Recently when I was in Amsterdam, I went on a private rare book tour at the Embassy of the Free Mind. The embassy houses one of the world’s largest collections of Hermetic and occult books, and they’ve digitized thousands of manuscripts that you can read online for free. But if you’re in Amsterdam, I definitely recommend booking a guided tour. I chose the tour that focuses on alchemical texts, but they have others on magic, witchcraft, and Rosicrucianism. I didn’t get to touch any of the books, which is understandable, but I did get to smell one that was hundreds of years old and it was glorious. — CD

Easy search on phone

Recomendo is biased toward iPhones because the three of us use one. So here is a tip for Android users: Enable Google’s Circle to Search on your phone. You can then use your finger to circle any image, part of an image, product in an image, word, phrase, text – anything on the screen and it will search what you circle. You don’t have to take a screenshot. It works inside of any app. Hit the bottom navigation bar or home button and then use your finger to circle the part you want more information about. It instantly can identify products in a picture, or check to see if a message is spam, or translate text, or supply more information about a comment. Be sure the function is enabled in the Settings > Display or Navigation Mode. (I am hoping this function comes to native iPhone soon.) — KK

Use your TV as a Bluetooth speaker

I use a small JBL Go 4 Bluetooth speaker for podcasts and music around the house. But when I’m in the living room, I’ve started streaming phone audio to my smart TV instead. Most TVs have bigger, better speakers than any portable Bluetooth speaker — the sound is fuller, with more low end and a wider stereo image. Whether it’s AirPlay, Chromecast, or Bluetooth, almost every smart TV supports it. — MF

Best open source library

Shadow libraries disregard copyright law, and contain digital copies of just about every book ever published. A number of these open source libraries (such as Sci-Hub) have been shut down; the current best one up and running is Anna’s Archive, hosted offshore somewhere. I am slowly turning my physical library into a digital library. From Anna’s Archive I have been downloading digital copies of any book I have purchased to create a working digital library I can use, search, apply to AI, and build upon. You can’t do that with Kindle books. Anna’s Archive also has 95 million scientific and scholarly journal articles, which is especially handy when publishers make getting a copy difficult. (Be wary: if you google Anna’s Archive you get malware sites; best to go to the links listed in the Anna’s Archive Wikipedia entry.) If a digital copy of something exists, Anna’s Archive will have it. — KK

Company Retreat

Kevin previously recommended Jury Duty on Prime, and if you haven’t watched it you should, then immediately watch the new season called Company Retreat. It follows a temp worker hired to help run a company retreat for a fake company, called Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce, surrounded entirely by actors playing coworkers. He has no idea he’s the only real person navigating these increasingly ridiculous situations. Right after binging I rewatched each episode with the behind-the-scenes audio commentary tracks. It’s fascinating how the actors navigate multiple layers of story and reality, and how the “hero’s” genuine goodness keeps him ahead of a script he doesn’t even know exists. It makes me think about the power of suggestion, authenticity versus programming, and how heartening it is to witness someone naturally driven by values that prioritize community over self. It is equally uplifting as it is hilarious. — CD

USB-C to USB-A adapter

The world seems to be converging on USB-C as the universal standard, and I hope nobody invents a replacement once we get there. For now, I live in a mixed world of USB-C and USB-A gear. These tiny, inexpensive Syntech adapters are how I connect the two: a male USB-C plug on one end, a female USB-A port on the other. I keep them on my desk and in my travel bag for flash drives, charging cables, wired mice, and other older peripherals. I've tried a few brands; this one is the most reliable, with nearly 189,000 reviews and a 4.7-star average. — MF

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Most modern cars have electronic fob keys, which are great, except if you need to replace them. They can cost between $200 to $500 to replace. Our 2008 Toyota Prius had one single grungy fob that was starting to fall apart and I wanted to have a spare key cheaper than the $400 Toyota wanted to charge us. So I found Tom’s Keys, which sells a third-party fob ($98) that you can program with an existing working fob (required). The programming steps are ridiculously complex; I thought it was a joke (open, close the driver door 6 times, insert fob twice quickly, open and close door again, push both buttons on fob, repeat, etc. This complexity is from the car manufacturers, not from the key people.) But after many many tries I successfully programmed the new fob to work, so now I have a spare. Tom’s Keys customer service is flaky, and there are some complaints about not being able to program the key, but for me it was worth the try for $100. — KK

Plan your next national park trip

The US National Park Finder filters all 63 U.S. national parks by their best months to visit, as well as listing their top activities and best spots for stargazing. After filtering, each park card gives you sample itineraries, fun facts, travel hacks, and resources and advice pulled from Reddit. The next park on my travel wishlist is Saguaro National Park, and it’s helpful to get all this information on one page. — CD

Sound machine for a good night's sleep

We live on a fairly busy street, and in the summer our fans do a good job of drowning out traffic noise. But in the colder months, we rely on sound machines instead. I used to play white noise through my phone, but I worried about damaging the speaker at high volumes night after night. This $25 Hotmoon Cocoon 2 solves that. It has 40 sounds, including white, pink, green, and brown noise. I'm a fan of brown noise — it's less harsh and more mellow than white noise. — MF

Civilized hiking

I am a huge fan of walking a long distance with friends or family. It’s intensely bonding. Ideally you walk about 100 km, for six days, with comfy lodging at an inn with a meal every night, cafes along the way, carrying only a daypack, with your luggage forwarded. This is not camping, not backpacking! Walking with no gear is so very civilized. I’ve done these kinds of memorable walks all over the world. The easiest way to start is to follow a route supplied by the outfitter MacsAdventure, who will arrange the lodging and luggage forwarding, and give you a route to follow on your phone app, for very reasonable costs. You choose when you want to go. My recommendations for two easy-to-do, highly rewarding walks are the Cotswold Loop in England, and the Coastal El Camino in Portugal. Either one will give you an easy, memorable trip. Sign up with some friends or family. — KK

Find direct flights midway

Midway is a tool to help people in different cities find a meetup destination they can each reach by a direct flight. You put in two or more departure cities and it shows you every destination reachable by direct flight from all of them, with filters for distance and flight time. Honestly, even if you don’t have group plans, it’s just useful as a way to see all the direct flights possible from your home airport. — CD

Unlimited movies at AMC

My wife and I go to the movies at least once a week, and AMC Stubs A-List has been a fantastic deal for us. For $27.99/month (going up $2 starting July 15), you can see up to 4 movies per week at any AMC theater — and it doesn’t matter what format: standard, Dolby Cinema, IMAX, Prime, laser, or even the lounge-chair theaters. All are included. You also get free online reservations with no booking fees. If you have an AMC near you and enjoy movies, this will save you a lot of money. — MF

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My book of 800 unusual images from Asia — arranged by colors — is now available as an inexpensive digital book. Because it is so graphic the digital version works best as a PDF. You can order and download the digital Colors of Asia, anywhere in the world for $3.99. — KK

Wireless wild bird watching

My mother used to tell me stories about her favorite great aunt in Mexico who had an aviary, and I’ve always dreamed of having my own but can’t imagine keeping birds caged. And then for Christmas, my husband gifted me the Birdfy AI Smart Bird Feeder, and it’s totally made that dream come true in a way I didn’t expect. My backyard has never been more active, and I’ve gotten to know all the visiting birds that the AI identifies, plus collect and download clips of their cute eating and fighting. The images are crisp and clear, and it feels like a whole hidden dimension of the world has opened up for me. Birdfy is the brand we have and I’m very happy with it, but I know there are more out there, and I’m really recommending the experience of a bird feeder camera more than this one specific product. — CD

