Books offer a compelling, slower alternative to the onslaught of negative news. With terrific new free tools, it’s increasingly easy to access print, digital and audio books. Read on for an update on my favorite book sites and apps. Thanks for reading and sharing. Libby lends out free ebooks and audiobooks through libraries in 78 countries. It works for 90% of U.S. libraries. You can search for and check out nearly anything, instantly, for free, on any device.* Audiobooks Check out and listen to audiobooks at any speed. You may not need to pay for an Audible subscription. * Definitions Click on any word in an ebook you’re reading in Libby for its definition or to see where else that name or phrase appears. * Highlight Save memorable passages for your notes.* Multiple cards You can use multiple library cards within a single Libby account. That helps you check which library has the shortest waiting list for a book in high demand. (See where you can get non-resident library cards).Limitation: Libby is digital-only — you can’t use it for physical books. That requires a separate app or site, like the NYPL app in New York. Kanopy provides free access to top-notch feature films and documentaries. I log in with my library card. Watch on the Web, iOS or Android, or on a SmartTV app like Google TV, Roku, or Amazon Fire TV. Limitation: libraries limit the number of videos you can watch monthly. Hoopla is an alternative to Libby that works with 3,900 library systems in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Like Libby it hosts audiobooks and eBooks, but also bundles in comics, movies, TV shows, magazines, and music. Use Hoopla to read, watch or listen from the Web or on a mobile device. I recently discovered its free Bingepasses, which allow instant access to a collection of magazines or videos for a week.World Cat tells you which of 10,000 global libraries near you have a particular book. It works in multiple languages. Search for books in print, ebook, braille, audio, or other formats. Find your next read 📚* Most Recommended Books shows you a list of smart people. Pick an expert or celeb you like and see which books they recommend, along with brief quotes on why they like each book. Check Goodbooks.io and ReadThisTwice for more expert/celeb book picks.* Whichbook’s World Map offers a creative way to find a book about any part of the world. Select a country and see books set in that region (See gif 👇). * Where to find book recs is a nice list from a Writing About Reading post. I also like the eclectic recommendations in the NYTimes’s Read Like the Wind newsletter. * BookClubs lets you find a book group near you or organize your own. * Fable hosts book clubs & communities for sharing what you’re reading. Find free and cheap books 🔦* Project Gutenberg has more than 75,000 free ebooks and audiobooks. No registration required. See the top 100 list for free reading inspiration.* The Internet Archive has searchable e-books and a free library collection.* Bookbub is handy for bargain hunters. It shows discounted and free ebooks. Availabe as a newsletter or check the site for deals. Support Independent booksellers 🪟* Alibris has 200 million titles from indy booksellers around the world. * Powell’s is the world’s largest independent bookstore. * Bookfinder lets you search online to find any book at the cheapest price.* Indiebound helps you find a nearby real-world indy bookstore. * Abebooks has great deals from independents. Check its bargain books + collections. Caveat: Amazon has owned it since 2008.* Tertulia is a well-designed online co-op bookshop owned by readers.Make your own book list ✅* Listy is free. It’s easy to look up & add books, and later export your list. (See my prior post about it).* LibraryThing is free and easy for cataloging books & tracking reading.* Free Notion book tracking template lets you customize a collection page.* Free Airtable book list template & my Airtable example: 30 authors I like. Use AI to explore and expand your taste in books 📚After making a list of books you’ve liked or learned from, prompt an AI engine (ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini) for personalized reading guidance. Read my recent post for how & why this is so useful for analyzing your own reading tendencies and discovering new gems. Sponsored MessageFast & Flawless transcripts with Scribewave: trusted by journalists, researchers and creatives for its accuracy and privacy.* 🌍 Unmatched accuracy: Powered by industry-leading language models, Scribewave guarantees the most precise results on the market in 94 languages.* 📁 For power-users: Bulk upload and download files in seconds.* 📊 Flexible pricing: Choose between usage-based pricing or subscriptions.* 🔒 Self-learning: The only speech-to-text tool that learns your language.* 🖋️ Total control: Easily refine transcripts and export to Word, Google Docs, Adobe, and more.* 🚀 Save 3 hours per hour of content with Scribewave.✨ Ready to transform your workflow? Try Scribewave for free today at scribewave.com.💡 Bonus: Get 50% off your first month with coupon code WONDERTOOLS50Not enough time to read? Get the essence of great books with Shortform summaries. (affiliate link with Wonder Tools discount)Find great children’s books 🧒* Sora is a digital library for kids. Schools make ebooks and audiobooks available on the app. It works well with graphic novels, picture books, as well as comic books and textbooks. (We also use Libby for kids books).