Wonder Tools: Useful tips for creative productivity

Jan and other free AI tools offer private, offline, subscription-free alternatives to ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude aren’t your only AI options. To use AI privately for free, you can download local AI tools that run on your computer, not online. You can use them without a subscription, avoiding the risk of having sensitive info ingested into a large language model.

I’m inviting my most helpful colleagues to share useful tools and insights. Craig Silverman, who wrote today’s post, is one of the sharpest researchers I know. He and Alexios Mantzarlis are building a sharp new publication, Indicator, especially worth following if you’re interested in digital deception. - Jeremy Craig: We’re all trying to make sense of a chaotic information environment awash in synthetic fakes, sophisticated scams, undisclosed ads, and unverified claims.

Old sites are now digital dust. I generated this image w/ memories + ChatGPT. I like remembering the good ol’ days of Internet 1.0. Some of my defunct early favorites: Sixdegrees was my first taste of a social network way back in 1997. I loved finding friends. The web felt like magic. Friendster, launched before Facebook, was fun. It peaked at 115 million users and a $53 million valuation.

I use Pinpoint to store and analyze huge collections of documents, scans, and multimedia. I prompted ChatGPT to generate illustrations for this post. Google’s Pinpoint is now open to everyone. It’s a surprisingly powerful free tool for making sense of giant piles of digital stuff. (Before June 3, it was restricted to journalists and academics). Read on to learn more about creative ways to use Pinpoint; its new AI features and their limitations; and how Pinpoint differs from NotebookLM.

Reclaim your inbox from junk email I’m flooded with email, so I’m looking for new ways to sort out what I don’t need. Illustration produced with ChatGPT’s new image generator. AI is leading to a boom in email slop. I get hundreds of marketing messages every week. Many seem AI authored. I’m not alone in getting swamped. The average worker now gets 117 emails a day, according to Microsoft's Work Trend Index Report. Only 24% require an action, per SaneBox’s report.

Playback speed Ɨ Share post Share post at current time Share from 0:00 0:00 / Transcript šŸ›‘ Say No to New (sometimes) A NY Times Editor on Sticking to the Tried and True I love new gadgets and gizmos, and Iā€™m constantly trying new sites and apps. So I was intrigued by the title of Eric Athasā€™s upcoming book, Saying No to New. Ericā€™s an editor at the New York Times, where he helps journalists make the most of new tools. Heā€™s also a lifelong early adopter.

Glaze is a new Mac app for making your own software. It’s for vibe coding, meaning you just describe any kind of tool, game, or app you want to create. Glaze builds it. It’s like having a friend who codes and is happy to add whatever small feature you ask for. How Glaze is Different: Unlike other vibe coding tools, like Lovable, Bolt, Gemini Canvas, Google’s AI Studio, or Claude Artifacts, Glaze creates software that runs locally on your computer, not on the web.

Most people treat AI like a question-answering machine: Ask a question, get an answer. What is chili crisp, and why is Gen Z so obsessed with it? Whatā€™s the best starting guess for Wordle? Whatā€™s the best time of day to post on LinkedIn? (My own real queries from today.) Thereā€™s nothing wrong with using AI to get answers to your questions. But thereā€™s another mode of interacting with AI that many people never consider ā€” one I find much more useful for my creative process.

Last week’s International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy drew 2,000+ journalists, including 526 speakers, for four days of conversation about what’s next for our field. It was one of the most vibrant conferences I’ve attended. I spoke on a panel about how journalism training evolves when AI does entry-level work. Here’s a visual summary of my 5 ideas. I attended 15 other sessions.

AI tools can serve as patient assistants when you’re looking for a job. Use them to organize your search. Or to challenge your assumptions about potential jobs. They can also help you present your strengths more persuasively. When you’re changing fields, or trying to move up, AI can help you stand out. What it is: A free tool for exploring jobs adjacent to yours. See a map of professional fields related to your interests. How to use it: Start by typing in a current or previous role.