Budget espresso machine that punches above its weight

A friend bought the under-$200 Casabrews CM5418 Espresso Machine for her boyfriend’s birthday because they were tired of paying inflated prices for Nespresso pods. I had my doubts that a machine this cheap could make decent coffee, but I have to say it’s excellent. It has a decent pump that pulls a rich shot and has a steam wand for frothing milk. Pair it with a burr grinder rather than a blade grinder — fresh, evenly ground beans make a big difference. I use a Capresso Infinity grinder. — MF

Paint pens

Sharpie makes pens that lay down a heavy layer of paint, instead of a thinner layer of ink. With these paint pens, you can make very visible marks on virtually anything. Sharpie Creative Markers work on glass, dark plastic, rusty metal, stone – surfaces that ordinary markers fail on. They come in lots of colors, and 3 different tip types. Artists like them on paper because they are very opaque yet don’t bleed through the other side. There are fancy brands of expensive paint pens made for artists, but the Sharpie versions are very affordable, about $1 per pen. — KK

A reminder to “Play”

This opinion piece on The Next Web titled “The most radical act in an age of outrage is to play” is a navigational reset for where we should put our energy. The invitation is that in a culture addicted to outrage, choosing to play—freely, creatively, and with others—is itself a radical act of resistance and repair. Which is such a good reminder. Play—along with Kindness, Truth, and Love—is a core tenet of mine. Play as a radical act is the quiet, subversive way we can reclaim our own nervous systems, our attention, and our capacity to connect. — CD

Explore Wikipedia by map

The Wikipedia app (free, iOS/Android) has a locations feature that shows Wikipedia articles on a map. It’s a fun way to discover interesting spots when you travel. I've been using it around Los Angeles and have found things I never knew existed. My favorite find so far: the Hollywood Freeway chickens, a colony of feral chickens that have lived under the Vineland Avenue off-ramp of the 101 since around 1970, possibly descended from a truckload of poultry that overturned. — MF

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Dark Sky used to be the best weather app on the iPhone. Apple bought it years ago, incorporated its best features into their Weather App, but then never improved it. The folks who made Dark Sky are back with version 2.0, which they call Acme Weather. It produces extremely hyper-local forecasts with probabilistic scenarios, alerting you to how certain the forecast is. They also display crowdsource data, like rainbow sightings. I found it superior enough to pay for it ($25/yr), once the free trial ran out. — KK

Real-time airport delays

Flighty’s airport dashboard shows live departure and arrival delays for hundreds of airports around the world. A quick glance before you leave for the airport could save you a lot of stress — or at least help you decide whether to grab that extra coffee first. Free to use in a browser. — MF

Show about a dysfunctional family of gods

KAOS on Netflix is a dark, modern remix of the Greek gods that is both chaotic and entertaining to watch. The plot revolves around Zeus trying to prevent a prophecy of his downfall, the three humans handed the greater destiny of being the ones to topple the gods, and the betrayals of his dysfunctional immortal family. Dionysus, god of wine, pleasure, and wild frenzy, was my favorite character—a sad party boy god aching for real love and meaning. Because we’re dealing with gods and myth, there is of course sex and violence and a lot of death—nothing is sacred, not even babies. It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you love mythology I highly recommend it. It will make you squeamish and it will make you laugh. I binged the first season in two weeks and was genuinely bummed to learn it was canceled. — CD

USB charger with a useful display

The Anker Smart Display Charger is a 45W USB-C block with a built-in color screen that’s genuinely useful. It shows real-time wattage, how close your battery is to full, which device is connected, and if your phone is fast-charging or just trickling. It is smaller than most 10W chargers, with 180-degree folding prongs that flatten for travel. — MF

Tiny rechargeable flashlight

The best flashlight is the one that you are carrying, which means the tiny one on your phone is what most of us use. However I like a lot of extra light inspecting work in my workshop, hunting for things in the house, and walking at night, so I carry a small dedicated light on my keyring and in my daypack. The Olight Imini 2 is only 2 inches (42mm) long, easy to turn on with one hand, and most agreeably, can be recharged with USB. No batteries ever needed! It’s 10 times brighter than a phone and easier to handle. I use mine far more than I thought I would. — KK

Visually traverse another planet

This website lets you follow the path of the Curiosity rover through every step and photo since it landed on Mars in 2012. You scroll along the rover’s path on a topographical map, and the actual raw NASA photos from that day fill the screen alongside it. It’s awe—and a super cool project. — CD

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Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, Cool Tools Weekly Newsletter, and Book Freak.

Home DIY videos

How To Home is a YouTube channel with excellent videos that demonstrate how to complete common household repairs, such as wiring switches, fixing faucet leaks, and threading wire through walls and ceilings. Unlike many DIY videos, these feature high-quality audio, are well-lit, and aren’t blurry. — MF

Culinary curiosities from around the world

Gastro Obscura is an Instagram account with photos and descriptions of unusual foods from around the world. You’ll find Japanese cream puffs that look like kittens, fruit that looks like an exploding planet, fruit that tastes like chocolate pudding, and lots more. It gave me a greater appreciation for just how diverse the world’s culinary options can be. — MF

Laugh out loud caricatures

Watch these sidewalk artists in Waikiki draw extreme caricatures of customers, and their customers’ hysterical reactions. The drawings are much more exaggerated than typical caricatures, yet they look uncannily like the subjects. I was laughing along with the people who bravely sat for the drawings. A guaranteed mood lifter. — MF

Quick research explainers

Two Minute Papers is a YouTube channel featuring short videos (sometimes 5 minutes long) created by a professor who reviews new research papers in visual programming, artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer graphics, simulations, and other state-of-the-art computer science. He explains the research’s significance, while running very cool graphics demo-ing the results. I find it a painless way to keep up in this fast-moving field. — KK

Strange images

The Instagram account Welcome.jpeg calls itself a digital museum. It’s kinda art, kinda meme, kinda kitsch, kinda weirdo. It collects oddball, strange, unorthodox, found images and delivers these misfits as little visual collections. It’s my guilty pleasure. — KK

Joyful social media

I’ve intentionally cut down on my social media time, but there’s one account I never scroll past because it always makes me smile: Official Stick Reviews on Instagram. It’s the internet’s go-to spot for stick reviews submitted from around the world. Initially, I thought it was satire, but I soon realized the enthusiasm for finding cool sticks is both genuine and contagious. Here’s a good example. — CD

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This collection of AI-related science-fiction short stories by Richard Ngo reminds me of the classic anthologies I read growing up during the golden age of science fiction. They are hard sci-fi, with technically plausible scenarios, played out many levels deep in very consistent worlds, explored by a very fertile imagination. I found more insights per page in Ngo’s The Gentle Romance than in any other book I’ve read for a long while. — KK

