Minima

Strange Loop 2009 Keynote: Minimalism in Computing

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:16:05 GMT

With this keynote talk, delivered at a conference in St Louis in October of 2009, Minima is done. I've been thinking about minimalism and simplicity in technology for the past two years, and this tumblelog has been my scrapbook as I've explored the topic. It remains an important influence on my life and work, but I no longer have a need to gather materials in support of it. The talk was my opportunity to synthesize my thinking about the influence of Minimalist art on computing, and hopefully it provides some context for what I've gathered here.

If you'd like a daily dose of simplicity-related content, the Minimal and Minimal Mac tumblelogs have both been extremely active of late.

If you value Minimalist ideals, go out into the world and share them in everything you do. Thanks for reading.

http://www.slideshare.net/al3x/strange-loop-2009-keynote-minimalism-in-computing

"Some standards are sound and indispensable; some simply celebrate bureaucrati..."

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:36:25 GMT

"Some standards are sound and indispensable; some simply celebrate bureaucratic littleness of mind. A harvest of gimmicks to save appearances within the standard has grown up, then gimmicks to save the appearances within the appearances."

–Doug McIlroy

The cockpit of the Honda Ev N Concept.

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:41:35 GMT

The cockpit of the Honda Ev N Concept.

"In many ways [Google Wave is] overly complex. In fact it's too complex for th..."

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:13:28 GMT

"In many ways [Google Wave is] overly complex. In fact it's too complex for the era of the Attention Crash where all of us, especially knowledge workers, are crying for simplicity."

–Steve Rubel

Trio stackable pitcher and bowl set by iittala.

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:41:34 GMT

Trio stackable pitcher and bowl set by iittala.

The "Simply" line of coffee accessories from Stelton.

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:39:33 GMT

The "Simply" line of coffee accessories from Stelton.

"Perfection is attained not when there is nothing left to add, but when there ..."

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:37:07 GMT

"Perfection is attained not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

–St-Exupéry

The homepage and weblog of Mozilla interaction designer Alexander Limi.

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:59:07 GMT

The homepage and weblog of Mozilla interaction designer Alexander Limi.

Home Normal, a record label that "seeks to release unique works of a loosely ...

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:40:20 GMT

Home Normal, a record label that "seeks to release unique works of a loosely minimal, organic, folk and/or electronic nature".

"[S]tores your text and keeps it synced between your work, home, and devices like the iPhone. Open source, suitable for self hosting, a public API."

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:42:47 GMT

"[S]tores your text and keeps it synced between your work, home, and devices like the iPhone. Open source, suitable for self hosting, a public API."

This is what the next versions of WriteRoom and TaskPaper for both Mac and iPhone will sync to.

"What we are seeking is the minimum amount of technology that will generate th..."

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:17:58 GMT

"What we are seeking is the minimum amount of technology that will generate the maximum number of options for all."

–Kevin Kelly: "The Technium: Why Technology Can't Fulfill"

Philip Glass portrait by Chuck Close.

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:12:58 GMT

Philip Glass portrait by Chuck Close.

"The best way to increase your productivity, hack your life, and be minimalist..."

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:07:01 GMT

"The best way to increase your productivity, hack your life, and be minimalist is to stop reading those sites."

–Marco Arment

"By avoiding complexity when possible, and containing it when it is unavoidabl..."

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:54:25 GMT

"By avoiding complexity when possible, and containing it when it is unavoidable, we can [...] maximize the probability that the number of security vulnerabilities found remains zero in the future."

–Colin Percival: Complexity is insecurity

"The languages are not meant to compete in speed or complexity with their bigg..."

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:17:18 GMT

"The languages are not meant to compete in speed or complexity with their bigger cousins from the real world. On the contrary, they are deliberately very simple, as each language introduces only one or two new basic ideas. You should find the source code useful if you want to learn how things are done."

–The Programming Language Zoo

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Pure, a throwback to the clean lines of last century...

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:05:52 GMT

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Pure, a throwback to the clean lines of last century's best German industrial designs.

"Thanks to the speed and connectivity of the digital age, we've stopped fussin..."

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:33:15 GMT

"Thanks to the speed and connectivity of the digital age, we've stopped fussing over pixel counts, sample rates, and feature lists. Instead, we're now focused on three things: ease of use, continuous availability, and low price. Is it simple to get what we want out of the technology? Is it available everywhere, all the time—or as close to that ideal as possible? And is it so cheap that we don't have to think about price?"

–Wired: "The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine"

"There is a certain appeal in closing the meta-loop of minimalism in programmi..."

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:42:34 GMT

"There is a certain appeal in closing the meta-loop of minimalism in programming. Writing simple, efficient code in languages which themselves are simple and efficient. To that end, I've collected programming environments which are small and self contained, while still useful."

–Tiny Code

(Image)

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:32:35 GMT

"I think [Steve Jobs's] choice of a minimalist aesthetic comes from his fear ..."