* Epic is another popular kids ebook app. It’s fun to use, but be aware that it leans into gamification and extrinsic motivation — using points and streaks to entice kids to repeatedly open the app.* Kanopy has a great kids section with video versions of books by Eric Carle, Mo Willems and other great authors to spark an interest in reading. It also has math and science lessons. Bonus tools: Check out a well-curated list of 55 useful apps for book lovers from Bookscouter, where you can buy and sell books.📚 What reading resource do you find most useful? Add a comment 👇Newsletter recommendation ✉️The Signal delivers global perspectives on tech, science and democracy—free of ideology, twice weekly. Join curious readers seeking deeper context beyond headlines. Sign up for free today. Get full access to Wonder Tools at wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

Typing isn't always the best way to get your thoughts down. Sometimes talking through an idea leads to better clarity. New AI tools can reliably transform those spoken thoughts into clean, organized text. I've spent months experimenting with voice AI tools — first on my phone, and now on my laptop. They’ve been helping me pull ideas from my brain onto paper. The tools below have become crucial to my workflow. Read on for my five-minute guide to making the most of voice AI.Why voice AI beats traditional transcription ✍Traditional transcription simply converts speech to text. Modern voice AI does much more:* Instant transformation: Speak naturally and get a polished draft, outline, or summary* Smart cleanup: AI removes filler words and adds proper punctuation* Format flexibility: Convert speech into various formats like bullet lists or structured documents* Context awareness: AI understands context and organizes your thoughts logically. Because it’s grounded in your own words, it doesn’t hallucinate.5 ways I like using voice AI 💫Here are some scenarios where voice AI is particularly valuable:1. Journal entriesInstead of staring at a blank page, I speak my thoughts at day's end. The AI transforms my stream of consciousness into organized reflections.2. Meeting follow-upsAfter an in-person meeting, I open my voice AI app, hit record, and talk through key points while they’re still fresh. I don’t worry about the structure of my sentences or about pausing as I think. The AI waits for me and summarizes my rambling.3. Presentation planningSpeaking through presentation ideas helps me figure out my narrative flow. The AI helps me organize my thoughts into a structured outline. I can talk through multiple potential versions, then compare them on screen later. 4. Book notesTo preserve insights from something I’m reading, I turn on a voice AI app and flip through the pages or scroll through the text to remind myself out loud about intriguing passages or ideas. I then save the structured note the AI creates. I like being able to look back at the text while dictating the note. And the editing part of my brain interferes less when I’m talking than when I’m typing. 5. Daily planningStarting my day by verbally mapping out my priorities helps me think through what’s ahead more effectively than typing out a list. Voice AI apps to try 🎤Letterly 💌* Easy to use Just press the app’s big button. Up to 15 minutes per recording.* Cross-platform Record or access your past text-from-voice across automatically synchronized desktop, web, and mobile apps.* Smart format detection The magic transform option can automatically reformat your words, turning lists into bullets or structuring email drafts for quick copy-and-pasting into other apps.* Customizable outputs Transform recordings into LinkedIn posts, podcast or video scripts, structured documents, or your own custom formats.* Iterative refinement Try different transformations of the same recording until you get exactly what you need. * Multiple languages Record in any of 90 languages, or record in one language and have the app translate your text into another.* Offline and screen-off options Record anywhere, even without Internet access. Try using background mode without your screen on. I often record with my AirPods while walking with my phone in my pocket. Founder’s tip: “Don’t confuse it with dictation,” says Letterly’s founder and CEO Anton Lebedev. “You don’t need to pronounce the perfect text you want to write. Instead, think out loud, speak slowly, quickly, or even chaotically. AI will understand you. Think of it like a writing assistant you’re telling what to write. The assistant can understand you and figure out how to rewrite the text.”Letterly Pricing: $80/year after a free trialOasis 🏖️* Multi-purpose output Get your recording transformed simultaneously into various formats—from a memo or outline to a blog post or TED talk. * Make custom templates Create and name short prompts that reflect your preferred styles or formats. Those become part of your personalized prompt library for transforming future recordings. I made one for my journal entries.* Web accessibility Like Letterly and Audiopen, you can access your recordings and transformed text through a browser on any device.