Wonder Tools

Dive into a treasure trove of niche apps that enhance productivity and simplify tasks. Discover how TextSniper easily extracts text from images, and explore handy utilities like CleanMyMac. Get planning advice with Sunsama, and suggestions for personalized entertainment with Likewise. Tune into insightful podcasts like Think Fast, Talk Smart for presentation skills and Hidden Brain for understanding human behavior. Wrap it all up with reflections on enjoyable listens like the Trader Joe's podcast.

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 noting one of your own favorites. 👇Check out the full post online: https://wondertools.substack.com/p/wonder-tools-best-of-2024Strengthen your work kit with AI1. Search Smarter: Perplexity 🔎Get instant, citation-backed briefings instead of drowning in a long list of search results. See how and why that’s so useful.2. Mine Your Own Material: NotebookLM 📓Apply AI to your notes and documents with citations and no hallucination. See examples and benefits.3. Tackle Complex Work: Claude Projects 📂Enhance work you’re doing on an ongoing basis. Upload relevant docs, files and give instructions and context to one of the best AI engines. It’s great not having to coach it from scratch on each query. Read more about why this is useful.4. Edit text with an assistant: Lex 📝Lex helps you get messages across clearly. Use it not to write for you but as an excellent editing assistant and watchdog suggesting fixes for grammar, cliches, passive voice, readability, brevity, repetition, & more. See more of my fave writing tools.Enhance your visuals5. Design engaging imagery: Ideogram ✍️Make posters, graphics, illustrations or whatever you need to enhance documents, presentations, reports, or social media posts. Read more on why I love this tool.6. Design Beautiful Docs: Craft 🎨Create great-looking documents, notes, handouts, guides, and other visual resources without design skills. Version 3, just out, adds even more polish. See why I use Craft all the time.7. Create Pro Media: Descript 💻Edit audio and video as easily as editing a document. Why I rely on Descript. Others I found useful this year: Hypernatural for social video & Eddie for editing with natural language9. Visualize Data: Napkin ✍️Transform any description of an idea or framework into a neat infographic. Read my overview.Power up workshops and meetings10. Capture Meeting Gold: Fathom 🎥Transform any Zoom call into an actionable summary with timestamped highlights.11. Teach Interactively: Butter Scenes 🧑‍🏫Lead engaging online sessions with a second screen for enhanced interaction.Create games & apps with no prior skill12. Build Without Coding: Windsurf Cascade 🧑‍💻Turn your ideas into working software without any technical knowledge. I was delighted at the ease and speed with which I could start creating. See what I learned and examples of what I made.📺 Here’s my video summary 👇Dig DeeperPerplexity 🔎 Search with AIWhy this is a winner: Google searches require sorting through dozens of links and lots of irrelevant material. Perplexity, by contrast, offers useful summary briefings on any topic you want to learn about, with relevant citations, so you can dig deeper into original sources.How I use it: To get up to speed quickly on concepts, people or topics that are new to me, for both work and leisure interests. Also for product comparisons, to educate myself on cultural trends with helpful citations, and to find useful sources for context on historical events.Read more: My take on how to make the most of PerplexityNotebookLM 📓 Apply AI to researchWhy this is a winner: Draw connections between up to 50 files and documents that relate to a project you’re working on. NotebookLM has a huge context window so you can upload millions of words for each project, much more than you can add on other platforms. You get helpful insights with citations to help you return to relevant sections of your documents.An example of how I use it: I created a notebook for my Readwise highlights, which includes the passages I’ve marked in my Kindle books, online articles I’ve highlighted, and podcasts I’ve listened to with Snipd. Now I can query my own highlights on my favorite passages from the past decade to gain insight about material that’s resonated with me.Streamline CollaborationFathom 🎥 Sum up meetings with AIWhy this is a winner: Following up on dozens of meetings is hard. Fathom makes it easy by giving you great summaries of any online gathering. You get both a summary and a timecoded transcript so you can jump directly to key moments in your recording.Other strengths: It’s easy to set up by linking it to your calendar. That enables it to join your Zooms. Afterwards you can send other attendees a link to the summary. You can auto-request approval so no one is surprised by having an AI present. If you ever don’t want it there, it’s easy to remove or turn off. You can even mark highlights during the meeting with a button click. I still use the free version — it’s so good you may not need to pay.How I use it: To summarize and return to important points in internal and external meetings, and to record and share live workshops and events I host.Good alternatives: Supernormal is great for transcribing and summarizing meetings, alerting you to follow-up tasks from those meetings, and allowing you to expand on important points in the summary. Granola is great for allowing AI to flesh out your own meeting notes.Claude Projects 📂 Apply AI to ongoing workWhy this is a winner: Most AI chatbots focus on standalone queries. You ask for input once. Then you start over later with a new prompt. But my work — and I’m guessing at least some of yours — often stretches out over days or weeks, requiring multiple related steps.How it works: Claude Projects allows me to upload relevant documents and give it specific instructions for each project I’m working on. It then gives me helpful ideas and analysis, provides useful editing suggestions, and helps me think through problems.How I use it: I like having a digital assistant for ongoing or repetitive work. It helps me when I get stuck or confused. It also comes in handy when I’m filling out repetitive forms or preparing to facilitate book discussions.Read more: Here’s my overview, with detailed examples and featuresCraft 🎨 Design attractive documentsCraft just launched version 3 with lots of new design upgrades. Check out my introduction to Craft for more on how to use it. Whether I’m teaching, writing or public speaking, it’s one of my favorite tools for making and sharing handouts. I use it to make reports, proposals, sales guides, journal pages, and teaching resources. It’s especially useful if you teach, train, or need to create any kind of visual guide, travel plan, or handout. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

