Wonder Tools

I’m starting this year with a focus on tactics, not just tools. Timeboxing is the tactic I rely on to plan my 100 weekly waking hours. In this post I’m sharing tips and tools to help whether you’re new to timeboxing or a pro. To read this full post online, visit https://wondertools.substack.com/p/timeboxing Timeboxing is the practice of scheduling tasks and deep work directly onto a calendar. By s...

💎 In retreating from 2024’s chaotic news, I appreciated the niche apps and podcasts below. Consider today’s post a holiday care package 💝 with little bites. 🔮 Looking ahead: As 2025 approaches, I’m exploring a bunch of surprising new AI services I’ll write about soon — from Sora’s video generation 🤯 and a whimsical new Google tool to 🧠 brain-measuring headphones 🎧 and an AI-powered, voice-re...

I tested hundreds of new tools this year. Many were duplicative. A few stuck with me because they’re so useful. The dozen noted below are helping me mine insights from notes, summarize meetings, design visuals— even code a little, without being a developer. You can start using any of these in minutes — no big budget or prompt engineering PhD required. Check out my list and leave a comment below no...

“Hey, can you cut that two-hour conference presentation down to a two-minute video for LinkedIn?” Two years ago, that request would have sent someone deep into video editing software, scrubbing through footage, setting careful cut points, and wrestling with export settings. Now you can simply tell an AI bot what you want and watch it begin to assemble your video. For the full newsletter post, visi...

I don’t know how to code. So I was delighted this week to discover a new AI service, Windsurf Cascade , that helped me make several little games and apps right after downloading the free software. How it works: I draft a prompt explaining to the AI what I’m envisioning. It spits out code I can test, then I ask for revisions. I then publish and share an app. Why it matters: Windsurf is the first to...

Julius is a promising new AI service for analyzing data. I’ve been using it to make sense of — and visualize — my analytics dashboard and find meaning in giant datasets. You can use it for virtually any type of business or scientific data, or simply to categorize survey responses or interpret spreadsheets. Read on for what’s notable about Julius and other new approaches to AI data analysis. How I’...

Even if you can't draw or take a decent photo, you can now illustrate anything. Services like Unsplash , Pexels , and free Creative Commons search simplify finding free high-quality images. Canva lets anyone quickly create simple graphics. And now services like Ideogram let you capitalize on AI image generation to dream up your own instant visuals. I used to rely mostly on DALL-E 3 for AI image ge...

ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode— free as of Oct 21— is like having a 24/7 wizard in your pocket. From language practice and virtual museum tours to meditation and public speaking guidance, I’ve been discovering unexpected practical uses. It only works on mobile for now, and it’s sensitive to background noise. But it feels magical. Read on for my recommendations, privacy considerations, usage ideas,...

Google’s free NotebookLM made improvements today to what has become one of the most powerful ways to use AI. NotebookLM helps you draw insights and learn from notes, documents, links, and recordings. It doesn’t do research on the Web, scan its internal databases, or make up content to please you. Instead it’s grounded in — and focused exclusively on— analyzing the sources you provide. Today, Oct 1...

For today’s audio post, I spoke with Nikita Roy , host of the Newsroom Robots podcast, about my favorite ways to use AI. The Q&A below, based on our conversation, addresses commonly-asked questions. 1. What are two useful new ways to use AI? * AI-powered research: Type a detailed search query into Perplexity instead of Google to get a quick, actionable summary response with links to relevant infor...

Supernormal just launched an easy new way to create free AI agents. These automated assistants can independently host, transcribe, and summarize online conversations. See what they’re like by trying my experimental agents: one conducts reader surveys , another screens sponsorship inquiries , and a third collects cool tool nominations . Read this full post on the Wonder Tools site I even set up a S...

Hugging Face is the best place to try thousands of free demo apps that show what AI can do. It’s an open-source community where developers test new models. It’s also an exciting digital playground where you can try out the most advanced new AI experiments for free . Read on for free ones I recommend trying. What new AI tools are you finding most intriguing? Read the original full post online for a...

Claude has quietly become one of the most powerful AI tools. Its most surprising and useful feature launched this summer: Projects. I can now train Claude to assist me with anything I’m working on by uploading up to 500 pages of my relevant notes, files, and examples. Read the full published post on Substack How to use Claude Projects Step 1. Upload contextual materials. After initiating a new pro...