* Oasis pricing: $5/month or $50/year for enough credits for hundreds of monthly uses. * Read my previous post about why Oasis is so usefulAudioPen 🖊️* Customize rewrite length Customize the length setting if you’d prefer summaries of your transcribed recordings to be shorter or longer. Create and access them on your phone or on any device through your browser.* Shareable audio notes Send individual audio note links to colleagues or collaborators. Or send then to other apps with a Zapier integration. * Flexible organization Combine multiple audio notes or their summaries into larger collections. You can search for old notes or arrange them in folders. * Rich template selection Choose from various transformation templates.* AudioPen pricing: $99/year or $159/two years after a free trial. Bottom LineStart with Letterly if you want simplicity and reliability. Consider Oasis if you want a slightly cheaper option or need to simultaneously access multiple format variations of the same content. AudioPen is useful if you want to customize the length of your voice summaries or if sharing or combining audio notes is important to your workflow.Sponsored Message from Griff FoxleyFeeling creatively blocked? Dreaming up a life transition that’s overwhelming? Your internal mindset plays a crucial role in your success. As a coach, I help seekers, creatives, and solopreneurs overcome limiting beliefs, build confidence, and achieve big goals in a program tailored to you. Let's navigate the challenges of today's competitive landscape together.Book a free discovery call!Where to use voice AI 🎯Voice AI shines when typing isn't practical or when you want to think freely without your hands on a keyboard. Here are situations where you can try it:At home 🏠Comfy chair 📚 Capture book notes without interrupting your reading rhythmKitchen 🧑‍🍳 Document recipe adjustments or cooking notes while your hands are busy with ingredientsBedside 🛏️ Record late-night musings without disrupting your wind-down routine with a bright screenGarden 🌱 Log landscaping ideas or random thoughts while your hands are dirtyOn the move 🚝Walking 🚶‍♂️ Capture project ideas and inspiration during your daily strollCommute 🚊 Draft emails and plan your day while on the subway or busCar 🚗 Record thoughts safely after parking but before you forget an important ideaAt work ⚡️Quiet space 🪟 Create reflective journal entries while looking out the windowConference 🎤 Capture insights between sessions to avoid being overwhelmed when you get home.Doctor's office 🏥 Record appointment details and follow-up steps while the info is freshActive time 💫Exercise 🏃‍♀️ Outline presentations or brainstorm on the treadmill Shopping 🛒 Create lists or remind yourself about products Outdoors 🌳 Draft journal entries or creative ideas while surrounded by natureBonus resource: 50 ways to use voice AI Voice AI on your laptop 💻I used to rely exclusively on mobile voice AI apps, but lately I've been relying on laptop voice AI apps. These are less focused on transforming text and more on putting your spoken text on your clipboard so you can paste into any tool you’re using. It works with Google Docs, Word, email, or whatever else you’re using. I use these on my laptop because it’s quicker and easier for me to talk than to type. Here are three worth trying:Flow 🗣️* Quick to start Once you’ve installed the software, just hold down the function key to start recording in any of 100+ languages. Your recording gets instantly transcribed and the cleaned-up text is copied to your clipboard.* Works anywhere on your computer Paste transcribed text directly into any application—email, documents, or messaging apps.* Reduces screen and hand fatigue Record while looking away from your screen to reduce eye strain and give your hands a break. * Flow pricing: Free for up to 2,000 words/week; $12/month billed annually for unlimited words and extra features. $8/month for students and educators. TalkTastic 🎙️* Simple transcription Made by the team that created the Oasis mobile app, TalkTastic is designed to be simpler. Instead of transforming your speech into various text types, it just puts a cleaned-up version of what you say onto your clipboard to paste into any app.* Smart text transformation You can optionally set it to analyze your screen context to offer transformed versions of your text.* Free While in beta, there’s no cost for TalkTastic. MacWhisper 🧑‍💻* Advanced transcription Use this free software to transcribe online meetings, podcasts, or live dictation. You can even upload files to transcribe.* Pay once for pro features Enable YouTube transcriptions, batch uploads, translation, and top AI model usage with a one-time purchase.* MacWhisper pricing: Free for basic usage. ~$60 for pro upgrade; 20% discount with this link. Journalists, students, or non-profits can email support@macwhisper.com for 50% off.Other ways to use your voice to benefit from AI* ChatGPT has a powerful voice mode in its mobile and desktop apps. Rather than typing out AI queries, you can have a conversation with an AI bot. Here’s why that’s so useful. * Perplexity’s mobile app voice AI mode is terrific. I ask it a series of questions, like an oracle. It beats Google on many of my queries. The AI understands what I’m asking, then gathers and summarizes a helpful response. Citations in the app ensure I can check on its info sources.* Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot have recently-upgraded mobile voice modes. Converse with human-sounding AI bots without thumb typing.* Open-source options abound.📌 Share your voice with a comment👇 Get full access to Wonder Tools at wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

