🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine
The last few days I have been paralyzed, constantly checking news sites and Twitter, looking for how the situation in Ukraine develops. I could witness first-hand how a single-family is impacted by the Russian intrusion on Ukraine. Lena on our team is a Ukrainian living in Vienna, but her family is living in Kyiv (where they are right now).
Lena took a week off to help German broadcasting station ZDF with translation in the Hungarian/Ukrainian border region. I really hope that there is a diplomatic way of solving this crisis, but it doesn’t look like it right now. Putin built an autocratic state for 20 years. Today there is no free media in Russia, and he controls the country with his inner circle. Let’s not lose hope that Putin can be brought back to the negotiation table with sanctions.
Welcome to Fresh van Root newsletter #66.
In this edition, you will see 2 different AI content creation apps getting featured. We see more and more of these apps getting to a level where they can really fasten up your production.
And we haven’t used a desktop calendar app in years, but the one we recently discovered on Twitter comes with features we really like.
Is your team working fully remote, or hybrid? It seems the full implications of that new work model will be seen in cities over the world in the coming years.
For all new subscribers, here’s what this newsletter is about: We are exploring content and apps at the intersection of marketing, productivity, content creation, and social media. This bi-weekly newsletter is a curated and concise summary of that exploration.
Stay fresh. -Rolf
🧠 Hand-Picked Content
Grammarly Is A Keylogger (Blog post, 10min)
Marketers and content creators love Grammarly, writing emails, blog posts, newsletters – it’s all easier with Grammarly sitting on your shoulder. This article reminds us that the security implications of using the product could be huge. Imagine someone getting access to the data stored on Grammarly’s servers? The recommendation: Use only the web editor of Grammarly, and turn off the browser extension when not needed. Not very practical, but there is no other way around it. More
Content Marketer Report (PDF, 26 pages)
This report provides a good overview of the duties of a content marketer in an operative role. At the same time, it’s a bit overwhelming on the numbers and stats shared. We were nodding to the statements and conclusions while reading it. The report, published by content marketing platform Casted, is based on 100 B2B marketer feedback. More
The Hybrid Work Culture Is The Future (Article, 10min)
A hybrid work model of spending 2-4 working days at the office, and the others working from home, is what most knowledge workers want to have. But what implications does this have on the cities that previously had all those people commuting, going for lunches, and window shopping? The article explores some of those questions. More
Interview On Marketing, Design, Content Creation (Podcast, 50min)
Interesting discussion with a sympathetic marketer on content creation, the relationship between copy and design, the process for creating his visual newsletter. Tip: skip the first 2:30 minutes. More
🛠️ Tools & Apps & Services
A New Take On Calendaring
Cron is a desktop calendar app that caught our attention on Twitter. Why we like it? Upcoming meetings are shown in the menu bar, and notifications show direct links to join online meetings. The app was productivity app of the year on Producthunt last year. If you want to try it out and bypass the waitlist – just hit reply. Screenshot | More
Productivity App For Creatives
Clover app has features that blend between note-taking, to-do app, and sketching. This makes it stand out from other tools and could be an interesting solution for creative knowledge workers. 1min demo | More
A Simple And Fast Landing Page Builder
Daftpage is a landing page builder that comes with all the typical content blocks a page needs these days. The beauty of it is its simple to use editor for novice users. 1min demo | More
Privacy: Google Search Results Page
The Ghostery browser extension got an update: It now shows the trackers that will load on the page you intend to visit. Screenshot | More
Using AI To Repurpose Content
See how Copy AI can be used to generate a promotional email that links to a blog post. This is impressive and can speed up the content creation process. Tweet | More
📣 Fresh van Root
App Review – Create AI Videos (Blog post, 10min)
Synthesia is a tool that is making headlines with its easy-to-use editor that anyone capable of creating a slide deck can use. It caught our attention last summer and now we created a detailed app review. More
🏞️ Your Next Wallpaper?
🔗 One More Link
Hip Hop Beats
BB Ernest, a friend of Fresh van Root, and audio producer & composer, released his first album. If you like break-beats, hip hop, funk, or artists like Nightmares on Wax and Beastie Boys… you will like this. Listen on Soundcloud | Download
Map Of Reddit
Explore Reddit from a birds-eye view. More