technology Archives - Improvised Life

Useful Wisdom from Books about Nothing

Without realizing it, I’ve collected a few books about “doing nothing”, one for kids and a couple for adults. All have unexpected wisdom to offer.

An Analog Kid’s Timer Increases Focus and Productivity

The simple, clever Time Timer has proven a useful visual aid that helps me focus on whatever I need to make headway with, and then get up and take a break, disrupting the obsessive overfocus I’m prone to. It helps me work more efficiently, with less stress.

Want to Be a Digital Story Teller or Launch an App or Product? Join Me at Omega Institute’s Digital Age Conference

This coming June, I will be leading a workshop at Omega Institute’s Build Your Audience in the Digital Age Conference which will cover the how-to’s of creating digital products, from blogs to apps to online courses to newsletters, at Omega’s extraordinary, always transformative campus.

Combine Summer Camp Pleasures with Personal Growth (and Digital Empowerment)

One of the most magical places I know of to take stock of life and transform it is Omega Institute, a true catalyst for change and possibility thinking. I’ll be teaching a workshop there this summer…

Video Conference (and Cocktails) with Your Clan

Every Sunday as many as 14 family members over 4 generations —from 1 to 102-years-old — in six cities gather virtually to visit and hangout. It is just one of the ways video conferencing platforms can provide remarkably deep connection between far-flung family and friends.

Macfarlane’s Remarkable Twitter Feed: Flashes of Illumination about Landscape and the Human Heart

Though we’re not fans of Twitter, we are enthralled by British writer Robert Macfarlane’s feed for its remarkable ability to connect us to nature, landscape, heart…

Jocelyn Glie’s Newsletter: Ideas for Finding Creativity and Meaning Delivered to Your Inbox

Among the email newsletters I subscribe to, From the Curious Mind of Jocelyn K. Glei is one where I always find something that challenges my thinking and/or makes my life better.

A Simple Way to Make Your Phone Less Addictive: Go Gray

I hadn’t realized just how addictive the colors of my phone are until I changed the its settings to Grayscale, the latest strategy in combatting phone addiction…

An Invitation to Slow Down with Something Different: James Turell’s Beautiful Skyspace 2 Ways

Here are two virtual ways to experience Jame’s Turell’s remarkable artwork, along with a poem by Emily Dickinson.

Computer Screens are Hurting Our Eyes; Trees Can Heal Them

Computer vision syndrome is the narrowing of vision that reading off flat screens, handhelds and desktops cause without our even realizing it. Here’s a cure.

Facebook Made Me Stand in the Corner, Echoing Michael Druks’ Prophetic Artwork

Facebook’s strange punishment when I inadvertently published an “offensive” image on their platform mirrored the artwork Michael Druks made 45 years ago.

What Writing Scripts for AI Taught Her About Humans and Art

In describing what writing lines for AI like Siri is like, Mariana Lin nails what human to human communication actually does.

Annals of Bad Design: Bigbelly Garbage Can

When solar-powered Bigbelly garbage receptacles appeared in my nearby park, their design flaws went way beyond their clunky visuals.

How to Live Wisely With Your Phone

School of Life’s How to Live More Wisely with Our Phones is a remarkable essay about how we can gently balance our relationship to our smart phones. Here are the most useful and view-shifting hunks.

The FlexiSpot Sit Stand Desk Changed My Life

After 2 months of test-driving a Flexispot Sit Stand Desk, I’m smitten, fitter and thinner. Here’s my honest review, with pros, cons and what to look out for.

Catalogue of Possibilities and Very Cool Tools

We’ve found that reading catalogues not only relaxing, but makes our brains sparkle with unexpected ways to use materials. Our favorite catalogue of all is Cool Tools, a catalogue of possibilities that EXPANDS our view mightily.

Morph Your Ancient Laptop (even Macs) into a ChromeBook

After Improvised Life’s part-time editorial assistant Mira Keras had a health challenge that lasted months, causing extended leave from her two steady gigs, her laptop broke. It happened just as she was feeling well enough to return to virtual work at Improvised Life AND when her emergency-slammed finances were at an all-time low. She told me about…

Microscopic Silk Poems Meant to Live Inside the Body

When visual artist and poet Jen Bervin learned that researchers were experimenting with nano-printed silk medical sensors for patients monitoring serious health conditions, she wondered, If I were to have a silk sensor embedded under MY skin, what would I want it to say? The story of her exploration and the results are astonishing and deeply heartening.

Matthew Sporzynski’s Aluminum Tablet Stand

We were thrilled to find an email from paper artist Matthew Sporzynski, aka Couturier de Cardboard (whose work we’ve featured in the past), that said simply XO from W23! with photos of his a la minute improvisation: a tablet stand. Of course, we asked for details:

Poetry Vending Machine DIY, with Mary Oliver, Rumi, Anne Sexton

As kids we loved old-fashioned vending machines that would drop a little plastic container holding a treasure — a ring, miniature toy, or candy — through the shoot when we put in a dime or a quarter. Lately, various iterations of poetry vending machines have been coming to our attention, perfect for our adult selves. Imagine…

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