Career Dreamer career map

Google’s Career Dreamer tool has been around for a bit, but it’s recently been updated with more AI support and feels worth returning to if you’re in a career‑questioning season. It asks for your past roles, skills, and interests, and then reflects back possible career paths, related titles, and a “career identity statement” you can lift language from for your resume or LinkedIn. I like using it as a way to see how my existing experience could stretch into adjacent roles I hadn’t named yet. If you land on a path that involves freelancing or consulting, this hourly rate calculator is a good tool for discovering what people in similar roles are actually charging. — CD

Fun bluffing game

My daughter introduced me to Skull, a fun, fast-paced tabletop bluffing game for 3-6 people. Each player gets three rose cards and one skull card. Players take turns laying cards face down until one player announces they can turn over a specified number of flower cards from their own and the other players’ cards. Bidding continues until the others pass. If the high bidder turns over a skull, they lose the round; otherwise, they win. It takes about two minutes to learn, but the bluffing gets deviously deep. The coaster-like cardboard pieces feel great in your hands, and the artwork is beautiful. — MF

Other Mona Lisas

I like this fun list of what different places call “our Mona Lisa.” It’s not just museums or galleries. It includes single objects treated like sacred centerpieces by retail brands, jewelers, and more. I love the idea that any household can have its own Mona Lisa—something everything else seems to orbit around. — CD

Phone ring hack

Like many people I keep my phone ringer on vibrate, but I don’t usually carry my phone on me – I may leave it on a desk – so I often miss calls. I’ve greatly reduced missed calls by setting the phone to flash its flashlight and flash its screen while it vibrates. That flashing light is enough to notice from a distance. It is easy to program on the iPhone. Go Settings > Accessibility > Audio Visual > Flash for Alerts. For Android: Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Screen Text > Flash Notifications. — KK

Free encyclopedia of ancient design patterns

In 1930, pioneering archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie published Decorative Patterns of the Ancient World, cataloging over 3,000 ornamental motifs — spirals, animals, rosettes, braids, crosses, and more — drawn from ancient civilizations across Europe and the Near East up to about 1000 AD. The entire book is free to browse and download on the Internet Archive, making it an incredible reference for artists, designers, crafters, and anyone looking for authentic, copyright‑free historical patterns to use in their work. The simple black‑and‑white line drawings make the motifs easy to trace, digitize, or adapt. Used copies of an out-of-print Dover paperback are also available. — MF

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On a recent flight from LA to Portland, I used Flighty on my iPhone and was impressed by how much it knew about my trip. It let me know we’d be landing 30 minutes ahead of schedule, and even on the plane’s free texting-only Wi-Fi, it kept updating my flight status and showed me where my plane was on a map. You can share your trip with family so they get automatic landing alerts. The app is beautifully designed, and the “Where’s My Plane?” feature tracks your inbound aircraft up to 25 hours early, so you can see trouble coming. It also warns you about tight connections and tracks your lifetime flying stats on a nice passport-style map. Free for basics; Pro ($59/year or $299 lifetime) adds push alerts, weather radar, and calendar sync. iOS/Mac/Apple Watch only. — MF

23 learnings on building community

I am so grateful when someone who is truly adept in their field shares their learnings, and Patricia Mou’s essay is a decade’s worth of wisdom in community building and holding space. My own personal journey with community has been about repairing what went wrong in the church structures I grew up in, so I feel very lucky now to be a facilitator and spaceholder within a few small webs of community, both online and in person. This essay reaffirms that, when it’s done well, community can be both life-changing and world-changing. The learnings that resonate most for me are: You will become everyone’s mother and father whether you want to or not. / You cannot ask for transcendence from a nervous system that hasn’t yet landed. / Light structure is what makes deep emergence possible. / What your community doesn’t talk about shapes it as much as what it does. — CD

Uplifting social follow

A really great TikTok and Instagram follow is Keep the Meter Running. A guy waves down a taxi in New York City, jumps in and says “take me to your favorite place and keep the meter running.” The cabbie is then interviewed on their way to their favorite place, usually a very local ethnic restaurant. Without fail, each cabbie turns out to have a remarkable life story, summoned forth by the sensitive probing of the back seat passenger, comedian Kareem Rahma. This is the real America! A longer previous version of this routine ran on TV a few years ago, but at only a few minutes long, this show is brilliant. — KK

OXO Good Grips angled measuring cup

The markings on our Pyrex 2-cup measuring cup wore off after years of use, so I replaced it with the OXO Good Grips Angled Measuring Cup, made of non-BPA plastic. The clever part is the slanted surface inside the cup with measurement lines you can read by looking straight down — no more crouching to check at eye level. It’s lightweight and has a soft non-slip handle. Also available in 1-cup and 4-cup sizes. — MF

In Every Language

In Every Language is a Wikipedia search engine that lets you see how different regions of the world depict the same thing. It’s very cool to search a word and notice the subtle ways different cultures and collective psyches encode the same idea differently across languages. — CD

Best quick-release phone holder

Since my phone is now my camera, I needed an easy way to attach it to a tripod. The solution is this metal adapter that holds the phone with a circle of magnets. The Mosenvka Portable Phone Grip ($29) then screws into the tripod head. But once I had it, I started using this same rig to hold my phone on my desk for FaceTime and video sessions, at the perfect angle. Its base also has a second heavy-duty magnet so the whole thing can stick anywhere there is metal, useful for filming. The holder rotates in any direction at any angle with just the right balance of ease and stiffness, to keep the phone rock steady. The whole thing is machined metal instead of plastic, so it is very rigid and stable. If your phone supports it, a magnetic ring is by far the best quick-release hold system. — KK

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A podcast I am enjoying is Articles of Interest, which is a spinoff of the legendary 99% Invisible podcast. It has the same nerdy fascination with things we tend to take for granted. In this case, clothing. It dives deep into the origins, and meaning of common articles of clothing such as blue jeans, school uniforms, outdoor wear, even pockets, zippers, and clerical collars. Each episode is a delicious rabbit hole. It’s a blast. There’s a very satisfying archive of back episodes. — KK

Visualize your love in time and space

Still Here is a visualization tool for mapping your time and shared space with a loved one (animal or human) after they have passed. It was created by someone grieving the death of his dogs, and it feels very personal and tender. My fur baby is 7 years old now, and he has taught me so much about how grief and love are two sides of the same coin, so I am often thinking about his death. This feels like a kind of exposure therapy for my heart. — CD

Secret exec contacts for stubborn companies

When a company stonewalls you on a refund or dispute, head over to the Elliott Report’s Company Contacts database. Journalist Christopher Elliott has compiled direct phone numbers and email addresses for customer service executives at hundreds of companies — airlines, hotels, car rentals, banks, cable providers, and more. Skip the front-line customer service maze and go straight to someone with actual authority. The site also rates each company’s responsiveness to consumers. Free to use, no signup required. — MF

Portable board game

The tiniest portable board game I know about is Iota ($30 used). It fits into a small container the size of an AirPods case, and so can be slipped into any day bag, purse or pocket. It’s perfect for travels. To play you keep arranging its tiny little cards on a table into nesting sets, sort of like dominos, but with more dimensions. The game rewards pattern matching. Even small kids can play, and it is challenging enough for adults. Also no language is needed – another plus for travel. — KK

Book finding guides

This week I came across two book-finding tools worth sharing. NPR’s Books We Love is an interactive guide that lets you filter more than 4,000 staff and critic picks first by year and then by genre and other tags, like length or mood. If you prefer something not on a bestseller list, you can also try Whichbook, a search engine that lets you find books by emotion or by character, or click on a world map to find books set in specific countries. — CD

