"German industrial designer, Dieter Rams has established himself as one of the most influential designers of the 20th century. His name has been strongly associated with the consumer products company Braun for which he had been working for over 40 years, and the Functionalist school of industrial design. Gestalten Books compiled Less and More a book which features images of hundreds of Rams’s products, his sketches and models while it elucidates his design philosophy. His elegantly clear visual language not only defined product design for decades, but also our fundamental understanding of what design is and what it can and should do."
- See-ming Lee 李思明 SML
from Bookmarklet
Dieter Rams’ ten principles to “good design”: + Good design is innovative + Good design makes a product useful + Good design is aesthetic + Good design helps us to understand a product + Good design is unobtrusive + Good design is honest + Good design is long-lasting + Good design is consequent to the last detail + Good design is concerned with the environment + Good design is as little design as possible
- See-ming Lee 李思明 SML
No. I used to, but he ditched me about 8 months ago. Currently accepting applications for replacement. Have lots of really good friends, tho, which is nice (really nice, I love them all), but I miss having the bubble of it.
- Sarah G.
I guess so, I used to have a true one in high school, but then he just left one day and I haven't heard from him since. I have some that I consider really close friends, but no one I think I can put at best friend.
- Mathew™ one of a kind
Want one but haven't had one since the early '90s.
- Spidra Webster
not really. my old one got tired of me and i sort of hate saying my partner is my best friend even though it's probably accurate.
- Kendra <3 Three Lions
I have in the past, but right now, there isn't one person in particular that I'd call my *best* friend. I have a lot of very very good friends, though.
- josh neff, geek at large
I don't think I do. I have a lot of friends whom I love dearly -- a lot of them through FF, etc. -- but no one is at the top of that list. I don't know if they makes me sad or not.
- Derrick
Ummm yeah - been married 13.5 years! :D
- Internet's Tad
Yeah Niels, he's been there always. Even if I'm crap at picking up the phone and calling he never ever lets me know. He just knows that that's me so he is there. He was there when my mother had cancer. When I went into the dumps for a bit, he pulled me up and helped me find a job and get going again. I really don't deserve such a great friend but I am super happy that I do have him.
- Rasmus Lauridsen
Yes. My husband is truly my best friend. But I'll fill out an app to be Sarah's new female best friend.
- Junebug (aka Sarah Jill)
Yep - we've been best friends since early high school.
- Jennifer Dittrich
I guess not. A lot of lifelong friends though.
- Rodfather
I have one person I think I'd classify as a best friend outside of a relationship. My best friend Jameel has had the title since he moved in next door to me when I was 6 years old. We've been like peas and carrots for thirty years. Crazy. I still speak with him at least once a week.
- Cheryl
Okay maybe peas and carrots is little tame. We're more like...like...hot apple pie and ice cream? Cookies and cream? Chocolate cookies and milk? Great...now I'm hungry.
- Cheryl
Yep, maybe, I don't know. Do the ones in my head count?
- Jimminy
I don't know if I have a best friend or not. There's one guy that knows everything about me and my past, but he lives in Berlin most of the time. Then there's another guy that knows almost everything about me and my past, and we hang out a lot.
- Morgan Haley
So I guess it would depend on the definition really. does a best friend need to know EVERYthing about me and my past?
- Morgan Haley
No. My daughter has a problem understanding that. All people have best friends, she says.
- Baard @ Pixum
complicated... I have 3 very good friends from childhood on, but I won´t consider them as "best friends". there´s always someone closer for a period of 2 or 3 years. usually my life changes then, and I exchange my whole little universe and the bestest friend with it. (somehow creepy, I know..)
- esther ♥ ♫
@Baard, Freya seems like your best friend to me :)
- Michael W. May
if I enumerated all my friends (all 4 of them), and ranked them in some order, one of them would be better than the others. In that sense, yes, I have a best friend ;) In the colloquial "bff" sense, I don't really think so.
- DJF
First name "Tiny," second name "pants," although she goes by many other names. :)
- Jenny R.
I said "yes" before, but I have to admit I haven't had a best friend since I moved back from NYC. Rob mentions having a "hetero lifemate" and I suppose that's what Paul was. *feeling lonely*
- Jason Huebel
Yes, though he's currently living on the East Coast. My second best friend lives there as well.
- Jack (a.k.a. Jeber)
oh! I totally have a best friend! a couple of them! there's my girl Elizabeth back on the east coast. and there's my friend Chris (with whom I have been friends with since 1st grade!)
- Nathalie, Dreamer of FF
They already do. My DROID syncs with my Facebook and Google contacts, converging them both for the same contact on either network. Don't ask me how that's done though
- LANjackal
You mean your DRIOD can get to the email addresses of your facebook contacts?
