Issue 49
  1. A good office deserves good artwork
  2. A temporary email address generator
  3. A foldable cardboard standing desk
  4. A daily email to replace stand-ups
  5. A better thing to do while standing
  6. A search engine for free photos

Hello everyone!

I just realised that this is issue 49 of The Modern Desk. Wow! I'm gonna have to have a think about how we can celebrate the 50th issue. :)

After launching Offscreen Issue 13 last week (see below), my shipper in Berlin will start sending out around 2500 copies of the magazine this week. I'm always nervously awaiting the first pieces of feedback and Instagram shots to bubble up whenever a new issue is released into the world. 

Besides preparing shipping data, I've spent the last few days making progress on another side-project. In typical internet-generation fashion one of the first things you do is register a domain name, right? More on this project soon.

Have a great week!

Kai

 

Offscreen No13 is here!

I hope you don't mind some shameless self-promotion: I'm excited to share the launch of the latest issue of my own magazine with you. Issue 13 went on sale late last week and we've just started shipping earlier today (from Berlin). 

If you haven't heard of Offscreen before, it's a magazine about the human side of technology and the web, edited, designed, and published by yours truly. Order a copy here to support me and (by extension) this newsletter. Thanks!

 

This Weekʼs Line-Up

A good office deserves good artwork
01

I want to buy pretty much every poster Timothy Goodman has made. They are just so good. 

 
A temporary email address generator
02

Ever signed up for a service that you knew you're never going to use again? A lot of offers out there are only available to people willing to share their email address. With Email on Deck you can quickly generate an email address that's valid for less than a day and then deletes itself automatically. 

 
A foldable cardboard standing desk
03

Yep, more standing desk ideas. This time it's called Oristand and it's a compact, foldable desk made of cardboard for just $25 (ships to US and Canada only at the moment).

 
A daily email to replace stand-ups
04

Are you a fan of daily stand-up meetings but work with a lot of remote folks? TeamSnippets collects the answers to the three common stand-up questions via email and compiles a simple report for the team manager.

 
A better thing to do while standing
05

A friend of mine (hi Steve!) recently introduced me to the idea of balance boards, a simple, skateboard-like device to stand on while working on a standing desk. Balance boards give you a gentle lower body exercise and increase your range of motion. Steve uses an Indoboard (some good articles on training methods on that site!). Fluidstance is the better-looking (and also much more expensive) cousin. 

 
A search engine for free photos
06

There is a new trend for royalty-free, do-anything-with-it photo sites. Unsplash was the first I came across, but there are now lots of others. Pexels attempts to index them under one roof and make them searchable. I'm surprised by the quality of some of these photos. Thanks internet!

 
A problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.
— John Steinbeck