By Bekha Gannon
I’m impressed with the US$129.99 FLOTE Orbit Stand from FloteYourTablet, a small tablet stand designed to hold your iPad (or other tablet).
The Orbit is great for use on a night stand for reading ebooks in bed. It’s convenient for placing on a kitchen counter so you can view recipes on your iPad while cooking. It’s also nice for use on a desk.
I work in a children’s hospital as a child life specialist. Part of my job is to help divert the child’s attention during procedures. We use tablets all day long for the patients to engage in TV shows, music, and games on the tablet. Sometimes patients have to lie on their back or sides and aren’t able to move their hands or hold the tablet themselves.
This means that means someone has to hold it for them. I was hoping the Orbit could be used as a tablet holder for this purpose, but it’s too heavy to be lugging all over a hospital. I wonder if FloteMyTablet could maker a lighter version? Or perhaps make a version of the m2 floor stand with wheels attached so it could be rolled from patient to patient easily? Such Flotes would be great as the devices are made of a material that can be wiped down between patients for infection control.
Though the Orbit isn’t quit up to the hospital tasks I wanted to use it for, it’s a really good product. It enables hours of hands-free, discomfort-free ergonomic use of tablets. And it’s Magnetic Ball Joint technology lets you orient your iPad in virtually any position with ease.
One of my favorite features: each conversation opens in its own window, which means you can situate it wherever you like on your desktop. When a friend (a term that no longer means quit what it did pre-Facebook) respond to a message, you’ll get a notification about it.
Another cool thing about Current is that you can “pop out” photos and videos into their own window and look at them while you do other things. Or have them handy for later viewing. What’s more, Current supports tabs, so you return to Facebook and go to where you were when you last accessed your feed.
Log onto Facebook and you may find yourself wasting waaaaay too much time. Current helps alleviate the temptation with its customizable features and the ability to set things aside for later viewing. Plus, it’s an app so you can quit it entirely to take as long a Facebook break as you need.