- Bindu Reddy
Yep, as well as any numbers, addresses or work positions they have listed on FB
- LANjackal
from IM
There's a reason contact management on the DROID has been praised as the best implementation thereof in the smartphone arena, if not anywhere period
- LANjackal
from IM
""Open" is a great thing. Everyone likes it." Maybe everyone you know ;)
- Clare Dibble
a friend of mine has a bb storm and it integrates w/ facebook (when i call him, my facebook avatar shows up... etc etc) -- the Droid being able to combine contact lists and merge them when applicable sounds like the next step
- Chris Heath
It's still not open. That data is locked into the built in contacts app and you can't get it at an api level. Android 2.0 has a complete (well, half-baked) contact model that allows aggregating contact info. Not to mention that when I entered my contact info into facebook that I understood it was going to be shared that way. But from an end-user standpoint it's great!
- Hayes Haugen
@LANJackal that sounds great... I guess my information is dated than..
- Bindu Reddy
Very great post. One of the best. This share remember me with two other great peoples described by Katie Hafner is his book (Where the wizards stay up late): Vint Cerf (you known what i mean) and Dave Clark (by his famous quote : "we reject kings presidents and voting. we believe in rough consensus and running code.") With an "open" mind like yours, they make with days, months, years, a very great open life fluid. I'm very happy to follow you. As Louis Gray says : Please keep blogging. Thank you.
- Guy Vander Heyden
Just like with any other activity, the intention behind being open is very important. If somebody wants to manipulate or mislead, then it can be dangerous to follow them. We just have to be aware of extremes. That said, I have learnt a lot from following you and thanks for sharing your ideas so eloquently.
- Shakeel Mahate
Hey, thanks for the mention - I'm glad you're enjoying Alfie Kohn's book. He makes me think.
- Laura Norvig
Thanks Laura. I've actually "outsourced" the reading to April, but she tells me about it :)
- Paul Buchheit
Heh, see this is the type of efficiency mindset you've developed by running a startup.
- Laura Norvig
This is clearly not my cat. If this was my cat he's have one arm shoved down into the printer trying to tear up all the internal whirling bits with his bare claws.
- Soup
Too Funny! Reminds me of the San Mateo Cat Shelter where one of the cats loves to sleep on top of the laster printer where the paper comes out...
- Greg Lato
1600+ to beat the FFundercats live chat thread. I think with this real time now on all threads we're going to see some truly epic comment numbers.
- Simon Wicks
Ivan, no the picture speaks for itself. ;-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Petr, I have no idea what you mean, but thank you. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
@Kol .. :] that, partially, might have been the purpose.... I don't know it exactly either. :] .. was I reflecting on a cat under the fax, and that it is hard to fax that way ... /?:] ... "underfaxing at its worst" ..
- Petr Buben
there ya have me ! :] .... see, to be honest with you, i saw this pic couple days ago, but i let it go, without posting it ..... what does that make me? :]
- Petr Buben
even a flat cat... faxes just can't handle the hair. You'd have to shave the cat first, else the hair will burn and stick to the drum... a mess! (I am extrapolating from transparencies, mind, i don't have access to a cat to test)
- Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)
Hehe, Joelle. This is now tied for the 'likes' top stop. One more then, hehe. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Hehe, Greg. Blimey! Erm, is that not far from 500 likes now? ;-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Bloody marvelous, Kol. Wish I could like it again... too cute (and help u to 500 likes).
- Roberto Bonini
I couldn't believe it when I logged on from the morning over posting it and saw it was at something 200 likes! You all have a strange fetish with cats and fax machines, hehe. ;-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Am I the only one who saw this and their first thought was - My goodness did someone break that cats neck? It still freaks me out a little
- Steve C
Steve, it does look a little out of place, but cats are pretty bendy. ;-)
- Kol Tregaskes
They fax much better if you flatten them first. What?
- Kevin Pedraja
So we can put this post to rest now. :-) 505 likes final count, wow! :-D Good night all!
- Kol Tregaskes
My like is the last one so far :) - 509 afaik
- getalifejerk
did 3 people really un-like this? now at 506. wtf (edit: uh, oh, yeah, me and 2 + 506 others makes 509. dammit, jim, i'm an artist, not a mathematician)
- ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ
One of the best funny cat pictures I've seen! :-)
- John Collis
Kristian, it appears to be. Hehe, John.
- Kol Tregaskes
ای بابا این پیشول بی خیال نمی شود، بابا پاشو برو دنبال یه بازی دیگه ، از هفته پیش تا حالا تو فکس ولو شدی حوصله ات سر نرفته، پاشو اقلا بپر رو کیبوردی چیزی
- Maryaminaa
It's really only social convention which regards it as inappropriate, same with Xeroxing it, like one does with their b__tocks. Wait are we still talking about cats cats here or...
