Perhaps one of the more irritating aspects of working in an office is how frequently you have to explain to neighbouring colleagues where you're going every time you leave your desk. Now, there is a colourful desk lamp that does the communicating for you without disturbing anyone. It avoids the generalised memos and automated emails, replacing them with an attractive piece of ‘smart furniture’.

Place Lamp by designer Sam Stubblefieldconnects to your WiFi and lets you set up invisible GPS geofences around it via a smartphone app. By remaining in constant contact with your phone, your location is tracked and your availability colourfully displayed to co-workers via the LED bulb.

The lamp is also open source, meaning you can program exactly what you want it to do. Stubblefield makes playful suggestions like having the lamp turn bright red when an urgent email comes through, or pink when your partner texts. It's another example of the increasing proliferation of the 'Internet of Things', where all our devices are connected to us and each other.