Wireless under-cabinet kitchen lights

I bought a 2-pack of these battery-powered MCGOR motion-sensor lights to use as kitchen counter lighting. They snap magnetically onto adhesive metal plates you stick under your cabinets. They turn on automatically when you get near; step away, and they shut off after 20 seconds. Five brightness levels let you dial in exactly the right amount of light. They are USB-C rechargeable, and one charge lasts days. — MF

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I’ve taken several tours with Young Pioneer Tours. Their motto is “leading group tours for people who hate group tours to destinations your mother would rather you stay away from and at budget prices.” They deliver all that, famously taking small tours to restricted places like North Korea, Turkmenistan, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, and to “Unrecognized Countries” in Africa. They just started offering a new tour to Least Visited Countries, which happen to mostly be Pacific island “countries” which are normally very hard or expensive to reach. While these tours may sound dangerous, they don’t go where it is actually dangerous. Rather they are contrarian, and an affordable travel adventure. — KK

Protocol cards for nervous system regulation

Protocolcards.com is a digital deck of evidence‑backed nervous system “protocols” you can pull up when you don’t know what to do with yourself. They’re not magic quick fixes, but if you follow the short guided practices and prompts, your system will start to feel more regulated over time. Cards are organized into five categories: Emergency (for when you need instant regulation), Focus (to upshift into more alertness), Recover (to downshift from activation or transition into more chill), Sleep (for evening wind‑down), and Feel (for when you want to be with and process your emotions), and you unlock the full library by signing up with your email. — CD

Best kitchen sponge

Scrub Daddy sponges have replaced every other sponge in our kitchen. They have a rough, grippy texture that removes stuck-on food, but they won’t scratch nonstick cookware. My favorite feature: you can squeeze nearly all the water out of them, so they dry fast and don’t develop that funky sponge smell. — MF

Shrinkable child car seat

Car seats keep kids safe, but are surely a pain to travel with. For kids 2-3 years old or older, there is a legitimate alternative, which is a DOT-approved vest that the child wears as a harness. The child + harness is then strapped into a regular seat belt. The pioneering safety vest is Ridesafer. It comes in different sizes, for larger kids too. When not worn, the vest shrinks to a small, easy to pack lump about the size of a folded jacket, fitting into your bag. This makes it perfect for taxis, ubers and rental cars. It also makes it perfect for grandparents, who may not want to keep their back seats perpetually occupied with car seats. We’ve found the Ridesafer easy enough to put on and off, and with some patience to buckle in – but still faster than loading a kid into a car seat. (I would lean toward getting a size larger, it will still work as well.) — KK

12 Home Library Ideas

There are two types of list articles I will always click on: best book cover roundups and bookshelf “shelfies.” This Zillow list of 12 home library ideas scratches my book‑voyeur itch, and now I have names for all the little libraries scattered around my house, most of which fall into the “strategic library” category, but the dream is still a library in every room. — CD

How well do you remember colors?

The free online game Color revealed how terrible I am at colors. It shows you a color for a few seconds, then asks you to recreate it from memory using sliding color and shade pickers. It sounds easy — it's not. I swore I nailed that shade of green, only to see my guess was way off. Play solo or challenge friends in multiplayer mode. — MF

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Powerful Handheld Vacuum. Rechargeable car vacuum. 4-in-1 design includes vacuum, air blower & pump. 40-minute runtime, USB-C charging. Includes HEPA filter, 3 anti-static heads, storage bag. Perfect for cars/home/kitchen.

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Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, Cool Tools Weekly Newsletter, and Book Freak.

I wanted to watch the Superbowl live and the Olympics but I don’t have cable and I don’t subscribe to Peacock. A friend tipped me off to the solution which is a $15 digital antenna. There are tons of no-name generic models. I used the URIIU Digital HDTV Antenna which is cucumber-sized stick with a long cable that plugs into my big LG screen. I now get all the over-the-air commercial-saturated channels for free, including NBC, which is streaming the sports. — KK

Hot and Cold Face Wand

I bought the Therabody TheraFace Depuffing Wand as a Christmas gift to myself. At first I thought of it as a fancy, possibly overpriced ice roller — battery-powered so that it stays consistently cold—but then I realized the real benefit for me is the heat function with its three temperature levels. I give my face a heat massage when my head hurts or I’m feeling anxious, and it helps relax my facial muscles and myself. I keep it at my work desk to soothe my tired eyes from too much screen time. — CD

My favorite mechanical pencil

I've tried dozens of mechanical pencils over the years, and my new favorite is the Staedtler Triplus Micro 0.5mm. The triangular barrel feels natural in your hand and doesn't roll off the table. The twist-up eraser is full-size, and the retractable tip means they won't stab everything when loose in a bag. Best of all, the lead stays tight in the barrel while writing or drawing. At about $3 each, they're an easy upgrade from whatever pencil you're using now. — MF

26 Useful Concepts for 2026

This list of 26 Useful Concepts for 2026 is offered as lenses or perspective shifts for staying afloat in this new age of “slop.” Each one has a short definition—some expose the invisible forces trying to hijack your attention or distort your perception of reality, while others help you stay aligned with your own truth and meaning. I especially loved Cammarata’s Razor: If you want more agency, ask yourself what you’d do if you had ten times more agency — then do it, and The Shower Test: “We’re socially conditioned to chase what we think everyone else wants. But your true heart’s desire can often be found in the thoughts you gravitate to while undistracted, such as in the shower. As Walt Whitman said, ‘If you want to know where your heart is, look to where your mind goes when it wanders.’” I wish I could remember where I first came across this to give credit, but it’s absolutely worth passing around. — CD

Prompt therapy

People can be helped meaningfully by reading books that know nothing about them. If you tell a reputable AI chatbot a lot about yourself, it can help you far more than a book or lecture can. In a 20-minute video Dan Pink crafted a dozen prompts that will enable an AI to give you helpful feedback of a type you may not get from your family and friends. It is a partner in honesty. This kind of prompt therapy is just a first step towards a whole new avenue of self-help that will only expand quickly from now on. I’ve done some of Dan’s prompts and they really will stir up something important in you and for you. — KK

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We built a companion page for Recomendo that tracks live Amazon prices on every product we’ve ever recommended since 2020 — over 2,500 items from both Recomendo and Cool Tools. Prices update nightly. Sort by biggest discount to find the best deals, filter by price range, or search for a specific product. Each listing links back to the original review. It’s like a permanent, always-updating clearance rack for our recommendations. Bookmark it and check back next time you are ready to buy. — MF

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Brown noise for better sleep

I use a simple and free app called Soundly Sleeping to play brown noise while sleeping. It muffles the wheeze of my CPAP machine and other unwelcome nighttime noises. (Brown noise is mellower than white noise). — MF

Silicone earplugs

Mack’s moldable silicone earplugs are superior to squishy foam earplugs because they completely seal the opening to your ear. They do a fantastic job of blocking out sound. These silly-putty-like plugs have saved my sleep many times when staying in noisy hotels and Airbnbs. — MF

Non-Sleep Deep Rest tracks

Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR), also known as yoga nidra, induces deep relaxation while maintaining awareness. If you’re too tired to nap but can’t fall asleep, I’ve found that one of these free 9-minute NSDR tracks produces a similar restorative effect. The guided breathing slows my heart rate, while the body scans draw my focus away from external stimulation into a state of pure rest. — CD

