This week: leveling up your skills with online and AI learning tools.
My wife (who you’ll get to know a little better in this issue!) thinks I'm crazy. Between my job at Tooltester, a YouTube channel, a dog, and 12-month-old twins, you'd think my schedule was full.
But I’ve always wanted to learn programming, so I decided back in Jan to start studying Python.
Finding the time has been an adventure in itself, involving crazy-early mornings before the rest of the family (dog included) wakes up. But thanks to some powerful online learning tools, I actually made some progress.
This week, I’m sharing the platforms that have helped me, and others I know, learn new skills without turning life completely upside down.
Plus: a brilliant AI tool from Google, a new ChatGPT feature to help you study smarter, and a cautionary tale about an AI Airbnb scam.
If you want to learn from the best without enrolling in a full-time degree, Coursera is the place to go. It partners with top universities and companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon to offer everything from standalone courses to professional certificates and even full degrees. You can learn programming, marketing, data science, or even psychology from world-class instructors.
I subscribed to Coursera Plus (a ≈$400 a year flat fee) and have been diving into Python courses at the crack of dawn. If you are allergic to subscriptions, you can also pay for each course individually. More about Coursera Plus in the video above or this review – my wife’s.
The platform is incredibly easy to use, and I’ve learned a ton. Courses and lessons are well-designed too. Finally understanding the basics of programming has been a huge win for me.
However, it requires a lot of self-discipline. The assessments can feel a bit generic, and I wish there was more hands-on project work and direct interaction with tutors. It’s also on the pricey side, but the quality of the content is undeniable.
While Coursera is more academic, Skillshare is all about practical, creative skills. If you want to learn graphic design, video editing, social media marketing, or even watercolor painting, this is your spot. The courses are project-based, so you learn by doing, which I find incredibly effective.
I’ve taken a few marketing and SEO courses on Skillshare and loved how hands-on they were. The lessons are engaging and straight to the point, making it easy to pick up a new skill in an afternoon. It’s also more affordable than Coursera, with a single subscription unlocking thousands of classes.
Of course, you won’t get a certificate from a top university, and the courses don’t always go as deep as Coursera’s. But for creatives and marketers looking to sharpen their skills with practical, bite-sized lessons, it’s a fantastic choice.
Imagine having a brilliant friend always on call – someone who can chat with you naturally, keep you informed, and explain complex ideas in the simplest way possible. That’s what Sesame is building.
At its core, Sesame feels less like talking to an app and more like having a real conversation. You can practice English, Spanish, German, Mandarin, French and other languages in a way that feels human, ask its voices (currently “Maya” and “Miles”) to walk you through big ideas like Einstein’s theory of relativity, or just bounce ideas back and forth.
The effect is both mind-blowing and surprisingly fun – one minute you’re learning physics, the next you’re practicing German.
Right now, Sesame is free to use. It’s early days, but the potential is huge. If you’ve ever wished for a personal companion who makes you smarter, and a little more entertained, give it a go.
🛠️ Alternative to: Replika, Gemini (via Google AI Studio)
If you’re curious about exploring the power of AI beyond standard chatbots, Google AI Studio is a fantastic playground. It gives you direct access to Google’s latest Gemini models, allowing you to experiment with advanced prompting, build custom instructions, and even generate API keys for your own projects.
While it’s geared toward developers, it’s surprisingly accessible for regular users too. I’ve been using it to brainstorm content ideas, get coding help, and create complex prompts that I can reuse later. It’s also great for creating media, images and video, using AI.
One of the coolest features is the generous free credits for the Gemini API – I got $300 worth of API usage. If you’re into building AI agents or automating workflows like me, you can get a free money (API key) and start experimenting without paying a dime. It’s a great way to dive deeper into what AI can really do.
🛠️ Alternative to: OpenAI Playground, Perplexity for Developers
ChatGPT just rolled out a new feature that makes it a fantastic study partner. Instead of just giving you answers, it can now guide you through a topic with questions and feedback, helping you understand concepts more deeply.
Here’s how it works:
Start a new chat with ChatGPT (it works on the free version too).
Ask it to help you study a specific topic. For example: “Can you help me understand how photosynthesis works?”
ChatGPT will start explaining to you, asking questions and providing explanations to build your knowledge step-by-step.
I used it to get my head around API calls for a small coding project I’m working on. Instead of just spitting out the code, it walked me through the concepts, asking me questions to check my understanding. By the end of our conversation, I not only had the code but also a much better grasp of how it all worked (mostly, anyway! 😉).
🍿 Plot Twist of the Week
Imagine checking your bank account after a vacation only to find thousands charged for “damages” you never caused. That’s what happened to one Airbnb guest after a host submitted AI-altered photos to the platform, claiming $16,000 in repairs.
The images looked convincing enough for Airbnb’s system to approve the charge – even though the property was never actually damaged.
The guest eventually fought the claim, and was able to revert the claim. But the fact remains: AI made it dangerously easy for someone to fabricate evidence and almost get away with it – and we all need to think about this.
What looks like a clever technological trick can have very real consequences when trust, livelihoods, and entire platforms are on the line. And as AI tools get more sophisticated, spotting the fakes will only get harder.
Lesson learned: We definitively need an AI system to detect AI-based scams 😅.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading! Next time, we’ll explore some of the best free AI tools you need to try right now.
🧰 Smart tools. Useful tips. Weekly. Hola friend 👋, I’m Josep. Each week, I hunt down practical tools and productivity hacks to help digital doers like you do more with less effort. Know someone who’d love this newsletter? 2,000+ readers already do (thanks 🙌). Share it with friends & colleagues so they can join too. This week, we're celebrating a special issue (#20), so I wanted to do something a little different. Instead of just sharing tools I love, I thought it would be fun (and useful) to...
🧰 Smart tools. Useful tips. Weekly. Hola friend 👋, I’m Josep. Each week, I hunt down practical tools and productivity hacks to help digital doers like you do more with less effort. Know someone who’d love this newsletter? 2,000+ readers already do (thanks 🙌). Share it with friends & colleagues so they can join too. This week: tools for the lonely wolf. I love the freedom that comes with being a solopreneur: flexible schedules, the ability to choose what I work on, and exposure to all aspects...
🧰 Smart tools. Useful tips. Weekly. Hola friend 👋, I’m Josep. Each week, I hunt down practical tools and productivity hacks to help digital doers like you do more with less effort. Know someone who’d love this newsletter? 2,000+ readers already do (thanks 🙌). Share it with friends & colleagues so they can join too. This week: tools to master the art of sending emails. Unlike social media, where algorithms decide who sees your content, email gives you a direct line to your audience. It’s one...