I met someone who was surprised to hear that Skype was still going. Yes, it was bought by Microsoft, and for me Skype is the main way I make international phone calls. They aren’t free but they are extremely cheap compared to other telephone channels. Zoom, Facetime, WhatsApp are all essentially free, but many companies are only reachable with a phone number. To call a phone number via Skype open the Skype app on either your laptop or phone, and select the keyboard icon, then dial the phone number. (You need a few dollars credit in your Skye account.) — KK

There’s this guy  – Todd at Project Farm – who maniacally tests tools on his YouTube channel. He invents systematic ways to test multiple versions of popular tools, which he buys himself. His evaluations are measured rather than qualitative. At the end of the long tests he displays a table of each tool’s performance and in a sentence or two gives his comparative verdict. This year, Todd rounded up his top 10 tests for the past year (2022), and put them into one super video. It’s a handy tool evaluator, and a good way to see if you’d find his other reviews useful. — KK

In addition to the pleasure of reading a rousing story, there is a special benefit in exploring alternative histories. You know, the ones that ask what if? What if the Nazis won? What if the Russians landed on the moon first? This question is both a great way to approach history, and a good skill for thinking about the future. The Sideways Awards for Alternative History on Wikipedia is a fantastic source that lists the best alternative history stories written for each of the past 30 years. — KK

I recently came across an intriguing Instagram channel featuring AI-generated animations that evoke the eerie changing portraits of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. These Dorian Gray-style portraits transform from people into grotesque monsters, with creepy music in the background. — MF

Deceptive.design is a pattern library of deceptive design examples used on websites and app to trick you into buying or signing up for things. There is a Hall of Shame with about 400 examples from the most complained about companies. The whole purpose of which is to raise awareness. Here's an infographic of 12 different types of dark patterns sourced from the website. — CD

A couple of weeks ago, my parents introduced me to True Lemon packets, which contain crystallized lemon juice that can be easily added to tea or water. The powder dissolves instantly, and taste even better than fresh lemon juice. I use it to enhance my drinking water and sprinkle a bit on cut strawberries and papaya to bring out their flavors. There are many other ways to use these handy packets. — MF

If I can't make a decision on something I like to consult my Universe Splitter app ($1.99 iPhone, Android). I enter two possible paths of action and press the "Split Universe" button. It then reports back to me which universe I'm in and what action to take. It's fun and silly and like flipping a coin, except you're creating multiple universes. The app keeps track of all your past universe splits and has a running tally of estimated universes created. I'm up to 512. — CD

It’s taking me a long time to overcome decades of muscle memory associated with hunt-and-peck typing and become a touch typist. After trying out several online typing trainers, I've settled on Monkeytype. Its easy-to-use interface, helpful feedback, and diverse range of exercises have made it my go-to resource. By spending just five minutes a day on the site, I'm slowly but surely improving my typing skills. — MF

Artvee is where you can browse and download high resolution copies of classical and modern art that is in the public domain. It’s free and you can do whatever you want with it. Some of my favorite stuff on Artvee is the art from illustrated books. — KK

By using Opinionate.io, you can pose questions such as, "Do we truly possess control over our choices or is free will simply an illusion?", "Is monogamy a product of nature or society?", and "Is society better off with decriminalizing drugs than enforcing prohibition?" This tool will simulate a debate between two debaters and a moderator, providing an informative and engaging introduction to important discussions on any controversial topic you ask it. — MF

Web Curios is a roundup of the most “interesting” links curated by Matt Muir —who covers everything from technology, culture and economics to sex, art and death. He’s been doing this for 10+ years and describes it as an absolute smorgasbord of links and words and ephemeral miscellanea. I always find something cool and fascinating (or sometimes terrifying) when I read it. — CD

The Right Now List is a ridiculously simple approach to tricking your inner procrastinator. David Cain recommends grabbing a sticky note and writing down 2-3 things that you need to do right now to get started on your project. These tasks need to be absurdly easy for this to work. For example: 1) Open Microsoft Word 2) Find the document I was working on yesterday 3) Scroll down to where I left off. The trivialness of these tiny tasks is what prevents your inner procrastinator from objecting. It gets your foot in the door and before you know it, you’re making headway. — CD

The best online source for used books is BookFinder. Its bare bones design is unchanged from 1997 and feels like a Craigslist for books. It’s an aggregated meta-search engine that simultaneously looks for a book on Amazon, Ebay, Abe, Alibris, Bibio, and 100,000 indie booksellers. It will find all copies available and arrange them by price, and supply the link for purchase from the source. (In other countries and languages it is known as JustBooks.) It reliably yields the least expensive option for a used book. — KK

I recently discovered that my iPhone has built-in background sounds like rain, ocean, or stream to mask unwanted noise. This feature came in handy on a recent flight while my phone was in airplane mode. You can also play ambient noise while you play other media like music or podcasts to further drown out environmental sounds. I found it under Settings > Accessibility > Audio Visual > Background Sounds. Thanks to Recomendo reader Pedro Nobre for the heads up on this. — CD

Shoewear is such a personal preference that I normally wouldn’t recommend any, but I was complimented on my sandals many times in Cancun — even stopped on the street — that I feel it warrants a review. These are my first pair of Birkenstocks I’ve ever owned and I finally get what all the hype is about. The footbed offers a lot of support and comfort for all-day walking, and the platform heel makes them cute enough to wear with dresses at night. I also took them to Egypt last year while visiting pyramids and tombs, and never had any issues walking or climbing in the rough and sandy terrain. I own a pair in pecan, but for the next trip I might have to buy them in black. — CD

I used to randomly hack away at bell peppers, ending up with oddly shaped slices covered in seeds. But a few years ago, I learned the trick to cutting bell peppers. Once you learn this method, you’ll never go back. — MF

The Three-Body Problem is an original science fiction book trilogy from China. It is a major phenom in China and a huge hit in the rest of the world, sweeping the major science fiction awards in the US. Tencent, the owner of WeChat, funded a TV series version that ran on China TV. You can watch an English-subtitled version of The Three-Body Problem on YouTube, complete with Chinese TV advertisements. Even though I read the books I found the movies hard to follow, and too arty in an effort to be cool. I would only recommend it for the most diehard fans of the books, or just to see how China does long-form TV. — KK

If you need to use an image for your art, product, project, or any other reason, check out the Smithsonian's vast collection of Open Access images available under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. I searched "cat," and it returned over 7,000 images, and every one I looked at was terrific. — MF

If you take a search engine (Bing) and add a chatbot (GPT-3) you get a brand new thing bigger than search or chat. It is a universal intern. This new assistant does analytics, summaries, drafts, coding, research, queries, and more.  But you need to learn whole new methods to get the best results. This short tutorial by Ethan Mollick called “Power and Weirdness”  is the best first draft I’ve seen of superuser tips and techniques for harnessing the astounding power of Bing and other chatbots. — KK

If you want to experience Japanese overnight train rides without actually being there, the best way is to watch this YouTube channel. An anonymous creator produces 15-20 minute videos that showcase the amenities of sleeper trains in Japan. The videos provide an inside look at the lounge cars, dining cars, showers, snacks, and beds on board the trains. The creator has also produced a video that details the experience of staying in a $14 per night ninja and geisha themed capsule hotel in Osaka. — MF