Recomendo picks: Readables/Hopper/Amazon Kickstarted projects

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Books related to my new book The Inevitable that I have found useful:

Magic and Loss by Virginia Heffernan: Treats the digital world as a great work of art.The Master Algorithm by Pedro Domingos: Best book to date on artificial intelligence.Machines of Loving Grace by John Markoff: Best book to date on robots.Superforecasting by Philip Tetlock: Why predicting is hard and how to get better at it.Pogues Basics by David Pogue: Extremely practical tips for techno-literacy. Kevin Kelly

Follow:

Im a big Welcome to Night Vale fan, a community news podcast about a fictional town plagued by paranormal and spooky events. Besides listening to the podcast, I prioritized my Facebook feed to see their absurd status updates first. They always make me smile. Example: Scientists discover a new species of spider on the back of your shirt. Oh wow. Its crazy big. Good luck, their press release reads. Claudia Lamar

Edible:

When it comes to airplane food, I agree with Anthony Bourdain: its better to go hungry. But I dont like going hungry so I pack snacks with me. One of my favorites is the Graze Bar. Its a tasty, chewy stick of grass fed beef containing no sugar, gluten, or MSG. Mark Frauenfelder

Travel tip:

Hopper is a smartphone app that predicts when airfare to a desired destination will be the cheapest. Ive set up an alert for Chiang Mai, Thailand. About once a month Hopper sends me a message with the best price it can find, telling me to wait or buy. The price recently dropped from the $900s to the $500s and Hopper said buy. MF

Stuff:

We bought this heated Shiatsu Massager more than a year ago, and it has definitely been put to good use. We keep it plugged in right next to the couch and use it every night. The arm handles allows you to adjust and place the massage nodes directly on hard to reach muscles. CL

Things:

Amazon now has a section where they sell originally Kickstarted projects. Bottom up retailing. KK