If this rumor article from Ars Technica ends up really being legit, this seems like something that will finally change the phone industry forever. Not like the iPhone hasn’t already done that.

A phone-sized phone seems to make sense in ways the regular old iphone couldn’t. I could never carry around a device as big as the iphone…I put my phone in the pocket of my jeans (on the days I remember to bring it…). I wouldn’t want something as big as an old school palm pilot cramping my style in my front pocket and I’m not a strap on a leather harness to my belt kinda guy… But, I would carry a slimmer “iPhone Nano.”

If this makes it to the marketplace this summer, it could sway guys like me to actually forking over the cash for a monthly data plan and ditching the home phone…

A few weeks ago I showed the Kithaus 3. It’s a sleek little model perfect for a backyard office, a secluded lakeside retreat, or even a small guesthouse. 

This week, I’d like to rave about the Kithaus 1.

This thing is so beautiful to me. I love the extra angular stack of clearstory windows at the top. It comes in a few configurations (not sold quite yet). Kithaus is a built on an aluminum frame that clamps together in a few days on site. I really feel this could be an amazing modern retreat space.

How to get into your own kithaus:

1. Find land and buy it (preferably on a lake). 
2. Pick a combo.
3. Pay 50% down, 50% when ready to ship. 
4. Build foundation if necessary.
5. Get it delivered.
6. Build in a few days.
7. Dream good dreams.

I’m excited to be sitting on my own domain now. 

The site is still a work in progress. I’m not at all sure about the design, but it will do for now…

Been following Design Sponge for years. They’re still putting out a full stream of samples of great design.

Anne Jackson
Anne is working at the ole’ LifeChurch.tv these days. She always has interesting things to say and is open and transparent about how she gets to where she’s going.

Alltop.com
When Guy Kawasaki first launched alltop a few months ago, I wasn’t so sure about it. I’ve grown to love it, and you might too. It’s a one-stop shop for all the top bloggers of a particular topic. He’s growing the list everyday.

I’ve really been into Frontline Documentaries lately..
There site isn’t just a place to point people for “more information” but it really does expand on the content of their documentaries. Worth a visit…you can watch most things online in their entirety.

Gather around all you Fu Man Chu loving designers…

This is a great film that I watched on pbs the other night…Crazy how much corn has influenced the development of america’s agronomy…Check out King Corn at PBS.org

The Jeriko House.

This really is minimalist modern in a large package. The Jeriko House has really clean lines, and full cadre of possible layouts and configurations. It’s really a beautiful design, though maybe a bit too much of a throwback to mid-century modern for me.

Man I love the possibilities of greenliness, customizability, and reproduction of modern prefab…

It seems, more and more that eco-friendly and sustainable design is at the heart of this movement. I just hope it bleeds out from downtown lofts into first ring suburbs and non-commercial areas of the city…

Gallery

pardon bmx bandit’s french.

Last night we agreed with friends, Betsy, Corey and their kids Lily and Jonathon to “live in community.” About two months ago, they spent a week in our house testing the waters. It was a trial run of sharing meals, letting the kids entertain each other, and working more from our strengths.

We took time individually sharing our highs and lows based on our experience from that week. We set a few ground rules and parameters for what we all hope will be a great experience.

Rule #1 - Transparency.
Just like in our conversation last night, we all said what we meant and meant what we said. That’s not always comfortable for me. I generally try to avoid conflict, but I put my feelings out on the table.

Rule #2 - Maintain Rule #1 and we can handle anything that comes at us.
I strongly believe that communication that hides, is also communication that hurts. I tend to let my introverted nature take hold. I share what I think are necessities and the other 95% stays in. Not a great way to build trust and community. It builds apprehension and separation as others feel like they don’t really know you. I’ve always sucked at this, especially in my family, but I’m trying to forge new relationships.

Transparency builds:

So, it really feels like it’s time to stop talking about living in community, and dive in head first. Hopefully we’ll rise to the top of Life Together.

He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial. –Bonhoeffer

BTW - if you haven’t read Life Together, I think you should. It’s in my top 5 of all time. Bonhoeffer is deeply challenging to the modern Christian.

Life Together

I know how I am, if there’s no one around, I don’t use my blinker. It just seems like a sensible time saving step in my life.

Yesterday, I was driving to work after dropping my 3 year old off at preschool. The guy in front of me suddenly braked hard and turned right…I had to use evasive maneuvers. I didn’t have any warning and I didn’t see it coming.

On the way home from work, I sat at a stop light turning left (I had my blinker on). The person across the intersection had their blinker on to turn left, so I thought I could go. They went straight, left blinker on the whole time. I had to do much more severe evasive maneuvers. I saw something coming, but it wasn’t what I expected.

Either way, I guess no signals or the wrong signals are sending the WRONG MESSAGE.

In church, we send the wrong signals all the time.

We tell people we love them
We tell them they are part of a community here
We tell them that we’ll be there for them

Then, their sin is too big for us to handle, or we never make the effort to connect…or we just don’t act very loving even though that is supposed to be what we’re all about.

People get hurt. The church looks like a hypocrite. They don’t want anything to do with our message anymore…

Transparency is the only message that matters.

I’m working through this myself right now.

The difference between Windows and Mac OS X

The MKLotus from Michelle Kauffman.

This is a brilliant little prefab model starting at $125,000. The basic floorplan is fantastic with upfront living space open to the kitchen than back to the bed/bath.

