In early February, Polaroid Corp., the Massachusetts Company that gave the world instant film photography, announced they would be shutting down its film manufacturing lines in the state and abandoning the technology that made it famous and popular for the past 60 years. The company will retain about 150 employees and will now focus on flat-panel TVs and digital photography gear.

Among the new upcoming innovations, is the Polaroid PoGo™ Instant Mobile Printer – a small portable printer, which will let people print on the go. This printer is the first of its kind, using Zink - the zero-ink technology. No more need of printer cartridges! And because there is no ink, the Zink printer has the unique benefits of being small, simple, elegant, and mostly eco-friendly.

The secret is in the paper; the PoGo’s thermal print head activates dye crystals in the glossy photo paper. Sheets of the 2-by-3-inch printer are thinner than the old Polaroid print paper and contain three layers of primary colors suspended in the paper itself. The print is ready usually within 60 seconds.

The PoGo is designed to mostly print snapshots from a digital camera or a camera phone. It connects to cell phones via Bluetooth, and Polaroid says that the printer is compatible with over 80 percent of the cell phone models on the market that are equipped with Bluetooth and a camera. The PoGo also connects to PictBridge-enabled cameras via USB and to your PC.

As with the original Polaroid cameras, the main attraction of the printer is to obtain instant gratification, while it also offers mobility. The printer sells for $150 and holds 10 pieces of paper at a time. The paper conveniently comes in packages of 10 sheets for $4.

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So, its rounding about 12:30 in the office and half of your day is done but you’re ravenous , craving a high in fat, high in carbs, high in sodium packed lunch to satisfy your emotional stress.  You’re even thinking about peeking into the office refrigerator and stealing someone’s overdue cheesecake.

I for one have had food dreams the first half of my work day.  Sometimes I would dream about hale and hearty tomato cheddar soup with cheese fries on the side, or a loaded hamburger with tater tots.  Not once have I dreamed of a salad, turkey sandwich on wheat, or even a Whey Protein Shake.

Here are several different ways to combat food dreams during office hours.

1. Bring green tea powder.

Pills or packets to work so that they are ready and available for you when you are thirsty.  I’m sure most of you are in walking distance of a water fountain at your office (unless you work in a third world country or a factory, that is)? This way every time you’re parched you can not only drink water but get extra boost for metabolism and energy. Did I mention green tea decreases your appetite by 15 %?

2. Pack your lunch, and eat it later than everyone else.

Why? First of all, as the daughter of a former executive, I know my mother always spotted out the employees who were too busy working and didn’t eat on time, or they brought their own lunches. She thought they were more diligent than those who went out, sipped their coffee and ciggs, had lunch and conversation, and then returned.  It always looks better to your boss if you bring your own lunch, it means you are a money and time saver.  You can also control your portion size and the amount of fat the food has. I suggest packing a delicious yet light meal; whole wheat pasta with chicken and broccoli, or a turkey avocado wrap with bean sprouts.  Also, if you eat around 2 pm instead of 12 pm, you will be able to feel full for the second half of your work day and not have the urge to eat a huge dinner.

3. Eat a huge breakfast.

Breakfast is the best time to binge, yet not everybody does. Stop waking up so late and train yourself to eat a huge meal after you wake up.  Two eggs with hash is a definite must, throw in a carrot juice on the side and you’re set to go, trust me when 1 pm rolls around at work you wont be craving fried chicken with mash potatoes.

4. Brush your teeth after lunch.

Yea its embarrassing if you have to go to the bathroom and brush your teeth, what if you bump into an employee and she gives you a weird look? WHATEVER, you want to lose weight don’t you? The minty fresh feeling of a mouthwash or toothpaste will make you forget about hamburgers and pizzas. Think mints in all forms, popping Altoids sporadically will also help you cut back on eating.

5. Make sure to pack a snack.

And never walk over to the vending machines or the fridge as a ploy to steal someone else’s cake! The real way to steal someone’s cake is to steal their paycheck and get the promotion so don’t think about the fridge, THINK ABOUT THE MONEY.  The skinnier and hotter you are the more likely it is that you’ll bring in the dough.  Obtain your own snack, whether its 100 calorie pack cookies by Nabisco or baby carrots with low fat ranch dip.  Once 3 or 4 pm rolls along, you’re gonna want some cookies or chips, SAY NO! Say yes to the coffee and a home packed snack.

6. Skip dinner on weeknights.

@#$*(@*#$*@#$ …yes yes I hear you all cursing me out there.  Try to skip dinner during the week, and you’ll see the results. Come home, eat more carrots, drink a martini and try to go to sleep.  Eating dinner past 6 pm is bad for you.  You’re body starts to shut down and burn fewer calories. In fact the reason why most people gain weight is because dinner is largerin proportion and heavier in fats.  Once you learn to skip dinner, you can eat lighter dinners and still feel full.   Anyway you can use the weekend to enjoy yourselves, you don’t have to do it everyday.

7.  Try to occupy your time with dates after work

Dating requires quite a bit of nervous energy, which makes you lose your appetite.  That butterfly in the stomach feeling? Yea, use that to your advantage and try to meet as many people as possible.  Dating to lose weight is always effective and quite necessary.

Now are you all ready to look hot? Follow these steps and you will.  Trust
me you will thank me for it.

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In your real physical work space, documents are structured, marked, organized, and construed to contain subtle informative cues that help us tremendously in processing our daily work load. Such expressive cues are lost when translated into the virtual world. If your computer desktop is anything like mine, it is most likely littered with non-descript uniform icons with names that doesn’t really reflect the essence of the documents. If your computer desktop is anything like mine, I would not poke those file with a ten-foot pole, in fear of loosing myself in miles of data I can not extrapolate myself from. Why can’t my computer desktop resemble the ease and usability of my desktop at work? Well, actually, Anand Agarawala, recently created BumpTop, which promises to bring the interactivity, the quirkiness, and the logic that exist on your desktop at work to life on its virtual counter. Some of the images below capture my favorite features of this computer desktop.

Crumpling documents into crumpled paper state before deletion might be ultra useful as a way of organizing file.

File on the desktop can be made into neat piles that then can be manipulated in various ways to be examined. This particular command allows one to browse pile by fanning out the content.

One of my favorite feature of this application allows one to place weight and emphasis on a particular file by enlarging the file, that then literally takes on physical weight and can not be moved by smaller lighter objects.

What other suggestions do you have to improve your computer desktop interface and experience?

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The demand for office supplies is an ongoing sequence of events. This sequence will always encompass both realms of satisfied and dissatisfied customers. Each select customer has its very own characteristics and needs that have to be met on a per order basis whether it includes shipping or customer service. With over 15 years in the sales industry dealing with collectibles, giftware and office supplies I will guide you on a weekly synopsis through the trials and tribulations of a daily sequence of events through a salesman’s eyes. From the crazy outlandish requests to our easy going customers, believe me I have seen and heard it all!!! Stay tuned for more next week.

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Dear Shoplet.com readers

We here at the blog are experimenting with our Friday blogging schedules to introduce insights from our other Shoplet.com staff members, address concerns and problems from our dear customers, and/or humorous happenings throughout the week. Stayed tuned to development in our experimentation. Please do let us know what you think of our Friday posts!

Thanks much!

moi

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