After Hours

Desktop toys: In this office, you are the boss

By · November 17, 2006, 4:17 AM PST · markwkaelin

Image 1 of 11

  • The holiday season is approaching fast. In fact, it seems to approach faster every year. For those of you in the giving spirit around the office, it can be difficult to find that special gift for the person on the other side of the cubicle wall. It cannot be too expensive and it should reflect a certain amount of lightheartedness and fun. I mean, after all, gift giving in an office environment is really about generating smiles and feelings of goodwill with your co-workers.
    With that spirit in mind, TechRepublic has acquired several inexpensive yet tasteful and useful desktop toys for review. One of these fine gadgets or gizmos should appeal to even the most difficult to buy for in your office.
    Next on our gift list is a The Cubes IT Set courtesy of Perpetual Kid.

    &copy CNET Networks, Inc.
    Mark W. Kaelin

  • The Cubes IT Set features a stereotypical help desk / IT troubleshooter and his tricked out cubicle.

    &copy CNET Networks, Inc.
    Mark W. Kaelin

  • The IT Set is only one of the many Cubes Sets you can get. You can make your own office and then run it like Michael Scott in The Office (aka, Steve Carell).

    &copy CNET Networks, Inc.
    Mark W. Kaelin

  • There are lots of parts in the box, but I think I can handle the construction.

    &copy CNET Networks, Inc.
    Mark W. Kaelin

  • Um, at least I think I can put this together.

    &copy CNET Networks, Inc.
    Mark W. Kaelin

  • The choice of stickers from which you can customize your cube is the best part. I particularly like the mug shot of Bill Gates and the image of World of Warcraft you can use for the computer monitor.

    &copy CNET Networks, Inc.
    Mark W. Kaelin

  • My decorating is minimalist, but the geekness still shines through.

    &copy CNET Networks, Inc.
    Mark W. Kaelin

  • Of course, your IT guy is a UNIX nerd. You can move the arms, legs and head, but be careful --- I accidentally removed his arm when I was trying to get the pose. Fortunately, the arm went back on easily enough.

    &copy CNET Networks, Inc.
    Mark W. Kaelin

  • A nice geek touch is the captain's chair from the original Star Trek television series. Scotty, I need more power!

    &copy CNET Networks, Inc.
    Mark W. Kaelin

  • Ah-ha, caught you red-handed playing World of Warcraft during work hours.

    &copy CNET Networks, Inc.
    Mark W. Kaelin

  • All in all, the Cubes IT Set makes a nice little addition to the swag and gadgets that adorn cubicle desktops these days (at least if you are talking about my desktop).

    &copy CNET Networks, Inc.
    Mark W. Kaelin

The holiday season is approaching fast. In fact, it seems to approach faster every year. For those of you in the giving spirit around the office, it can be difficult to find that special gift for the person on the other side of the cubicle wall. It cannot be too expensive and it should reflect a certain amount of lightheartedness and fun. I mean, after all, gift giving in an office environment is really about generating smiles and feelings of goodwill with your co-workers.
With that spirit in mind, TechRepublic has acquired several inexpensive yet tasteful and useful desktop toys for review. One of these fine gadgets or gizmos should appeal to even the most difficult to buy for in your office.
Next on our gift list is a The Cubes IT Set courtesy of Perpetual Kid.

&copy CNET Networks, Inc.
Mark W. Kaelin

Related Topics:

After Hours Innovation Hardware Tech & Work

By Mark Kaelin

Mark W. Kaelin has been writing and editing stories about the IT industry, gadgets, finance, accounting, and tech-life for more than 25 years. Most recently, he has been a regular contributor to BreakingModern.com, aNewDomain.net, and TechRepublic.

Show Comments