Discover how Eddie AI is transforming video editing by allowing users to edit simply through natural language commands. This innovative tool makes the process accessible for everyone, from beginners to seasoned professionals. While it can't tackle advanced features just yet, it serves as a handy assistant for quick edits and preliminary drafts. With its user-friendly approach, Eddie is paving the way for a more intuitive future in video editing, opening doors for those without technical skills.

Discover a groundbreaking AI tool that empowers absolute beginners to create games and applications effortlessly. With just a simple prompt, users can generate code, test it, and revise it in real-time. This innovative service eliminates the intimidation of coding and opens up a world of possibilities for those curious about technology. From dreaming up fun games to crafting useful apps, the ease of use makes diving into coding an exciting adventure.

Discover Julius, the innovative AI service revolutionizing data analysis. It transforms giant datasets into actionable insights, perfect for businesses and scientific research alike. Learn how it's been instrumental in making revenue projections and identifying reader retention patterns. With its versatility in handling diverse data types and running Python code, Julius empowers users to dive deep into analytics without needing a dedicated data analyst. Tune in for comparisons with other AI tools and user experiences!

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 generation through ChatGPT, but Ideogram has become my new favorite. It gives you four options per query, creates more vivid art, and includes accurate text within images. I use it to create social media graphics, illustrations for this newsletter, and designs for slides. Read on for how to make the most of it. How to start using Ideogram* Visit Ideogram.ai and sign up for free with your Google or Apple acccont. Explore the public gallery to see others’ images and the prompts they used. * Describe an image you envision in a few sentences. Don’t worry about precise wording. You can opt to let Ideogram refine your prompt.* Choose a style. Decide if you want an illustrated or photographic-style image. Or pick ‘auto’ to let the algorithm decide. You can also select a color palette. * Choose dimensions. Pick a wide, vertical or square image. I mostly generate wide images, which match the width of Web pages.* Click generate. On a free account, you can generate a handful of free images per day. * Wait a minute. The service slows free requests to incentivize upgrades. * Download the image you like and use it any way you choose. Check the help page for additional guidance. Pricing* Free for 10 slow credits a day (~5 images). * $7 or $16/monthly billed annually for more images, quicker rendering, and advanced features like Canvas, which lets you modify & extend images. Ideogram’s Best features * Create 5 images daily for free. Experiment with the service’s top-quality engine. You don’t need a paid account to get great results. * It’s easy to prompt. Ideogram’s “magic prompt” algorithm refines your initial query into a polished image request you can approve or revise. * Choose from 4 options. Each time you submit a prompt, you get back four generated images. Being able to choose one gives you a bit of editorial input.* Get accurate text within images. Many AI generation tools can’t reliably reproduce text well. If you ask for an image with a phrase in it, words may be be misspelled and letters mangled. (See my recent bungled attempts with DALL-E 3 and Adobe Firefly). Ideogram, though, is particularly good at handling text in images. Accurate text is valuable for social media graphics, thumbnails, banners, and logos. Check out Ideogram’s guidance on text & typography, which includes sample prompts you can build on. * Pick from a variety of styles. Choose from photorealistic images (“realistic”) or three kinds of illustrations (“design,” “anime,” or “3D”). There’s also a poorly-named “general” option. I often choose “auto” to choose from multiple approaches. I can opt for a clean, modern look for a presentation, or a more abstract, artsy vibe for a creative project.