Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales is published by Cool Tools Lab. To receive the newsletter a week early, sign up here.
Don’t forget about my Holiday Giveaway Challenge. I’m giving away a bundle of both my tips books (Vol. 1, Vol. 2) and three of my favorite everyday tools: The Williams ratcheting screwdriver, the Canary cardboard cutter, and a plastic razor blade. To be eligible, all you need to do is convince three people to sign up for my newsletter (and then send me their email addresses). If you sign up 5 (or more), you get two entries in the drawing. Contest ends Midnight, Dec. 9. Sorry, but this contest is US-only!
One of the things I love about holiday gift exchanging is getting to ask your loved ones for things you might not normally think about buying for yourself. That’s the premise behind this video on A Glimpse Inside. Honestly, I was expecting less common, everyday tools, but the stuff on here is definitely things you might not think about or know about that would make great practical gifts. A couple of things he mentions that I think fall into that special “I wouldn’t likely buy this for myself” category are the Viewtainer storage system, the GRABBO electric vacuum cup lifter, and a benchtop tape dispenser.
If you’re looking for great gift ideas for any maker on your shopping list, consider my two Amazon best-selling tips books (Volume 1, Volume 2). They are filled with tips on things like cutting, gluing, fastening, painting, finishing, electronics, soldering, 3D printing, hobby tips, and much more. The books are designed to appeal to DIYers of all skill levels and interest areas.
Isn’t it time you gave yourself (or someone else) a little Artistic License? Years ago, I created these cards and they’ve been a hit for the holidays. Perfect stocking stuffer! They are $5 each or 5 for $20 (post paid). They come in a wax-sealed white envelope. The cards are credit card sized on thick, laminated card. If interested, email me and we can arrange payment and shipment. Foreign orders will require full postage.
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A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted.
For those who are in the San Francisco Bay Area in the month of October, Safety Wing is operating a pop-up salon space is open to the public in downtown San Francisco, with free coffee and co-working space for digital nomads. Every Saturday this month they will host a series of talks by remarkable speakers on efforts around the world to create the portable infrastructure and policy regime to support a modern nomadic life and borderless travel. Free tickets can be had at the Safety Wing Embassy site so you can connect with people that should probably be in your tribe. (Via Kevin Kelly).
Is Buying Points Ever Worth It?
When the whole point of travel loyalty program points is to get something extra at no cost as a reward, outright paying for those points would seem to defeat the purpose. The airline and hotel points have a defined dollar value though, based on member experience of cashing in, so sometimes when they’re offering a big promotional bonus it could be worth doing. This month I’ve gotten purchase pitches from three hotel chains. One is offering a 100% bonus above a certain threshold and the Wyndham Hotels one of +90% is intriguing because their program only has 3 tiers for redemptions. So it’s easy to do the math and figure out that you could get a $300 or $400 hotel night for $150, or you can “top off” your account to hit the redemption level for an upcoming getaway. Here are examples from AwardWallet.
Nomad Work Hubs on the Rise
Which destinations are getting more working nomads recently? This report is compiled from data based on Nomads.com club member check-ins and there are a few other statistic problems, like the year-to-year spikes/declines being averaged out. Plus percentages hide that some started at a very low base level (hello Paraguay!) Take out the volatile examples though and there’s clearly a steady uptick in Da Nang, Tirana, Hanoi, Taipei, Melbourne, Chiang Mai (still?!), and a whole lot of cities in Japan.
A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.