Digital Tools & Software

I mostly use Pexels and Unsplash. Those two sites really save the day. You will just type any keyword like “Italian food” and boom, you’ll find clean, high-quality photos that you can use. I remember when I used Google Images that year, one client nearly drag me for using copyrighted picture. It's always better to play safe and stay original.

For me, Google Calendar and Todoist are lifesavers. I won't lie, I used to forget deadlines anyhow. But with reminders and a little discipline, things actually improve. You don’t even need paid tools, just use what works for you. Sometimes I still write my daily goals on paper and that has been an old habits of mine.

I once turned old bottles into flower vases with just paint and rope and people thought I bought them from a fancy store. Upcycling just needs imagination. If you are creative, you won't waste a thing. Before you throw something away, look at it twice, that trash might be your next masterpiece. Plus, it saves money and helps the planet too. So, that's a win-win.

For beginners, I will indulge you to start with Canva. It's simple to use and if doesn't stress you out. It’s easy, and even if you’ve never designed before, you’ll feel like a pro in minutes. I used it to design flyers for my cousin’s small business and people thought I hired a real designer 😂.

Alright.. I'm really curious about this one. what's that one digital tool that's basically become part of your daily routine? Like if someone took it away tomorrow you'd genuinely panic a little bit? Is it something for productivity, maybe a design app, or some kind of automation tool that just makes your life so much easier? I feel like everyone has that one thing they're completely dependent on now. What's yours and why is it such a game-changer for you?

So here's something I keep debating with myself.. Are those premium software subscriptions actually worth the money or are we all just getting suckered in? Like there are so many free tools out there that do pretty much the same thing right? But then again sometimes those paid features really do make a difference. What's your philosophy on this? Do you happily pay for the upgrades or do you stick with free versions and work around the limitations?

Honestly, yes and no. I’ve used a few, and I must say that they’re very cool for brainstorming or when my head is blank, but they can’t really capture that human flow. Sometimes I read what they write and just laugh like, “which kind of robotic talk is this?” 😂. If you depend on it too much, your content will likely lose that personal spark you need.

I’ve tried a lot of them, but I think Notion just clicks for me than the rest. It’s quite simple and flexible as well. I use it to track ideas, plan content, and even write small notes for videos. But if you’re just starting, Google Sheet can still work wonders if you know how to use it.

The most exciting emerging trend is Augmented reality (AR). AR gives the developers the power to create immersive experiences by combining the real and digital worlds. No doubt that AR is also introducing new opportunities in the digital space.

Whenever it comes to editing software, one can find a lot of great options. Adobe premiere and Capcut are highly used for video editing. For audio editing, the common tools are Audacity or Adobe audition. The trick is to identify a program that can accommodate you according to your needs and proficiency.

AI is everywhere now - from thumbnail generation to script writing to voice cloning. Which AI tools have actually improved your workflow, and which ones feel like overhyped solutions looking for problems? Are you embracing AI assistance or worried about oversaturation? Let's have an honest discussion about the practical applications versus the fears.

There are so many AI tools that can turbo-charge your workflow and content. These tools can help in time saving and in generating new ideas. It also helps in automating video editing too. ChatGPT and image-generation applications are some of the other common AI-driven applications that are mostly used by people. What's your go-to AI tools?

It's great to see the team at Root has created a new change log page on their website. Will be easier to keep track and up to date on what has been updated for the Root app. Already there is a experimental Linux app for those of the users who are on the OSS. https://www.rootapp.com/changelogs/october-16-2025

Not sure in what constitutes a frequent friend in order to have them listed within your DM listing. Maybe it's those that you interact with the most through VC or DM's?

AI is increasingly being used for thumbnails, scripts, editing, and more. How are you incorporating (or avoiding) AI in your creative process? What are the ethical considerations? Where do you draw the line?

Just as the question states in the title, if you are not using a piece of software for a long period of time. Do you leave it installed on your devices? I've been working on some behind the scenes tasks for the past couple of months which has put my in a position of not using Ecamm for awhile. This is also compounded in that I'll be using Riverside for recording livestreams and podcast episodes. It's probably a good idea in stopping the subscription to Ecamm for the time being as it'll not be used and I feel that it'll just be taking up space. What are your thoughts on leaving or uninstalling software if you are not using it?