When’s the last time you fielded a tech support call from a parent? You want your parents — or anyone you support — to benefit from email, photo sharing, and video calls. You also have to protect them from scams, malware, and unnecessary complexity. Or maybe you are that parent and want to stay safe online. Either way, today’s post aims to support you. I periodically help my parents make sense of confusing WebEx conferencing instructions or Microsoft Word settings. So when Wonder Tools reader and tech expert Paul Schreiber offered to write a guest post based on his professional and personal experience, I welcomed his input. Below he outlines specific hardware recommendations, security steps, and practical tips you can implement today. The next section of this piece is by Paul. Paul: Over the past few years, I’ve helped my parents and some friends’ parents stay safe online. Here are some things I’ve found work well.Simplify hardwareSkip the computer…Many folks don’t need a powerful computer. They just need access to email, messaging, and the web. An iPad or Chromebook for ~$300 provides this (along with thousands of apps), while reducing the burden of maintenance.… Or pick a simple oneA MacBook Air is a great choice if they do need a computer. There’s less malware and Apple provides a single, simple source of support. No need to worry about separate or conflicting instructions from hardware and OS manufacturers. Plus, if they already have an iPhone, the Air works with it seamlessly. Replace the routerReplace their current router with one or more eero devices. Eeros:* Automatically connect to each other in a mesh for large homes — no more clunky extenders with separate network names. They also work for apartments with thick walls.* Automatically configure themselves with the right network settings* Automatically stay up-to-date* Can be monitored and administered remotely from your phoneSponsored Message Tell stories with factsScroll.ai is the AI notebook for journalists, helping you turn your sources into stories. Think Claude or Notebook LM, built specifically for research-based writing.Just add any video, audio, or article and Scroll will translate, transcribe, and summarize, all in one easy-to-use notebook.Add guardrailsMake yourself the adminWhen setting up the computer, create two accounts:* One for yourself, with administrative rights* A standard account for your parentIf they accidentally install adware or other junk, it will only affect their account, not the whole computer, and it’ll be easier to remedy. Install an ad blockerAds slow down the page and trick people into installing malware. I recommend the free uBlock Origin for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. (Note: avoid the similarly-named uBlock.) For Safari, consider buying 1Blocker, Wipr, or AdGuard.Adjust settingsSet up a family accountApple (iCloud+) and Google (Google One) both sell cloud storage that can be shared with your family. For about $10 per month, you ensure everyone’s device is backed up and their photos are synced. You can also share some apps without repurchasing them.Make yourself the recovery contactAdd your email and phone number as a recovery contact (Apple, Google) for your parents’ important accounts. This lets you help when they forget their password. It also lets you reset it if they become incapacitated or die.Set up legacy contactsUnlike recovery contacts, legacy contacts control an account after someone dies. Setting these up gives you legal permission to access the account. Each service handles it differently, so read instructions from Facebook, Apple, and Google carefully.Today is trash dayGo through your parents’ computer and/or phone. Delete unused apps. Clean up the downloads folder, removing installers (such as .pkg and .dmg files) as well duplicate or outdated files.PasswordsPasswords are a pain. Good news: you no longer need to memorize them. With a password manager, the only two passwords you’ll need to remember are those for your computer and your email. Your password manager will automatically create hard-to-guess passwords and fill them in for all other log-ins. It won’t fill your password in on sites trying to steal your information.* Set up password autofill and teach them to use it. * Spend a few hours using Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or 1Password to generate new passwords for their 25 most important sites.* Share key account passwords with yourself.Final Tips* If you want personalized advice, visit Consumer Reports’ security planner. * If your parents or relatives are easily duped by fake reviews, set up bookmarks for Consumer Reports, Wirecutter, the Good Housekeeping Institute, Vetted, or other trustworthy review services.p.s. Bonus Tools — Recommended by Jeremy* Print Friendly makes it easy to print anything online.