Wake up earlier, naturally

I wasn’t sure I’d like the Philips Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock, but in just a month it’s trained me to wake up earlier—naturally. I set the alarm for my desired time, and the light gradually brightens about 20 minutes beforehand. That’s usually when I wake up. When the wake-up light doesn’t work, I get woken up by the sounds of birds chirping. Either way, I’m never startled or grumpy. — CD

Bargain mattresses

Auto tires are such a bargain at Costco that many folks get a Costco membership just for the tires. Mattresses are a similar bargain. You can get high quality branded mattresses – including classic bedspring models – for a lower price from Costco than from almost anywhere else. And Costco will deliver to the room, set up, and haul away your old mattress at no extra cost. And you can order them online. — KK

Cheap nightlights

I’ve spread these ultra-cheap Uigos LED nightlights throughout our home. They are bright enough to guide me in the dark, but not too bright to use any measurable energy. A six-pack is $10. — KK

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Together with author Dan Pink, I have started a new podcast series called Best Case Scenarios. Each episode asks an expert to give us their best possible good news scenario in the next 25 years. What happens if everything goes right? What is the best case scenario for say, energy, transportation, biotechnology and brain science? Those are the subjects of our first four episodes, which are also available as YouTube videos, and are now available wherever you get your podcasts. These are not predictions, but visions of what we can aim for in order to make them real. — KK

A visual pattern mapper for behavior loops

Unloop is a visual pattern mapper that helps you catch yourself in the act of being you — to notice a familiar loop, lay it out on a map, and then play with small experiments that might shift the pattern instead of just shaming it. You don’t need to sign up or create an account to try it out, and the experience is guided by thoughtful prompts and questions that help you spot what’s really driving a loop so you can understand yourself better. It’s not therapy or coaching, but structured self‑discovery that treats your patterns as a story you can rewrite rather than a flaw you need to fix. — CD

Better drag-and-drop for Mac

Dropover ($7) is a tiny Mac utility that solves a problem I didn't know I had. When you're dragging a file to a folder that isn’t on your desktop, just shake your cursor, and a floating "shelf" appears to hold it. The shelf stays open so you can drop files, folders, images, and even text snippets onto it. Then go find your destination and unload everything at once. You can collect items from multiple folders into one shelf, which macOS can't do natively. — MF

Substack without subs

I am a big fan of RSS feeds. I keep up with a long list of blogs and websites by reading the stream of their new stuff via an RSS reader app, negating the need to visit the website directly. (Out of habit I use Feedly, even though it may be outdated.) It is a bit old school, but a well-curated RSS feed is incredibly productive and enjoyable. I have been particularly delighted to discover that I can add Substack newsletters to my RSS feed. If the Substack is free I can read the full text even without subscribing. If it is a paid newsletter I’ll only see the full text of whatever free posts are offered, since most substacks usually offer some portion for free. To get the RSS feed, I just add the phrase /feed to any newsletter URL, or I can search for the newsletter title in my favorite RSS reader. (Meta: you can read Recomendo this way. You’ll get one less email in your box, but we lose the subscriber count bump, which ultimately pays the way for us to keep it free.) Happy reading! — KK

Notes to Self email folder

I read this Ask HN: thread hoping to find an alternative to my own messy digital note‑taking, and I’ve adopted the very promising “Note to Self” email folder suggestion. Skip all the second‑brain tools and just use your inbox: email yourself interesting links, thoughts, quotes, or questions, and file them into a dedicated Notes to Self folder. Every so often, skim that folder, delete what now feels worthless or obvious, and let the rest sit. As the commenter shared: “It’s more useful than you’d think—by reviewing those notes semi‑regularly, you’re indirectly memorizing their contents and refreshing their presence in your short‑term memory. And that, to me, is the benefit—not ‘copy this cool thing,’ but ‘feed my mind cool ideas until it has digested them and incorporated them into the larger gestalt.’” — CD

Craft supply bin with built-in cups

This Citylife 17-quart storage bin is the best way I've found to organize art supplies. It comes with six removable cups that keep markers, crayons, brushes, pencils, and other items separates. Remove only the cup you need, then drop it back in when you're done. The clear plastic lets you see everything at a glance, the lid latches securely, and the bins stack. — MF

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Here’s a daily calendar for 2026 that prints on a single sheet of paper. There’s not much space to add appointments, but I’m using it to enter and see my family members’ travel plans for the full year at a single glance. — MF

Arty documentary

Yep, some years ago a band of artists really did build a secret apartment inside a mall and lived there for years. This cheerful and marvelous documentary, Secret Mall Apartment (on Netflix), reveals many more cool layers to the whole hijinks stunt. It is way more interesting and inspiring than first appears. It was a bold work of art, and I came away seeing art as a way of life. — KK

Data Poems

Here is a beautiful collection of data visualizations called Data Poems by Luke Steuber. Each piece transforms raw information—war casualties, language evolution, and UFO sightings—into contemplative visual experiences that feel more like meditation objects than charts. — CD

Why trees are good

Recent research shows that trees are like animals that can collaborate with each other, exhibit individual behavior, communicate with each other over large distances, and regulate the environment to a remarkable degree. All these marvelous abilities are revealed in the graphic novel version of the best-selling book The Hidden Life of Trees. The graphic novel is an easy pictorial read, with sketches and color drawings illuminating both the new ideas and the persistent beauty of our wooden allies. This book will give your brain the reasons why your soul finds trees so good. — KK

Text Behind Image

Text Behind Image is a web app that does exactly what it promises to do. Upload an image to add text, and design and position it however you want—useful if you want to create social media or promotional graphics. It’s free to use, and the finalized images have no watermarks and are high-res. — CD

Mighty keychain flashlight

The ThruNite Ti Mini keychain flashlight is surprisingly powerful for something that weighs under an ounce. The USB-C charging is a welcome upgrade from older micro-USB lights. It has four brightness levels, including a barely-there “firefly” mode, plus a magnetic tail for hands-free use. Double-clicking turns it on, preventing accidental draining in your pocket. — MF

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Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, Cool Tools Weekly Newsletter, and Book Freak.

