Portability is another thing to consider if you plan to have a speaker on your person at all times. No one wants to lug around a Sonos Move. Fortunately, there are great portable options from UE and JBL—not to mention the plethora of small-name speakers available online. If you go with the UE WONDERBOOM 2 or JBL GO 3, you get an integrated carrying system.

The Headset Stand might be one of the most underutilized desktop acessories of 2020. No, really! It’s true! We’re living in an era of open workspaces where more people are wearing headphones throughout the day — listening to music, taking calls or just tuning out the rest of the office cacophony. But where do those headphones go when the day is done? Tossed in a drawer, discarded on the desk or flung over your desktop monitor. No, it’s time to act like a professional and invest in a proper desktop stand.

• Declutter your desk space and improve productivity.

It’s no huge secret that a clean and organized workplace can get you in a better mindset to get down to business. And this is exactly what a headphone stand can do. It provides a place to rest your headphones, off your desk’s workspace, and a headphone stand just looks nice and sophisticated, making you feel like a professional who is going to get some real work done.

• They’re pretty inexpensive.

In general, headphone stands are a pretty affordable desktop upgrade. You can of course go out and buy a headphone stand that costs as much as a nice pair of headphones. Case in point: the Focal Headphone Stand ($249). But you can also get a pretty nice headphone stand for as low as $20.

• It’s all about variety.

Headphone stands come in all different shapes, styles and materials. There are headphone stands that are minimalist, stands that have ergonomic designs to help preserve the shape of your headphones, stands that stick to the bottom of your desk (out of sight, out of mind), and stands that are full-on statement pieces. Whatever fits your style and budget, there’s a headphone stand for you.

Using USB Chargers Safely

There was a time when every device seemed to come with its own unique USB Charger. Remembering to pack the right charging cable was a must if you wanted to continue using your device whilst away from home. However, the Micro USB has combatted the industry’s use of custom ports and now charging your phone on-the-go is no longer a problem with the standardised connector.

There are many different important elements you should be aware of when it comes to USBs. We’ve covered all you need to know about USBs and answered some of the most frequently asked questions.

How USB charging works

When it comes to USB networks there is always one host and one device. The majority of the time the computer is the host and your appliance is the device. Power flows from the host to the device however data can flow freely between. A USB cable has four wires and a USB socket has four pins. The outside pins provide a 5 volt power supply in combination with the inside pins which carries the data.