* Postlight Reader removes clutter from articles, making reading easier. * Permission Slip is a free app from Consumer Reports that helps you learn what companies are collecting data about you or your parents or children. You can send a request that they stop selling your personal info.* Consumer Reports testing found that paid data removal services often fail to fully scrub personal information from people-search sites. * I’ve been testing Incogni, which wasn’t assessed in that report. So far it’s been helpful in requesting that data brokers erase information about me that they’re storing and selling.* See the big data broker opt-out list for more info. * CleanMyMac is a simple Mac app that makes it easy to remove old installers, duplicate files, and other files cluttering up your computer or taking up space. I’ve used it for a few years and recommend it.* Yorba is another promising new service in beta. It can help in several ways: * Unsubscribe from emails.* Wipe old unused accounts and associated logins.* Cancel subscriptions you forgot about. It’s free to start.Have a thought or suggestion to share? Leave a comment 👇 Get full access to Wonder Tools at wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

Imagine turning your reading history into a treasure map. By feeding a list of your favorite books and movies to an AI assistant, you can uncover hidden patterns in what you love. From your subconscious attraction to unreliable narrators to your love for stories that begin at the end, you may be surprised by what an AI assistant can reveal. Building a personal “taste atlas” helps you understand your reading self better. It can also surface blind spots in your cultural diet and point you toward unexplored literary territories you’re likely to love.Why analyze your preferences? ⚡️This isn’t just another recommendation engine. Netflix or Amazon may suggest what to watch or buy next based on viewing history, but a taste atlas goes much deeper. It analyzes themes, narrative structures, and emotional resonance across media formats. It can reveal connections between novels you adore and foreign films you’ve never heard of, or help you articulate why certain stories stick with you while others don’t. You can tune the atlas by adjusting the info and examples you give it. You can customize the analysis with your prompts, asking for particular kinds of observations or recommendations.With AI’s help, you can map out your own universe of awesome. As you scout out gaps in your reading or movie watching, you can discover authors and films that expand your horizons.Start by gathering your favorites 🤩You need to provide an AI assistant with a list of at least 10-15 titles that resonate with you for meaningful insights; 30+ is better. Here are the fastest ways to gather them. * Physical books or DVDs: snap a photo of your bookshelf. AI can read the titles. Or write a list of titles on paper. AI assistants can read handwriting surprisingly well. * Digital readers: refer to your Kindle library, your “read” shelf on Goodreads, listen history on Audible, timeline on Libby, or any doc or spreadsheet you maintain with your favorites.* Streaming: Apps like Likewise, Sofa, Listy, Listium, Letterboxd, Trakt, and Reelgood let you compile lists of favorites. You can use those collections to train your AI assistant. * Use your voice: If talking jogs your memory, use conversation mode in ChatGPT, Claude, Google’s Gemini, or Microsoft’s CoPilot. Let the AI interview you about your favorite books or movies. * Scan award lists. If you can’t think of favorites, check a list of Oscar-winning movies or book awards for reminders of what you’ve enjoyed. Criteria: Consider titles you often revisit or recommend. Include recent favorites and older resonant ones. Give extra weight to those that provoked emotion, changed your perspective, or prompted action. Ideally, note not just the title but one or more aspects of a work that particularly resonated. Prompt AI to analyze your list 🔎Once you've compiled your list, use your preferred AI tool to uncover patterns in your literary tastes. Prompt the AI assistant for insights to advance your self-understanding. After that, ask it to help you discover more books/movies you'll love. Start by writing a detailed prompt to elicit a thorough, subtle analysis of your taste in books or movies. Here’s an example you can adopt or adapt: You are a perceptive literary critic and cultural analyst with deep knowledge of literature across genres and cultures. Carefully analyze the attached list of my favorite books for patterns. Think deeply about connections between titles and topics that might not be immediately apparent. Where you notice interesting patterns, explain your reasoning and cite specific examples. Please analyze this list of my favorite books. Create a detailed literary taste profile that identifies:Core Elements:* Primary themes and topics* Genre preferences and style patterns* Narrative approaches and structure choices* Character types and relationships* Tone and emotional range»»»» Upload a file with your list or paste it. * Here’s a related prompt for film. * Additional taste atlas prompts to enrich your analysis. * Case study of a taste atlas I created for my book group. Which AI tool to use? 