[Often] it’s about commanding my children. I have two teenage girls and they’re often spending time in their rooms on their phones and iPads.
I can say: “Alexa, can you ask Eva to come and set the table. Can you ask Angelina to come and feed the dog.” It’s largely about getting the family to help out with chores, and also play music and ask what the weather will be like.
[The family is] pretty responsive to that. It’s quite funny because our dog now responds to it as well. When I ask Alexa to get the children to feed the dog, he gets quite excited.
We’ve got four devices, one in the lounge/kitchen and one in each of the bedrooms.
Sally-Ann Williams, CEO, Cicada Innovations
My reMarkable 2 notepad. It removes distractions in meetings, helps me focus and has been a great tool in my work and personal life.
It’s basically instead of having a notebook that you carry everywhere. You can write in it, you can have multiple notebooks going, you can tag things so you can search for things.
Sally-Ann Williams with her reMarkable 2. Peter Rae
I have chosen not to have any apps on it, so it’s not a computer. You can sync it to your cloud service providers and to your desktop, but it has no distractions. If you have an iPad or a laptop, you get the [notifications].
So when I want to think about things, or brainstorm or mind map ideas, it’s a distraction-free device.
Every meeting I go to, I walk in with my glass of water and my reMarkable 2. Three people who have seen me with it have bought one.
In addition, my Garmin [watch] helped with tracking my training and progress for my first marathon, which I ran in November.
Joseph Healy, founder and co-CEO, Judo Bank
Believe it or not but my favourite gadget of 2022 is a USB-rechargeable, windproof, flameless, candle lighter.
I love candles and have them everywhere – or at least everywhere my wife permits. Whenever I want to relax, read, or ruminate, the first thing I do is light a scented candle, and I’m known for having more than one burning at a time.
For that reason, this nifty gadget has become indispensable.
Sabri Suby, founder and head of growth, King Kong
Oura ring. It optimises my sleep, gamifies health and fitness and in turn ensures your brain activity is on par too.
Move the needle with an Oura Ring. Oura
It tracks your variable heart rate, your sleep, how deep your sleep is, how much REM sleep you are getting, how active you are and how many steps you take.
Sleep is probably the biggest needle mover that you can make in terms of optimising your performance.
Nick Nicolaides, CEO, Pearler
It’s boring but true: my iPhone.
The reality for me is, with a start-up and three kids between two and six years old, I have to try my best to be successful as a husband, a father and an entrepreneur all at the same time.
There are days when I feel like I’m doing horribly across the board, but we find a way.
It’s useless to sugar coat it, but having a device that lets me work on the go has allowed me to spend extra time with the family instead of being fixed to a desk.
Sam Fischer, CEO, Lion
Aside from my iPad which is by far and away my favourite work tool for absolutely everything, this year I have really loved using the Strava app on my Apple Watch.
Sam Fischer loves the Strava app on his Apple Watch.
Strava is great for several sports, but my passion is cycling and it’s the perfect companion. It’s perfectly designed around the user.
You can quickly access only what you need and the interface is beautifully simple. A good example of designing a product for what people actually need rather than being too clever and over-engineering a solution.
You can arrive virtually anywhere in the world and there are suggested routes to follow and an idea of what will be a great experience. It’s also largely device-agnostic which means you can connect and share with friends regardless of their preferred device.
Simon Griffiths, CEO, Who Gives a Crap
My surfboard. It’s pretty old and I’m not an amazing surfer, but it is still the best way to disconnect with work and reconnect with nature. It blows my mind that you can do so much with a piece of foam and some fibreglass.
Alastair Symington, CEO, Blackmores
My noise-cancelling headphones. Great for long flights, work calls from home and listening to my favourite podcast on the early morning walks.