Everybody dreads the chores of maintenance; Stewart Brand is trying to make maintenance cool. In his new book Maintenance: Of Everything, Brand celebrates the value, methods, even the joy of maintaining things – from cars to homes to bodies – in a series of stories, digressions, lessons, and brilliant insights. Turns out civilization is basically varieties of maintenance. Stewart Brand’s books famously change people’s minds, and this one changed my mind. I now look forward to my maintenance duties, and I learned some how to do it better from this book. — KK

Funeral for a tree

When a 65-year-old oak tree died from fungal disease, artist Steve Parker carved slices of its trunk like vinyl records, etching bird songs into the wood grain. These playable oak records are featured in a 3-minute video where you can hear the sounds of the birds that once lived in the tree’s branches. Parker also created a brass sculpture with medical ventilators that splays out like tree roots—a reference to his father’s battle with cancer. “Funeral for a Tree” is a beautiful meditation on grief that inspires me to find ways to transform what’s been lost into something that still speaks—or sings. — CD

Budget noise-canceling earbuds

My AirPods Pro started making a loud hissing noise. I tried all the different fixes the online hive mind had to offer, to no avail. They were out of warranty, and I didn’t want to spend $250 to replace them. Instead, I bought a pair of CMF Wireless Earbuds for 1/10th the price. To my ears, they sound just as good as the AirPods Pro with excellent noise cancellation and easy pairing with all of my Apple hardware. I use them for phone calls, listening to podcasts, and music. I bought the orange ones so they'd be easy to find when I drop them on the floor of a plane. — MF

Clothing fan podcast

One of my go-to podcasts these days is the non-fiction scripted show Articles of Interest, which investigates articles of clothing and other things that we wear. It is a spin-off from the legendary podcast 99% Invisible, and carries that program’s intelligence and the nerdy appeal of deep research. Now in its second season, each episode tackles the origin, history, and meaning of an article such as blue jeans, suits, wedding dresses, and even pockets! Illuminating worlds within small details is what this show is so good at. Recommended. — KK

12 distractions to leave behind in 2026

Rather than adding resolutions and goals to your new year, this article suggests 12 distractions you can leave behind — like scrolling for stress relief, push notifications for most apps, and constant background noise. When they’re listed like this, I can immediately see how leaving them behind would create more silence and space in my life, since a lot of these things seem to be the default settings for daily life. — CD

Our other newsletters

Did you know that Recomendo isn’t the only newsletter we publish? We have eight others!

• Gar’s Tips & Tools Useful ideas for home and workshop. (Weekly)

• Nomadico News, tips, and tools for working travelers. (Weekly)

• What’s in my NOW? In each issue, a person shares things and ideas that are important to them. (Weekly)

• Tools for Possibilities Curated, thematic picks from 20+ years of Cool Tools. (Weekly)

• Books That Belong On Paper Recommendations of visually striking books, with sample pages. (Weekly)

• Book Freak Each issue presents the core concepts from a selected self-improvement book. (Weekly)

• Recomendo Deals 5-10 items previously featured in Cool Tools and Recomendo that are on sale now. (Daily)

• Cool Tools All of our newsletters (besides Recomendo Deals) bundled in one issue. For true fans only! (Weekly)

In our humble opinion, they are all worth trying out, and they’re all free. — MF

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Power Up Your Work With Setapp​, get 20% off. Get access to 250+ Mac & iOS apps with Setapp — work smarter and save time. Try free for 7 days. New users get 20% off the Annual plan.

Powerful Handheld Vacuum. Rechargeable car vacuum. 4-in-1 design includes vacuum, air blower & pump. 40-minute runtime, USB-C charging. Includes HEPA filter, 3 anti-static heads, storage bag. Perfect for cars/home/kitchen.

Declutter your inbox! The Meco newsletter reader app lets you organize and read newsletters in a dedicated space. Connect Gmail/Outlook. Features offline reading, topic grouping, highlights, saved links, and custom themes. Available on iOS, Android, web. Free version with premium features.

Power up anywhere with Anker’s 5-in-1 Nano Travel Adapter! Ultra-compact design 43% smaller than competitors, charges 5 devices simultaneously with 20W fast charging—universal compatibility for 200+ countries, smart temp control & built-in safety features. Perfect travel companion!

Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Please consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others.

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Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, Cool Tools Weekly Newsletter, and Book Freak.

TeamLab produces immersive destinations that are worth going out of your way to see. They began in Japan, where they have four huge installations that offer entertaining environments, using lights, mirrors, video, projectors and other media magic inside giant rooms. Our family spent an exhilarating 3 hours in the TeamLab Borderless site in Tokyo wandering through the mazes of experiences with constant smiles. It dazzled kids and elders. Even though TeamLab have become Instagram hot spots, and art snobs consider it too commercial, I would recommend making a trip to experience Borderless yourself. Go with friends, it’s more fun. — KK

Listen to whale codas

Project CETI’s Listen to Whales website is an immersion into the codas and culture of cetaceans, inviting you to literally listen in on sperm whale family life and history. The project uses AI to listen to, decode, and translate sperm whale communication. I love how CETI reframes whales as cultural beings with their own clans, dialects, and stories, and has created this living platform to share what they’re learning in real time—and to inspire meaningful action to protect our oceans. — CD

Kitchen drawer multitool

I keep this Workpro 24-in-1 Multitool in a kitchen drawer for quick fixes so I don't need to shlep down to the basement for my toolbox. It handles minor repairs: tightening a loose cabinet hinge, snipping a zip tie, prying open a battery compartment. The pliers are solid, the knife is sharp, and the Phillips and flathead screwdrivers cover 90% of household fasteners. Folds to about the size of a thick marker. Not a replacement for real tools, but perfect for "I just need to fix this one thing" moments. — MF

Compact travel toy

I’ve long been a big fan of Magna-Tiles, which are small plastic squares that act as parts of a construction system for kids. The tiles rely on magnetic edges to build things easily. You can build a million different things, like Lego, but it is much easier to do than Lego. Even toddlers can master them without boredom. They now make MicroMags, tiny compact versions of mini-Magna-Tiles, perfect for travel. A small set of MicroMags will fit into a slim box about the size of a standard book, and give restless kids enough options to occupy them for hours. Small enough to pack in luggage, but set out on a table, they invite playful engagement. — KK

The Correlation Experiment

The Correlation Experiment has you answer questions about everyday preferences so it can predict your answers based on data correlations. I don’t like being predictable, so I loved when its predictions went wrong—out of 60 questions, it missed about 20%. After a while, though, I was insulted by the misses: it pegged me as not an inbox zero person, guessed comedy over horror, and said I don’t make my bed first thing in the morning. No login needed, and it’s fun to play. — CD

Free iPhone storage cleaner

Clever Cleaner is a free iPhone app — no ads, no subscriptions, no paywalled features. It scans your photo library for duplicates and similar shots, identifies large videos hogging space, and rounds up forgotten screenshots. A “Smart Cleanup” button lets AI select which duplicates to trash, or you can swipe through photos manually. All processing happens on-device, so your photos never leave your phone. It’s made by CleverFiles, the folks behind Disk Drill data recovery software. — MF

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Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, and Book Freak.

We launched a free daily email newsletter called Recomendo Deals that alerts you when products we’ve previously recommended in Recomendo and Cool Tools drop to unusually low prices. Here’s how it works: Every day, the system checks thousands of products we’ve recommended over the years against Keepa, a service that tracks Amazon price history. When a product falls 20% or more below its 90-day average price, or hits an all-time low, it surfaces as a deal. These aren’t random products — they’re things we’ve already vetted and recommended. I’ve already purchased a few items myself. It literally takes 20 seconds to scan the 5 to 10 deals that show up each day, and most days there’s nothing I need. But occasionally, something I’ve had my eye on drops to a great price. Give it a try by subscribing here. — MF

Bargain flights to Japan

By far the best bargain flights to Japan are through a Japan Airlines subsidiary called Zip Air. Our family used it going both ways to Tokyo this holiday and I can highly recommend them. All routes begin or terminate in Tokyo, flying from hub cities in Asia, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and from select cities in the US. Prices vary widely during the year, but on some weeks this coming spring an economy ROUND TRIP flight from San Francisco to Tokyo is only $283!!!! Of course, they charge for everything from meals, water, blankets, and luggage. But we can manage. And their “lie full flat” seats (business class) are less than $2,000, but also without blankets, pillows, or service. We tried both the economy and full flat seats, and both are worth the small hassles for the ridiculous cheap prices. — KK

