Issue 44
  1. A lecture series turned into books
  2. An email manager for teams
  3. A fresh take on the Minaal backpack
  4. An app to find workspaces on the go
  5. A customisable card wallet
  6. A simple audio/video chat app

Hey friends!

I hope you're not starting your week with too much buyer's remorse. Watching the craze that is Black Friday from outside the US is rather hilarious, I must say. And then Cyber Monday, which for me is always Unsubscribe Monday. It's amazing (and a little bit sad) that the same old marketing techniques still seem to work for so many brands out there.

Anyway, turns out I will be off to Germany again soon. More specifically, I'll be in Berlin in the second week of January to check in on the print of the next issue of Offscreen and discuss another project. If you're in town and want to catch up for a coffee, let me know!

Kai

(If you're interested in sponsoring an issue of TMD and get your product in front of a gadget/tech savvy crowd, book a slot here.)

 

This Weekʼs Line-Up

A lecture series turned into books
01

Some if you may have heard of the Do Lectures, a series of events with creative speakers usually hosted in idyllic locations. Rather than just putting the video of the talks online (which they do too), they turned some of the more profound talks into books. I just read through Do Purpose by Do-founder David Hieatt. It wasn't necessarily eye-opening – also because I already follow much the same approach – but it was a nice reminder of the principles that are important to me. Easy to get through within an hour or so. I'm inclined to check out some of their other books...

 
An email manager for teams
02

If you work in a small-ish team and find ticketing software too cumbersome, Front might be for you. It brings numerous email addresses into a shared interface and adds the power features you usually find in helpdesk apps. 

 
A fresh take on the Minaal backpack
03

The original Minaal Carry-on was a big success on Kickstarter – a quality backpack that packs like suitcase. Two years later and Minaal presents us with an updated version of their bestseller and a new, smaller 'daily' addition. Unsurprisingly, Kickstarter is rallying behind them with more than half a million dollars raised and a week left.

 
An app to find workspaces on the go
04

This app promises to locate work-optimised spaces for you when you're on the go and need to get stuff done. Current count: 5601 workspaces across 1383 cities from 75 countries. I haven't tried it myself, but could be a useful companion app while travelling.

 
A customisable card wallet
05

The internet is in love with 'minimal wallets', it seems. I think I've already featured three or four of them right here on TMD, and new ones emerge on Kickstarter on almost a weekly basis. Kerf is yet another, with the added feature that its three main parts are completely customisable. Mix'n match, and make it your own.

 
A simple audio/video chat app
06

You probably know this too well. You arrange a video call and the next question is: "Skype? Hangout? Facetime? What do you prefer?" Wouldn't it be much easier to just send them a link and say "Meet me here at x o'clock." Sylaps makes that possible.

 
Our brains are designed not for thought, but for the avoidance of thought.
— Daniel T. Willingham