One of my plans this year is to build a new house. We’ve got the block, plans drawn up, and now we just need to secure the loan to get started.

Which is one of the reasons why I have fallen in love with Nest, the programmable thermostat. Check out the video below if you haven’t seen it already.

Here are some of the reasons why I think this is a game-changing product.

• Environmentally friendly

A thermostat that con help you significantly reduce your home’s carbon footprint? Of course!

• It’s beautiful.

Created by the Tony Fadell, the original Apple iPod team-lead, it’s no surprise that this would be a pretty device.

• They found a boring old product category and completely disrupted it.

Who was talking, even thinking about home-thermostat innovation 4 months ago? I love that they’ve chosen a category that is ripe for disruption, and suitably disrupted.

• It’s simple.

Nest is a marvel in simplicity. Thermostats are typically difficult to program (you should see my parents try and figure theirs out). Nest

• It’s geeky.

A thermostat that learns your habits, and even senses when you’re out of the house? That’s clever. And geeky. It’s a real social-object. I can picture myself talking the leg off any house-guest that seems vaguely interested. And did I mention that you can program it from your mobile device?

This is exciting, don’t you think? Not in an “I’m-an-Apple-fanboy-who-can-now-buy-an-Apple-thermostat” kind of way. But Long gone are the days where “green” products have to be the ugly sister. Nest is a true example of a product that’s irresistible and green – a winning combination that I’ve been looking forward to seeing more of.

OK so it’s the 8th of January. I’m still feeling quite New-Years-Resolutionary. I always do for the first few weeks of the year.

But maybe this year’s different. After all, I’m turning 35 soon, which makes me feel as though I’m at roughly the half way mark. And to be honest, I don’t feel as though I’ve really achieved much yet.

The past 5 years have pretty good to me. Happily married, and now sporting a beautiful 14 month old daughter. Fairly happy with who I am, and the area that I work in. Just feeling that I need to pull my socks up, put my skates on and any other cliche about getting things done.

So, for my own record-keeping, here are some resolutions that I want to work on this year.

- Get Healthy – I don’t mean super fit, train-for-a-marathon type healthy. That’s not my style. But a bit less booze drinking, a bit more bike riding. Eat better. Shrink the double chin.

- Close down ivoteforart.com – I’ve been putting off closing my little baby business for some time now. But it hasn’t been the success I’d hoped for, and I’ve lost the passion to keep it going.

- Work Life Balance – I didn’t quite achieve that this year. Too much work and not enough play made me a dull boy in 2011.

- Simplifying – Less is more, I guess. I want to focus on doing less things, but better. Decluttering.

- New ventures – Not entirely sure what this will be yet. But I’m feeling itchy to start something new. A new startup? Side-project? Or even just some micro-ideas. 2012 feels like a good year for it. And I want to start blogging a bit more frequently, using the blog as a place to explore some ideas.

- Move to Kyneton - This one will definitely happen. We’ve got the block, we’ve drawn the plans. Now we just need to get started on building. Veggie patch, Chook shed and home-made lemonade to follow. I think moving to the country will help me find the right online / offline balance in life that I often struggle to reach.

OK, enough introspectivity. Happy new year all, I hope 2012 is a good one for all of us!

“ If you add up all the trends under way today, I believe we are beginning to see the start of something original, and perhaps wonderful. It may prove to be the economic and social antidote to the failed financial capitalism and crony capitalism that no longer delivers economic value in terms of jobs, income, and taxes to the people …”

4 Reasons Why The Future Of Capitalism Is Homegrown, Small Scale, And Independent | Co.Design.

Grandmother Tips on the Behance Network.

Designing a product is keeping five thousand things in your brain and fitting them all together in new and different ways to get what you want. And every day you discover something new that is a new problem or a new opportunity to fit these things together a little differently.

And it’s that process that is the magic.

—

Steve Jobs (via Daring Fireball) (via 37Signals)

Designing a product is keeping five thousand… – (37signals).

Dudes! It’s been over 6 months since I posted a mixtape.

So here’s one for you. I wouldn’t exactly call it super-upbeat. My music taste tends to go all moody and whatnot during winter depression. Will try and follow up soon with something more upbeat for summer.

I’ve always had a bit of a fetish for Faces in Places, so the from and back covers are some of my submissions to the idea.

Download

http://www.mediafire.com/?zdyq39xk8uknrrw

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Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.

—Maurice Sendak

via Bobulate.

Love this – Museum Of Obsolete Objects

via swissmiss

Do you reckon we could do this in Melbourne? I’d love to …

Here’s a novel idea: create a system of mini-libaries at bus stops in order to encourage reading and green transportation. Think it could never happen? Think again. Two urban artists, one of whom graduated from Israel’s Technion Faculty of Architecture, submitted their brainchild to the mayor of Kfar Saba, a small city north of Tel Aviv, who gave them his blessing. Although there were some initial reservations about how long the books would last, one resident told Ynet News that at the beginning of the first experimental week, the books disappeared. By the end of that week, not only were the books returned, but new ones were added.

Novel Bus-Stop Libraries in Israel Promote Green Transportation (via zaana)