* Use negative prompts. Paid subscribers can list specific elements NOT to be included in an image. That can be helpful if a particular detail could prevent your image from being usable, as in the burger example below. * Pick your image orientation. You can generate a horizontal, vertical, or square image. Free users have 11 orientation options. That’s helpful for generating images that will fit your slide, podcast, newsletter, ad banner, site header, or whatever else. Paid subscribers can specify any dimensions.* Explore the public gallery of generated images. Browse what others have created to spark new ideas. You can draw inspiration from others’ prompts. Take a look at top-ranked images. * Remix anything. Modify images you or others have generated with Ideogram’s remix button. I often tweak what I’ve generated to get closer to what I want.* Extend images. Canvas, a new feature, lets paid users edit, extend or combine images on a large canvas. Read about what’s new or watch a promo video to get a sense of it.👇  Caveats and concerns about AI image generation* Less control. With traditional visual editing tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and Canva, you have full control over the pixels you’re designing. When generating images with AI, you can create amazing art within seconds, but you have less sway over a visual’s specifics. * Risk of confusion. Some AI-generated images look like real people, objects or buildings, which can occasionally be misleading if not captioned or explained. For instance, an AI-generated photo of a person in a business setting might be mistaken for a real employee.* Displacement of artists. Talented professionals may see diminishing demand for their services as people increasingly look to AI services in lieu of hiring creatives.* The rise of AI sludge. With AI image generation spreading, sustaining a distinct visual identity may get harder. As it becomes easier to imitate anyone’s visual style, AI-powered copycats may proliferate.    * Vague prompts may not yield the desired results. If your prompt isn’t specific, you may get a golden retriever instead of a poodle, or a tuba instead of a trumpet. Tip: if you’re ending up with generic images, prompt ChatGPT or Claude to help you craft more detailed prompt options. Ask for five or 10 options to choose from, and push for bold, creative, surprising options.Ideogram caveats* Limited free images. I often have to iterate on a prompt several times before getting something usable. On a free plan that may mean getting only one or two quality images a day.* Reduced image quality on downloads. Free users can only download a 70% quality JPEG image, not the full-resolution version. * Public image creation only. All images created on the free plan are public, meaning others can view and remix them. To keep your images private, you’ll need to pay $16/month billed annually.  AlternativesDALL-E 3 ChatGPT’s built-in AI image generation tool is what I used most often until recently to create images for my newsletter. The image quality is excellent. And it has a helpful edit feature. You can select an area of a generated image and prompt it to change that part. But DALL-E 3 is less reliable at generating accurate text than Ideogram or Flux.FluxAlongside Ideogram, Flux is one of my favorite new AI services. You can use it for free through HuggingFace or Freepik. It creates gorgeous images and doesn’t require any special prompting lingo. I find Ideogram simpler to use, but Flux is similarly excellent at generating accurate text inside images. Adobe FireflyThe company behind Photoshop has a growing suite of AI tools. Firefly has some unique capabilities. You can customize your image’s camera angle, lighting, color, tone and special effects. In my tests, though, it isn’t consistently generating text within images accurately.Looking ahead: In upcoming posts and in live events for paid subscribers I’ll share more of what I’m learning about how to make the most of AI image generation. I’ll also share examples from Midjourney, Canva and other emerging image-generation tools. Please leave a comment about your own experience with AI image generation. What have you used it for, and what works best for you? 👇 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

