My mother-in-law is 90, doesn’t speak English, and lives with us. She and I enjoy watching the new season 3 of BattleBots on Amazon Prime. This mindless machine-on-machine violence of robots demolishing other robots is universally entertaining, and spectacular. No language needed. — KK

This cool 9-min video story, Fire in Cardboard City, is enjoyable in itself, but I really like it because the creator hacked an Xbox Kinect to do extremely low-budget motion-capture that looks great, proving how far amateurs can go today in film. — KK 

I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch another series of cooking shows on Netflix, but I wound up devouring the entire 8 episodes of Ugly Delicious. Featuring chef David Chang, it’s a personal and idiosyncratic investigation into the kinds of foods that are taken for granted, from home cooking, to low-brow favorites like pizza, to foods that don’t get much respect, like fried rice. There’s a lot of Chang in it as he bounces around ideas (and locations around the globe), but he is honest, questioning, searching, and always interesting. — KK

I really enjoyed Dave Eggers’ fictional book The Circle, but the movie is even better. This is a disturbing forecast of where always being on social media will take us. A place so transparent, it may be too clear. Much like a Black Mirror episode, but more plausible. The villain, deftly played by Tom Hanks, is likeable and relatable. I have said some of the things he says. Set in today’s Silicon Valley with perfect pitch, the story seems inevitable. If you are clicking on your phone more than 3 times a day, you should watch this. The Circle is now streaming on Amazon Prime. — KK

I’ve been laughing in awe while watching the new sitcom series, The Good Place. It’s funny, unconventional, unpredictable, original, and deeply philosophical. What’s the point of being good? Wouldn’t heaven be boring? What’s the best answer to the “trolley problem”? Yes, existential humor! It runs on NBC, but the last two seasons are available on Netflix. — KK

I’ve watched my share of mountain climbing documentaries. A new one, Meru, streaming on Netflix, is among my favorites. Meru is a stone fishtail peak in the Himalayas that had remained unsummited until recently because it required climbers to haul their own 200 pounds of gear for the final overhang wall routes. The lure of this doc is that it includes an intimate record of two attempts by the same team, the first one failing within 100 meters of the summit. It also documents unbelievable disasters and horrors the climbers endured before starting the second. Because two of the three ace climbers happened to be world class photographers (one works for National Geographic), no other high adventure has been this well documented, or as beautiful. The climbers are intelligent, warm and humble — and obsessed. Meru is a stunning experience, expertly crafted, comprehensive in capturing all moments, yet briskly edited, and a joy to watch. It entails the most innovative, thorough, and brilliant photography I’ve seen in any documentary. — KK

We are entering the century of China. Our collective future is dependent on its future, and China’s future is highly constrained by its past. By far the best history of China so far is a 6-part BBC experience now running on Amazon Prime by the peripatetic historian Michael Woods. The Story of China boasts incredibly high production values, filmed in China. A thousand-year history is grounded in visits to the actual places where it happened, making it visible and intimate. More importantly this program presents an understandable history that sadly even most Chinese today are ignorant of. Woods is a likeable host who will make you smart. I consider The Story of China essential viewing. (His Story of India is likewise great.) — KK

Deep in the basement of Netflix is a very funny Swedish movie called The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. Subtitled in English, I found the humor translated well into American. It’s sort of a Swedish version of Forrest Gump meets Mr. Bean. This big hit in Sweden was playing on Netflix streaming but now is on Netflix DVD only. However, last year they made a sequel that is almost as good, The 101-Year-Old Man Who Skipped Out on the Bill and Disappeared, and this one is currently streaming on Netflix. — KK

I’m eagerly looking forward to season 3 of Colony, a science fiction thriller about a world under lockdown after aliens arrive and take over. We never see the aliens — the oppressors are the humans who have cut a deal with the aliens to administrate repressive and cruel martial law in exchange for better living conditions. The story centers on a family trying to survive in a militarized, walled-off Los Angeles, where the smallest infraction is punishable by death. — MF

The best science fiction series now going is The Expanse. It’s set in a plausible 200-year ahead horizon, a period where Earth, Mars, and Asteroid Belters are in conflict. The everyday details of life in 2200 are well defined and worn convincingly; the characters nuanced and realistic, with no glaring villains. The science is sound, the production values high, and the plot is a detective thriller. The first two seasons are free to watch on Amazon prime. — KK 

In a sleepy Australian town, a group of long dead people come to life and dig themselves out of their graves. Unlike traditional zombies, they are intact, both mentally and physically. They are as confused as the good natured sheriff who becomes their protector against people who wish them harm. Can’t wait for the next season of Glitch, this intriguing Netflix original series. — MF

The Mask You Live In is a heartbreaking glimpse into how the media and ideals of masculinity are affecting young boys in America. The most poignant part of the documentary for me were the interviews with San Quentin’s Juvenile Lifers. They shared their experiences, and regret, about how being unable to articulate and share emotions as a child contributed to their rage and subsequent crimes. — CD

I am not worried about much, but I do worry about cyber war. There is no consensus on what is acceptable in cyber warfare and all countries, including the US, are deploying cyber attacks. The best documentary to inform this worry is Zero Days, available on demand on Amazon, iTunes, GooglePlay, etc. Shows what cyber war is. Not sci-fi, but what is already here yesterday. With more to come! — KK

A few years ago, two gringos travelled to Central America and attempted to survive for 2 months on a dollar a day — as the locals do everyday. A diary of the visitors’ struggle is available on Amazon as a pretty eye-opening documentary, Living on One Dollar. Turns out it requires great skill to live on this little; the attempts illuminate the lives of the world’s majority in a vivid way I’ve seen nowhere else. — KK

A series I am binging on is Silicon Valley. I know all these people and every detail of their lives and situations is pitch perfect right on. The producers get the tiniest details exactly right, from the technology to the mannerisms, as well as their bigger narrative. I haven’t laughed so much in ages. At the same time, it’s a remarkably fantastic advanced class in what technology companies are really like. Whether you want to work in one, or start one: watch this series. — KK

When you sign up for Nextdoor it’s like instantly joining your neighborhood watch group. Plus you get local business recommendations from neighbors, classifieds and events. — CD 

Reddit’s “Futurology” subreddit features news stories that point to our future. Stories such as “New antibiotic found in human nose,” “Singapore Scientists Grow Mini Human Brains,” and “Should a human-pig chimera be treated as a person?” I visit it daily. — MF 

This no-graphics version of CNN’s website looks like the web circa 1993, and I love it. I think they should run a couple of text ads to monetize it, because I don’t want them to stop. — MF

Smartnews is a free, lightweight, mobile app for iOS and Android. It presents the top news stories in different categories and is updated frequently. You can add your favorite news sites to it, too. When I want to find out what’s going on, it’s the first place I go. — MF

I’ve come to appreciate blogs more and more. They are reliable sources of informed enthusiasm and news that stays new. I’ve been surprised how few people use a RSS reader to subscribe to their select choices of blogs because a great RSS reader like Feedly is a tool I use every day. With Feedly, I can read the newest posts of any blog I subscribe to on my laptop or phone in a smooth, intelligent form. It is MUCH easier to read a blog on RSS than it is to go to the website, and it also strips away all ads and other marginalia, so I only see the core text and images. Feedly isn’t the only RSS reader, but it’s stable and highly evolved and I love it. — KK