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Looking at Different Writing Tools for Macs | The Brooks Review:

Mr Brooks provides a nice tidy rundown of a lot of the Writing Apps available for the Mac. Some really great choices here (TextEdit being my favorite, of course). The one he likes and uses is called Ulysses which I had never heard of before but looks interesting (hardly minimal).

To me, the minimalist aesthetic is the most humanist of all, one that elicits the full power of all our senses, says Richard Meier.

The Gagosian Gallery, in Beverly Hills, designed by Richard Meier in 1995, reflects the New York architect’s pure expression of modernism—a blend of pristine, white walls and glass grids creating intersecting volumes. Using just the right Meierisms, the expansion of the Gagosian Gallery maintains its original distinctive qualities of space and light.

The new space is designed to take advantage of the Los Angeles’ climate with 3,000 hours of yearly sun and to support its flourishing contemporary art scene. The reuse of a curved wood barrel-vault roof is a great contrast to the lightness of Mr. Meier’s architecture and iconic white aesthetic. The stunning Getty Center, in Los Angeles is one of his most celebrated commissions.

Mr. Meier’s ‘white‘ is never just white.

White is about color, he insists. The whiteness is also a way of articulating the architectural ideas in the clearest ways: the difference between openness and closure, between transparency and opaqueness.

Thank goodness for this Meiericity—a fantasy of an optimistic environment where I feel uplifted. Hello, grids… and whiteness.

thehalohaloproject:

Ultra-rare Omega Ploprof COMEX. 1 out 10 ever made, of which only 4 remain in existence. 

The London Design Museum invited cultural commentator and philosopher Alain de Botton to interview John Pawson about his current project Plain Space, previous projects and his minimalist approach to design.

And yay, the good people of the Design Museum shared a video of the interview. Two beautiful minds interacting, it doesn’t get any better than this!

→ Watch the video on Vimeo.

Instapaper 2.3 for iPhone and iPad now available - Instapaper Blog:

Major update to my favorite iPhone and iPad app with a ton of useful new features. Here is the one I have been waiting for:

The list now indicates approximate article length and progress with a row of dots, similar to how it’s done on a Kindle’s home screen. The more dots, the longer the article is, and darkened dots indicate approximately how far you’ve read in the article.

Often times I have longed for a way to help me decide what to read based upon the available time I have. This will go a long way towards that.

I recently tweeted the joys of less vs. more, and someone replied that “less is better” doesn’t apply to having money to pay for bills.

Ah, true. Except that it’s not true: having more money isn’t better. Having less money means you’re forced to make a choice: is it better to have a lot of bills and not make ends meet, or go into debt … or is it better to cut back on bills?

Fewer bills is better, in my experience. It means less stress, less hassle to pay bills, less work required to pay them, more savings, simplicity.

It means having less in your life, but that’s not a bad thing. Less in your life means finding creative ways to be happy.

Some examples:

• Cable TV: cutting this bill means you can read books or go outside or play board games.
• Credit card: Eliminating credit means you only buy things when you absolutely need them and have the money.
• Auto: getting rid of your car means finding alternate transportation — walking and cycling are much healthier, and much cheaper. You also cut out the gas bill, insurance, auto maintenance and repairs, cleaning costs, registration fees, parking fees, toll fees and more.
• Restaurants: eating out less means cooking more, which can mean fresh food cooked simply and healthily.
• Coffee: cutting out on drinking mochas and cappuccinos means drinking water or home-made coffee or tea, which is healthier and cheaper.
• Heating/cooling: you might not be able to kill this bill, but you can cut back by heating or cooling small spaces instead of the whole house, or dressing warmer.
• Power: cut back on electricity use, unplug things when you don’t use them.
• Mortgage: sell the house, rent a smaller place, get rid of most of your possessions so you don’t need so much space. You’ll also cut out homeowners taxes, fees, maintenance costs, and more.
• Phone: cut out the landline or the cell phone. You also might not need a data plan.
• Gym: workout at home or outside for free.
• Magazines/newspapers: info is available online. Read books from the library instead.
• Trips/vacations: have fun near your home.
• Housecleaning/yardwork/landscaping: Do it yourself if you currently pay someone, and get healthier doing it.
• Daycare/private schools: Public schools can be great, homeschooling is free if you can manage it.
• Movies/DVDs: Be selective, and find free forms of entertainment instead.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Cutting back on bills means being creative, but it also means a simpler, healthier life in many cases.