Hey creators! I'm curious about how you handle your email game as independent creators. Privacy, encryption, and reliability are huge for our community, so let's talk shop! Which email service do you use for your creative business or personal brand? • Do you swear by Proton for its end-to-end encryption and Swiss privacy laws? • Are you a Tuta (Tutanota) fan because of its extra-strong encryption, even for subject lines and metadata? • Or do you prefer Fastmail for its speed, compatibility, and classic email protocols, even if it's less privacy-focused? What tipped the scales for you? Was it privacy features, price, usability, or something else? Drop your thoughts, pros/c…

This is for the podcasters out there in the community, do you tend to lean towards the paid podcast hosting services? Are free hosters on your sidelines? Having a good podcast host could mean the best experience for not only yourself but, for your listeners as well. As they'll be looking for your latest episodes to show up in their players as soon as it's available.

Synology found that the people have a lot of power in successfully boycotting their products after making the decision that going forward, all 3rd-party hard drives would not work within their newer model NAS's. I guess they figured they had enough enterprise customers that the decision wouldn't make much of a difference, they were wrong. They recently made the decision in reversing their earlier choice and now 3rd-party hard drives are fine to use within their NAS's. Would this help them regain customer retention, it depends as Synology did trash the goodwill they had built over a decade. www.guru3d.comSynology Reverses Policy Banning Third-Party HDDs After N...Synolog…

The pricing of your favorite TLD could be increasing in price in just a few days. Porkbun has gathered a listing of the names that will be raising in price, might be a good idea in check out if you have one or more of these TLD's in the list and do some multi-year renewals on them, or if you have one in the list you've been looking in picking up. Porkbun.comDomain Name Price Increases October 6, 2025 - Porkbun.comDid you hear about the domain name price increases happening October 6, 2025? This article lists all 233 affected domain extensions.

Since the announcement of Serif will be archiving the support forums in order to direct people to their new Discord server, there is now a post of an upcoming announcement. You'll might also have noticed you're no longer able to purchase a copy of any of the Affinity products. That's Photo, Design, and Publisher. This isn't something that is giving off some great vibes, since Canva acquired them, it's been rumored in that a potential V3 would be released soon and bring in a subscription plan. The writing is becoming clearer on that wall that Affinity will be losing a lot of reputation points from the wider community and perhaps cause many to grudgingly return to Adobe.

Scrolling through Reddit and this post caught my eye, could the community plugins be used as a vector in which someone could bring in malicious code in order to breach an account. I'm going to quote the following post as it does provide some great information on the matter. The main point that stuck out for me was, community plugins are a major part of Obsidian. My uneducated assumption was that I believed they were vetted in some way to be provided within the store, unfortunately that isn't the case it seems.

https://github.com/Aitum/obs-vertical-canvas/releases/tag/1.6.0-beta2

It's been in beta testing for the past few months for those who have paid to be Catalyst members on Obsidian have been using the new database feature. This has been what many are calling it as a game changer for Obsidian, bringing Notion like features into the platform. I haven't messed around with it just yet as I've recently just updated my install of Obsidian but, I'm very curious in how it functions and whether it will become something that would be useful within my workflow. https://obsidian.md/changelog/2025-08-18-desktop-v1.9.10/

The Meld Studio team has released v0.9.4.1 with several new features and improvements. macOS release is temporarily delayed for a bug fix but will be available soon. Key New Features: 🌐 Interactive Browser Layers You can now embed fully clickable, real-time web pages directly into your canvas. This eliminates the need to alt-tab during streams when interacting with web content. 🎵 VOD Audio for Multi-Platform Streaming VOD audio tracks can now be used as the main audio source for YouTube, Kick, or custom RTMP streams. Note that audio muting will affect both live broadcasts and VOD recordings simultaneously. 🌍 Expanded Multi by Meld Coverage New dedicated servers have b…