🎯* ChatGPT 4o worked well for me in importing Google Docs and PDFs with my favorites. Its analysis and recommendations were nuanced and helpful. * Limitation: Occasionally, it suggested authors who were already in my existing lists, despite being prompted not to. * Claude Pro provided an excellent overview of the kinds of books I’ve selected for the book group I facilitate over the past eight years. It helped identify gaps in our reading list and offered useful suggestions for future titles. * Limitation: Some documents I tried to import, like my Readwise reading highlights, were too large to fit in a Claude Project I created for my taste atlas.* Gemini 2.0 Experimental Advanced, Google’s newest model, was an excellent voice partner in analyzing my current reading interests. * Limitation: 2.0 couldn’t yet import documents, but Gemini 1.5 could. It helpfully analyzed the Google Doc with my complete Readwise Highlights archive. Use either free or premium AI tools for this analysis. For long book lists or extensive highlights, use a pro model for nuanced analysis. Sponsored MessageBecome the better version of yourself with GenYOU. Create AI-generated headshots, profile pics, or even full-body portraits right from your selfies. The advanced AI ensures your facial features remain accurate with every generation. Skip the photoshoot hassle and design personalized AI portraits your way. Expand your taste horizons ✨Once an AI tool has analyzed your book or movie preferences, prompt it to suggest new authors and titles. Ask about specific connections between the titles you liked and its recommendations, so you understand the rationale. * Cultural leaps: Ask AI to identify authors who write like your favorites but in different languages or cultures. * What’s missing? Try a prompt about negative space — what authors, titles, topics or genres are missing from your favorites. What notable titles might stretch your literary horizons? * Bridges to the past: Prompt your AI assistant to suggest "bridge authors" who influenced the writers you enjoy. This is most effective if the authors on your list are well-known.* Cross media: Ask for documentaries and feature films that share traits with your favorite books. To push the AI further, ask for plays and songs. Next Steps 💫Make it a project 💻If you use ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro, start a dedicated project (learn more) to house your taste atlas. This lets you refine and expand your analysis over time. * You can also create a Perplexity Space to combine AI search with analysis.* Or make a Custom GPT or an AI Poe bot to share a group taste atlas with a class, a book group, or others who share an interest.* NotebookLM (read more) is another great tool for analyzing collections of your favorite works in AI-powered notebooks. It accepts files of up to 50,000 words, up to 200mb, so it’s especially useful if you run into file size caps on other platforms. It’s also uniquely able to generate an audio summary piece about your favorites. (The video accompanying this piece has an excerpt of an audio piece generated with my reading highlights). Share for human insight 🧓Share your taste profile with a friend or librarian. They’ll spot patterns the AI missed or suggest unexpected connections. Expand to music and beyond 🎶Once you’ve mapped your reading and movie preferences, try a similar approach for your favorite music, art, food, and other interests. Case study: my own taste atlas 🗺️How I gathered my favorites: I had a Google spreadsheet with 80+ books I appreciated, so I exported it as a PDF to import into AI tools. I’m also gradually exporting my Day One book journal. For my movie list, I used Listy [here’s why it’s useful], which let me export an image and a CSV file of 30 movies I liked. Some apps don’t enable list exports, which requires screenshotting or copy and pasting.Behind the scenes: Here’s a ChatGPT analysis thread illustrating how I created an initial taste atlas with my book and movie lists. You’ll see that ChatGPT struggled to understand Listy’s CSV export, so I fed it a PDF instead. I’ve also experimented with Claude, NotebookLM and Gemini. Each offers unique insights, so it’s helpful to try more than one. My taste atlas has already been useful. My night table has a new pile of books inspired by connections to books and films I loved.Leave a comment to share your own taste atlas or to add thoughts, questions, comments, suggestions, or helpful resources 👇 p.s. Want to try something new this year? I’m looking for curious collaborators to work on exciting new projects. I’m also hiring a paid part-time assistant. Answer two quick questions if you’d like to work with me in either capacity. Get full access to Wonder Tools at wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

Navigating daily distractions can feel overwhelming. This guide reveals a three-layer focus system: planning tools for prioritizing tasks, focus tools for keeping minds on track, and analysis tools for monitoring progress. Discover how effective morning routines and time management can maximize productivity. Plus, learn efficient note-taking techniques and the importance of daily reflection to boost your output. Embrace these strategies and turn chaos into clarity for a fruitful day!

