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  • Read: Get Your Kids A Landline

    → 5:29 AM, Jun 25
    Also on Bluesky
  • “In many ways the Light Phone III is a more mellow act of defiance, because it can pass as a regular smartphone, when in the hand. The camera lens peeks out in a recognizable way right above the palm, and the foreshortened size isn’t obvious at first. Whereas the Light Phone II was a clear if meek middle finger stuck up at smartphone addiction, the Light Phone III is more like the bird that you slowly crank up out of your fist—it takes a second to get it.”

    This New “Dumbphone” Is a Lot Smarter Than It Looks

    → 4:51 PM, Apr 18
    Also on Bluesky
  • “I often wonder about the costs of the “digital echo.” What is the psychological cost of knowing that your actions aren’t just your own, but create information that can be observed and analyzed by others? As more aspects of our lives generate digital echoes, they force an ambient awareness of being perpetually witnessed rather than simply existing.”

    Digital Echoes and Unquiet Minds

    → 10:25 AM, Apr 11
    Also on Bluesky
  • “Meanwhile, my little home-cooked apps each do the one thing they are supposed to do, sparkle-free. These apps are substantially finished the day I “launch” them, and, unlike modern commercial software, they are allowed to just: be finished.”

    Five years of home-cooked apps.

    → 11:53 AM, Mar 7
    Also on Bluesky
  • Watch: Little Joys (2 minutes)

    → 3:56 PM, Feb 28
    Also on Bluesky
  • Look: Living seasonally

    → 9:32 AM, Feb 28
    Also on Bluesky
  • The return of the Pebble watch

    The new watch we’re building basically has the same specs and features as Pebble, though with some fun new stuff as well 😉 It runs open source PebbleOS, and it’s compatible with all Pebble apps and watchfaces. If you had a Pebble and loved it…this is the smartwatch for you.

    Why We’re Bringing Pebble Back

    I’m so in!

    → 12:31 PM, Jan 28
    Also on Bluesky
  • Solitude changes us

    The individual preference for solitude, scaled up across society and exercised repeatedly over time, is rewiring America’s civic and psychic identity. And the consequences are far-reaching—for our happiness, our communities, our politics, and even our understanding of reality.

    From The Anti-Social Century. Emphasis mine.

    → 11:17 AM, Jan 14
    Also on Bluesky
  • A secret attic workspace

    A narrow attic workspace with a workbench, comfy chair, shelves, a very small window, and lots of wood.

    From r/CozyPlaces.

    → 1:21 PM, Jan 13
    Also on Bluesky
  • Fiction resists summary

    It is an interesting feature of stories and fiction that they resist summary. You cannot read a summary of Anna Karenina and somehow stockpile its pleasures and charms. Narrative resists compression.

    Resist Summary

    → 11:41 AM, Jan 10
    Also on Bluesky
  • Good advice

    A black and white photo of a neon sign that says “Do Not Trust Robots” with cans of Spam behind it.

    Art by Eve De Haan. Photographer unknown. /via Future Now / are.na

    → 9:18 AM, Jan 10
  • Go light

    Light Phone 3

    → 11:58 AM, Jan 7
  • a recurrent theme is a fatigue with the style of self-narration that the platforms encourage — which, whether we realize it or not, has been heavily influenced by brand storytelling logics. We talk about ourselves like we’re products.

    Posting Less

    → 3:51 PM, Dec 18
  • the best defense, the most meaningful work, the best preparation you can do at the level of an individual life is to boost your local resilience. To become a person of place. To connect with the people and land where you live. This is what we’re built to do.

    How I became ‘collapse aware’. This is not a depressing read (or listen, the author read option was great)! /via Dense Discovery

    → 11:59 AM, Dec 18
  • How (and why) filmmakers like Wes Anderson and Christopher Nolan are using miniatures in their movies.

    → 11:52 AM, Nov 26
  • A clothing tag that says take care of yourself Wake up early. Exercise first thing. Drink good coffee. Stop worrying. Less screen time. Read books. Have a bowl of Coco Pops.

