I feel kinda dumb I had not figured this out earlier. We’ve managed to replace all the batteries in our household with rechargeable batteries, except for those 9-volt batteries. The ones with the two nipples on top that are in things like smoke alarms. But you can get rechargeable 9 volt batteries! Duh. As the current 9-volts die off, I’m swapping them out with these AmazonBasics 9-volt Rechargeables. I use this HTRC all-battery charger to charge them. — KK

We live in a house with walls that have chicken wire behind the plaster. They do a great job of blocking Wifi. To get around it, I installed a Frankensteinian hodgepodge of cables, powerline adapters, and wireless access points all around the house. They all had different SSIDs and the coverage was still spotty. It was frustrating. A decade later, I broke down and bought a Google Nest router and four wireless hubs. It set me back $500 but now we have great coverage throughout the house with no need to change SSIDs on our devices as we move from one room to the next. I expected my family to be grateful, Instead they are mad at me, “Why didn’t you get this sooner!?” — MF

Personally I know Kevin to be effortlessly wise and warm and honest, and his way of life is something I’ve strived to copy, so I treasure these 68 bits of unsolicited advice. There are so many sparks of clarity here and great guiding principles to adopt. These are my favorite:

• Pros are just amateurs who know how to gracefully recover from their mistakes.

• A worthy goal for a year is to learn enough about a subject so that you can’t believe how ignorant you were a year earlier.

• The universe is conspiring behind your back to make you a success. This will be much easier to do if you embrace this pronoia.

— CD

The Litter-Robot is what it sounds like – a cat litter box that performs a self clean every time one of my three cats uses it. The manufacturer sent me one to try out, and  it’s changed an unpleasant twice-a-day cleaning routine into an easy once-every-two-days task of dumping a tray of litter clumps into the trash. It’s basically a rotating barrel with a screen. Your cat hops in and does her business, and a few minutes after she hops out the barrel slowly rotates, depositing the clumps into a tray, and returning the clean litter to the barrel. It comes with a smartphone app, which I initially thought was ridiculous, but turned out to be useful in alerting me when it’s time to empty the tray. This thing costs $500, which is a crazy amount of money for a litter box. But think of it on a two-year timeframe: is worth a dollar a day to eliminate an unpleasant chore? — MF

I’ve been trying out Miro, a shared white board for video calls. This is a free web-based tool that allows all participants to draw, or post notes, on the same white page in real time. You open Miro in another browser tab while you zoom, so you and your collaborators can sketch, diagram, write down formulas together. Like standing around a white board. You’ll need a drawing tablet such as an iPad, Surface, or Wacom tablet on your end. — KK

A while ago I recommended a pen holder strap that I was really excited about (and still am because it’s French and pink), but thanks to Rayan Parikh sharing what’s in his bag, I’ve now discovered these adhesive pen holder loops ($6/5pk). I’ve stuck these on all my notebooks so that I always have a pen ready. — CD

I’ve been a guest on a number of live streams that use StreamYard. StreamYard is the emerging tool that enables you to broadcast live streaming video. The host invites up to 10 different guests to join via their incoming video connections. The guests meet off camera in a “green room.” Then like a studio producer, the host can mix which guests appear in the stream, which remain on deck in the green room, which other visuals to show, and overall to control what is streamed out live to YouTube, Facebook, etc., or your own website. Works pretty well. Conceptually this is a mini-broadcasting studio. It costs $25 per month to host, with a free trial option. Guests only require a web browser. — KK

At 3PM on a Thursday afternoon I’m one of 41,875 other people listening to the livestream of the ChilledCow lofi hiphop radio station on YouTube. Over 5 million people subscribe to ChilledCow, and I imagine the vast majority of them are students. I learned about it from my 16-year-old daughter who plays it on her headphones while she does her homework. I find that I can listen to the relaxing music for hours and hours while I work (that is, when I’m not in a Zoom meeting.) — MF

This infographic has 9 suggestions for focusing your wandering mind. A couple of them I’ve never heard before, like taking 1 minute to doodle to help cognitive performance, and a yoga hand trick to reduce stress. — CD

