Issue #188 | Subscribe

The holiday season is upon us, and with it come the deals on online shopping sites like Amazon.

However, this is also where I've been burned many times.

Some sellers use this time of year to sneak in fake discounts for their products. They mark up the price and then apply a discount to make the product appear to be on sale.

I noticed this while buying a portable tyre compressor for my car a few months ago.

I had been exploring a few options, and wanted to hold off my purchase for a while because I knew Amazon would be running an Indian Independence Day sale soon.

To my dismay, the product's price actually jumped up by ₹200 while slapping an artificial discount on it during the sale.

This is where one of the tricks I've learned recently from Kyle James comes in handy.

Amazon has an AI-assistant called Rufus, available on their website and mobile apps.

For any product, you can open the Rufus chat window and ask it to show the price history for this product:

Rufus will show you a line graph showing the 30-day and 90-day price trend of this product on Amazon so that you can know whether you're actually getting a good deal.

It's the same on the Amazon mobile app, so you can quickly verify the price of a product any time you're looking to buy something.

Kyle has more Amazon shopping tips in this blog post, which would be helpful in the coming months.

Do you know any hidden tips like this? Let me know by replying to this email.

Now, speaking of good choices, have you tried Griply yet?

Before you move on to the rest of this newsletter issue, here are a few words from:

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Your Next Read

Money

The Art of Spending Money

Morgan Housel is back with another practical and insightful guide on handling money in daily life. If you're looking to improve your relationship with money, this book might help.

Apps & Services

Bento

Split your tasks into focus boxes

I wrote an article based on the Bento method when this app initially launched in 2022, with the premise of putting a few tasks in your bento box and starting to work. Now, the app has relaunched with a refined look, AI task suggestions and more. Available on iOS for $24.99/year.
DeArrow

Make your YouTube timeline sane

It’s fun to browse YouTube without all those overly exaggerated shocked-face thumbnails that are often clickbait. This extension replaces the original video thumbnails on YouTube with crowdsourced depictions or a random frame from the video (whichever is available). Available on most major browsers for $1.99 one-time.
Messenger

A relaxing game for your breaks

This is a nice Web-based video game you can play during breaks to relax a bit. The goal is simple. Run around a coastal Japanese town making deliveries and passing messages. Available on the Web for free.

Handy Shortcut

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T

Quickly expand or collapse all toggled sections in a Notion page.

Interesting Reads

Why I Gave the World Wide Web Away for Free

5 min read

Sir Tim Berners-Lee shares his original vision for the World Wide Web and how it has diverged from his goal today. I’ll read more about his Solid framework, but for now, this was a thought-provoking read.
34 Short Lessons on Money

12 min read

Regardless of the stage you are in your financial life, this collection of genuinely good advice might have something for you to take home. Here's the one I liked the most: "Alignment with your partner about money is a must for a successful relationship."
My "Lazy" Path to Learning Spanish

10 min read

I’ve tried my hand at Spanish via apps like Duolingo and Babbel, on and off, since 2015, but I never got past the basic words and phrases. If you’re looking to learn a new language for work or fun, Jan’s approach in this article seems like a more practical route.
How I Built My Second Brain In 3 Hours

17 min read

If you record voice notes often, this is a fantastic setup to automatically transcribe, categorise, format and file your notes wherever you need to store them.

Watch Next

This video is an excellent explanation of how misinformation compounds with AI and is a reminder to be extra vigilant nowadays.

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