Welcome to Fresh van Root newsletter #72.
I am back from Republica, “the festival for the digital society”, in Berlin. One of the topics discussed in several workshops and talks was the possibilities and dangers of AI. Text to image tools powered by AI are a sub-category that gets discussed a lot on social media. Vox published an entertaining documentary on these tools. Are you still sharing passwords via email or chat? There is a better way to do it … Stay fresh, Rolf
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 – for curious minds. This bi-weekly newsletter is a summary of that exploration.
🧠 Hand-Picked Content
AI: Text To Image Revolution (Video, 15min)
You will not rely on stock photography for your marketing content in the future. Instead, you will “ask” an AI service to create the image you need with your brand style settings applied. This 15min documentary explains how the text to image services evolved. More
Bonus: I blogged about this in 2019: What will the next Unsplash look like?
Web Architecture: Understanding Web 2,3,5 (Article, 5min)
Jack Dorsey, the former Twitter CEO, announced Web5. Confused? Yes, many are. Web3 is promoted with the promise of being decentralized and users owning their data and content. But there is still a single point of failure in the Web3 architecture, according to Dorsey, who announced Web5. It is still early to tell if this will take off, and the concept is hard to understand if you are not a developer. This article gives an introduction to the topic with examples from each web* generation. More
One Marketing Podcast A Week (Newsletter Recommendation)
The Newsletter “Marketing Podcast Recap” summarizes one marketing podcast per week as an infographic. You can get some inspiration from it and decide if it’s worth listening to the whole podcast. Example | Subscribe
Leading A Team Of Content Marketers (Blog, 10min)
When you are required to level up from being a content marketer to leading a team of content people, you won’t any longer work on creating content. Instead, you need to empower others to create great content. This article is a great starting point for anyone getting on this journey. More
Bonus: Superpath is an excellent community (I am a member) for content marketers that want to hone their craft. More
🛠️ Tools & Apps & Services
Link in Bio Website
While Instagram added many new features over the years (or copied them from other platforms), one thing did not change. Adding a clickable link to the image caption is still not possible. The famous “link in bio” phrase is well-known. This tool called Feedlink by Embedsocial creates a web version of your Instagram page and allows you to add links to every post. That way, when someone clicks your link in bio, the person can quickly get to the desired destination. Example | More
Share Passwords Safely
Sometimes you need to share a password with externals. Doing so via email or chat is a bad idea. Instead, use a service like One Time Secret. It creates a URL that you can pass on and the recipient can show the password once only. More
YouTube Subtitle Search Engine
Filmot is a search engine for YouTube subtitles. Search for “Sometimes I feel like my only friend” and it will serve you the Red Hot Chilli Peppers song or any YouTube video with that phrase. It works for any YouTube video having subtitles. More
Screenshot Tool (Mac OS)
Xnapper is a new screenshot tool (currently in beta) that comes with a few easy editing options for your screenshots. More
📣 Fresh van Root
Impressions of Republica in Berlin
It was a very special edition of the conference in a new location, and of course the first one after Covid. Watch the recap videos to get the vibe. Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3. I also took a few pictures.
🏞️ Your Next Wallpaper?
🔗 One More Link
You Are What You Think (Blog post, 15min)
How Your Thoughts Create Your Reality. More
Play A Round Of Tetris (Browser Game)
No account is needed on Tetris dot com. More