This week: AI assistants that go way beyond ChatGPT.
I’ve been testing tools that can write content, summarize meetings, code entire websites; and yes, even create realistic AI videos of yourself doing whatever 🤠👢🌵 (scroll down for the emoji reference).
I’ve picked out a few standouts I personally use, and all of them can save you time or spark new creative workflows.
Plus: the screenshot tool I now use daily (including for this newsletter), a Gmail trick to simplify replies, and the major website blackout we just went through.
Gemini is Google’s answer to ChatGPT, and it’s catching up fast. Whether you need help with creative writing, summarizing docs, or answering complex questions, Gemini has become a serious contender in the AI assistant space.
Its tight integration with Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets, and other Workspace apps makes it incredibly convenient if you’re already in Google’s ecosystem. Personally, I’ve also found it more stable, as ChatGPT's service cuts out occasionally, even on the paid plan.
The chat interface isn’t quite as polished as ChatGPT’s yet (no project folders, for example), but the free plan is very generous. And you get even more if you’re a Google Workspace (Gmail Premium) Standard user, like direct integration with Google Docs.
Runway is an AI video platform that turns your ideas into moving images. No camera needed. Whether you want to generate video from text, animate still images, or create stylish B-roll, Runway is one of the most advanced (and accessible) tools out there.
It’s used by pros and creatives alike to prototype concepts, add cinematic flair, or generate content that would otherwise take days to film and edit. You can upload images, choose styles, write prompts, and fine-tune clips; all from a slick, browser-based interface.
I’ve mostly played with it for fun, and it’s seriously impressive. I even turned myself into a cowboy in a desert showdown 🤠👢🌵 (see previous video). It's especially good for B-roll and visual filler that gives your videos a more polished feel. Maybe I’ll share the behind-the-scenes of that cowboy clip in the next issue!
Pair-programming with Claude Code feels like working with a genius who never sleeps. It runs in your terminal, which makes it feel a bit geeky,but you don’t need to know how to code. Just describe what you want to build, and Claude will generate the full code, explain every step, and even help you debug when things break.
Because it has access to your local files, you can give it images, style guides, or even videos to include in your site or app. It writes in Python, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and many more languages, handling both frontend and backend tasks.
I used it to build a Django site, a full Python-based CMS, without knowing how to do it myself. From setting up the database to uploading everything via SSH to my hosting provider, Claude handled it all. A real dev would’ve taken weeks and charged thousands. I paid about $150 in API tokens, and the site’s already live.
🔁 Alternative to: GitHub Copilot, Cursor or Windsurf
CleanShot X is the ultimate screenshot tool for Mac users. It lets you capture your screen with pixel-perfect precision, whether you’re grabbing full pages, specific windows, or scrolling content. You can also record videos or GIFs, blur sensitive data, and instantly annotate anything you capture.
I mainly use it to take gorgeous, consistent-looking screenshots. You can even create presets to keep the same style across all your shots, which saves a ton of time and keeps everything looking pro. It’s the tool I use to create the visuals for this newsletter.
I also really like their pricing model. You can choose between a one-time payment or a subscription. Pay once for lifetime access to the core features, or go with the yearly plan if you want their CleanShot Cloud and a few extra perks. Totally fair and flexible.
🔁 Alternative to: macOS screenshot tool, Snagit, Nimbus Capture
💰 From $8/month | $29 one-time payment (no cloud features)
⚡This Week’s Productivity Hack
To save time (and brainpower), you can use Gmail Templates. It’s one of Gmail’s hidden gems, and once you set it up, you’ll never want to type the same thing twice again.
You can store pre-written replies for anything you repeat often: follow-ups, intros, onboarding steps, pitch replies, etc. When you're replying to an email, just insert the right template with two clicks.
Boom. Done 💥
To enable it:
Go to Gmail settings → Advanced tab
Enable Templates
Then start saving your go-to replies
To insert a template:
Click the three dots in your email draft
Hover over Templates
Choose the one you want (see the screenshot above for reference)
It’s a small trick, but a total game changer. You’ll be zipping through your inbox like a pro.
🍿 Plot Twist of the Week
June 12th turned into a dramatic evening
We always recommend picking top-tier hosting. So imagine our surprise when EmailTooltester.com (our sister site) went completely dark, for hours, despite being on one of the best WordPress hosts out there: Kinsta.
The culprit wasn’t Kinsta directly, but a major Cloudflare outage that knocked out key services worldwide for about 2.5 hours. As you can see in the screenshot below, traffic dropped to zero. And since our business depends on that site, it was a tense couple of hours for us.
We weren’t sure what to do: point the domain to an old backup we had lying around, or just wait it out. Both options had their downsides. In the end, we took a deep breath, hoped for the best, and trusted Kinsta and Cloudflare to fix it; which they did (phew).
Lesson learned: no host or CDN is invincible, even top-tier services like Kinsta and Cloudflare can fail. Having a backup-backup (e.g. a site copy on another hosting provider) could’ve saved the day.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading! Next time, we’ll help you get organized. And sharpen your writing with a tool you’ve probably never heard of (no, not Grammarly).
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