Last week, a piece of news really caught my ears. Seeing something that had been floating around in the workplace in the form of workplace urban legends published bold and loud courtesy of Associated Press made it home in my mind. The story concerns the death of a man at work, by working. Apparently, this phenomenon of death by working is quite common in Japan, that the phenomenon actually have its own pop culture terminology. This is a piece of bizarro news that I hope everyone takes to heart, literally.

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese labor bureau has ruled that one of Toyota’s top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest in a string of such findings in a nation where extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm.

The man who died was age 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota’s blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. The man’s identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City where the company is based.

In the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, according to Mizuno.

He regularly worked nights and weekends, was frequently sent abroad and was grappling with shipping a model for the pivotal North American International Auto Show in Detroit when he died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006. The man’s daughter found his body at their home the day before he was to leave for the United States.

There is an effort in Japan to cut down on deaths from overwork, known as “karoshi.” Such deaths have steadily increased since the Health Ministry first recognized the phenomenon in 1987.

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So I am sitting here, typing away on a very typical, albeit quite uninspiring PC computer keypad, musing on just how much time I really do spend clobbering away on this input device. The answer is quite a lot. I began to wonder, would typing on a more intriguing device allow my creativity level to increase? This set me on a path to find some of the more intriguing keyboards invented in recent years, that I know will boost my productivity level as well as creativity level. The following keyboards are all going on my Christmas list!

Traditional Japanese Style Keyboards

One of the most beautifully patterned keyboards I have ever seen. I am sure these keyboards will bring tranquility and zen into my daily work flow. These keyboards are handmade, so be sure to place your order early over here. Via InventorSpot and AkihabaraNews.

Tablecloth Keyboard

Tonia Welter has a solution for those of us who want to keep their keyboard tidy. This fully functional keyboard has its electronics woven directly into the fabric which lay in between layers of water resistant felt. Now I can cuddle with my keyboard while I type and eat.

Colorful LED keyboard

So cool! Christmas came early this year, and is fully customizable. This colorful keyboard is designed by Korean company Luxeed, and comes with a program that can help you customize the blinking lights whichever way you want. You can make the keys glow only when your hit them, create your own patterns, or simply set it to glow in one single color of your choice. Via Geekalert and Luxeed.

Steampunk Workshop

Homemade keyboard. You can make one for yourself as well if you follow the instruction here. Reminds me of the roaring ’20s.

Optimus Maximus Keyboard

One of the most highly desired keyboard out there. However with price tag of $1500, most of us will probably only have a chance to play with this keyboard in our dreams at night. Optimus’s customizable layout allows convenient use of any language,as well as of any other character set: notes, numerals, special symbols, HTML codes, math functions and so on to infinity. Designed by Art Lebedev.

Macintosh

Sexy, zexy, and completely affordable. Available at Apple Stores everywhere!

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Almost every office has them. They are represented by both genders, and come in all shapes and sizes. Their favorite word is “me” and “I”, and seems to be on a perpetual quest to reach the Guinness record for cramming the most numbers of first person pronouns into the longest running sentence possible. They dress in loud tackiness and drown themselves in pungent fragrances, hoping to recapture their bygone high school days. They are always there, lurking nearby, trying to get in on every conversation, looking for juicy materials to turn into office gossip and sabotage employee friendships. They are annoying, and sometimes bordering on malicious intent as they attempt to instigate conflict for their own entertainment purposes. They haven’t heard that office disruption is bad for productivity. Luckily for you and me, these individuals are a minuscule minority in the work environment, but due to their lack of self-assurance in this competitive economy, and their insatiable need for attention, they make themselves heard like there is no tomorrow, equating their childlike cry for attention with status and respect from co-workers.

Enough is enough you may say. It is time to do something when these annoying individuals are taking a toll on your productivity, making it hard for everyone to finish their normal workloads. The following are some intuitive advices from the Office Wellness Guru over at Shoplet.com Blog.

The Dr. Evil and Mini Me approach

1. Mirror them. The mirror reflects, and shows their true color. Mirror these individuals and give them a taste of their own medicine.
2. Accidentally leave this article in highly visible places. Accidentally leave this article open on the computer screen near where this individual sits. Accidentally print out a few copies of this articles and leave these articles near places where these annoying people frequent. You think someone can take a hint?
3. Dangle a piece of juicy but false news at places they lurk. And watch these annoying office workers pick up these false news, spread it around, and self-destruct as their gossip turns out to be completely untrue and humiliating.