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:53:07 GMT

"I think [Steve Jobs's] choice of a minimalist aesthetic comes from his fear of making the wrong aesthetic choice."

–Alan Deutschman, quoted in "Steve Jobs: The man who polished Apple" in the Times of London.

"The only hope is to abandon complex software. Embrace simple. Forget backward..."

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:01:37 GMT

"The only hope is to abandon complex software. Embrace simple. Forget backward compatibility."

–Interview with Chuck Moore, creator of the Forth language.

"This overarching idea of simplicity is what Mies van der Rohe, architect and ..."

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:24:25 GMT

"This overarching idea of simplicity is what Mies van der Rohe, architect and leader of the Bauhaus movement in Germany during the 1920s, meant by his motto “less is more”. It’s what now, with latter-day eloquence, is called “KISS” (short for “keep it simple, stupid”)."

–The Economist: "When less is more"

Minimal Mac

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:34:05 GMT

A tumblelog about simplifying one's Mac experience. Lots of different approaches.

http://minimalmac.com/

"As computers have increased in complexity my enjoyment of them has plummeted."

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:52:34 GMT

"As computers have increased in complexity my enjoyment of them has plummeted."

–John Graham-Cumming: "Just give me a simple CPU and a few I/O ports"

"For me, what [musicians Sunn O)))] are doing bears comparison to [minimalist ..."

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:03:05 GMT

"For me, what [musicians Sunn O)))] are doing bears comparison to [minimalist artist] Donald Judd's work, particularly his boxes of the 60's and 70's. Their sound is serial, repetitive, plays off of mass and is as much a physiological phenomenon as an acoustic one. It stops being an aesthetic experience and becomes a body experience. There are exact, direct parallels there."

–Artist Banks Violette in The New York Times Magazine article "Heady Metal", 2006

"The cocktail is a lovely simple thing"

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:41:26 GMT

"The cocktail is a lovely simple thing"

–The Weekly Standard: "The Cocktail Renaissance"

Simplenote Updated

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:50:45 GMT

The aforementioned Simplenote note-taking application for iPhone and web has been updated. You can keep up with its development and correspond with its developers on Twitter.

If you want to backup or export your notes from Simplenote, I've built a thing for that. I can now whole-heartedly recommend the application.

"[E]verything you own, it's all done on the backs of millions of poor people w..."

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:19:53 GMT

"[E]verything you own, it's all done on the backs of millions of poor people whose lives are so awful you can't even begin to imagine them, people who will do anything to get a life that is a tiny bit better than the shitty one they were born into, people who get exploited and treated like shit and, in the worst of all cases, pay with their lives."

–The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, making the case for less.

SingleFunction

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:27:07 GMT

"Showcasing Single Function Websites"

http://singlefunction.com/

(Image)

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:15:34 GMT

"To conceive of the minimalist techno aesthetic as a branch in the chronologic..."

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:42:42 GMT

"To conceive of the minimalist techno aesthetic as a branch in the chronological tree with Cybotron at its root is to discount the existence of [Konrad] Becker’s work."

–Little White Earbuds

"Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance."

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:27:40 GMT

"Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance."

–Oblique Strategies, Edition 1 (1975)

The homepage of Mark Reid, a programmer with an interest in machine learning ...

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:24:26 GMT

The homepage of Mark Reid, a programmer with an interest in machine learning and statistics. Information-rich but easy on the eyes. Check out his new programming blog, Structure & Process, amongst other content.

minma

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:17:16 GMT

Another minimalism-oriented tumblelog. No relation, but much appreciation. Some overlap, too, but that's reassuring.

http://minma.tumblr.com/

"Mann employs an architectural approach that establishes a plot framework but ..."

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:31:43 GMT

"Mann employs an architectural approach that establishes a plot framework but declines to fill every nook and cranny. He uses very few elements to suggest many more, and in so doing constructs a kind of environment that the audience experiences rather than a narrative account that the audience observes. This is very much minimalism and experience design at work; it just happens to star Johnny Depp, is all."

–Khoi Vinh: "Minimalism, Michael Mann and Miami Vice"

(Image)

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:13:29 GMT

From a roundup of minimal and typographic package designs. Many are not "mini...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:17:32 GMT

From a roundup of minimal and typographic package designs. Many are not "minimalist", per se, just spare.

"When we distill a design down to the core concepts and remove the extraneous,..."

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:51:58 GMT

"When we distill a design down to the core concepts and remove the extraneous, it forces us to admit and agree what the core concepts actually are."

–Subtractive Design

The best Web-based task managers - Slate Magazine

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:53:23 GMT

Slate reviews online to-do lists. One of their three metrics is minimalism. Google Tasks wins.

http://www.slate.com/id/2221758/pagenum/all/#p2

(Image)

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:16:44 GMT