5 tips for optimizing travel/Answer the Public/What came first?
Best foreign city travel tips
Author Dan Pink has mastered the art of delivering fantastic advice in 2 minutes or less. His latest Pinkcast is his 5 tips for optimizing travel to a foreign city. I concur with these 100% and do them myself. To save you 2 minutes here they are:
Go to the highest point in the city.
Buy a local newspaper.
Ride public transportation.
Go to McDonald's (Seriously.)
Spend an hour in a grocery store.
But you’ll miss Dan’s humor and his persuasion if you don’t watch his pitch. — KK
Autocomplete data from all over the world
AnswerThePublic takes all the autocomplete data from search engines to report back what questions people are asking all over the world. You can test out the the search engine with 1-2 keywords, which is helpful for anyone doing market research or just nosy like me. You can use it twice a day for free without having to pay a monthly cost. — CD
What came first?
What came first: Watts Towers or The Beatles’ Abbey Road? The film Tom Jones or Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits? The Dream by Henri Rousseau or England's Natural History Museum? This Google quiz asks questions like these (and shows relevant images) and challenges you to click what came first. A faster answer will yield a higher score. — MF
Face mask ear saver
I’m still wearing a face mask indoors. But my ears are paying the price, especially on long flights when the pressure of the loops against the back of my ears becomes painful. Last week I started using these Velcro face mask extender straps, which pull the loops away from the back of my ears. I should have bought these things two years ago. — MF
Free bank wire transfer
I use Paypal to send money to strangers (like on Ebay or Etsy); I use Venmo to pay friends; but if I need to send a lot of money (more than several thousand $$$) I use Zelle. Unlike Venmo which holds a reserve in your account that you replenish, Zelle is basically a bank to bank wire transfer – for free. But the interface is person to person. Still can’t do it internationally, but it is very handy for larger peer-to-peer payments in US. Easy to set up. — KK
Chill-inducing music
This Spotify playlist is comprised of 715 songs, handpicked by neuroscientists, and meant to elicit “frisson," which means a sudden feeling or sensation of excitement, emotion or thrill in French. Music that increases in loudness or has an abrupt entrance of a new voice or deviations from harmony can often induce "frisson." Human screams also incite the same response. Which makes sense because one of the songs on the playlist made me increasingly uncomfortable. This article on Big Think will give more background on the ways we experience this profound emotional state. — CD
— Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson
Recomendo is copyrighted by Cool Tools Lab, LLC. Commissions may be earned from the links above.
SPONSORED
Tales.com is a fantastic way to capture and preserve dad's stories. After asking their team to interview my father, they handled the scheduling, phone interviews, and editing. A week later, they sent me a link to a private podcast about my dad's life that sounded like an NPR show. Within 30 seconds of listening to the first episode, I was learning things about my dad I never knew! After listening to the recording, my daughter said, "I just listened to that with Poppy. I'm so glad you got that made.” A Tales private podcast would truly make an incredible Father's Day gift. — MF
UNCLASSIFIEDS
Ready to save time and work smarter? Check out the new Android Shortcut Supercourse. It's a free e-course that'll teach you all sorts of efficiency-enhancing magic. No cost, no catch — just pure productivity-boosting intelligence, from veteran tech journalist JR Raphael to you.
Get Smarter in 5 Minutes with Morning Brew. There's a reason over 4 million people read Morning Brew - the free daily email covering all things business, finance, & tech. Check it out!
Got Android? Then you HAVE to check out Android Intelligence. It's a free weekly guide that brings you three smart tips every Friday. You’ll get access to insider’s secrets, time-saving tips, and a dash of entertainment. Sign up now and get three bonus tips on your favorite subject this second.
Wanna grow your business faster? Growth Hacks Weekly will teach you more practical things about marketing than a 4-year $200k degree. It was recently named a "Must-Subscribe-To" newsletter by Forbes and is read by 8,000 people! Subscribe Here For Free!
For The Interested is a free newsletter for creative entrepreneurs. Get proven strategies to grow your audience and business from others who have done so. Join the 18,000 subscribers who read it every week.
Help Wanted: would you host a small party? For your friends and neighbors? Because a lot of people are lonely. Most adults haven't made a new friend in 3 years. I wrote a new book that will teach you how to throw an easy, fun, effective 2-hour Cocktail Party. Now $1.99 on Kindle.
Need high-quality backlinks to supercharge your SEO strategy, but you don't have the time to do it yourself? dofollow.io specializes in building natural, ultra-premium backlinks for B2B, SaaS, and webtech companies.
Fuel your brain with Smartr Daily. The daily newsletter for curious minds — direct to your inbox, and on the app. Give it a try!
Ecléctico delivers a world of music to your inbox every weekday, one song at a time. — AB
If you enjoy Recomendo, then you are sure to love Rambull. A 1x a week newsletter where interesting people ramble on their favorite recommendations. Discover great shows and podcasts to binge, new products to buy, and hacks to improve your quality of life. Subscribe for free
Find your happy with @oh_happy_hour on Instagram. Creative, balanced, and show-stopping cocktails posted each night with an easy how-to guide. Come learn the basics then break the rules with us. It’s called happy hour for a reason.
If you are passionate about language, you should read Desk Notes. Each new issue explores writing, travel, and literature. Take a look through the archive today—and receive the latest issue every Friday.
Folks who design, write, and code are reading ALL the A Book Apart brief books! Dive into brief, beautiful, practical guides on topics ranging from accessibility and JavaScript to content strategy and management. Readers call our books essential and entertaining!
Do you have a backlog of podcasts to listen to? PodSnacks, the "CliffsNotes for Podcast", summarizes recent episodes, so you don’t have to listen to them all. Receive the free weekly roundup newsletter and save up to 28 hours of listening time per month! Sign up for free!
Recomendo Unclassified Ads work! Here’s how to reach over 55,000 subscribers.