The Better Person Approach

1. Avoid these annoying individuals at all costs. Seriously, they are not worth your time and energy. You have enough to do at the office without having to participate in petty verbiage that is going nowhere. These annoying individuals thrive on attention, paying attention to them only fuels the thing they crave the most.
2. Stay calm. These annoying individuals thrive on getting reaction out of people. Showing your annoyance only hurts your own health, and does nothing to improve current situation.
3. Laugh at them. Take a step back and you would more than likely see the humor in the situation. These individuals’ insistence that the world revolve around them is quite entertaining, especially when everyone knows it isn’t so. These individuals are quite funny when you do look at it.
4. Empathize with them. Try to understand their pestilent behavior from their perspective. Confident, content people don’t normally become pestilent and attention-seekers. There may be somethings seriously missing in this person’s life that reduced them to such self-involved state and desperate need for attention. Their annoying behavior are most likely a form of self-therapy.
5. Feel sorry for them. They are slightly pitiful. Their annoying behavior will eventually isolate themselves from others at the office.
6. Have a heart to heart. Some annoying people may truly be immature, and may be truly unsuspecting of the effect of their behavior on other office workers. Maybe a sincere chat may enlighten this individual to their pesty conduct.

Wahahahahahahahaha, that’s me, doing my Dr. Evil impression. Do you have any stories or advice concerning annoying office workers you would like to share? Leave it in the comments, and we are sure to include it!

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I heard about gold covered cell phones a while back. I began to wonder what other products did people think of covering with gold. Well, the answer is lots and lots. Gold, for many, brings a sense of prestige, success and classiness - personally, I have always favored Silver. Anyway, I compiled my favorite gold covered office items that most of us will never be able to afford. This guide is perfect for those who want to show off their new promotion, or who just signed a contract on an Hip Hop label - or maybe just to match their current office in El Dorado.

The Gold Office Supplies

To start off, why not exchange all your current office supplies with some “bling bling” ones. These are authentic 23kt Gold platted stationaries, and will get the attention of your coworkers. You can see more here. I imagine Donald’s Trump Office is filled with these products- he is always so subtle about his fortune.

The Gold Hub

Well, this one you probably can afford. The USB hub, from Thanko is in the shape of block of solid gold, which, of course, it isn’t. However, it does have some use, with its eight usb ports into which you can plug your various USB gadgets. This little gem goes for about $79, which is fair price compared to similar products.

The Gold Iphone

In case just having an iPhone isn’t good enough of a statement for you, you can have an iPhone plated in 24 carat gold. I’m not going to say it looks bad, it’s looks rather nice and expensive (and it’s an Iphone), but I will say the concept is a little over the top and a bit ridiculous. If you were scared of getting your Iphone stolen, well definitively don’t get the gold covered one. Once it is out of your sight, I promise you will not see it again.

The Gold Mac Book Air

The folks at Computer Choppers bring ElDorado to reality with this MacBook Air covered in gold and crystals. 24kt gold plating cover the entire laptop and, an Apple logo is ensconced in multi-colored sapphires - not to mention a polished gold SuperDrive to go along with it. I didn’t dare look up the price because I am sure it would make me quite upset. If your eyes can take it, you can find a few more pics at the Computer Chopper website.

The Gold Printer

In this display is is a 24-carat gold HP Laserjet p2015. Presented at the GITEX show somewhere in Dubai, this working prototype is up for auction with a starting price of US$299 or about a Benjamin less than the printer costs without all that gold. Why did they choose a to cover this LaserJet in gold? Heck, I have no idea, but I will let you know if we learn anything new about the subject.

The Gold Porsche

If all the above items were not enough to show off your new promotion, there is always the solution of getting yourself a gold Porsche. This one though is only gold leafed. The guy doing this has lovingly applied around 25 sheets of gold leaf to the left front fender - see more pics here. Using some basic, if inaccurate math, that’s 100 sheets for the fender and maybe 1,000 for the car. It may not be solid gold, but this car will still guarantees you to get quite a bit of attention while cruising down the streets.

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We love post it notes! What would we do without these colorful squares that seem to pop up in all the most appropriate as well as inappropriate places? What would we do without the help of these little pieces of paper to help us organize, multi-task, as well as distillate our lives? The original post it brings color, functionality, creativity, and imagination to our lives. Due to our recent success on the posting of post-it notes art: 8-bit edition, and post-it note art. We looked around for the ideas that took post it to another level of usefulness and fun!

Post It Sculpture

Now not only are they functional, these morph pads become beautiful sculptures themselves and are a sight to behold. Mold your stress into these pads and watch beautiful museum pieces emerge from underneath your fingers. Who knew post-it notes is so therapeutic as well as they are functional? Thanks Geekologie.

Transparent Post It

Now I can mark my reading materials and remember my thought processes as I was reading it! Really wish this was in existence when I was in school! Thanks 3M.

Post It, But Pock It Too!

Hey, how come I didn’t think of this. Sigh, there goes my million dollar idea. Is it possible for post-its to get any more multifunctional? Thanks Yanko.

MIT reinvents the Post-It Notes

Can only be described as post-its on steroids. These post it notes are digitalized, can be managed through computers, can be sent through SMS, and can be tracked down through RFID tags, just in case you misplace them. Thanks engadget.

Post It Table

Great for spontaneous coffee table conversations and doodles. Mmm, and just in case you don’t have anything to write on in case you do meet your dream guy or gal. Thanks Boing Boing.

Post It Table 2

Table and stool in one! Thanks tom seymour.

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