Discover the art of timeboxing, a powerful tactic for boosting productivity! Learn how to allocate specific time slots for tasks and deep work on your calendar. Explore practical tips for mastering this technique and integrating it with other methods. Whether you're a novice or a pro, find out how to tailor timeboxing to fit your daily rhythms and responsibilities. Get ready to rethink your planning process for a more focused and efficient workflow!

💎 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-recording pendant. 🤔 I’m also experimenting with tactics for coping with overflowing task lists… post coming soon! 👉 Meanwhile, you’re invited to join me in 2025! I’m looking for new contributors, partners and sponsors for 2025. Collaborate with me on Wonder Tools. Or reply to this email to say hello and share any questions or feedback. I read every message I get and respond to as many as I can. 🧑‍💻Tiny appsI love single-purpose tools that solve specific problems brilliantly. Whether it's cleaning up my Mac, downloading videos, reminding me to take a break, or capturing text from images, these specialized Mac apps have become essential to my workflow. You can try them for free or buy them individually for a few bucks. I discovered that 250 of these little apps are included with a SetApp subscription, which I started paying $10/month for a couple of years ago. It’s like a mini Netflix for software, which is appealing to me as someone who loves experimenting with tools. Most of the apps I don’t need, just like I don’t watch most of what’s on Netflix. The useful ones, though, make the subscription worthwhile, especially because it includes Craft, one of my favorite apps, plus others I use regularly:* Clop Instantly resize any image just by dragging it to a digital box — useful for social media or newsletter posts.* TimeOut Automate onscreen reminders to look away from the screen & stretch.* PullTube Easily download videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Dailymotion, Soundcloud, Instagram and others.* TextSniper Capture text onscreen to your clipboard. Useful for online books, presentations, videos or anything you see onscreen you want to add to notes. * Teleprompter App Record videos with a teleprompter. * CleanMyMac Remove unused apps, free up space, speed up my laptop.🥇 Still on my list from 2023: * Sunsama Plan a workday step by step, then reflect on it at the end.* Likewise Get free, personalized recommendations for books, shows, movies and podcasts.* Vetted Vet products before buying w/ summaries of trustworthy reviews.* Lungy Relax for 1-minute with this free app’s breathing breaks. * HiNote Send visual text messages with this cute, simple, free app.🎙️Must-Listen Podcasts🎯 For Professional Growth & Learning* Think Fast Talk Smart Stanford Business School lecturer Matt Abrahams hosts terrific conversations about how to communicate better. Each episode includes immediately actionable tactics for everything from crafting persuasive emails to giving memorable presentations. * HBR IdeaCast Practical business guidance I consistently learn from. The show just celebrated episode #1000, featuring 10 highlights from past shows. * Before Breakfast Laura Vanderkam overflows with practical insight. I love these bite-size episodes. I’m glad her Vanderhacks has landed on Substack. * Newsroom Robots by my collaborator and colleague Nikita Roy is great for getting up to speed on all things AI and journalism with interviews of smart leaders around the world.* People I Mostly Admire features Freakonomics co-author Steve Levitt interviewing smart guests about big ideas. I like the way he uses sharp, challenging questions to push past predictable answers.🌟 For Curiosity & Personal Interest* Against the Rules Michael Lewis’s storytelling is a great fit for the surprising saga of sports betting, the subject of the new season of his excellent podcast. * 99% Invisible Every year this delightful show about the design of our built world has a special “mini-stories” show. I miss many of the other episodes, but never this. Listen to the newest one.* Hidden Brain I learn something every time I listen. I admire the story crafting and the interviews so much that if I had a vote for the Podcast Hall of Fame, I would nominate Shankar Vedantam (along with Gayle Allen, Dr. Laurie Santos, and Terry O’Reilly). * Feel Better Live More I like the 15-minute bitesize episodes featuring highlights from Dr. Rangan Chatterjee’s lengthy interviews with the world’s most interesting mental and physical health experts.* Trader Joe’s My guilty audio pleasure. There’s nothing professionally valuable in this one. 😳🫣 I just like hearing about TJ’s new products and the food scouts who help launch the newest snacks. p.s. See a collection of 60 of my all-time podcast favorites. Get full access to Wonder Tools at wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

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. Get full access to Wonder Tools at 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.