Minimal Universe

Minimal Universe collect posts from our favorite minimal-related blogs listed on the right.
  • "So much complexity in software comes from trying to make one thing do two things."

    “So much complexity in software comes from trying to make one thing do two things.”

    - Insight by Ryan at 37signals

  • Music To Blog To: Minimalissimo’s Mixtape

    Do you know The Mixtape Club? It’s a great initiative by designers Micah Panama and Brian Thomas.

    Each month, The Mixtape Club publishes ten mixtapes from ten different contributors on their (lovely minimalist!) website, with the purpose of finding and sharing great music.

    And you get it: This month, they’ve invited Minimalissimo to submit a mixtape!

    I asked my Minimalissimo team mates to submit a song, one which they like to blog to. The result is surprisingly eclectic, so check out the mixtape.

    Want to know which team member submitted which song? You’ll find out after the jump.

    Which team member submitted which song?

    Minimalissimo's mixtape cover

    The cover we made for the mixtape

    01: Robag Wruhme & Wighnomy Brothers, “Freude am Tanzen”
    - Submitted by Maarten

    02: Sigur Ros, “Sæglópur”
    - Submitted by Sam

    03: Theophilus London ft. Peter Hadar, “Want U For Myself”
    - Submitted by Stan

    04: Jesse Dee, “Slow Down”
    - Submitted by Maarten

    05: Nightmares on Wax, “Finer”
    - Submitted by Alex

    06: Die Antwood ft. Jack Parow, “Wat Pomp”
    - Submitted by Maarten

    07: Beastie Boys ft. Q-Tip, “Get It Together”
    - Submitted by Maarten

    08: P-Funk Allstars, “Hydraulic Pump”
    - Submitted by Gaz

    09: Zeke, “Dolphenwulf”
    - Submitted by Vasilis

    10: Aphex Twin, “Terminator 3 Theme (Fatboy Slim remix)”
    - Submitted by Maarten

    N.B.: Not all team members were able to submit a song in time, it was a rather tight deadline :-/

    Please comment!

    Which is your favorite song on the mixtape? Do you have any better suggestions? We’d love to hear!


  • Lovely shot. (via idesk) Update: Just wanted to mention that the...



    Lovely shot. (via idesk)

    Update: Just wanted to mention that the “Fat Nano” was my favorite, from a design perspective.



  • Inventing a Planet » Beat Consumerism: Love Your Stuff

    Inventing a Planet » Beat Consumerism: Love Your Stuff:

    This is a great paradigm. We tend to think that consumerism is about loving our stuff. But it’s not. Consumerism is a result of not loving our stuff at all. In fact, we have so little regard or respect for our material goods that we dispose and replace them with ever increasing regularity.

    Love your stuff, folks. (thx Pat Dryburgh)

  • Welcome to the Future | John Rust

    Welcome to the Future | John Rust:

    Wonderful review of the iPad from my friend John. Nice seeing a review from the point of view of someone who has used it almost exclusively since release.

  • OneThingToday is a task management application for Mac that is...



    OneThingToday is a task management application for Mac that is designed to help you focus on the one thing you want to get done today. What could be more simple and, if you are like me on most days, more needed? (thx Minimal)



  • Seasons

    When I think of shapes I usually think of asymmetrical forms. Japanese designer, Nao Tamura was inspired by the irregular shape of a green leaf to create Seasons, a serving container with a pleasant feeling of spontaneity.

    Tamura’s strongly Japanese-inspired work reminds us that there is a Japanese way of going about things.

    With Seasons, a serving container made of silicone, she won the Salone Satellite Award at the Salone Internationale del Mobile 2010. Seasons is lightweight, flexible and rolls up like an organic leaf. It’s about harmony.

    Even the most mundane thing can become a happy shape.





  • "Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs...."

    “Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.”

    - Steve Jobs - Thoughts on Flash

  • 60 Minimal Apple Desktop Wallpapers | Mac.AppStorm

    60 Minimal Apple Desktop Wallpapers | Mac.AppStorm:

    I’m pretty sure they know, before posting it, that I am obligated by condition of purpose to link to this stuff.

  • Curate Thyself!

    As regular readers know, the role I assume here and aim to fill is that of a Curator. My stated goal of this site is to find interesting items that fall under the stated topic area and gather them together along with some commentary that will hopefully provide interest, context, and cause you, the reader, to investigate further.

    While I think I am doing a fine enough job of this for the site, I am horrible about it when it comes to aggregating all of my online projects into one central place where people can find it all. While I am certainly thinking about a way to execute such a place on a more permanent basis, I thought I would take some time out here to post all the places you can find my work:

    patrickrhone.com – My personal site where I write essays on just about anything that captures my interest as well as personal topics. The latest post, certainly of interest in this context, is titled Why I Curate.

    The Random Post – Where I curate the things that don’t seem to fit anywhere else.

    Minimal Mac – Minimalist computing as it relates to the Mac universe and the general topic of what is “enough” when it comes to technology as a whole.

    Practical Opacity – Exploring the idea of “enough” as it relates to social media, email, and online interactions and distractions.

    Duchess Beatrix – Where I “ghost write” a blog for my daughter, The Duchess of Heckofalot (go read it and it will all make sense).

    A Better Freelancer – I coauthor and cocurate this site along with Aaron Mahnke. A place that helps freelancers such as myself become, well, better. If you are a freelancer or even thinking of becoming a “business of one” like me, check it out.

    So, there you have the bulk of the places you can find me. Hope this helps. Especially those I have received feedback on doing this very thing.

    Note: I will likely cross post this at the other locations as well so do not be put off by visiting and seeing this duplicated.

