The latest version of MacOS screen-capturing app CleanShot comes with some interesting new features, like being able to take a screenshot of a scrolling window. Though, one main reason I’m sticking with the much more basic Dropshare app is that I can use the cloud space (Dropbox) I’m already paying for.

If you work a lot with spreadsheets and projections, Causal could be a great tool to visualise and share some of your work for presentation purposes. Watch the video for a short explainer.

Excalidraw is a free, open source whiteboard tool that lets you easily sketch simple diagrams with a hand-drawn feel.

Readup is a ‘social reading platform’ powered by a global community of readers and free-thinkers who vote with their attention. Articles are ranked by number of completed reads, instead of likes or upvotes. There are no ads or distractions.

Humankind →

A hopeful history of human nature

“It‘s a belief that unites the left and right, psychologists and philosophers, writers and historians. It drives the headlines that surround us and the laws that touch our lives. From Machiavelli to Hobbes, Freud to Dawkins, the roots of this belief have sunk deep into Western thought. Human beings, we’re taught, are by nature selfish and governed primarily by self-interest. Providing a new historical perspective on the last 200,000 years of human history, Humankind makes a new argument: that it is realistic, as well as revolutionary, to assume that people are good.”

M1 Messenger →

Ultralight, all-weather messenger bag

California-based SDR Traveller uses ‘Expedition Grade Dyneema’ material to make bags and outdoor accessories. Dyneema fibre is extremely lightweight, waterproof, and does not tear. It’s a pretty unique material that will last you a long time. Hopefully long enough to come to terms with the steep price tag. (Currently on back order)

I don’t think I’d describe myself as a minimalist, but I do share some of the ideas behind the new focus on simplicity. This piece puts the values of minimalism into question, rightfully criticising it as a superficial, self-centred diet version of capitalism, and suggests a more thorough alternative. “The worst versions of life-style minimalism frame simplicity not as a worthy end in itself but as an instrument – a tool of self-improvement, or of high-end consumption, or of self-improvement through high-end consumption.”

I know, I know – we need fewer manifestos and more people walking the walk. But it’s worth reiterating that design needs an urgent rethink of its priorities. Based on an original declaration from 1964, here’s what that overhaul may look like. “We market unhealthy body images and diets; products and apps that propagate social isolation and depression; the consumption of unbalanced food systems; we sell pills to pop, tiks to tok, and a scrolling feed that never stops… and then the desire to consume it all over again and again. Yes, commercial work has always paid the bills, but many designers have let it become, in large measure, what designers do. This, in turn, is how the world perceives design.”

Lots of folks have shared this already because it’s a great read for anyone interested in running. A story of a marathon runner that breaks a new best in his forties and learns a lot about his father along the way. I enjoyed all the little nuggets of wisdom spread throughout this piece: “Running was the rare sport where you mostly competed against yourself. You could learn without having to lose.”