I like mechanical pencils, and my favorite is the Uni Kuru Toga with a lead-rotation mechanism (Model No. M54521P.24). Every time you touch the tip to the paper, the mechanism inside the pen ratchets the lead a few degrees. The result is the point stays rounded instead of taking on a chiseled profile as often happens with mechanical pencils. It’s inexpensive but very well-made. Mine has lasted for years. — MF

This helped me get out of my headspace for a bit: NASA’s What Did Hubble See on Your Birthday? I entered all the important dates I could think of and went down a Wikipedia wormhole to learn more about the Sombrero Galaxy and light echos. Every image is awesome and uplifting and teleports me out of my mental space to somewhere else. Which reminds me of a quote I’ve always treasured by Lao Tzu: “Do you imagine the universe is agitated? Go into the desert at night and look at the stars. This practice should answer the question.” — CD

Do yourself a favor and watch Shtisel, a two-season (24 episode) series on Netflix. It’s an incredibly written Isreali drama that is now a world-wide hit. It just happens to take place in an ultra-orthodox Jewish family. Ironically, it is a big hit in many conservative Muslim countries because these two traditional cultures overlap so much. Part of Shtisel’s charm is the full immersion into a world that is alien as Mars to most moderns, but the main attraction in this global gem is its universal humanism and real people characters. (Shtisel should not be confused with Unorthodox, another recent good Netflix series taking place in the same orthodox Jewish community, but with a very different ambiance and different artistic mission.) Shtisel is not loud or flashy; it is a quiet, low-budget masterpiece that leaves you feeling you encountered something remarkable. — KK

Like almost everyone else, I now need to interact with others working in different time zones. Determining their current time is the chore of this neat menu applet for the Mac called There. Unlike a world clock, the There applet tracks the time per person. I can instantly look up a friend/colleague and it gives me their current time; if they do travel and are a There user as well, I see their time at their new location. Ditto if I travel. You can import a whole Slack team and get their local times. It is currently free and will soon be available on Windows and phones. — KK

I  am a very happy user of You Need a Budget (YNAB), a personal finances subscription service (get a free month when you sign up with this link). They also have a good YouTube channel and I particularly enjoyed this episode where the host recommended five books that changed her life. Those books are: The 5 Second Rule, You Need a Budget, Daring Greatly, How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind, and Getting Things Done.  — MF

Lately, I’ve been marking each task on my to-do list as a high attention task or a low attention task, and through out the day, I will alternate and work only on the things that match my energy level. I’ve noticed that these “energy audits” have enabled me to power through bunches of tasks that I tend to avoid because they seem tedious or time-consuming. (Source: 6 tools that are more powerful than to-do lists for productivity). — CD

The Beginning Japanese Kanji Language Practice Pad looks like a daily calendar. On each tear-off page is a different Japanese kanji character, along with its definition, pronunciation, sample use, stroke order, and space to practice writing it. — MF

Every week Mark and I interview a maker on our Cool Tools podcast. We ask them to rave about four of their favorite tools for 25 minutes. The range of tools they recommend is surprising and refreshing; we are always expanding our possibilities. You can subscribe to the Cool Tools Podcast from the usual platforms. (We have 220 episodes!)  If you know of a remarkable person who is into tools, send us an introduction, and we’ll try to have them as a guest. — KK

Every once in awhile I will be scrolling through Reddit and come across a short reminder or tip post that simply says: Relax your jaw. I’m not sure at what moment it became second nature to me, but I noticed in the last week I’ve started relaxing my jaw at the first sign of anxiety or discomfort, which is great, because I then check-in with my entire body and relax my shoulders, and just that in itself is an instant mood booster. So I would like to pay it forward with a reminder to relax your jaw. — CD

One of the benefits of working from home is that you potentially have more autonomy in your work. As Dan Pink explains in this brief, but densely animated talk entitled: “Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us,” autonomy is one of the three main drivers of getting stuff done (money is not). Use this reset time to optimize these three factors in what you do. — KK

Radio Garden is a website that presents you with a spinnable globe of the Earth. The green dots represent radio stations. Rotate the globe, click a dot and you are suddenly listening to live radio in that part of the world. Right now I’m listening to Radio Seaside Wave in Nakhodka, Russia. — MF