Welcome back for 2014. We hope you had a good break over Christmas, wherever you are and however or whatever you celebrate.

Things seem to be accelerating into the new year. It looks like we're about to get busy, though we do have some availability to work with you on service and experience design, change communications and facilitation.

If you have a need, please let us know at hello@acidlabs.org or +61 2 61003002. We work all over the region and overseas at times.

Like you, we read a lot and come across many interesting things. Here are a few we've found since last newsletter.

Building on the article about walkable cities from the last newsletter, Crikey's Urbanist blog published an interesting piece on why the ideal of a 20-minute neighborhood is incredibly challenging to achieve, especially in modern, suburbanised cities.

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We're big fans of fitness (both sports and exercise, and in the general sense). It's a huge bonus for health and productivity. Trainer Max Shank has an exercise that can help with the computer hunch we all succumb to.

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As a part of service design and architecture/urban design, wayfinding is a core discipline. Making sure people get where they want to be, understand how to get there and don't get confused in the process is fundamental.

At the New School in New York, they engaged wayfinding master, Ruedi Baur to design and implement and entire wayfinding language. The New York Times has the fascinating story.

The Summer break was great for reading, and we got a bit done. Here are some highlights.

A much-wanted Christmas Gift, Dave Eggers' The Circle is a must-read for anyone working in, around or with our increasingly hyperconnected lives. It's a cautionary tale we should all pay attention to. Don't shut your networks off, but be very aware of what they do.

A follow-up to his 2010 sleeper hit, Republic, Charles Sheehan-Miles' Insurgent continues his tale of a dystopian near-future United States with a government out of control. It's just one step on from the real world. We can't recommend it (and Republic) highly enough.

If you're interested in more open-minded views on how the world of business and management should work, you should read Remote from Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hansson. Really, do yourself a favor and just read it.

It's the quiet part of the year. Not much on so far.

Canberra, 4 February 2014. Steve will be speaking to the public sector iLearn Netmeet on the success of short video as an online training tool. Contact Connor O'Keefe for details.

We'll keep pushing these newsletters out regularly while you keep opening them. And we'd just about kill for some feedback.

Do you like what we're sending you? Why or why not?

Do you want this newsletter more or less often?

Is there something we haven't included that you'd like to read or see?

Or, just say hello by replying to the newsletter. We'd love to hear from you.

Enjoy the rest of January!

Steve and Nat

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