Discover the magic of ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode, a free tool that transforms your mobile device into a conversation wizard. Use it for language practice, virtual museum tours, and even meditation. Learn about privacy settings to keep your data secure while exploring its capabilities. The technology behind the AI voice narrator is fascinating, offering personalized engagement and productivity tips. Dive into fun and practical uses that can revolutionize your daily tasks!

Discover how Google's NotebookLM evolves as a powerful AI tool for note analysis. Its latest updates allow users to customize AI-generated audio content with a focus on specific topics. The podcast explores privacy concerns and the organizational strategies that enhance productivity. Learn about innovative functionalities like AI chat features and the creation of specialized notebooks. Additionally, dive into alternative AI tools enhancing note-taking and learning, all while navigating the balance between creativity and data security.

In this engaging discussion, Nikita Roy, a data scientist and media entrepreneur, shares insights on utilizing AI for enhanced productivity. She reveals how tools like Perplexity can revolutionize research, providing quick summaries instead of traditional search engines. Nikita emphasizes AI's role in streamlining email management and scheduling with solutions like Shortwave and Reclaim AI. She also highlights the importance of using AI for brainstorming and improving writing processes, making creative tasks more accessible and efficient for everyone.

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 siteI even set up a Skeptical Critic agent you can try that will question your ideas. It’s useful as a verbal jousting partner to prepare for difficult conversations. Read on to learn how and why to create your own AI agents for free, along with caveats and my pro/con reflections.How to create your own agent * Create a free Supernormal account. * Select the type of agent you want to create: sales, survey, customer support, event feedback, employee engagement, or custom.   * Give your agent a name and an optional logo and color.* Select whether you want to collect participant names and emails.* Provide context and instructions. For my survey agent, for example, I provided a list of questions and background info about my newsletter.* Once you’ve created the agent, publish it and copy its link to distribute.* When users click the agent's link, they’re prompted to provide their name and email (if required) and offered a button to start a live Google Meet video chat with the agent.* Powered by ChatGPT’s top model, your agent understands conversations and follows custom instructions to guide one-on-one discussions lasting up to 10 minutes.* If you connect an agent to your calendar, it can schedule a meeting for you to follow-up.  * When the conversation ends, the agent saves and summarizes the transcript for you to review at your convenience.* The agent can continue hosting meetings with whomever has its link until you deactivate it.Want to give it a try? Converse with my agents* Talk to my Wonder Tools survey agent to share your thoughts on this newsletter. * Talk to my sponsorship agent to promote your product or service to this newsletter’s readership.* Try sharing your workflow and getting a suggestion with my AI productivity intern.* Recommend a tool, tip or tactic. Have a cool site or service I should write about? Help me understand what’s useful about it. * Talk to my skeptical critic about anything you’re working on to get practice responding to tough questions.* Talk with Supernormal’s sales agent to learn more about Supernormal.Privacy and pricingPrivacy. The conversations you or others have with your agent remain private. Your data isn’t sold or used to train LLM models.Pricing. It’s free to use supernormal agents while in beta. For transcribing meetings, Supernormal is free for limited use, up to 1,000 minutes. It’s $10/person/month billed annually for unlimited transcription and other advanced capabilities. Businesses can pay $19/person/month to connect Hubspot, Salesforce and other tools.What to do with your agents* Role play. A Texas professor created an agent to act as a combative patient. Pharmacy students were assigned to converse with the patient to practice handling difficult conversations. * Collect info. Gather observations, opinions, anecdotes or examples from community members. Some people might find it more accessible and convenient to share input with an AI agent verbally, rather than in a form.