Over the years, I’ve hit periods when I couldn’t figure out how to find the help I needed… Not just a good handiman or office assistant, but expertise that is more difficult to find, like a reliable and affordable website programmer to solve problem I know nothing about. I’ve found stellar people for all realms of my business through two sites, including the Venezuelan programmer (and friend) who services Improvised Life…
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Frequent contributor Susan Dworski threw this compelling video over my transom, accompanied by her thoughts about the apps she’s been seeing lately selling all manner of salvation. She asks a big question and points to a surprising path…
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The chart of data sourced from HowSecureIsMyPassword.net shows just how quickly a hacker can brute-force various kinds of passwords, especially the weak grandkid’s-names-type that many people think up. Then there’s THIS solution for making unhackable, easy-to-remember passwords.
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We’ve been seeing a lot of very cool VOTE images from artists peppering the instagrams of arts galleries and museums. Here’s a trove along with essential resources for planning your vote.
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When Radio Garden starts to load, the words “planting seeds” appears on the screen. Then a virtual globe appears around which you travel to tune into thousands of live radio stations around the world. It is magic.
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If you are daunted by the prospect of creating a website for yourself or a project, check out Carrd, a free platform for building simple, stylish responsive one-page sites, fast.
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The messages on the shoelaces of the guy sitting across from me ready “Do I love you?
Do I lust you?” Yeah! Where could I find shoelaces that really said something?
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.
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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…
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What’s all the hubbub about next Monday’s solar eclipse about? We’ve put together a succinct guide, from where and how to view it wherever you are, to readings from art, philosophy, poetry, to where to find free eclipse glasses.
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We found this cartoon while we were leafing through The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker, perfect, relaxing bedtime reading. Drawn in 1966 by Charles E. Martin, it’s even more timely today.
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Judging from his worn and taped together set of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies, David Bowie really made use of the cards designed to SHIFT your head when you’ve hit a creative block or impasse. Now long out of print, we found a digital version…
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Another utterly simple, surprising, transformative use of technology from digital product designer and consultant Bryan Landers:
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Throughout my school age years I kept ratty composition notebooks with me at nearly all the time to record lists, illustrations, ideas, and poetry: a way to combine artistic enjoyment and organization. Google Keep app is my modern version of that, a canvas for lists and notes-to-be color-coded, archived, tagged, and illustrated. My categories vary from the very practical to very playful.
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We have a thing for custom-made wall paper, that is, wall paper with images we would love to see, rather than the usual flowers and stripes. Although we aren’t crazy about the DIY wallpaper we saw on San Francisco Girl by Bay recently, we LOVE and see huge possibilities in the process. Writes SFGBB Editor…
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My latest experiment to temper the mysterious vibration that shakes me awake each night was to apply a vibration directly to the bed to neutralize the irritating one.
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When we’re looking to buy a fitness tracker, pair of headphones, a TV, or even a spatula, Consumer Reports and Amazon don’t always cut it. Our favorite resource these days is The Wirecutter, a site that seriously researches, vets and tests all sorts of essential items. Recently we followed their lead (well, their companion site Sweethome)…
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Working hard? Why not take a break and listen to what the guys hanging out under the trees on 124th street in Harlem listen to on summer nights: Motown. You’ll find the Complete No. 1’s HERE at rdio. It’s the music that drifts up to our Laboratory and is curiously never intrusive, but stays pretty…
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EVERYONE we know has questions about wine and the best person we know for answers is Anthony Giglio, aka The Wine Wise Guy, an Improvised Life contributor and of late, wine blogger for Details. Here’s some essential advice.
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The other day, a friend texted smartphone snapshots from a book she was reading: whole pages, with passages she found illuminating marked in pencil. It’s one of the best uses for SMS messaging we’ve seen, as though our friend was putting the book into our hands or reading the paragraph directly to us.
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