35 simple health tips

This article gathers 35 simple, research-backed practices from sleep specialists, sex therapists, psychologists, nutrition scientists and more, each offering one small habit they personally rely on to support everyday well-being. The whole list is great, and I especially love the reflection on “soft fascination” — turning to simple, almost meditative tasks when there are too many mental tabs open, and letting answers rise on their own. For me, washing dishes is always a meditative reset that clears out mental clutter and restores a sense of spaciousness. — CD

Understanding Old English

What we now call the English language has been rapidly changing for over a thousand years. The best way to experience this evolution is to watch this video by Simon Roper where the same passage is recited in proto-English, and then repeated in newer versions of Old English every hundred years, until you reach modern English. The game is to see when you begin to understand it. For me it was around 1600 in part. This gimmick, more than any other, gave me an appreciation of what ancestral versions of English were like. — KK

Dream school newsletter

Every night I have multiple, vivid dream adventures, and for the past five years I’ve been writing them down and treating them as a parallel stream of consciousness for self‑reflection, healing, and guidance. The dream teacher who’s helped me the most is author Robert Moss, whose free Substack is a living archive of shamanic “active dreaming” prompts, personal stories, and techniques that make it easy to develop a co‑creative relationship with your dreams. If you’re at all interested in understanding your dream self on a deeper level, I highly recommend subscribing to his newsletter. Two great starting pieces are “Nine Keys to Understanding Your Dreams” and “The Only Dream Expert is You.” — CD

Satisfying squish

A relative with ADHD brought a NeeDoh to a family gathering, and I couldn’t put it down. Like me, she uses fidgets to focus, and this one is perfect — a soft, stretchy ball filled with a viscous dough-like substance inside a silicone skin. You squeeze, squish, and stretch it, and it slowly oozes back to its original shape. The resistance is deeply satisfying. Her tips: keep it in the fridge to make it harder(and more fun) to squeeze, and when the silicone skin gets grungy, wash it with soap and water, then rub cornstarch over it — good as new. NeeDoh comes in various shapes (balls, cubes, figures) and costs around $5-10. Great for desks, meetings, or anywhere you need to keep restless hands busy. — MF

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Powerful Handheld Vacuum. Rechargeable car vacuum. 4-in-1 design includes vacuum, air blower & pump. 40-minute runtime, USB-C charging. Includes HEPA filter, 3 anti-static heads, storage bag. Perfect for cars/home/kitchen.

Declutter your inbox! The Meco newsletter reader app lets you organize and read newsletters in a dedicated space. Connect Gmail/Outlook. Features offline reading, topic grouping, highlights, saved links, and custom themes. Available on iOS, Android, web. Free version with premium features.

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Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Please consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others.

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Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, and Book Freak.

How to do great work

Last year, Paul Graham, a renowned programmer, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist known for co-founding Y Combinator, wrote an essay titled “How to Do Great Work.” He covered a wide range of topics, from choosing what to work on to cultivating originality. This week, I came across Peter Schroeder’s terrific visual representation that maps out the main ideas from Graham’s essay. It’s useful even if you don’t read the essay. — MF

Productive meetings

This 1-minute video by John Cleese is all you need to know about how to have productive (vs unproductive) meetings. One minute! Applies to zoom meetings, too. — KK

A guide for daily “professional” interactions

How to professionally say is a list of things you might feel like saying at work — along with a more professional alternative for how to express them. Example: Instead of saying “That sounds like a horrible idea,” you can say “Are we confident this is the best solution, or are we still exploring alternatives?” While some of the phrasing might not flow naturally for me, I’m inspired to adopt more neutrality and directness in my professional language. — CD

Good advice for applying for jobs

I am a big fan of YouTuber Ali Abdaal. In this video about Resumes he condenses a whole book of information presenting the best advice for applying for a job into 30 minutes. It’s the same advice I gave to my kids when they started working. Whether you are looking for a job, or hiring someone, this is worth your time. Forward it to a young person. — KK

A Two-Minute Burnout Checkup

This Two-Minute Burnout Checkup helped me understand the primary factors of chronic stress and burnout. I can sense physically when I am nearing burnout, but before this I didn't understand that it's more than just feeling exhausted. This checkup evaluates six sources of chronic stress: workload, values, reward, control, fairness, and community. You rate your level of stress from 0–10 for each one and add up the numbers to get a score out of 60. This could be especially helpful if you track your score over time. Here’s a link to the survey. — CD

Ryan Holiday’s career wisdom

Writer and entrepreneur Ryan Holiday has had a varied career, from Hollywood agent assistant to marketing director for American Apparel. He’s put together a list of 37 pieces of hard-fought career advice that’s useful for anyone who works. Examples:

• Find what nobody else wants to do and do it. Find inefficiency and waste and redundancies. Identify leaks and patches to free up resources for new areas. Produce more than everyone else and give your ideas away.

• Always say less than necessary. Saying less than necessary, not interjecting at every chance we get — this is actually the mark not just of a self-disciplined person, but also a very smart and wise person.

• Your creative output, your personal relationships, and your social life—balancing all three is impossible. You can excel in two if you say no to one. If you can’t, you’ll have none.

• When people compete, somebody loses. So go where you’re the only one. Do what only you can do. Run a race with yourself.

— MF

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Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others. Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper and Book Freak.

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I, too, now have a Substack newsletter where I post a short essay once a week. It’s my “works in progress” on technology, culture, travel, art, and even spiritual stuff. Some of my essays are brand new, and some are older pieces cross-posted from my Technium blog. Instead of having to visit the blog, I send it to you in an email (that is Substack). My pieces are low-stakes, cold takes – I am not in a hurry. I aim to pay attention to long-term trends. Comments are active and I try to respond to sincere comments. Sign up at KK on Substack. It’s free (although I have some paid subscribers, thank you!). — KK

Flat phone grip

My wife replaced her PopSocket phone grip to the new Ohsnap Snap Grip 5 ($40). It’s just 3mm thick, with a profile that prevents it snagging on pockets like bulkier grips. It has a powerful magnet that snaps to MagSafe phones. You can use it as a one or two-finger grip, flip it into a sturdy kickstand, or stick your phone to any metal surface (fridge, gym equipment, car door). Works with iPhones and includes an adapter for Android phones. — MF

Is it a cult? Assessment Tool

My mother is a seeker, so I grew up baptized multiple times and in and out of various churches. As an adult, I’ve had to rebuild my relationship with both spirituality and community, and I tend to assume every organized group with a shared mission is a cult until proven otherwise. That’s why I really appreciate this carefully constructed “Is It a Cult?” tool by ClearerThinking. The assessment looks at things like unusualness, conformity, isolation, control of information, ethics, and sacrifice, reflecting the nuanced criteria behind their Cult Assessment tool. ClearerThinking’s programs and assessments are grounded in empirical data and are balanced in perspective, and this particular questionnaire understands that being a cult is not binary—it’s a set of traits, each of which lies on a continuum. — CD

