Latest Articles

  • The Scientific 7-Minute Workout

    In 12 exercises deploying only body weight, a chair and a wall, it fulfills the latest mandates for high-intensity effort, which essentially combines a long run and a visit to the weight room into about seven minutes of steady discomfort — all of it based on science.

  • The Bike Maker

    A new short documentary by Made by Hand:

    Our fifth film turns to bike maker Ezra Caldwell (Fast Boy Cycles), who was diagnosed with cancer in 2008. When the cancer threatens to shatter his love of bikes, Ezra survives by documenting his illness as thoroughly as his craft.

    Stunning.

  • “Sketching Instagram”

    Mike Krieger talks about the first steps to what eventually would become Instagram, and also touches on some things related to working at Facebook and how they approach the web product.

  • The Overview Effect

    The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

    Baffling.

  • Made by Hiro

    One of the Dutch agencies I look up to the most finally took the time to create a little website for themselves. Good stuff.

  • Fix for Retina Macbook Pro and Thunderbolt Display Kernel Panic

    For a while, my Retina Macbook Pro had been getting regular kernel panics when I would get to work, or when I would walk out to a meeting. Most of them I didn’t noticed when they happened. It was until I tried to work on my computer again, that I noticed it would do a cold start.

    Obviously there are a plethora of reasons for Macs to kernel panic. And after trying a lot of different solution, including a PRAM Reset, one of my colleagues pointed out it might be the Thunderbolt Display. But to isolate the problem, we decided to connect the display through a different Thunderbolt cable.

    So far, no kernel panics.

  • Photoshop Blend Modes Explained

    Working with blend modes is almost always an experimental process. Because it’s nearly impossible to predict the results, you always seem to end up experimenting with different modes and Fill Opacities until you get the results you’re looking for.

    Robert Thomas explains what various blending modes do and gives us an insight how best to use them.

  • Lightroom 5 beta

    With this release, our goal was to add some highly-desired features that allow photographers to quickly process and enhance their images. We’ve added more robust healing options, the ability to create off-center vignettes, and a one-click auto perspective correction tool. We’ve also added the ability to edit photos when not connected to your original images. Each of these improvements is a result of feedback provided by the Lightroom community. Thank you.

    A nice iterative update to my favourite piece of Adobe software. (via)

  • Facebook Home “Launch Day” Video

    Facebook HQ. Launch day. The team of engineers who built Facebook Home are thanked as it finally ships. One guy appears to enjoy using Home already.

    This video made me literally laugh out loud when I saw it the first time. The people around me were not amused.

  • MōVI

    The MōVI is a digital 3-axis gyro-stabilized handheld camera gimbal, that allows you to get great, production quality film shots in a very improvised way.

    The quality and scrappiness with which the shots in this demo video were made are truly impressive. Definitely a game changer.

  • A new TeuxDeux

    A couple of years ago, swissmiss and Fictive Kin launched the first version of TeuxDeux, a to-do app that focuses on lists on a daily basis. Now, with the help of the awesome Jonnie Hallman, there is a new TeuxDeux!

    Tina Roth Eisenberg:

    If you need a little bit of extra formatting, you’ll be glad to know we support Markdown, [...] We’ve added recurring to-dos. If you’re worried about forgetting to water the plants, just write ‘every week’ after your to-do (i.e. water plants every week) and it shows up in your TeuxDeux.

    The Someday section at the bottom now allows for custom lists. Need columns for specific projects? Need a column for groceries? You got it. Add as many as you need and drag and drop to where you want them to be.

    I always fall of the wagon when it comes to todo-lists, but I’m definitely jumping on this wagon again.

  • “Clutching our Memories”

    I wonder if memory-loss is bittersweet. A culling of the less important for a top ten list committed to the human limit of long-term memory. Technology allows us to surpass such drawbacks, but at what cost? Pulling out your phone to document removes you and those around you from the moment if ever so slightly. The gain is a series of photos and videos of portions of these moments from sporadic days of your life.

    Kyle Meyer’s latest words resonated with me in a very big way. For a large part I agree, but I would also implore us all to look past the stigma of being removed from the moment.

    A photo is a visual moment in time from your perspective at that respective time. It is a visual link — a bookmark — to a memory. For me, the process of creating the photograph has that purpose; creating that bookmark. Sure, we shouldn’t look at a concert through our phone’s video camera screen. But I don’t think that taking out a camera with the intent to make this bookmark removes you from the moment at all.

    That being said, as technology progresses, I believe we will gain tools to allow more passive or edge-based logging. With edge-based I mean, for example, the way that Day One uses a photo’s metadata to create a moment from it. Better batteries, more efficient, precise location hardware and software, combined with photography and metadata from services is what we will see in the near future. This will allow us to look at our past and define the level of signal of a certain moment, within the noise of our lives.

  • Rdio launches Vdio

    [...] Vdio, a beautiful new way to buy, rent, and share your favorite movies and TV shows with your friends, in real-time.

    Exciting stuff.

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