6 brief personal recommendations of cool stuff

Recomendo is a weekly newsletter with 6 brief personal recommendations of cool stuff, written by Kevin Kelly, Claudia Dawson, and myself. Get the Recomendo weekly newslettera week early by email.

Text-only CNN
Thisno-graphics versionof CNNs website looks like the web circa 1993, and I love it. I think they should run a couple of text ads to monetize it, because I dont want them to stop. Mark Frauenfelder

Cheap mobile home
For generations hipsters have been retro-fitting vans into mobile homes. Once they were VW vans; today they are Dodge Sprinter vans. The best source Ive come across for tutorials on how to remodel a used cargo van into a roaming house is aYouTube channel by Dylan Maga. Maga collects diverse videos of hundreds of regular folks building their vans and tiny homes in great and satisfying detail. Kevin Kelly

Youtube shortcuts
I cant believe I didnt know these Youtube shortcuts before! To pause a video press K. To fast forward press L. To rewind press J. To watch frame by frame forward or backward, press the period or comma key. Claudia Dawson

Garage parking aid
Theres probably a simple DIY substitute for theAccuPark Vehicle Parking Aid, but I was happy to pay $11 for it. I adhered this yellow plastic mini speed bump to the garage floor using the attached double-side tape. We can now drive our electric car right up to the optimum spot to plug in the charger port. MF

Swedish funny
Deep in the basement of Netflix is a very funny Swedish movie called The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. Subtitled in English, I found the humor translated well into American. Its sort of a Swedish version of Forrest Gump meets Mr. Bean. This big hit in Sweden was playing on Netflix streaming but now is on Netflix DVD only. However, last year they made a sequel that is almost as good, The 101-Year-Old Man Who Skipped Out on the Bill and Disappeared, and this one is currently streaming on Netflix. KK

Laundry organizer
My husband and I bought thesemesh bagsto organize our laundry. We use black sharpie to write washing instructions on them like no fabric softener, dryer ok or cold wash, hang dry. This has cleared up a lot of confusion. CD