Issue 77
  1. A portable whiteboard
  2. A notes app with built-in calculator
  3. A beautifully simple paper holder
  4. A keyboard-centric window manager
  5. A shelving system and desk in one
  6. A minimal weather app

Hi everyone!

Thank you for all the feedback to my thoughts in last week's issue (despite some silly typos). Lots of you sent in stories about their own experience with relatives and friends. Here are some videos (all by one of my favourite Youtube channels) that I can recommend for additional food for thought on how and why the media influences us. These are great for sharing with folks who are quick to buy into the latest apocalyptic news story.

My print deadline for the upcoming issue 15 is this Friday and, as usual, I'm struggling a bit with finishing my editor's note. So I'll hand it over to Brian for this week's issue. Thanks mate! 

Kai

 

Our Guest Editor

Brian Suda

Brian is an informatician currently residing in Reykjavík, Iceland, where he runs a small company called optional.is. Having spent a good portion of each day connected to the internet after discovering it back in the mid ’90s, his own little patch with projects and ideas can be found at suda.co.uk.

 
 

This Weekʼs Line-Up

A portable whiteboard
01

This was one of my best Kickstarter investments. Betabook is a small, portable whiteboard. Rather than wasting paper or having notebooks full of half-scribbled ideas, this whiteboard is where all the brainstorming and list creation starts. It’s easy, fast, portable and great for groups.

 
A notes app with built-in calculator
02

Soulver is an app that I use on an almost daily basis, both on phone and desktop. It is a sort of hybrid calculator, spreadsheet, and notes app.

 
A beautifully simple paper holder
03

Keeping your life and desk to a minimum is key to staying focused. This little holder is great. I’ve managed to stuff it with notes, business cards, incoming and outgoing letters, stickers, and more.

 
A keyboard-centric window manager
04

I tend to keep my computer as vanilla as possible. That means I can sit down and start working on just about any machine without worrying about shortcuts, apps or special settings. My one exception is SizeUp, a windows manager for macOS. Sending windows, right, left and center is now part of my permanent finger muscle memory.

 
A shelving system and desk in one
05

I saw this flat-pack desk a few years ago and was in awe. So much storage, so unlike anything else out there, so clean and simple.

 
A minimal weather app
06

There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of weather apps for your phone. Being into data and visualisations, I’ve tried a lot of them. The only one I keep on my phone, though, is Solar. It is a beautifully minimal weather app that packs a lot of information.

 
Every extension is also an amputation.
— Marshall McLuhan