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Earlier this week I came across Climate Strike Software Licensing, “a software license that developers can use to prohibit the use of their code by applications or companies that threaten to accelerate climate change through fossil fuel extraction.” It’s a pretty ingenious idea that could have a significant impact.
Fossil fuel companies use some open source software to help with their research and modelling, and so making these tools unavailable to them could be a major obstacle that hurts their bottom line. Yes, there are a lot of grey areas that need more discussion, and none of the open source tools listed have adopted the license yet, but it’s an inspiring example of action that focuses on impact at scale.
I’d love to hear from you about other projects in the software/web space that put forward innovative ideas for climate change activism that can scale beyond individual action. Please add a comment to the web version of this email so everyone can see it. Thanks!
– Kai
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A Technology-Driven Design Studio SPONSOR
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At Bakken & Bæck, we define, design, and develop all things digital. From developing concept strategies to prototyping customer journeys, from designing immersive realities to training smart algorithms. Recently named as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2020 by Fast Company, recognised for making complex industries accessible to everyday users. Now with offices in Oslo, Amsterdam, Bonn and London.
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Apps & Sites
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Continuous file synchronisation
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If you don’t like/trust the cloud, you can use Syncthing to “synchronise files between two or more computers in real time, safely protected from prying eyes” without the help of any external servers.
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Embed quotes from articles
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An interesting idea: with the Quotebacks browser extension you can ‘embed’ snippets of texts from articles around the web, not unlike embedding tweets. Quotebacks help maintain context, gracefully fall back to a standard blockquote, and allow you to save all of your snippets locally in your browser.
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Ditto is a tool to “manage the words across your team’s product from design to production” in order to present consistent and effective copy.
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There are a lot of great resources for anti-racism work and education going around, but this particular one stood out to me: a well-structured mobile web app with a growing list of books, videos, links, articles, podcasts, charities, and more.
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Indie Mag of the Week
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Senet is an independent print magazine about the craft, creativity, and community of board gaming.
– Latest Issue: 2
– Frequency: 3 issues/year
– Formats: print
– Origin: UK
Every week, we’re giving away five copies to randomly selected DD readers. Keep an eye on your inbox to find out if you’re among them!
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Cultivating better friendships
I think I’m not alone when I admit that I often wonder whether I invest enough effort and care in my friendships. I like that people like Kat are here for some practical advice: “Millions of adults struggle with an uncomfortable and persistent ache: platonic longing, which is the unfulfilled wish for authentic, resilient, close friendships. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Making and maintaining friendships during adulthood can be hard – or, with a bit of intention and creativity, joyful.”
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Running a design community
While I haven’t been actively involved in the Dribbble community for many years, it sure has become one of the web’s biggest creative hangouts that offers real value for independent designers. Dribbble’s co-founder Dan Cederholm (whom I interviewed in Offscreen issue 1 all the way back in 2011) has since taken a step back from running the show and recently published the lessons he learned in a beautifully crafted book.
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Overheard on Twitter
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Hilarious now that anyone thought it was a plot hole that after the events of Jurassic Park that people would dare
A) Re-open the park
B) Be eager to visit the re-opened park
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Food For Thought
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I really enjoyed this interview – from the intro by Greg Epstein to Ijeoma’s observations at the end on how our Western-centric focus on tech makes us miss so many opportunities for a better use of tech. “One thing tech fundamentally has in common with many religions, at least in America, is that it is a white man’s version of Utopia. And tech especially has this cult-like adherence to a white man’s vision of a Utopia that fundamentally disempowers and endangers women and people of color.”
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A hard-hitting read about Silicon Valley’s superficial stance on solving existential problems: “It is true that progress is not necessarily linear, and that all kinds of research can lead to unexpected discoveries and inventions, but still, there is a general direction of travel. And increasingly, it seems as though the direction Silicon Valley has taken does not line up with the future most of us are anticipating. Reading articles about a new app that makes the process of doing laundry more convenient (...), set against the backdrop of constant reports that elements of the natural world are heating, melting, or becoming extinct, can feel like watching two Earths operating in separate realities, moving away from each other on irreconcilable paths.”
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Tell your Insta-loving family members: there is a very slippery slope between Health Instagram and Conspiracy Instagram: “An obsession with a ‘clean’ body also lends itself to narratives that demonise immunisation, which is seen as a pollutant. That’s a view of physical purity that could, some fear, lead people down a path to even more extreme and even racist beliefs.”
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Aesthetically Pleasing
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A playful use of typography and colours in this pitch to rebrand start-up conference Bits&Pretzels.
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Add some colour to your feed by following outdoor photographer Adam Senatori.
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“Like an overcooked cheese gratin, Jaune is sticky and really fat and we like it that way. With its really short ascenders and descenders, Jaune Display is meant for tight headings, allowing a quasi in-existing line space between each line.”
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Classifieds
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The Week in a GIF
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Email or tweet us the URL to your favourite GIF and we might feature it here in a future issue.
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