Every once in a while, I like to highlight cool projects and products I’ve bookmarked. Here are the latest. Enjoy!
Microscopya: The website says it all. A “science-themed video game taking players on a journey through the molecular world inside the cell, with hand-drawn illustrations and puzzles based on real scientific concepts. This project aims to highlight the depth, complexity, and beauty of what makes life possible.”
Carnegie Museum of Natural History: Interpreting Museum Exhibits Virtually: About the virtual tours for the exhibit Dinosaur Armor, and how to create a successful online experience.
Lore Olympus: A serial romance webtoon, with weekly episodes. From the description: “Witness what the gods do…after dark. The friendships and the lies, the gossip and the wild parties, and of course, forbidden love. Because it turns out, the gods aren’t so different from us after all, especially when it comes to their problems. Stylish and immersive, this is one of mythology’s greatest stories — The Taking of Persephone — as it’s never been told before.”
MapsFM: They’ve mapped thousands of stories around the world. From their mission statement: “to map great stories about the places we live, the places we’re from, and the places we travel, using maps for discovery” (all free).
unDraw: Lots of illustrations in many colors that you can browse and download for your own use.
Nicolas Botomisy Subscription Site: An excellent example of how to expand on niche content (in this case, pastries). This subscription site offers courses, live Q&As, equipment discounts, special content, access to a private group, and more.
Were you raised by wolves? podcast: A niche podcast about etiquette, with a successful merchandise line and partnerships with other, relevant brands.
Jasper: AI that makes it easy to write blog posts, social media posts, and more.
GitHub Copilot: An AI pair programmer that helps users write better code. From the announcement: “GitHub Copilot draws context from the code you’re working on, suggesting whole lines or entire functions.”
Vocal Fiction: From their website: “Vocal is a platform that provides storytelling tools and engaged communities for creators to get discovered and fund their creativity.”
Alice: A voice recorder and transcribing service. Designed for journalists, by journalists.
Budsies: A place where you can order custom stuffed animals, based on your own drawings.
Blur: A way to blur your sensitive data online, when recording or screen sharing.
MindMup: A place to create and share mindmaps, for free.
Kotobee: A platform to create interactive ebooks for any format.
Hederis: From their description: “Hederis is a cloud-based book production and design platform, providing state-of-the-art tools to publishers of every size. No longer reserved just for the biggest publishers with the biggest budgets, our combination of automation with hands-on design and layout tools is the evolution of our work with publishers throughout the industry.”
Loud & Clear: Spotify’s site where artists can learn more about Spotify payments, and see listener counts for artists.
And last, some shoutouts to:
- Public Domain Day, when on January 1 of each year, a new crop of works become available to everyone,
- A hospital in South Korea offering free ebook rentals,
- Entale, an award-winning product that uses AI “to transform the podcast experience by allowing listeners to see and engage with anything mentioned in a podcast, then find new things to listen to using this context,” and
- Learning Revolution’s breakdown of how and why to create microlearning content to build your business