RFID staples, omnipotent pens to grace offices of the future?

We already know just how snazzy your office's bizhub will be in a decade or so, and we think we've even got your desk and kitchen nailed down too, but a recent brainstorming in Popular Science brushed a few less sensational, albeit quite intriguing, office mainstays for 2017. Although we've got a few years yet before we can definitively say whether or not these folks will pull a psychic-AT&T on us, but if Swingline has its way, the traditional red stapler that continually jams and collects more dust than it does anything else will be quite controversial. Sure to enrage pro-privacy employees who've already been unknowingly chipped with an RFID tag upon agreement to come on board, the staples of the future could actually contain micro-RFID tags; these chips could then be traced to find out just how long it really sits in one's "to do" stack, or if "inexplicably missing" really means "intentionally destroyed." As cruel as we know that sounds, at least you can pen all the curses you wish on even the most ink-resistant material in your manager's suite, as the future-generation Staedtler pen is being designed to "write on almost anything by optimizing molecular bonds with a surface" in order to produce the right mixtures needed to adhere to a given medium. Of course, the transparent monitors that will come with your 2015 upgrade kit will effectively kill your ability to surf Engadget while being guarded by the plastic backing of your current LCD, but the face recognizing desk locks should at least keep Gary from snagging your chocolate when you're out on break. Click on through for a few more mockups of tomorrow's office gizmos.

[nj @ Feb 28th 2007 5:16PM]

wait, how will the staples know if it has been destroyed if the papers not there to be scaned?

[Christian Martin @ Feb 28th 2007 5:57PM]

Look, red staples to go with the stapler...

"The last time we were chipped, I did not receive any cake... I could set the blog on fire..."

[Tha Sure Shot @ Feb 28th 2007 6:10PM]

I know this is going to be very helpful in tracking documents in an organization, make it possibly easier in digitizing data, and even open up a new way of personal and organizational cognitive development. BUT... to whome much is given, much is required. There's a danger to micromanage and interfere with the personal space that one works within. No one is the same; we all work differently and have our secret talents in pulling off our duties. How should a superior properly judge and take appropriate action if the unique handling of physical documents are called into question?

I love the age we are living in...so new and undefined!

[Mike @ Feb 28th 2007 7:06PM]

I would want the staples for my personal stuff. It would be an extremely easy way to tag all of your stuff; bills, receipts, canceled checks, birth certificate (I've searched for hours looking for it once. Imagine just waving a wand..."oooh, there it is!") You could even put a reader near the door and a staple in your wife's shoe so you could make a script to close all your porn! I know, the man is watching, But this time, the MAN would be me.

[Jess @ Feb 28th 2007 8:54PM]

Who is going to use paper in 10 years?

Most banks are paperless, and everyone uses the internet to send in there TPS reports.

[engadget @ Mar 9th 2007 5:44PM]

Question is, who uses paper now??????

[Xee @ Mar 1st 2007 9:04AM]

Wow, sounds like Engadget bought a Popular Science mag off the shelf and copied the stories here. Everything mentioned above, pictures included, are on the same page in the current edition.