In my teaching at the City University of New York Newmark Graduate School of Journalism , I benefit from tools that help make my teaching more enjoyable, efficient — and hopefully more effective and engaging. Read on for the toolkit I rely on to help create a vibrant learning environment. Read a full version of this post online , with all links, images & examples. Below is a summary of most of the...

Pens. Pencils. Typewriters. Computers. Wordstar. Word. Google Docs. Writing tools continually evolve. That evolution has brought us hundreds of writing apps to choose from. Read on for recommended tools for various writing challenges. For the full written post online , visit https://wondertools.substack.com/p/writing-tools-for-busy-people 🤩 If you’re easily distracted — iA Writer The simplest wri...

Raindrop is a terrific free tool for organizing bookmarks. I use it to save links for classes I’m teaching and topics I’m researching. I also save link collections to share with friends, colleagues and readers. Read the online version of this story for links to all the tools mentioned. In this audio version I'll share its best features, suggested uses, caveats, and alternatives. Raindrop’s best fe...

For the full, up-to-date post this audio connects to, visit https://wondertools.substack.com/p/notebooklm Google’s NotebookLM is a new free service that lets you apply AI to your own notes and documents. You can use it to find connections between your own ideas and see patterns you hadn’t noticed. Read on for how I’m using it, what I like most about it, its limitations, and interesting alternative...

Summary : Strengthen your Google Slides with new templates that make presentations look better, plug-ins that add interactivity, and AI to help draft decks quickly. For even more polished presentations, pick from six of the best alternatives to GSlides. 🪩 To see the full post and all the links, visit: https://wondertools.substack.com/p/7-ways-to-spice-up-google-slides 1. Turn your notes or writin...

Summary: AI outputs can be disappointingly conventional. To avoid predictable responses, I like instructing AI engines to be strange. Unexpected, radical ideas can be useful for creative inspiration. Odd perspectives stretch my thinking. Read on for specific ways to prompt AI to break beyond its bland boundaries. For the full post online, with visuals, visit: https://wondertools.substack.com/p/sur...

Summary : Bloks is simple AI-powered software I use and recommend to record and summarize meetings. Read on for how it works, how to make the most of Bloks, and a few limitations and alternatives.  If you’re a visual person, watch my 4-minute video summary above or on YouTube . How Bloks works Bloks runs on your computer, transcribing and summarizing online or in-person meetings. Unlike other meet...

Kapwing is an excellent Web-based video editing tool. Its useful new AI features make it easy to convert a long video — like a Zoom recording, an interview, or a presentation— into short, shareable clips. Watch the video above — or on YouTube — to see Kapwing’s co-founder and CEO show me how to do that. Read on for how and why to easily create video clips with Kapwing’s AI, and some limitations an...

ChatGPT is the most powerful AI tool. It’s useful for dozens of daily tasks — from idea generation to editing suggestions. To get the most out of ChatGPT, today’s post offers the following guidance: * How to get ChatGPT to do what you want * What ChatGPT is most useful for * How to make the most of its multimedia capabilities * When to use alternatives like Claude, Bing and Bard There’s also a sho...

Finding reliable services online can be time-consuming. So to help you strengthen your digital toolkit for 2024, I’m sharing a six-minute take on 7 of my favorites. ( Watch on YouTube or above in this post). My aim is to save you hours spent weeding out clunkers. Read on for my preferred tools for journaling, creative interactive documents, exploring the Web, making lists and more. Create interact...

In this week’s Wonder Tools I’m experimenting with an audio post. Nikita Roy recently interviewed me for her Newsroom Robots podcast. I’m sharing the conversation with you to give you a window into the AI tools I find most useful with explanations of how and why I use them. During the conversation I share my AI experiments and thoughts on: * How Claude offers a powerful alternative to ChatGPT for...

Shortform gives you concise summaries of books you haven’t had time yet to read. In 15 minutes you’ll grasp a book’s core ideas. You can then decide to read the full book if it resonates. Shortform covers 30+ genres but focuses on business, tech, self-improvement, spirituality, history, and politics. My summary take: I appreciate the thorough, smart summaries weaving in ideas from related books, b...