I bought the $9 wireless doorbell from BN-Link for a friend whose old doorbell stopped working. The button unit comes with double-sided foam tape and uses a coin battery. The ringer plugs into a wall outlet. Installation took 60 seconds; deciding on which of 58 different chimes to use took 10 minutes and was a lot more fun. I wanted "Rage Over a Lost Penny" based on the title, but my friend decided on "Westminster Chimes." — MF

Recently, some Redditors shared their best real-life “cheat codes.” Here are the top-voted pieces of advice that stuck with me (some paraphrased):

• Treat everyone with sincere kindness and gratitude, especially those who rarely get thanks—like custodians, admin staff, or customer service folks.

• When your inner critic pipes up, just announce, “Oh look, the asshole is here.” Giving that negative voice a name can help you laugh it off and move on.

• If you get stuck on a problem, take a break—go for a walk or sleep on it—then try explaining it out loud, even to a rubber duck. Sometimes, just voicing the issue is enough to spark a solution.

• Clean your house before you go on vacation.

— CD

I've consulted numerous videos and written guides on how to fold elastic-rimmed fitted sheets correctly, but nothing compares to Dave Gauer's illustrated guide. It's got two things going for it that other guides don't: 1) hand-drawn illustrations of sheets depicted as googly-eyed muppet creatures, and 2) instructions that make sense. Even if you’re committed to rolling your fitted sheet into an ugly ball shape and stuffing it in the closet for the rest of your life, Gauer’s guide is worth reading for the entertainment value alone. — MF

Listers is a must-see, quirky, charming, homemade documentary about two brothers competing to spot the most number of birds in a year – the list. To make it more challenging, they know zero birds on day one, and they have no money so they sleep in their car as they travel the country for a year, and of course they film everything and it turns out they are remarkable nature photographers. The bird footage is award-worthy, but the rest of the film has the vibe of a shaky punk skate video. They constantly mock birdwatching and the obsessiveness of listers, while they become deeply obsessed themselves. This is not about birds; it’s about extreme bird-watchers, and it’s funny, entertaining 2 hours is a master class in obsession and what is possible to learn in one year. This doc has a lot of heart. Streaming on YouTube for free. — KK

The Wolfbox MF100 battery-powered air duster produces a stream of air more powerful than a can of pressurized air. I've been using it to blow debris out of keyboards, dust from windowsills, cobwebs out of corners, and dirt lodged in cracks in my backyard wooden stairs. I wear ear protection when using it on the highest setting. It comes with four nozzle attachments and a USB-C charging cable. — MF

Finding a reliable local guide in a far away destination is not easy, but made a bit easier with GetYourGuide.com. This is a clearinghouse for local ebike tours, street food tours, museum tours, and city walking tours around the world. GetYourGuide does not run any of the tours; these are all staffed and run by local entrepreneurs so the quality will vary. But this site and app make hyper local guides easy to find, easy to schedule, and easy to pay. In my own experience, they are reliable and deliver what they promise. — KK

I usually put very little effort into taking photos, but this tip makes me want to snap more—especially of my Chocolate Lab. It makes him look extra handsome. — CD

• Turn your phone upside down so the lens is on the bottom.

• Set the camera to 2x zoom.

• Step back from your subject.

• This setup helps create more natural human proportions and reduces facial distortion.

Whether or not you like the music of U2, you should watch the video memoir of its lead singer Bono. The format of Bono: Stories of Surrender, streaming on Apple+, is peculiar. Like an autobiography, this is an auto-documentary, a documentary made by Bono about himself. It begins with spoken-word monologues by Bono, mixes in music, dips in and out of him telling his Irish family story on stage, personal confessions of his own journey, punctuated by lyrics of well-known songs to fill out his biography. It is a performance, but also a record, an oral history. It’s a film version of his mammoth book autobiography, Surrender, but I appreciated this cinematic novella for its innovative approach to a memoir. — KK

This website generates random adjective–noun combinations and then pulls up corresponding Wikipedia and Google results. Some exist as entries, while others don’t because they’re too nonsensical. Either way, it feeds my curiosity and sparks new creativity. — CD

Richard Sharpe Shaver (1907–1975) was a pulp science fiction writer, best known for his articles that ran in Amazing Stories in the 1940s about an evil race of humanoids living beneath the Earth’s surface. Shaver insisted the stories were non-fiction. Later in life, Shaver came to realize that the patterns in rocks were messages written by intelligent beings of antiquity, and he devoted the remainder of his life to sharing his discovery with his small cadre of admirers. Richard Sharpe Shaver: Some Stones Are Ancient Books is a book of Shaver’s “rokfogos” research, complete with photos and typewritten rock-book translations. It was published by a delightful small press called The Further Reading Library. — MF

