x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Wonder Tools

Wonder Tools helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Building on one of Substack"s most popular productivity newsletters, each episode of the podcast includes specific tips on how to make the most of these new tools to work creatively and productively. wondertools.substack.com

technology how to

All Episodes

7:32

Create WOW images with AI🪄

Wonder Tools ·

2024/10/31

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,

en

2:33

ChatGPT’s free voice wizard 🧙

Wonder Tools ·

2024/10/24

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, and caveats.How to try it out* Download and open the ChatGPT mobile app.* Tap the voice icon. Tap the

en

13:39

How NotebookLM is improving🐬

Wonder Tools ·

2024/10/18

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 17, Google improved NotebookLM’s most popular feature. You can now customize its automated AI-generated

en

48:41

Here's my AI toolkit

Wonder Tools ·

2024/10/10

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 information sources. Read more of my take on why Perplexity is so useful and how to use it. * Notes organization

en

9:16

Create your own AI agent 😺

Wonder Tools ·

2024/10/03

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

en

10:37

Try Perplexity for Search🔥

Wonder Tools ·

2024/09/26

The audio for this post was generated by feeding the text of this Wonder Tools newsletter post into NotebookLM's new Audio Overview feature.Read the full post on the Wonder Tools Substack pagePerplexity is the most useful new search tool I’ve used this year. It uses AI to answer your questions using online sources. You get specific citations so you know where the info comes from and can dig deeper. The summary responses are concise and relevant, and the links help you validate the info. Read on for

en

8:20

The best new AI playground 🔥

Wonder Tools ·

2024/09/13

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 all links, images and more Generate stunning images Hugging Face gives you a great fast, free way to try

en

11:25

Claude's new AI superpowers 🚀

Wonder Tools ·

2024/09/06

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 SubstackHow to use Claude ProjectsStep 1. Upload contextual materials. After initiating a new project I upload relevant materials. I can provide examples of my past work, outlines, notes, interview

en

14:58

🤩 Terrific Tools for Teachers

Wonder Tools ·

2024/08/30

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 content in the original post. Create a syllabus or lesson plan — Coda Bring docs to life. Coda makes it

en

9:45

Writing tools for busy people

Wonder Tools ·

2024/08/16

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 WriterThe simplest writing interface. Too many writing apps have cluttered, distracting interfaces. I know I’m procrastinating

en

10:58

👨🏻‍💻The best way to save links

Wonder Tools ·

2024/08/08

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 featuresEasy and free on any platformDownload the Raindrop app for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, or any

en

9:42

📓 Make an AI notebook

Wonder Tools ·

2024/05/23

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 alternatives.How to start using NotebookLMSign up free at notebooklm.google.com Upload up to 20 documents into a

en

13:52

🌶️ 7 ways to spice up Google Slides

Wonder Tools ·

2024/05/16

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 writing into slides with AI 🤖SlidesAI can turn text into a Google Slides presentation draft. Paste in text,

en

10:25

Surprising ways to prompt AI 😳

Wonder Tools ·

2024/05/09

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/surprising-ways-to-prompt-ai Give me strange and surprising feedbackWhen I’m in a creative rut, I paste in

en

4:17

✍️ Try this AI tool to summarize your meetings

Wonder Tools ·

2024/02/08

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 worksBloks runs on your computer, transcribing and summarizing online or in-person meetings. Unlike other meeting recorders or summary tools, it’s not a bot that joins your meetings. Bloks acts like a small recorder on

en

22:18

📺 How to create video clips with AI

Wonder Tools ·

2024/02/01

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 and alternatives. Make social video clips with AIThe Kapwing feature I find most useful is Repurpose

en

12:04

How to make the most of ChatGPT in 2024 ⚡️

Wonder Tools ·

2024/01/11

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 BardThere’s also a short video overview, above — or watch it on YouTube.1️⃣ First, catch up on the basics of ChatGPT2️⃣ How to

en

6:49

🤩 My favorite ways to do ____ online

Wonder Tools ·

2024/01/04

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 interactive documentsCoda is useful for creating simple documents as well as complex project plans. It works

en

9:08

Do more with Google Docs 🌟

Wonder Tools ·

2023/11/23

Happy Thanksgiving 🦃 to those celebrating today. I’m with family taking a couple of days off, so I’m sharing an updated version of a prior post. I hope you have a chance to take a pause too. Read on for a 5-minute guide to the Google Docs features for which I’m 🙏 thankful. Google Docs is the bicycle of digital work. It’s simple, functional and ubiquitous. It’s so reliable — and has so many capabilities — that I still use it even after newer, fancier challengers have emerged. I’m not alone

en

44:15

How I Use AI for Productivity ✍️

Wonder Tools ·

2023/11/16

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 long documents (~5:55 in the audio)* Why I tried Woebot & Personal.ai to stretch my thinking (~3:54)* My

en

61 results

Similar Podcasts

Lead With AI

Tamara Nall

Linux in the Ham Shack

Black Sparrow Media

Data Engineering Podcast

Tobias Macey

Eye On A.I.

Craig S. Smith

Reflections

Livewire Labs