again here that will add to my interest.

Ken Silver
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~1993 SL500, glistening triple black, xenons: http://www.kensilver.com/SL
~1999 SLK 230 Kompressor, silver/black leather, CD, immaculate (my wife's)
~1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara. black & silver
~1991 Daimler, shiny grey/grey leather, best in country!
~ex 350SL, 230E, 280E, MX5 and a lot of other makes not nearly as nice.