Tech for the terminally overworked

Technology is supposed to make life easier… but what about the times when your job takes over and you don't have a life? Here's a round-up of gadgets for wage slaves.

• Getting cranky with your colleagues? Affective Media is a Scottish company that's trying to make technology respond to your emotions. It worked with Toyota to create the Pod concept car, which has headlights that change colour to indicate the mood of the driver, enabling other drivers to steer clear of the homicidal maniacs with terminal road rage. We'd settle for a desk-top light that detected and displayed our emotions: green for happy, blue for relaxed, red for "I'm tired and grumpy, so don't bring me bad news..."

• If you don't have time to eat, you can always drink soup. Gizmodo has all the best soup gadgets, including the Jetboil Personal Cooking System, a self-contained soup-heating system with a butane burner on the bottom -- ideal for setting your desk on fire. We also like the Sternform Magnetic Mess Kit. It consists of two vacuum-insulated bowls that clip together magnetically to create a ball of soup on a shoulder strap. Completely bonkers but satisfyingly spherical.

• Having trouble sleeping? The Sleeptracker watch monitors your sleep patterns and wakes you up at the optimum moment. It also enables you to monitor your sleeping and find out how many times you woke up during the night -- assuming you've been to sleep at all.

• Worried about your house? You're never there, after all, and anyone could be breaking in. OnRobo has news of the NUVO robot, now on sale in Japan. It's vaguely humanoid, has a built-in camera and can be controlled via your mobile phone. On the downside, it isn't at all threatening and the 1.5-hour battery life means it may not be awake when the burglars come calling.

If all this fails, remember this: you only work to pay for your tech. -ML