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Are You Using a Broken Tool? | Bridging the Nerd Gap:

We all have downtime while at work — why not spend that time investing in your toolbox a bit? Next time a meeting is canceled and you find yourself with a free hour, you might consider poking around inside the application where you spend most of your day (Word or Excel are probably common choices here). Look through the endless menus and look for ways to make job easier.

Great advice from my friend Brett Kelly on his recently launched blog Bridging The Nerd Gap, which aims to “explore the intersection of technology, tools and effectiveness”. I’m a big believer in getting to know the tools you use everyday very well. Even if you devote fifteen minutes a day to doing so I bet you will have at least a few “How did I not know this?” moments.

Oh, also, while you are there, follow or subscribe to Brett’s blog. Seriously. Required reading.

Marco.org - Great since day one:

The Android ecosystem doesn’t seem capable of producing devices that are great on day one. Yet Apple consistently pulls it off.

Great analysis of the core difference between Apple and Android. It is deeper than hardware or features. The differences are rooted into the two cultures. Marco is at his best with these sorts of posts.

Throughout his career, Californian artist Robert Irwin has pondered whether we ever have an absolutely pure or direct moment in front of a work of art.

This installation piece, Slant/Light/Volume, represents his effort to foster such an experience.

Reader Dan, who submitted this for Minimalissimo, says it is absolutely beautiful and ethereal. He adds: Great manipulation of lighting and scrim fabric produce a work that looks plain, but feels indescribable.

With reactions like that, it sounds like Irwin achieved what he aimed for.

You can experience Slant/Light/Volume yourself until November 2010 at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

The start of the Tour de France tomorrow in Rotterdam – The Netherlands is a good occasion to talk about bicycles again.

Based in New York City designer Francesco Bertelli makes wonderful pure, clean, old-fashion bicycles (track bikes and fixed gear only). Every single part is assembled by hand, finished and fine-tuned by Bertelli himself.

“I combine brand new parts with “new old stock” and vintage parts found at flea markets, old bikeshops, collectors and from my trustworthy suppliers.” The result of each project is a unique bicycle you won’t find anywhere else.

I would like to highlight the Domenica Sport. Cool Nitto dropbars on a Belgium made Titan stem, a black Alien track frame, chrome straight fork and silver wheelset. The slick Gran Compe SS White tires and England made swallow Wrights W3SW saddle make this masterpiece complete.

How to Write a Book:

Humans, especially nerds, are creatures of habit. Often, these habits are designed to make the world a predictable place so that our brains can focus on the creative task at hand. The reason I continue to end up in TextEdit is because my favorite feature is the lack of features.

Another fantastic post from Rands. Required reading.

Also, I’m with Rands here. Readers of this site should know of my unabashed love of TextEdit. In fact, what some may not know is that it is one of the things that led to the creation of Minimal Mac. I was thinking one day about how so many people think they need to have a word processor or their Mac when they already have a tool that is pretty adept at handling most of those tasks built right in. Not only that, but as is almost always the case with anything built by Apple, it has exactly the features it does need executed in the most elegant, clear and concise way possible. Yep, total nerd love for this app.

If it’s not important to you, don’t consume it | Unclutterer:

It is so easy to buy, acquire, and own things that aren’t important to us simply out of habit or because other people have these things. If you don’t want the responsibilities of home ownership, rent. If you aren’t looking forward to an episode of Wipeout, turn off the television. Stop consuming for the sake of consuming, and buy and spend time on only those things that you need and matter to you.

Such an important lesson that I don’t think we hear often enough. Also, please remember that it’s not a bargain if you don’t need it.