Happy New Year! Here is the deal. If we can double our Recomendo circulation to 100,000 subscribers in this coming year — we now have about 50,000 — we’ll give everyone a free download to the new expanded, better than ever, just published, best-of Recomendo book. Doubling our subscriptions should not be too hard since our newsletter is free. If just one of your friends that you forward an issue to subscribes (for free), and that is true for all readers, then we’ll easily make the goal, and you both can get the new book for free. Or you can shout about Recomendo on your favorite social media.  Share your joy.

 

Find your color palette
I’ve learned through trial and error that dark green washes me out and makes me look sickly. But after uploading a selfie to Colorwise.me, I was able to play around with seasonal color pallet wheels to discover the most flattering colors for my skin tone, hair color and eye color. — CD

Better lightning cables
After reading my recommendation for getting cheap 3rd party Lightning cables instead of Apple’s shoddy ones, Martim Weinstein said “buy some good cables instead” He recommends the Belkin Mixit DuraTek Lightning cables: “Have a pair of these on my car and another on my motorbike. The ones in the car constantly get stepped on by wet and dry shoes, charge my kids iPads and iPhones, charges guest iPhones, are left out and about with zero looking after. They’ve lasted 2 years so far with zero sign of wear. The one on the motorbike is in rain, blazing sun and constantly exposed to the all elements with zero signs of wear. It’s on there almost a year and works just like it did on day one. I’m never buying another Apple cable if I can help it.” — MF

Online magic
I follow jekiyoo on Instagram. Jeki Yoo is a close-up magician of astounding talent, clever innovation, and immense entertainment. He is prolific, posting often, and a lot of fun, playing around with delightful ways to do magic online. Oh my! — KK

Special deal on The Magnet newsletter
I launched my subscriber-supported newsletter, The Magnet, in August of this year, and I’ve been amazed by the response so far. Until December 31, I’m offering subscriptions for $25 a year forever. That’s 50% off the regular subscription price, and you’ll get the same deal every year you resubscribe. — MF

Easy Amazon returns
Amazon has an insanely good return system. You can return most items (under 50 pounds) you bought on Amazon by simply bringing the item alone — without a box, without a label, without a print out — to a local UPS pickup counter, and they handle the rest. All you need is an Amazon supplied QR code on your phone. To get the code, look up the item on your orders page and when you ask for a return; returning it “naked” should be an option. — KK

Question your tea spoons
Illustrator Kim Lam shared a phrase worth knowing in Dense Discovery that deserves to be reshared. “Question your tea spoons” is an expression coined by french writer Georges Perec that challenges you to question the habitual and to give “tongues” to the ordinary things. — CD

-- Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson 01/3/21