Air Fryer Convert

I was skeptical about air fryers until I tried the Ninja Crispi. It comes with three glass containers so you can see your food cooking, and they’re non-toxic (no Teflon coatings). I’ve made sweet potatoes that came out caramelized on the outside and soft inside. It’s perfect for crisping frozen samosas and pupusas in minutes. My mother baked a whole chicken in it beautifully. The containers go from freezer to cooking to table to dishwasher. — MF

Reclaiming five-to-nine

This piece argues that most nine-to-five workers underuse their after-work hours because we stay in our “inner CEO” identity, which hijacks free time with urgency traps like emails, Slack pings, and low-value work that keeps laptops open all night. The advice is to acknowledge and give time to our other inner characters—like the Lover, Artist, Friend, and Athlete—and create a simple cast schedule for weeknights. For example, on Mondays the Athlete moves your body, on Tuesday the Friend schedules a conversation or hangout, and so on. The real key is honoring the end-of-work transition with a shutdown ritual: create a two-do list for the next day, close unnecessary tabs, say out loud “Workday closed, artist open,” and then do something sensory (shower, stretch, short walk, or after-work-only music) to let the next character take the spotlight. — CD

Advice guru

My favorite advice guru is Dan Pink. He is very wise, but also very concise. He can convey a book’s worth of advice in a few minutes – and his advice is good and practical. He is a master of dispensing his wisdom in very short videos. His latest class is a 4-minute lesson on How to Fix Your Attention Span. Might as well stay for his other lessons as well. — KK

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Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Please consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others.

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Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, and Book Freak.

Soulmates is a one-season sci-fi show on Netflix that imagines a near future where individuals can take a DNA test that guarantees a match with their one true soulmate. Each episode is a stand-alone and follows different people who have taken the test and are now living with the consequences. Marriages are tested, cults are formed, and love becomes something you can measure, monetize, and manipulate. One of the series creators and writers is Brett Goldstein, who is best known for Ted Lasso. It’s very Black-Mirror-esque and thought-provoking, and I’m bummed that it was never renewed. — CD

Good science fiction

I don’t read much science fiction, so when I do I am picky. An author I find reliably good is Ted Chiang, who writes mostly short stories, including the one that was the basis for the movie Arrival. I really like his anthology of nine stories, Exhalation. I would classify his genre as well-crafted, somewhat literary, hard (plausible) science fiction, with inventive, deep and original stories. I am a fan in large part because most of his stories are uplifting rather than the usual dystopian. — KK

Instant dice

My cousin invited me over for breakfast recently. He pulled a Mueller vegetable chopper from a cabinet — a clear plastic box with a grid of sharp blades on top. He placed half an onion on the grid and pressed down with the attached lever. It chopped the onion into perfect tiny squares. He repeated with a bell pepper, making short work of it. Cleanup is easy; just rinse and let dry. I ordered one for myself and learned it handles potatoes just as easily. — MF

Favorite YouTube makers

I subscribe to 40 different YouTubers who make stuff in their workshops. I watch them for how-to tips, to learn shop techniques, and for inspiration for possible projects. If I rank them by how much I’ve learned from them, in my top five are three non-Americans (an Australian and two Canadians) who are life-long makers, who are great explainers, and who are also experimentalists in how and what they build. Pask Makes continually learns and explores new skills, John Heisz is a born innovator with tools and master technician, and Matthias Wandel, makes his own shop tools from plywood. They are fantastic teachers, never boring. — KK

“Both can be true” chart

This “Both can be true” chart highlights that emotional intelligence means holding dualities, or two seemingly opposite truths, at the same time. For example, you can feel angry and still choose to respond calmly, or care deeply about someone and still set boundaries to protect your energy around them. I personally relate to the one about knowing and naming my feelings, but still being caught off guard by them. I used to feel shame around that, but now I find it curious and funny—an opportunity to laugh at myself instead. — CD

Rock Paper Scissors strategy

I don’t remember where I first encountered this, but it works surprisingly well: after each round, switch to the option neither player used. If your rock loses to their paper, throw scissors next. If your scissors beat their paper, throw a rock next. I've been testing it against my friends and winning more than chance would predict. The World Rock Paper Scissors Association has more sophisticated strategies. — MF

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Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, and Book Freak.

Every December, writer Tom Whitwell publishes an eclectic list of 52 surprising things Whitwell learned over the year. It’s one of my favorite year-end reads. A few samples:

• Marchetti’s Constant is the idea that throughout human history, from cave dwellers to ancient Greeks to 21st century Londoners, people tend to commute for about an hour a day — 30 minutes out, 30 minutes home. So faster travel leads to longer distances, not less time. [Cesare Marchetti, plus a 2025 update]

• The Casio F91W — the ubiquitous digital watch, worn by Osama Bin Laden, costing just £12 — has been faked for years, and the fakes are getting better and better. [Andy C]

• Childhood peanut allergies are falling dramatically, perhaps because advice to avoid peanuts was reversed. [Simar Bajaj]

Browse his previous lists here. — MF

Watchable American history

I believe every American should be required to watch Ken Burn’s Civil War series to understand their country today. Ken Burns has done it again with his new series on The American Revolution. Six episodes, 12 hours. LIke his other series, it unsettles the story-book history we have in our heads, and celebrates the complexity of the actual ideas, events, and complicated characters at the time. — KK

See yourself as a verb

“The existential balm of seeing yourself as a verb, not a noun” is a perspective‑shifting essay that explores a gentler way to hold the fear of death by reframing the self not as something fixed, but as a natural unfolding process. The author suggests reframing personhood as a shifting weave of body, breath, memory, mood, and perceptions, always in motion and in relationship with the world. The idea is to loosen perfectionistic pressure around having to be a fixed, definitive “someone,” and instead approach death as a quieting down of processes rather than the annihilation of a solid self. — CD

Sharpen dull Airbnb knives

I’ve stayed in Airbnbs in many different countries, and have learned one universal truth: the kitchen knives are invariably dull. As a service to myself and future guests, I’ve started bringing a small knife sharpener with me when I travel. The Smith’s 2-Step Knife Sharpener is inexpensive, small, and lightweight, so I don’t mind packing it. It takes less than a minute to restore the edge on a blade. — MF

Freak Pages

Freak Pages is a directory for the weirdest Wikipedia entries, community‑curated to help you discover strange topics you’ve probably never heard of. Lots of rabbit holes to dive into. — CD

Quotable quotes

Here are some quotes I gathered recently:

• It takes a lot of work to make something simple. — Steve Wozniak

• One of the most realistic parts of Lord of the Rings is that almost no one wanted to get involved, until it was very nearly too late. — Ricki Tarr

• Everyone searches for opportunities while running from problems, missing that they’re the same thing. Problems aren’t obstacles to opportunity, they ARE the opportunity. — Shane Parrish

• Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion. — W. Edwards Deming

• When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them “No I went to films.” — Quentin Tarantino

• Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. — Jeff Bezos

• The three lenses of opportunity cost: (1) Compared with what? (2) And then what? (3) At the expense of what? — Shane Parish

• You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from. — Cormac McCarthy

• Everyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and everyone driving faster than you is a maniac! — George Carlin

I find witty quotes sharpen my thinking and help me pay attention. — KK

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Recomendo is an authentic, hand-crafted, human-written weekly newsletter that is free, but not cheap. Please consider supporting our work with a paid option, now at the low price of $45 per year. Paid subs enable us to keep making it free for others.

Upgrade

Recomendo is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, and Book Freak.