I really love it; I love the built in veranda and the grassy knoll on the roof. I love the accordian wall of glass and the open floor plan with tons of glass.

Inhabitat featured it last fall.

Bishop Desmond Tutu was in North Minneapolis this Saturday.
Love Minneapolis was there doing their thing…Simple Acts of Service.

Sarah will be getting one of these on June 2nd.
The Maverick>>

I don’t know about you, but viewing blogs in a newsreader is ok, but I at least try to be a designer so I need a little more.

I use the built-in newsreader in Safari. I primarily use it to so if there is anything interesting to read…if so, I actually click in. Reading all content through the lens of the same basic RSS page isn’t enough. Design lends itself to the character, personality and style of the individual. So when I read your blog through the backdrop of an RSS page or the backdrop of your flower page or your clutter free page or your web 2.0 page…it makes a difference in how the content affects me.

Don’t be satisfied by bloglines, google reader, rss bandit or the rest. Taste your content with a little extra flavor. It makes a difference.

All that to say, in May, before I leave for France at the end of the month, I will be moving to a new domain, new design, and hopefully leave you with a new way to frame the content you see here.

I’ll let you know when the big launch will be…big to me at least. or fun I should say…

Today, I got rid of Joost and downloaded Adobe Media Player, realeased today…
(AMP).
It’s cleaner looking and cleaner in the sense that there isn’t all the smut that Joost has.

I think Adobe is going to do well with this product. It’s on par with adobe’s other apps. Nice GUI, simple, and modern. As long as they continue to grab good content, they’ll do a good job in the market.

The Willow Creek Lead Summit is coming up in August. Efrem will be speaking there this year.

They’ve got their website up and running now. You can check out a sample video from Efrem there.

Or check out the introduction from Phil Jackson, who co-wrote the Hip Hop Church book with Efrem.

The Book at Amazon:

Incidently, Phil and Tha House MCs will be at Hip Hop Sunday this month, April 20th 9 & 11am. They blew the roof off last time…Tha House is a ministry led by Phil Jackson birthed out of Lawndale Community Church in Chicago.

In the creative business, it’s important to stay inspired. I do that often by visiting the sites of the designers I love and the work they do that inspires me.

Here’s a few designers I like to follow.

1. Duffy & Partners.
Last summer I had the opportunity to work with Dan Olson, Creative Director at Duffy on a project for King’s Christian Academy. It was an awesome opportunity to see the process behind the great creative teams.
Here’s the logo we worked up…

2. Design Guys.
Instrumental in the “Target Revolution.” Steve Sikora literally got to go isle by isle and redesign generic target products, point of purchase, endcaps and more. Amazing work, wish they’d show more of it and update their website.

3. Swim 345.
Chris Dewan is one talented cat. Use to be Minnesota-based…never met him…but he’s somehow connected to friends…

4. Bludot.
I don’t know how comfortable their stuff is, but I love to look at their new catalog each year. They never seem to sacrifice function for form.

5. Tilka.
I’ve been enamored with Jane Tilka’s work since I saw her speak at a conference a few years back. She simply understands how to build an identity system and keep it consistent across the brand. She started Sox Appeal years ago.

6. Olson .
Great work. The new ad hub of the twin cities, since fallon has really gone downhill in the last several years. At least 3 Olsonites go to Sanctuary. Can’t wait to work with Rob someday. He’s got far more talent than I do in this area…

7. Hatch.
I loved Joel Templin’s work as part of Templin Brink, which apparently went their separate ways last year. His work is so clean and always has been. Love it.

8. Wink.
Fascinating kitschy retro esthetic. One of the guys from Wink moved into my old apartment in NE Minneapolis when we moved out and bought our house. Wink was just getting going then…They’ve grown up.

9. IDEO.
Not much you can say. Brilliance at work. Innovation is the name of the game.

10. Turner Duckworth.
Just a warehouse of ridiculous talent. Package design to blow your mind.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nbkbss7i5s&hl=en]

Ariah had this one on his blog. Funny.
 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47LCLoidJh4&rel=0&hl=en]

I so wish I could have my garage bulldozed, and have one of these delivered to my backyard…I’m not sure it would totally fit in to my north-side ghetto-ish alley.

I’ve always imagined having some sort of structure detached from the house where I could office and lounge…and maybe have a gameroom…

The Kithaus would be perfect, if not for the location and likelihood of having it broken into and everything valuable stripped…

1. 2007 Taxes
2. 2006 Taxes (really? Yep. really.)
3. Have a date night with my wife.
4. Order 2 iMacs and 1 Macbook Pro)
5. Get iCal Server working (or wait till the OS X Server Update comes next week).
6. Get some new directional signs printed for church on Sundays (it’s always a shuffle when you’re worshipping at a school.)
7. Read Pop Goes the Church
8. Figure out where we’ll go in France when we have 3 free days before Sarah’s surgery (Sally and Markus want to fly us to Germany for the weekend…why not?)
9. Get some much needed updates to the church website.
10. Finish off a design for the new Mosaic Youth Website.

So, I promised I would put the chili recipe online that our community group liked. Here it is…

I love making this stuff…and I love eating it even more. I experiment a little bit with it each time too…throw down some jalapenos, or add a little extra red pepper. Have fun…

The recipe is over at TastyPlanner.com

I can’t wait to see this:
 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpntYFfVoQU&hl=en]

Maybe there will be a field trip for Hip Hop Academy sometime…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKoXG0RjC7E&hl=en]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfq2Zwr0ABM&hl=en]