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🧰 Your Browser is Old. Time for an Upgrade.
Published about 1 month ago • 5 min read
🧰 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: browsers finally got interesting again.
For the longest time, browsers felt… boring. Sure, they got faster and more secure, but the core experience hasn’t changed much since the Netscape days. That is, until now.
A new wave of browsers is here, and they’re packed with clever features designed to make you more productive. Think built-in AI assistants and smarter organization.
I’ve been testing a few of them and it’s been a breath of fresh air. This week, I'm sharing three innovative browsers that are shaking things up.
Plus: a powerful SEO tool for link-building, a wild hack to edit images with AI, and the shocking story of an AI startup that wasn't what it seemed.
If Chrome or Safari feel a little… stale, Comet is genuinely exciting. It’s an AI-native browser from the Perplexity team that turns your browser into an assistant that actually does things for you. Perplexity’s search is built in, which makes it great for research.
Comet runs on Chromium, so it feels familiar. Yet the experience is completely different. It even supports Chrome extensions, without which I couldn’t get by. Ask it to research a topic and it will find sources, synthesize the key points into a tidy summary, and include citations.
Where it gets wild: Comet can work with your Gmail and Calendar, so writing routine emails becomes optional. Even more sci-fi, the AI can control the browser. Tell it to order nappies on Amazon or send a WhatsApp message via the web app, and it can handle it. It’s AI that doesn’t just answer questions – it helps you get things done.
Yes, I recommended Comet a few issues ago, and I’ve been so mesmerized by it that I wanted to highlight it again and record a quick video to show how powerful this is.
It’s still on a waitlist. We have a handful of invites available, so reply to this email if you want one. First come, first served.
🛠️ Alternative to: Chrome AI extensions, ChatGPT Agent Mode
If you’re tired of being tracked and targeted by ads, Brave is the browser for you. It’s a privacy-first browser that blocks ads and trackers by default, making your browsing experience faster, safer, and less cluttered.
Brave isn’t just about privacy, though blocking ads and trackers out of the box is a huge plus. Leo, Brave’s AI assistant that lives right in your browser, is an interesting premium option. Need a quick summary of an article, an explanation of a tricky concept, or even some text drafted? Leo can handle it on the spot while keeping your data safe.
I’ve been using Brave on and off for a few years, and I’m always impressed by its commitment to privacy. It’s a great choice for anyone who wants to take back control of their data and support a more open web.
Arc is not just a browser; it’s a whole new way of thinking about how we interact with the web. It’s designed to be a calm, organized workspace meant to help you stay focused and productive. It does this with a few key features that are a radical departure from the traditional browser layout.
First, there are “Spaces,” which let you group tabs and bookmarks by project or context. This is a huge help when you’re juggling multiple things at once. Then there are built-in apps like a notepad and a screen-capture tool, which means you can do more without leaving your browser. The sidebar-based navigation is also a different approach, and it can make things (your tabs) easier to manage.
I’ve been testing Arc for a few days, and I really like its fresh take on what a browser can be. That said, I’m still adjusting to how it does things, and I’m not sure yet if it’ll stick for me long term. But if the traditional browsers aren’t working for you, Arc might be exactly what you’re looking for.
For anyone who feels like their browser is a source of chaos and distraction, Arc is a must-try.
💰 Free for personal use | Premium features available
📣 App Deals & Offers
Some useful tool deals we spotted this week, which are worth a look if you're into smart savings.
💸 Notch: Create branded proposals, contracts, and payments with e-signatures built in.
💸 Perplexity: Advanced artificial intelligence platform for smarter research. Deal value (up to) $6,000.
💸 DigitalOcean: Perfect for hosting apps, databases, or side projects without breaking the bank. $5,000 in credits for one year for startups and small businesses.
If you’re in the SEO world, you’ll know that backlinks are the currency of the web. And when it comes to analyzing them, Majestic is one of the originals and one of the best. It’s a powerful SEO tool that gives you a deep understanding of your backlink profile (and your competitors’).
Majestic’s main claim to fame is its proprietary metrics: Trust Flow and Citation Flow. These scores (and the ratio between them), help you quickly assess the quality of a website’s backlink profile, which is crucial for estimating the influence of a potential backlink from that website. It also has a massive and frequently updated link index, so you can be sure you’re getting the most accurate backlink data.
It’s not the most beginner-friendly tool, but if you’re serious about SEO and improving your backlink profile, giving Majestic a go could be a game-changer.
💰 From $49.99/month | Free plan available (limited)
⚡This Week’s Productivity Hack
Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model, affectionately known as Nano Banana, is a cutting-edge AI image editor that brings professional-grade editing capabilities to your fingertips. Whether you're a content creator, marketer, or designer, Nano Banana offers tools to transform your visuals with ease.
And the best part? It's lightning-fast – delivering results in just seconds, far outpacing DALL·E and other AI models.
What sets it apart:
Natural Language Editing: Describe your desired changes in plain language – like "add a cat to the scene" or "turn this into a 3D model".
Character Consistency: Maintain consistent appearances across multiple images, ensuring your subjects look the same in various scenarios.
Scene Preservation: Edit elements without disrupting the overall composition, keeping backgrounds and lighting intact.
Rapid Processing: Experience near-instantaneous edits, making it ideal for quick turnarounds.
If you're allergic to Photoshop, Canva, or similar tools (like I am), give Nano Banana a try and see what it can do for you. Check it out at Gemini or Google AI Studio.
🍿 Plot Twist of the Week
Do you remember Natasha, the (not) AI app builder? Well, today we meet Nate, the (not) AI ecommerce assistant – source.
They promised investors they had built a slick AI that could buy anything online for you in just one click. Tens of millions were raised on that pitch 🙈.
But behind the curtain? No AI. Just a team of human workers in the Philippines manually placing the orders. The CEO (Albert Saniger) is now facing federal fraud charges for misleading investors.
It’s another textbook case of companies riding the AI hype wave while delivering little more than smoke and mirrors.
The takeaway: if a tool’s AI magic sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Always check what’s really under the hood, especially if you give your credit card details.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading! Next time, we’ll be diving into the world of AI landing page builders and exploring some tools that can help you create better content, faster.
🧰 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...