AI Tools for Work and Play
Logoai, Plaud, Napkin.ai
In the AI realm, it’s easy to get distracted by shiny, overhyped tools that promise everything but deliver little. I evaluate several tools a week, always trying to see if there is some magic bullet to solve a problem, or simplify a process for me and my team. Not many live up to the promise, or I just don’t have the problem they promise to solve.
Over the past few months, however, I’ve come across a few that have genuinely earned a spot in my toolbox. Each one does something simple but powerful, and I’ve found myself using them in ways that improve both creativity and efficiency. Let me share a few of these gems with you—how I’ve used them and why they might be worth adding to your own workflow.
These are not the most cutting edge tools out there, just those that have earned a place in my workflow toolbox.
LogoAI: Simplified Branding with Precision
Branding matters. Whether it’s for a business, a program, or even an event, having a professional logo is a signal that you take things seriously. LogoAI has made creating those logos fast, easy, and—frankly—fun. The platform uses AI to generate a wide range of customizable logos that can be tailored to your exact preferences.
How I Use It: Recently, I reimagined the branding for Taylor Insurance Services’ client retention initiative, something I’m incredibly excited about launching commercially. Within minutes, I had a logo that perfectly captured the consistency and care we wanted to convey. I timed the process and within 45 seconds, I had the logo with the look I want. Another 2 minutes for me (the human factor) to tweak a few things, and the polished results blew me away. $59 gave me access to 45 different file types for professional use. A drag and a drop later and I had stickers from Stickermule on the way. This saved well over a week of back and forth with a designer, and probably $400 at the low end.
Why You Should Care: Hiring a designer can be expensive and time-consuming. LogoAI bridges the gap between quality and accessibility, making it a must-have for projects where professionalism is non-negotiable. Visit LogoAI
Plaud Note: Your AI Meeting Scribe
You know the drill: you’re in a meeting, and someone drops a nugget of gold, but by the time you’re writing up the follow-up, that nugget has vanished. Enter Plaud Note. It listens, transcribes, and organizes your conversations into actionable insights. The quality of transcription is good, so long as you give it good audio. It even captures my South Georgia mellifluence! I did buy it thinking you can use it on phone calls, and you can, but only if you hold the phone up to your head like some Neanderthal. It can’t listen in on convos when you’re wearing ear pods.
How I Use It: While attending a spiritual retreat in Nashville, I used Plaud Note to capture profound discussions and personal reflections shared during my session. Later, I was able to revisit those moments with clarity and integrate them into my ongoing spiritual practices. Its ability to preserve the essence of the dialogue allowed me to stay present in the moment without worrying about losing important insights.
Why You Should Care: Forget frantic note-taking. Plaud Note lets you stay fully present in the moment while ensuring you don’t miss a thing. It’s a game-changer for anyone who juggles meetings and follow-ups. Visit Plaud Note
Deepseek R1: The Ultimate Research Assistant
For those in the know, Deepseek R1 is the hot new topic. It’s an LLM famed for its reasoning ability and is great for when you’ve got a mountain of data and need to find the gems hidden inside. It’s like having a research assistant with no need for coffee breaks.
How I Use It: I have a tough employee review coming up. One thing I know about myself is that my EQ usually needs work, so I asked Deepseek to put together a script designed to help me really convey the core principles I need to share but in a way that isn’t personally hurtful to the recipient. It’s a tall order and Deepseek helped me pull together research from a range of sources, synthesizing key insights into how leaders can navigate difficult conversations while maintaining empathy and encouraging growth. Then it turned it into a bulleted script and shared the reasoning behind each stage of the process. It not only saved me hours but also brought perspectives I hadn’t considered to light.
I also fed it 4 years of weekly investment return data on a specific investment I’m considering and it gave me some good insights as to patterns and timing affecting the investment that caused me to reconsider my entry point timing into the fund.
Why You Should Care: Whether you’re deep into historical research, analyzing business data, or just trying to understand a complex topic, Deepseek R1 gets you there faster. Visit Deepseek R1
Napkin.ai: Where Ideas Go to Bloom
Napkin.ai remains one of my favorite tools because it’s so good at catching those fleeting sparks of inspiration and turning them into actionable insights. It doesn’t just store your thoughts—it connects them, revealing patterns and relationships you didn’t even realize were there. Hat tip to Brad Hart for this one.
How I Use It: Napkin takes text and turns it into graphics that convey the same message. It’s extraordinarily helpful when I have a dense bunch of text (like when do I not have a dense bunch of text?) that I want to communicate to others who may think visually. It also helps me see the hidden structure of things by cycling through various ways to present data.
Why You Should Care: For anyone who juggles ideas and projects, Napkin is like having a second brain that remembers everything and makes connections you’d otherwise miss. Visit Napkin.ai
These tools have become part of my arsenal not because they’re trendy, but because they work. They make my job easier, my ideas sharper, and my results better. If you’re looking for ways to make your own work more efficient and impactful, give these a try. The right tools don’t just help you work smarter—they help you think bigger.