* Answer common questions. Provide your agent with a list of frequently asked questions and basic info so it can provide answers. People need not pore over a long text FAQ online or wait for you to answer mundane queries.* Schedule follow-ups. Your agent can let people schedule time to talk with you after chatting with your AI. Connect Supernormal to your Calendly (see past post) to give your agent a live view of available time slots. People can then book a meeting with you without a lengthy email exchange. Add an agent to a team meetingPaid subscribers can invite Norma, Supernormal's new AI agent, to team meetings. Norma can help with brainstorming, catching up latecomers, or answering live questions.Example: Watch a recording of a 10-minute meeting I had with Norma where I asked her (it?) to brainstorm creative ways of using an agent in a live meeting.* Catch people up. If team members miss part of a meeting, Norma can get them quickly up to speed on what’s been discussed.* Get helpful info. Norma can add ideas or insights about trends, industry history, or whatever else you might look up.* Gain a brainstorming assistant. Bat ideas around with Norma in a private conversation, or add her to a team idea-jamming session. So far this strikes me as the most useful of Norma’s capabilities.Transcription. Aside from its agents, Supernormal excels at recording, transcribing and summarizing online meetings. You can add its bot to any meeting to get a detailed summary and transcript. Having compared it to a half-dozen other tools, I’ve found it to be one of the best at meeting summarization. I like the expanded bullets feature, which lets you drill deeper into any section of a meeting summary. I also appreciate the new AMA — Ask Me Anything— capability. Ask a bot about any meeting transcript to review important points.🤔 Caveats * Agent conversations are limited to 10 minutes. * All agent-hosted chats happen in Google Meet for now, though other platforms will follow.* While it’s free to create agents at the moment, they will eventually require a paid subscription.* The service is in beta, so you may bump into occasional minor hiccups. In some of my Google Meet tests, for example, Norma got stuck and couldn’t respond. And one of my agents lost its instructions.* The AI agent voice isn’t quite as lifelike as the newest ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode or the top ElevenLabs voices.Pro and Con👍 The case for AI agentsAI agents offer a helpful new way for customers or community members to meet with a virtual representative any time they choose. AI agents help people get questions answered, meetings scheduled, and leads qualified. The efficiency with which those routine conversations are managed by an agent can ensure human time is prioritized for conversations where person-to-person interaction is most valuable. When designed well, these AI interactions can be fun, fast, and fruitful.👎 The argument against AI agentsThe more we rely on automated AI assistants, the further people will drift from one another. When AI agents take over our calls, emails, dating, and schedules, we risk becoming more isolated and less connected to others.In his last essay as the NYTimes food critic, Pete Wells lamented (gift link) the decline of the human touch. “Blackbird’s new checkless exit gives me the creeps,” Wells wrote. “It is just the latest in a series of changes that have gradually and steadily stripped the human touch and the human voice out of restaurants. Each of these changes was small, but together they’ve made going out to eat much less personal…”What do you think? Please leave a comment 👇Alternatives * For paying subscribers, ChatGPT's new advanced voice mode simulates natural conversations with lifelike inflections. You can use it to practice for an interview or work on a foreign language. Unlike Supernormal, it can’t interact with others as an agent on your behalf.* Intercom and other customer service tools are adding AI capabilities to assist with answering customer service questions. They’re primarily powering text bots to boost human agents’ efficiency, rather than promoting voice agents.* Speeko, Yoodli, Poised, and other new AI tools aim to be like Grammarly for public speaking, providing real-time feedback. These can be useful for instant input, but they’re limited to narrow use-cases. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wondertools.substack.com/subscribe