- sofarsoShawn
OMGosh 700+ likes now!! LOL. Thank you all 702 of you. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
"The Volkswagen Microbus is a classic - even to those of us born after its time. Arguably unlike the newly remade Beetle, this remake of a VW classic is remarkably true to the original on the outside - but on the inside it is a bio-diesel hybrid stuffed full of high tech gadgetry and eco-friendly innovations."
- Kol Tregaskes
from Bookmarklet
Super cool VW Bus making a comeback...
- Walt Ruppar
First of all, I'll cop to wanting one of these. That being said, Jason is right. This is for rich hippies (who probably aren't hippies at all). The VW microbus became the darling of the Flower Power crowd because it was cheap, easy to repair, and big. You could camp in it. Is there a car today that fits this bill?
- Chris Baskind
wow, you can buy an awful lot of pot with $129,000.
- Thomas Hawk
I don't know a self-respecting hippie that would prefer this over a really nice indoor greenhouse. ;-)
- Chris Baskind
@Chris, Most cars today aren't as simple, but with the wealth of knowledge online, it just takes more time. The minivan/SUV can become a camper van with a few mods. They'll never take the place of the VW, but they're an updated version of the 70s panelvan conversions (hopefully without shag carpeting & a disco-ball).
- Steven Cains
Nope: there will never be anything that simple again. That's not all bad: I can't imagine a 1960s VW Minibus would satisfy *any* federal safety standard these days. You're right. A used minivan might be the closest thing.
- Chris Baskind
Very Cool. You can't drive your house but, you can sleep in your Van !!!
- Eric Logan
Very intriguing. How much steel is in that thing? Chris, that would be my next question after fuel consumption: how safe is this thing? And I agree, when we can go back to making transportation that costs less than a small home, we may have achieved something amazing. ;)
- Melanie Reed
However, I have heard (and I'm not remembering where at the moment) that there has been a movement growing of people seeking alternative housing and substituting things like this as the new "mobile" home.
- Melanie Reed
Everyone is loving this! We should have an FF one and use it to travel to all the FFers around the World (like Pea seems to be doing ;-)). Hehe. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
cool idea, kol. the ff-stream of this tour would be alltheawe. just imagine the photos.
- esther ♥ ♫
I've owned 5 VWs, two of which were split window vans. I'd love to have another, this is awesome!
- Rick Bucich
from twhirl
I have had more VWs than other cars...starting with a 71 Superbeetle, and a Split Window Microbus. I would LOVE to have something like this.
- Kreg Steppe
Good for grandparents to visit grandchildren and children through the European continent (or another one as well)...nomadism-revival!
- Isabelle Ayel
wow i posted this a while back and now can't seem to find it for some reason. friendfeed's search function really sucks!
- Cee Bee
So after reading this article yesterday, I found myself this evening in front of a local place that specializes in reconditioning old VWs. It was closed, but there's an awesome red and white microbus out front with a For Sale sign on it. Ugly, underpowered -- and probably dangerous, by modern standards. Want. ;-)
- Chris Baskind
Cee, really? I find FF search is pretty good.
- Kol Tregaskes
I love this Mobile...owned a few Vdubs, lived in a VW camper, but this is off the hook..I would become a true nomad with this...
- bcultral
I'd like to have something like this, something small. What do you really need? A bed, perhaps a TV and room for your computer. Then you can live anywhere you like, in theory.
- Kol Tregaskes
Who is this Canadian designer Alexandre Verdier? Seems like he is on Facebook, Linked In but I can't seem to find anything else about him.
- Brian Sullivan
We had a wesvalia built Micro when I was a kid. I loved that thing. It was a little flimsily built; but boy it was perfect for my family of campers and road-tripping warriors. Too bad this one is so pricey
- Bill Rawlinson
No tools I know of give you a single page multi-account Twitter mention access. This is what I use: Friendfeed! #tools - http://friendfeed.com/smluniv...
Thanks, I've only one account but it's a great tip nevertheless. For some reason it only pulled in three old mentions when I do have more.
- Simon Curran
@Simon.Curran It's not the fault of Friendfeed I don't think - Twitter Search as a default doesn't keep mentions more than 7 days (I have noticed this as well) - but if you use Friendfeed to feed your Twitter, then you'll get more than 7 days of mentions.. weird. So essentially while Twitter is limiting the indexing to save their server time, as soon as this gets turned on, you will have perma-store on FF :)
- See-ming Lee 李思明 SML
"While invoicing is not a fun task, it’s a necessary one: by keeping clients informed of your expectations, you will get paid punctually and reinforce your professionalism. After going over some best practices for creating invoices, we’ll review some great (and not so great) online invoicing tools"
- Mitchell McKenna
from Mento
I use HarvestApp: http://harvestapp.com - it tracks hours and project time and invoicing, and integrates with QuickBooks and other tools
- Jesse Stay
I use Freshbooks, it's absolutely perfect for me.. and I was able to customize the log-in screen well enough for it to blend in well with my web site... I'm not surprised it was the only one with full stars for usability. Also tracks hours/time/projects etc...
