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I might take the rest of the day off. Don’t give me that guilt-inducing look. I'm doing it for the climate. 😉
In all seriousness though, working less – and earning less – could contribute to addressing our ecological challenges.
I know it sounds a bit outrageous to suggest that we should simply forgo money. (‘We’ meaning people in privileged positions.) But with less disposable income you’re naturally more selective about how you spend it. You end up buying less of the stuff you don’t actually need and more of the stuff that really adds value to your life. The result is a less wasteful lifestyle and – surprise! – more free time, the one thing we keep complaining about never having enough of.
I’m not suggesting that we should all strive for earning a minimum wage. But I think many of us have crossed a ‘just enough’ line without even noticing. Slowly, over time, along with our increasing disposable income that ‘enough’ mark becomes ever more transient.
Anyway, I’ve lately spent a lot of time thinking about my individual ‘enough’ mark and how I can optimise for time rather than money once beyond that mark (which I think I am). The lower environmental footprint comes along for free. If you have your own thoughts on that, please share them with me!
– Kai
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Embeddable Form Tools
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Customisable Form Kit For Your Projects
Outfit your website or application with full-fledged and embeddable tools for powerful, personal interactions – within minutes. Use our free web app or WordPress plugin to create and embed powerful forms and surveys right away. Or go for the SDK with even more UI and UX customisability.
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Apps & Sites
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Password manager for Mac/iOS
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Looking for a great user experience in a password manager but aren’t willing to pay a monthly fee? Secrets might be for you: a beautiful interface for Mac and iOS with a simple, one-off price.
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Give your desktop and mobile devices a fresh new look every quarter: “Every three months, seven of the world’s best illustrators and designers publish three of their works for your screen wallpaper.”
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Browser-based video chatroom
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Regularly meet with team members? Appear.in lets you create a unique URL for each chatroom – no login or downloads required. It’s a simple, free, no-frills online meeting place.
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Shareable mini spreadsheets
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“To split the bill or tally up profits: the world’s tiniest spreadsheet has only as many rows, columns, and functions as you need, and it’s easy to use on mobile touchscreen keyboards.”
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Idle Knowledge
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The (ever faster) network effect
It took the automobile about 62 years to be used by 50 million people. For the same amount of people to have a telephone, it took 50 years. Televisions? 22 years. Mobile phones? 12 years. See a trend? Digital technology gave this network effect an additional boost, meaning the time it takes for a new thing to reach 50 million users is decreasing rapidly: it took the game Pokémon Go only 19 days to hit the 50 million players mark. Being able to reach that mass so quickly bears huge opportunities, but it also means that technology life cycles tend to become shorter, with established technologies being overthrown by new ones ever more quickly.
(Source)
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Goods & Accessories
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Aluminium, anti-roll pen
This snazzy aluminium pen contains a “high density brass counterweight to change its centre of mass. This unique technology prevents the pen from rolling on a flat surface as it intuitively finds its own static position.”
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A toolkit for creativity and self-care
Writer and artist Marlee Grace offers a “guide filled with practical advice to help you curb your obsessions and build boundaries between your work, your job, and your life.”
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Overheard on Twitter
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1999: there are millions of websites all hyperlinked together.
2019: there are four websites, each filled with screenshots of the other three.
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Food For Thought
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“Empathy is overrated. Empathy is full of assumptions, presumptions, and biases. I can be empathetic and still maintain a power imbalance.” A plea to put more emphasis on trust rather than empathy when building products and companies. “Are we really OK with Roomba selling our house floor plans to third parties? Companies should earn our trust rather than us just mindlessly giving it to them.”
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A profound and hilarious talk by writer and comedian Baratunde Thurston about White Americans calling the police on African Americans, and how the power of language can change the story.
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Designer Matthias Ott reminds us with this love letter to the personal website that there is much to gain from building our own home online and connecting with other independent creators.
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Aesthetically Pleasing
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Parámetro Studio created a vibrant, modern look for furniture and accessories brand Roku Decor.
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In Time Lapse photographer Xan Padrón sits on a single spot, unnoticed, for two hours, photographing a sequence of people passing by against one unique background.
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Eckhart is a modern didone, high-contrast typeface containing 74 styles and family package options.
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Classifieds
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The Week in a GIF
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