# How I find answers for strange and useful things > Learn how I use various free tools to get answers for everything from finding a new TV, to researching payment provider options. - Published: 2026-08-15 - Web version: https://nathan.shyp.fyi/blog/how-i-find-answers-for-strange-and-useful-things/ Researching and finding things is no longer a task. The last year or so has changed how this works. So, I want to share various options with you. Many of these tools are effectively free. I have used all of them, but would probably recommend Parallel as the quickest one to get started with right now. - **Parallel Web Systems**: They have Deep Research. Same name as what you've probably seen in ChatGPT or Gemini. But covers things, how would you say "more" than they do, while also keeping the output much easier to read. Also gives you more control over the various options. I use it on the "Ultra" setting, and if I want a quick answer then I'll toggle "Fast". That is about 1.5-2x faster, and just costs a bit more. But it's the same quality. - **Last 30 Days**: This searches Twitter and Reddit, and ~12+ other sources across the last 30 days and collates it into clear and actionable answers for you. For me, this tool really opened my eyes to what was possible. And it seems the same for the rest of the world. It was the most shared open source tool at various times over the last 3 months. If you try one extra thing, it should be this. - **Book To Skill**: Not sure if we remember books. But there's so many fantastic books out there that you can learn a lot from, but I know I won't be able to read them all. This tool lets you basically "talk" to the book. So you could talk to Atomic Habits. Give it a real example from your life, it will find the relevant passages and chapters and give you a clear and short answer. - **YouTube Advisor**: Take a YouTube channel and make it instantly searchable. It quotes from the video and links to it, so you can go watch that specific video. This is especially useful for the channel that has 100s of longform content like podcasts, interviews, training, etc. - **Hyper Research**: Beware, this is deep research on steroids. This is the most incredibly wide and in-depth research I have ever seen a tool do. It takes 2 hours and will likely use up your AI plan limits for the day. - **You.com**: I only tried this out for the first time this week. But I am very impressed. Their deep research is essentially a cousin to the one from Parallel. Both very high quality, but You.com has an edge in some areas. My approach right now is to do both and then ask AI to collate the results. All of these get 5 stars from me. I have tried many more than what is listed here, but these are ones I go to most regularly. So, practical examples **where Parallel would be useful to you right now?** I'd jump in to something like: *You're looking for a new TV and want to understand what the good deals are, if the brands like Sony or Samsung are still "the top". Does Takealot have the same model that was recommended on YouTube?* Or maybe it's more work related: *Need to find the best online payment options in South Africa for my online store. We want to accept EFT, and PayShap would be great as well. It has to have credit card and Apple Pay. What are my options?* Don't stress too much about finding the right "prompt" for your first search. Get a result and then you can adjust from there. A tip from my wife is to use ChatGPT to give you a prompt, something like "*give me a concise prompt for an AI research tool that...*". --- **Links to the tools mentioned:** Parallel Web Systems: https://parallel.ai/ Last 30 Days: https://github.com/mvanhorn/last30days-skill Book to Skill: https://github.com/virgiliojr94/book-to-skill YouTube Advisor: https://github.com/AlexanderAbramovPav/youtube-advisor Hyper Research: https://github.com/jordan-gibbs/hyperresearch You.com: https://you.com/platform