    From the Paynter Jacket Co. in 2020, but may be just as useful “care” guidelines for now. I’d add “Spend time with old friends” to the list as well. I was lucky enough to do that this past weekend and can say it recharges the batteries.

    → 11:25 AM, Nov 25
  • it’s okay if you just pick one thing you really care about, and it’s okay if that thing is “being a good friend” instead of “maximizing your potential”

    On what it means to not have time

    → 4:49 PM, Nov 13
  • Mornings spent offline:

    This is a recent development in the history of human civilization: To wake up with the whole world in your bed

    → 5:55 PM, Nov 5
  • Links for Week 45, 2024

    • An illustrated guide to science-backed mood boosters.
    • A zine about reclaiming your life from digital technology.
    • A tool for searching independent websites.
    • A collection of the “best” marketing headlines on the internet.
    • Over the Garden Wall’s 10th anniversary stop motion short.
    • Max Vogel Gonzalez’s illustrations.
    • An experiment with giving out potatoes to trick or treaters.
    • A concept to break procrastination.
    • Some objects I covet: Nike C1TY “Surplus” shoes, El Oso Bear Tee, the Kobo Clara Colour, and the book Assembling Tomorrow.
    → 3:50 PM, Nov 4
  • photo of a computer science themed playground

    Any code I’ve written, any glib digital creation, disappears into the infinite feed. But a playground will stubbornly stand for the next twenty years, pointing to big ideas in computer science. It’s something I think about often.

    A playground to outlast the feed

    → 10:18 AM, Oct 23
  • Heat Death of the Internet

    Enumerating all the ways the internet currently sucks. Example:

    You buy a microwave and receive ads for microwaves. You buy a mattress and receive ads for mattresses.

    No one wants this.

    The article does end on a positive note:

    You read the Wikipedia entry and there is a lot of useful information supplied by a community. One of the sources cited is a non-fiction book. You go to your local library’s website and although they don’t have the exact book, they do have others by the same author. You place a hold on two of them, then go get your shoes on.

    /via Chris Glass

    → 2:22 PM, May 2
  • How a Connecticut middle school won the battle against cellphones (🎁 link)

    Gabe Silver, another eighth-grader, echoed that sentiment. When the pouches first arrived, “everyone was miserable and no one was talking to each other,” he said. Now he can hear the difference at lunch and in the hallways. It’s louder. Students are chatting more “face to face, in person,” Gabe said. “And that’s a crucial part of growing up.”

    I know there has been pushback against The Anxious Generation’s use of research, but I tend to agree with Zoë Schiffer from Platformer. Too much phone time (for kids or adults) just feels bad:

    At the same time, we shouldn’t set aside the lived experiences of so many everyday smartphone users. For many of us, constant connectivity feels bad, and doomscrolling can heighten feelings of anxiety and depression. Meanwhile, getting outside and spending time with loved ones face to face can be the antidote to despair. I’m sympathetic to researchers who call attention to that dynamic, even if disputes remain about which claims are grounded in unassailable evidence.

    → 9:45 AM, May 2
  • Is the kottke.org comment section the best community on the web? I’m not a member yet, but I have been a lurker and it seems like a great place to hang out digitally.

    → 11:56 AM, Apr 24
  • Some things for week 16 of 2024.

    • Anyone else enjoy looking at the tracking details of a package. Watching an item wend it’s way through a system of warehouses, trucks / trains, and multiple states. Maybe I’m the only shipping infrastructure nerd out here.

    • “And yet, making observations is a good starting point for giving feedback. The trouble arises when we assume that those observations are both the start and the end, that we’re walking along a very short track.” From What you see by Mandy Brown. Can I say how much I appreciate everything changes? Lot’s of thoughtful writing!

    • The website for the restaurant, Madeline’s is just so great. I was thinking the receipt concept would break down with deeper navigation, but nope!

    • Lake Superior should really be considered an inland sea that is “wild, masterful, and dreaded.”

    • Ok, I want this van.

    → 12:03 PM, Apr 19
  • The Analog Web: “Owning your own piece of the Internet (to borrow a recent phrase from Anil Dash) is itself a radical act. Linking to others at will is subversive all on its own.”

    → 10:00 AM, Apr 17
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