  • manufacturing content

    Many of the problems we’re experiencing as a society come from manufactured desire. Obesity, debt, financial crises, an overabundance of stuff, consumerism, global warming, and so on … they happen because we are never content, always wanting more, and can’t control our desires. These desires have been manufactured by advertising and chemicals (french fries having chemicals that make us want them, etc.).

    Advertisers have studied the mechanisms of human desire, and have perfected the craft of making us want things. Children watching a cartoon, for example, will eat more snacks if there are ads for food during the cartoon (it doesn’t matter what kind of food), as opposed to ads for other products. People who see the iPad can’t control their desire to buy one, because they’re so cool! Cars, houses, clothes, gadgets, food, travel, you name it, we have been trained to want them by advertising.

    How does a human being, or a society for that matter, fight such desires? It’s pretty damn hard. Try walking through an Apple store, or walking by the food court with its smells of fresh pizzas or cinnamon buns, or watching television, without desiring. Some people can control themselves, or have trained themselves to associate these things with negative thoughts (fattening, greasy, plastic, superficial, etc.), but most of us aren’t that disciplined.

    The answer is that, just as the desires have been manufactured carefully and with much effort, we must manufacture content. In ourselves, and in society.

    How would we do that? I’d start by removing yourself from places where advertising is so pervasive: TV, magazines, malls. Find ad-free content, or at least minimal advertising: public radio, or ad-less blogs, etc. Find ways to spend your time without having to go to the mall. Avoid shopping websites. But even beyond that, I think we can reach others to show them how to be content.

    Manufacturing content means developing a strong, consistent message … something along the lines of “You already have enough”. Or better — I can’t say I have the answers here. We would want to reach people who are about to give in to their desires, perhaps on television or in the malls or on the Internet. We’d need a campaign that would drive this message home, and educate people about the dangers of manufactured desire, and show people how to find contentedness.

    Imagine a big white billboard in Times Square with the simple message: “You already have enough.”

    Imagine that we bought ads on Amazon, that appeared before people bought something: “You don’t need that, my friend.” OK, so Amazon would never allow an ad like that on their site, but you get the idea.

    Imagine that credit cards came with the message “You don’t want debt” printed on them.

    Imagine an iPhone operating system that detected when you’re about to go shopping on a website, and told you, “Be content with what you have. Let go of desire.”

    Imagine if McDonald’s drive-thrus were lined with billboards that read, “Don’t be a glutton. Eat less, eat sustainably. Don’t supersize, simplify.”

    Imagine if children were taught not that they need to go buy the latest Disney toys, or video game system, but to enjoy nature, to live life simply and fully.

    Contentedness comes naturally, in the absence of manufactured desire. But getting back to that natural state might take some work.

    With apologies to Noam Chomsky.

  • I **Heart** Hazel

    Those who have been following along here for a while know how much a love Hazel. This magic little pref pane can watch any folder you tell it to and automatically organize your files according to rules you create. For instance, I have it watching my desktop and any file that is on there for more than two days, and has not been modified in the last 3 hours, gets moved to a “Working” folder I have. It can also do other magic little things like auto empty the trash on a schedule and delete all the associated files for an application if you move it to the trash. It like creating smart rules for organizing and cleaning up you mess.

    I have only scratched the surface for what it can do though and recently, two things came across my radar that will be of interest to those that use it as well as those that should.

    Hazel on MPU 25 – First off is episode 25 of the Mac Power Users podcast that was all about how to get ninja deep with Hazel. Insightful and full of tips and tricks with many step by step instructions. The episode page also includes some handy links.

    Quick Tips: 3 Uses for Hazel – The Apple Blog share three quick and useful ways to use Hazel including cleaning up your downloads, creating a zip/unzip folder, and auto launching torrents.

    If nothing else these links will give you an idea of some idea of the powerful things that can be done.

  • Finisterre Cemetery

    These strange concrete constructions form a cemetery, somewhere along the coastline of Finisterre, Spain. They’re the brainchild of Spanish architect César Portela.

    It’s just so very much unlike any cemetery I’ve seen before… The other-worldly grey boxes, placed so disorderly… They’re just there, without fences, looking out over the infinite ocean, timeless.

    Portela had a vision, and he stuck to it:

    I set aside unimportant concerns, unjustified projects, unhelpful materials, useless details. I turned a deaf ear to the tempting voices of many sirens, stayed away from distractions and all that was not strictly necessary. All that I kept was the essential.

    And that’s how extraordinary architecture comes into being (thx, Héctor!)








  • The iPad, and the Staggering Work of Obviousness : Cheerful

    The iPad, and the Staggering Work of Obviousness : Cheerful:

    Nevertheless, the shortsightedness of punditry is evergreen. Instead of praising the iPad, critics express their disappointment, because they expected more. They expected a genre buster. They expected something they’d never seen before, something beyond their imagination. Something revolutionary.

    They’re disappointed that the iPad is so… well… unsurprising.

    Therein, of course, lies the genius.

    Great post tracing the history leading up to the iPad, the role it fills, and why it’s greatest asset is it’s transparency. Also, love the site design. Everything about this link is wonderful.

  • Most people do not need an FTP program. For them, I would offer...



    Most people do not need an FTP program. For them, I would offer that the Finder can mount an FTP volume well enough in a pinch. For those of us who really need the advanced features only offered by a full blown FTP application, Transmit is the only one I will ever recommend. I have been using it for almost as long as I have been using a Mac. I have tried all of the others, this is the best and the most “Mac Like”. Last night, Transmit 4 was released with a ton of new features and polish and it is nothing short of amazing.

    Seriously, the best FTP client available on any platform. Buy it.



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