This Chromium-based browser allows you to pin certain apps to the side of your window, making them more accessible and giving them notification abilities. It also promises increased tab suspension and memory management which should help with energy/battery use.

Timo combines task management (i.e. a to-do list) with a simple time tracking feature that records how long it takes you to get those tasks done.

The somewhat ambiugous Something Spaces project wants to fill ‘unused’ spaces with art. One of those spaces are new browser tabs: their plugin shows you a different piece of art every time you open a new tab. Other projects include an embed code you can use to inject art into your website’s 404 error pages.

This data visualisation project by The Pudding replaces city names with the names of people that they are most associated with on Wikipedia, ranked by pages most accessed. It’s a fun way to learn more about celebrities, history and US geography at the same time.

Futureproof →

Staying human in the age of automation

I follow New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose on Twitter and have a lot of respect for his work. In his new book, “Roose rejects the conventional wisdom that in order to succeed in the age of intelligent machines, we have to become more like computers – hyper-efficient, data-driven workhorses. Instead, he says, we should focus on being more human, and doing the kinds of creative, inspiring, and meaningful things even the most advanced AI can’t do.”

Think Again →

How to rethink, and enjoy being wrong

I just added Adam Grant’s new book to the top of my fiction reading list: “Why do we refresh our wardrobes every year, renovate our kitchens every decade, but never update our beliefs and our views? Why do we laugh at people using computers that are ten years old, but yet still cling to opinions we formed ten years ago?”

An important angle to the discussion about how to deal with climate anxiety that I hadn’t previously considered: “Exhaustion, anger, hope – the effects of oppression and resistance are not unique to this climate moment. What is unique is that people who had been insulated from oppression are now waking up to the prospect of their own unlivable future.”

Alicia Kennedy critically reflects on tech innovation in the food space and wonders whether the “imperialist paternalism” approach of the West offers a future the rest of the world signed up for. “We know what the planet needs, and it’s the radical restructuring of land use. We know what the people need, which is self-determination around farming for the Global South, as well as for the Black, brown, and Indigenous people upon whose land the United States and other nations settled. Instead, we’re getting steaks made in a lab. Who asked for this?”

This is obviously a company blog post written by an employee, but still, you have to admire Patagonia’s ongoing dedication to pushing sustainability boundaries in the ‘fashion’ industry. Inspiring stuff. “So if materials cause pollution and energy causes pollution, but a business still needs to provide products to the customer, the obvious (albeit, less capitalist) solution to getting closer to circularity seems to be: Make less stuff. Do we need a Better Sweater® 1/4-Zip in 18 colors? ‘I’m of the mind where we need to trim down our line. Get rid of the most polluting products and go beyond massive assortment,’ Hendricks [Patagonia’s senior manager of environmental responsibility] says. ‘I come at it from the activist side. My role is to challenge things. Other people challenge that, and hopefully we meet in the middle.’”

I’m not much of a Monocle reader, but I do like their ‘digital decency manifesto’ – some ground rules for “a more dignified relationship with all things digital [in order to] be a little kinder and more cautious online.”