- SAM
@Jesse @SAM I'd say those are two of the most popular. Do you pay for your accounts? What made you go with one over the other?
- Mitchell McKenna
Mitchell, I pay about $50/mo for mine, but I think the plan I'm on allows more than one login for time tracking, etc. I haven't done any recent comparisons, although I should. When I joined it was the cheapest, simplest, and most feature-rich solution I could find.
- Jesse Stay
@mitchell... Freshbooks was recommended to me by good friend, and I went with it. I do pay for my account, and I can't remember which plan I have, but it's not much at all... maybe $20/year?
- SAM
Sam, does Freshbooks do time tracking? I like Harvest because I have an iPhone app and OS X widget I can track time on.
- Jesse Stay
Maybe it's $10/month... I should look into that.
- SAM
My plan, which includes 5 users, is $40/mo. 1 user is just $12/mo.
- Jesse Stay
It does time tracking... I just got my iPhone so I haven't looked into functionality there... I do use a netbook in meetings though and turn on the time tracker when I sit down occasionally... it helps keep clients focused. :)
- SAM
I've been using clockingit.com for my PM, but need an easy, inexpensive (and flexible) invoicing program. Preferrable one that will work on Ubuntu.
- Jeremy (cropmarks)
There's also a free plan on Harvest for up to so many clients I think
- Jesse Stay
@Jeremy I'm on Ubuntu as well. So I'd need a cross-platform client or a web-based client.
- Mitchell McKenna
And allows for 1 more staff... Jesse's program seems to be very comparable if not slightly cheaper... I would go on integrability and user interface from there.
- SAM
@Jeremy what's your budget for the an invoice app? do you need something free? You could start using Freshbooks or HarvestApp for free, if you like it, buy a basic plan.
- Mitchell McKenna
harvest looks nice. I've seen freshbooks before. My budget is what the CFO says I can spend on it. I'm using good 'ol Indesign now. That's no fun.
- Jeremy (cropmarks)
If I may enter the conversation, there's also Bill4Time.com. It tracks time and organizes it by client-project-task. Phone app, desktop widget, data backup, invoicing, etc. The free version is for a single user, up to 2 active clients, and 3 open projects. The next level is $20/user. But that price includes the tech support, phone app, etc. I don't remember any additional costs.
- Jessica
Oh, forgot: the Lite version is $20/user/month. Again, it's the complete thing w/o additional costs & no contract thing.
- Jessica
For OS X users - I used TimeLog very effectively for tracking time spent on projects over a period of over 2 years. Didn't use the invoicing feature though. v4 is available (http://www.mediaatelier.com/TimeLog...), though I've only used v3 in the past myself.
- 'Mummi' Thorisson
The track is almost done. Source code won't be available, but if you dedicate yourself into it, you'll be able to get it from the music track. More details soon.
- Marcos Marado
from fftogo
the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, which has been photographing mars for several years now at resolutions as fine as mere inches per pixel. here is a group of images from HiRISE over the past few years
- Duygu Çetin
"The couple are believed to be the only husband and wife base jumping team on the planet. The wingsuits they wear are specially adapted bodywear for skydivers and base jumpers. Flaps of material running across the gaps between arms and legs increase drag. Glenn & Heather can be seen flying over Mt Conner, Australia"
- 'Like' robot (frɐnc)
from Bookmarklet
"The title of the film, which is the same in Russian and English, is derived from the English word to stalk in the traditional meaning of approaching furtively and not related to the contemporary meaning of harassing. In the film a stalker is a professional guide to the zone, someone who crosses the border into the forbidden zone with a specific goal. The sparseness of exposition leads to ambiguity as to the nature of The Zone. The film suggests that the Zone was the site of an alien spaceship landing, meteor strike, or is, in fact, imaginary. Chris Marker, in his 1982 film Sans Soleil, references Tarkovsky's Stalker through the use of the term "Zone" to describe the space in which images and their attached memories are transformed." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...
- Adriano
re 2009 documentary, Igor Mayboroda’s _Rerberg and Tarkovsky: The Reverse Side Of “Stalker”_ \\ "Tarkovsky’s production suffered from technical calamities, illness, artistic disagreements and, worst of all, location work in a polluted area which (allegedly) caused the early deaths of a number of the people involved, including the director and leading actor, Anatoli Solonitsyn. All of...
more...
- Adriano
MURLS is a simple and fast URL shortening application for Windows that supports many URL shorteners with more to come. Supports 34 URL shortening services.
- LouCypher
That is honestly one of the coolest and most clever designs I have seen. I have 2 turn tables and a mixer/fader but keeping them out in plain sight isn't always the most attractive. Thank you for sharing this!
- Nicholas Kreidberg