Every year, Tim Leffel, who runs our sister newsletter Nomadico (a Recomendo for travel) researches the cheapest places to travel round the world. His 2025 Cheapest Destinations report is brief, but very current. Inexpensive regions can extend how long you travel, or raise the level of quality, or both. Cheaper places also make the most difference if you are attempting to work for a while as a nomad. His survey takes that into account. — KK

This search tool helps you generate playlists based on your favorite music. Just input a song, and it finds similar tracks based on energy, instrumentation, acoustics, and danceability. You can also adjust your preferences. I’ve been discovering artists I never would have found — and songs I instantly love. — CD

This handheld vacuum from HRYCF is a handy helper for small messes. I use it to clean coffee grounds near my espresso station and crumbs on countertops. It offers strong suction and comes with versatile attachments, even converting into an air blower. Its compact design makes it easy to grab. The USB-C rechargeable battery runs for up to 40 minutes. — MF

Martha Stewart, now 82, was the original lifestyle influencer. She built a media empire beginning in the 1970s around herself making stuff, from gardening, baking, to crafts, to home improvement. She was the first woman to become a self-made billionaire. Like many geniuses, she was a bit of a jerk. (I had a chance to interview her mid-career.) What I really like about Martha, the new documentary about her surprising life, is that it reinforces the power of being the only, of being a category of one. Instead of trying to overcome her oddities, her unconventionality, her character weaknesses, she leaned into them hard so that she was unique and had no competition, until she herself was the brand. This later became the goal of many others: “the brand of YOU.” The documentary is extremely well done, a lot of fun because Martha Stewart can’t hide her flaws, and is streaming on Netflix. — KK

This is a useful guide for understanding impulsive behaviors and managing everyday temptations, like snacking and binge-watching. What I find helpful is immediately replacing an urge with a healthier and enjoyable alternative — like swapping doomscrolling for a phone call — and creating roadblocks by deleting apps or moving snacks out of sight. More importantly, the guide emphasizes being kind and gentle with yourself, and reminds us that progress comes from consistency and smart tweaks to your environment. There’s plenty of actionable advice here, but the real shift for me was how it normalizes impulsivity without shaming it. With that acceptance, it becomes easier to better understand myself. — CD

I've known A.J. Jacobs for 20 years and have read all his books, including his accounts of reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, becoming the healthiest person alive, and thanking the 1,000 people involved in his morning coffee routine. His newsletter, "Experimental Living," is a weekly dose of his signature immersive journalism. Each issue blends memoir, humor, science, and practical self-help tips from his latest life experiments. — MF

I use a standing desk at home, and I miss it when I travel because my body aches from sitting so long. This portable sit-stand laptop desk made by Moft weighs just a hair over two pounds and folds to a 0.5-inch thick rectangle that easily fits into my computer bag. Unfolded, it lifts my laptop 9.75 inches above the table, and is surprisingly stable. The fiberglass and PU leather construction feels premium and durable. Recommended for anyone who spends long hours on their laptop away from home. — MF

Check out the website Wplace. It’s a zany collaborative futuristic art project happening around the world, mostly created by young people. Like its predecessor r/place, Wplace lets people paint a single pixel at a time. But everyone layers the art over Google maps and most folks start with painting over their neighborhood. And like r/place, you can repaint over other art. So in order to make any kind of a picture large requires an incredible amount of coordination and collaboration with others – and any art produced must be fiercely maintained in order to remain. The ambience is true folk art – the lowest common denominator of anime characters, memes, sports brands, political flags, logos, graffiti, and creative patterns. Surprisingly the parts of the globe most densely painted in its first month are not silicon valley but Brazil and Germany. And you may have trouble getting a chance to paint pixels because its servers are overwhelmed. This weird global emergent collab happening feels like a hint of art from the future. — KK

The Daily Grail front page is my news source for all things weird and fringe science—from papers on consciousness studies and paranormal research to new discoveries in neuroscience, quantum physics, and strange archaeological finds. Most briefs come from mainstream, credible outlets, but the curation makes me feel like a kid reading Weekly World News in the checkout line or living inside an episode of The X-Files. Its editorial approach is described as maintaining an appropriate level of skepticism while remaining open to paradigm-shifting ideas. I check it religiously via my Feedly, but daily news items are also posted to Bluesky if you prefer to follow there. — CD

Midjourney TV is a continuous stream of AI-generated short video art, created by the user community with Midjourney’s recently launched video model. The stream is a hypnotic, mind-expanding glimpse into how humans are using creative AI—and into the collective imagination. I’ve been a Midjourney user since day one and still prefer it for creating imagery from dreams and psychedelic therapy visions. — CD