All Good Great

Month: June 2021

  • Review: Portable Monitors for the Home Office

    Review: Portable Monitors for the Home Office

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    An additional monitor makes work easier, especially on a laptop. You can move the source document or a web page to another screen, for example. We were recently looking for a small display for a remote workstation at home: the goal was to find a monitor that looks good, fits in a small space and doesn’t cost a lot.

    Surprisingly, we found a great display whose only downside was the lack of a decent stand. So if you’re looking for a little extra monitor, we may have what you’re looking for.

    Smaller than a 24-Inch Display for Remote Work

    Most monitors are 24 inches or bigger. Prices have fallen in recent years and you can get one for a few hundred euros. We are looking for an even smaller screen than 24 inches for a remote workstation.

    The best answer to this problem turned out to be mobile screens, i.e. small additional monitors of about 15 inches. We ended up buying a Blackstorm MobileMonitor 15.6″ Full HD screen from Verkkokauppa.com. See lowest price in Finland*.

    What we like about this monitor:

    • Lightweight (about half a kilogram)
    • Gets power and image via USB-C
    • Comes with all the required cables (USB-C-USB-C and USB-A-USB-C and HDMI-mini-HDMI)
    • Does the job

    What we didn’t like:

    • The case is flimsy and the magnet is too weak
    • The bottom of the screen is thicker than the top. If you want to set the monitor to portrait mode, it will have balance issues

    Hands-On with the Blackstorm MobileMonitor 15.6″ Full HD Screen

    The Blackstorm monitor costs a couple hundred euros. And gets the job done beautifully for that money.

    It is portable and receives both power and image signal via a single cable (USB-C). The image quality is more than good enough for office work. The investment of a couple of hundred euros in a remote workstation has definitely been worth it. In addition, the screen is thin and convenient to take with you when you telework away from your teleworking office, to a summer cottage for example.

    For the display stand, the monitor comes with a magnetic cover – practically speaking, a black, folded rubber mat. If you have pets, children in the household or open windows, the monitor will be on the floor before long. I also had to take Mensa’s intelligence tests before I learned how to fold the protective cover into a stand.

    We ended up buying a ten euro Mozi Portable tablet holder (compare prices in Finland* ). It works reasonably well horizontally, but is unfortunately unbalanced in an upright position.

    I’m dreaming of attaching some Velcro to the back of the screen, but haven’t got around to it yet. Despite the wobbly stand, I give this monitor two thumbs up.

  • What Is Forest Lounging and Does It Work?

    What Is Forest Lounging and Does It Work?

    Forest lounging is both totally ancient and totally new. The aim of forest lounging is to enjoy the forest and nature by lying down somewhere green.

    When was the last time you lay down in nature? Watched the clouds, listened to the sounds of the forest and felt the earth beneath you? Recently I went picking lingonberries and tried forest lounging.

    What is Forest Lounging?

    Forest lounging is just that: lounging in the forest for some time. Someone somewhere is probably still working for the dictionary definition for it.

    Being in nature restores the body and mind, but could resting in nature restore you even better? We sat down for lingonberry picking coffee break and I saw my opportunity: a bed of soft moss. I have often tried meditation, but as a Stressed Out Office Raisin, I find myself mostly hoping that the meditation session would be over as soon as possible so that I can “relax” by staring at my smartphone.

    Testing the Effects of Forest Lounging

    Relaxation is a full-body phenomenon: heart rate, heart rate variability, and whole cardiovascular system. I’ve been wearing the Oura ring before I started working there, so Oura’s Moment meditation mode was already familiar to me. Moment measures the body’s responses to breathing exercises or meditation, for example, for a certain period of time, say, 10 minutes.

    So I lay myself down among the lingonberries and let Oura record the effects of forest lounging. I watched the clouds, I felt the earth under my palms. A few mosquitoes came to say hi, but luckily September had already dulled their thirst for blood.

    Watching the clouds, it occurred to me that an enterprising Finn could combine a floating tank and watching the clouds. Someone else could add the northern lights. Northern Float. Aurora Floatiensis. OK, you might want to hire a brand agency to brand it better.

    Forest lounging felt good, but as usual, after twenty seconds, I was already starting to think when 10 minutes would be full. I began to imagine the results: would my heart rate decrease, would my heart rate variability increase?

    Relaxation Takes Practice

    In elementary school, I started practicing cross-country skiing the day before the race. I walked around the apartment and did biceps curls with a 1.5-pound dumbbell. I came in last usually, although one Italian exchange student one time beat me to that.

    But there I was, 23 years later. Ten minutes of forest lounging was up and I looked at the results from Oura’s app: my heart rate had started quite low but soared towards the end. Heart rate variability had dropped. Skin temperature had risen, which can be thought to be due to relaxation. Or from the sunshine that had started halfway through.

    So forest lounging was no panacea. I felt cheated. Then again, my expectations probably had been too high. That I could undo years of laptop angst with 10 minutes of looking at the clouds.

    The fact is that relaxation takes practice. Nobody thinks that one run will make them ready for a marathon. So why would I be zen after my first try at forest lounging?

    Forest Lounging: 4 Stars

    Despite the fact that I was not able to fully relax during the forest lounging, I give the experience 4 stars. Staring at the clouds on my back, soft forest floor under the back of my head… It made me think that there’s more to life than deadlines, roadmaps, or the need to align with

    I recommend giving forest lounging a shot. If you do try it, come back and share your thoughts in the comments!