An amazing movie can change your life. A new book can reshape your world. A bunch of background noise on a call can derail your career. Some of the apps and products I’ve come across during quarantine can hopefully help you find some good films and books, while minimizing the background noise on your Zoom calls so that your career is not ruined by your roommate’s poorly timed smoothie making.
You may have heard of some of these products, but I’d be surprised if you’d heard of all of them. I’d be so surprised, in fact, that if you’ve heard of all 10 products you can Venmo request me for five dollars so that I can compensate you for your wasted time.
- Letterboxd (free) is the easiest way to keep track of the movies I’ve watched, create a movie watch list, and discover new movies. My favorite features are (1) being able to see what your friends rated movies (the rating system is out of 5 stars) and (2) being able to search for movies by actor, director, streaming platform, genre, country, and language, among other criteria.
- Libby (free) helps me read and listen to audiobooks more. It’s free with a library card (set one up super easily in the app or online). The audiobook interface is as good as Audible’s, but the process is easier since I can borrow and listen right away. For a non audiobook, I can send the digital copy straight to my Kindle. The fact that I only have the book for 21 days also makes me read with a little bit more urgency. The main drawback is that you have to wait for some books that are in high demand since all available digital copies may be on loan.
- Krisp (free for 30 days then $7/month) is an app for desktop and mobile that helps cancel background noise on calls. You can use it for both Zoom and normal audio calls. If you use the free version of the app, your number shows up as a random number.
- PokerSnowie (30 day free trial, then $99/year for intermediate or $229 for pro) is an AI poker training tool that helps me understand the right moves through a training simulator and through manually plugging in hands to evaluate them retrospectively. As someone who is pretty new to poker, but wants to grow up to be James Bond, I’ve found this quite helpful. It’s also a phone app, but I prefer the desktop version. The pro version’s main value comes from the hand ranges feature. Although I’ve only used the intermediate version, I’m sure you can justify the purchase by winning a single hand in your next game.
- Masterclass ($180 for an annual subscription) provides me with some engaging and informative talks. Some are more about entertainment than gaining practical skills, but my favorites watch like an informative, well produced TED talk. Unlike a YouTube video that recommends very similar videos after you’ve watched it, these condensed lessons give you a nice foundation as a jumping off point and are really well produced. It’s helped my cooking and given me an excuse to buy some new gadgets. To get better in the kitchen I recommend the cooking classes from Gordon Ramsey, Thomas Keller, and Alice Waters. For poker, Daniel Negranu and Phil Ivey are helpful. After watching the Kelly Wearstler design masterclass I redesigned my room (no more karate belts, soccer participation trophies, or dead succulents). I also really enjoyed the Doris Kearns Goodwin history class.
- Eero ($99 for one device) has drastically improved the Wifi in my home, which is really important because (1) wifi is really important when your roommate is playing Call of Duty online and you are on a video call and (2) saying you have a mesh network makes you sound tech savvy. It’s really easy to set up the Eero devices and monitor the devices on your wifi network.
- Wim Hoff method (free for youtube videos and some content) is a sequence of rhythmic deep breathing exercises that wake me up in the morning and help me take cold showers. Wim Hoff is a pretty incredible guy who is known as “The Iceman” because he can do crazy things in cold temperatures, which he attributes to his breathing technique.
- Instapaper (free or $3/month for premium) saves articles for me to read later from both web and mobile. Is it better then Pocket? Maybe, I haven’t decided yet.
- Strava (free or $60/year for premium) tracks all running, bike, and hike workouts. There are tons of cool features — multiple different activities/sports supported, leader board of popular segments from users, social feed of friends — and it’s really nice to track all of this data passively. I also find this app motivating during the workout since I do not want people to see any 10 minute mile splits. If you don’t want to have your friends to see your workouts you can always keep them private.
- AllTrails (free or $2.50/month) is a great app to discover, track, and plan hikes. I was the kind of person that did the same hike over and over, but with this app I am no longer that person.
Honorable Mentions
- Ayoba Foods Biltong ($8 for a 2oz pack) is a delicious, protein filled snack (31g/serving). I rediscovered this South African delicacy through a friend and you can buy it online, at Erewhon, or at Whole Foods.
- LetGo and OfferUp (free) are now one platform and have both been great to help me (1) sell furniture when I’m moving and (2) buy some used furniture post-move. The app has an intuitive interface and is a good alternative to Craigslist and Facebook marketplace. We are in a time when people need extra money more than usual and when people are doing more spring cleaning than usual, which translates into some pretty good deals.
Feel free to give me a clap for every product you found helpful :)
DISCLAIMER: I’m an investor in Ayoba Foods. I am not receiving compensation from any of the services or products mentioned.
