Jake Lodwick created an online-customizable, free-print-out management system called Standards. According to Lodwick: In a matter of months, you’ll be a high-performing, self-directed Überperson – guaranteed!” We’re gonna try it!
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Inspired Experiment: An Art Lending Library
In response to our post about a library that lends people, Maureen Rolla, recently alerted us to another great iteration of the lending library: art. Check some out with your library card and live with it a while.
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Virtual Gift Cards That Do Good AND Deliver Your Best Wishes
Long ago we started to unhook from obligatory — and often stressful — holiday gift buying. We became big fans of giving money to a charity in friends’ names, instead of the usual gift that nobody needs. Every year, we send charity gift cards, VIRTUALLY, a website that allows you to design your own cards (to a degree) and then send them in a sort of digital envelope that the recipient gets to open online.
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skype is a tool for learning, helping, teaching, connecting
As we compile many innovative uses for Skype and FaceTime, we realize how “virtual” really CAN allow us to “be there”.
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A Tiny Nook Room Expands with a Wall Mural
For a while now, we’ve been researching companies that make custom and ready-made wall murals, because a wall-size image seems like a great way to expand an odd room. Case in point: Swedish stylist/designer Jimmy Schönning’s transformation of a tiny nook of a bedroom with a calm distant see. Perfect.
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custom or ready-made wall murals to transform your space
When we saw this image featured under Bedrooms on a design blog, we instantly thought: what a great solution for jazzing up a place, like the drab walls of a rental studio a friend is struggling to make into a home, however temporary. We started looking into services that make wall murals, imagining cool images…
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budget reno + life strategy: hire a project consultant
After I had figured out the essential plan of the multi-functional space that was to become my home and ‘the improvised life’s Laboratory, I started bringing friends by to get their opinions and input. I also hired an interior designer to consult for a short time, to consider my ideas, challenge them, add to them,…
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how to stop junk mail
Even though it’s not our fault, the vast amounts of junk mail we get makes us feel frustrated and guilty. So much paper going to waste. Try and warp your head around this: the Wall Street Journal reports that 82.5 billion pieces of “advertising mail” were delivered by the U.S. Postal system in 2010. Years…
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how-to find affordable and/or rare books online
After reading two recent post referring to out-of-print books like Calder at Home and How to Construct Reitveld Furniture, a long-time reader emailed us a great strategy for finding affordable books online using “favorite searches” on ABE books. Check out her message below to hear how it works. We are going to try setting up…
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design your own textiles
We love the way the internet can increase people’s ability to design and fabricate things that have traditionally been the realm of professional designers and manufacturers. Our newest favorite online resource/service is digital fabric printing. Over the past three or four years, a number of online textile printers have popped up, including Spoonflower, Karma Kraft, and…
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the wirecutter’s trustworthy technology reviews
We find ourselves spending a lot of time sifting through product review websites as we try to make smart purchases. This can be a tedious process, and often we end up more unsure of what we’re looking for than when we started. That’s why we were really excited to discover The Wirecutter ,”a list of only…
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‘vintage’ photo generator will transform your photos, free
We recently stumbled on a cool Japanese site that will instantly transmute any photo you upload to an aged version “like over 100 to 150 years old.” On the upper right corner of the site you can ‘English’ to see a translation. You choose the file where it says to, and then click the blue…
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how to sell your books online
Like everyone we know, we have a growing pile of books that we’ve been wanting to sell, to cut down on clutter and make a few bucks in the process. We recently discovered BookScouter, a website that tells you how much your used books are worth to a variety of online retailers. The best part…
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‘there is no such word as “no”‘
(Video link here.) Ekso Bionics, creators of a robotic exoskeleton that enables paraplegics to walk, has created a compelling video about their remarkable invention. Much of the video is of Amanda Boxtel, an early product tester, who has not walked since she sustained an spinal cord injury 20 years ago (though she has mastered – and taught…
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a wondrous ipad app for kids and adults
Yesterday, we downloaded several iPad apps, hoping to check in with what the latest technology was doing. We tried apps for viewing art, reading magazine articles, listening to music that promised to present a ‘multi-dimensional experience.’ Among the most compelling was an multi-dimensional app designed for children, that charmed and resonated with our grownup selves.…
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‘i had cancer’ = social networking with a purpose
(Video link here.) I tend to have mixed feelings about the growing number of options for social networking. I’ve definitely noticed my own reliance on social networks making me a little more self-indulgent and a little less personal in my communications with friends. But the power of social networking sites to create communities for people…
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postcardly: send a real postcard via email
Even though many of us are on email all day, there is absolutely no substitute for coming home to an actual letter or postcard you can hold in your hand. We recently tried out Postcardly, a service that melds our online lives with the magic of good old-fashioned mail. You upload a photo or graphic, add…
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how to destroy and dispose of a hard drive
All Posts Recently, we came a cross an old hard drive that we had swapped out of a computer long ago; who knows what revealing bits of information were on it? We searched the internet to learn how to dispose of a hard drive without leaving ourselves open to industrious hackers. We could either wipe…
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music for whatever mood you’re in – free
We’ve spent a lot of time grooving with Pates’ Tapes and don’t plan to give it up. We are smitten, though, with Brooklyn-based designer Adam Parks‘ The Illuminated Mixtapes, a wonderfully designed site of musical grooves to chose according to your mood or activity. He’s grouped 21 music collections into four categories, from Adagio (very slow and cooled…
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guerilla florist bella meyer: “flowers as natural art supplies”
Marc Chagall‘s grand daughter Bella Meyer got a Doctorate in medieval art history from the Sorbonne and has held a variety of jobs – designing props for the theater, working as a puppeteer – before stumbling on her true calling: floral design. After friends asked her to design a blossom-laden chuppah for their wedding, Meyer,…
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