Inside/SparkToro/Shortbooks.co

Insider industry news

I’ve become of a fan of Inside newsletters. Once a day I get a brief summary of what’s been reported in a narrow specialized field, like AI, or VR, or Space, or Robotics. Succinct, select, in depth, and free. Inside also offers newsletters focused on each of the big tech companies, like Amazon or Google. And they now offer inside industry news on fashionable sectors like Cannabis or Beer. – KK

Fake follower audit

None of us have as many followers as we think we do. Up to half may be bots or shills. Every now and then I give myself a reality check by seeing how many fake followers I have on Twitter. I enter my twitter handle into SparkToro. Ouch, 21% are fake. — KK

Find the shortest book on any subject

Shortbooks.co is a search engine for books that estimates reading time to help you find the shortest book on any subject. It’s not flawless, but you can never have too many book search tools. — CD 

Quick unsubscribing

I get signed up for a lot of newsletters and PR lists without my consent. I used to take the time to scroll down to the bottom of each email newsletter and click the unsubscribe link (if there was one), but now I just use Gmail's "Block" to send them forevermore to my spam folder. — MF

Savory meat marinade

My favorite marinade for meat is easy to make and savory. The original recipe is from America’s Test Kitchen and exists behind a paywall so I can’t share it, but the Southwestern Marinade ingredient list here is the exact same. I keep a printed copy in my kitchen. — CD 

Card magic DVD

I’ve been interested in card magic for the last five years or so. The best way to learn is not by books (which are confusing), but by videos (which make the sleights and handlings clear). A great video collection for beginner and intermediate card magicians is the 7-DVD set called Complete Card Magic ($25). Get this and start amazing people. – MF

— Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson