Hi {{first_name}}!
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I got some great feedback on last week’s newsletter which focused on a few fun ways to use AI with kids and family. This week we’re back to business.
In this issue we're covering:
New AI updates worth knowing about: ChatGPT group chats, Nano Banana Pro upgrades, the newly released Claude Opus 4.5, and NotebookLM's content creation features
How Google's AI stack helps with research, data analysis, visual content, and workflow automation
The free text expansion tool that saves me hours every week
Building a landing page in 10 minutes using Gemini 3
Okay, let's get into it!
New and Noteworthy
Claude Opus 4.5 Release: Anthropic dropped their newest model last week, and it's a big upgrade for business work. Opus 4.5 is now the best model in the world for coding, building AI agents, and computer use but what matters most for business owners is that it's significantly better at everyday tasks like deep research, working with spreadsheets, and creating presentations. The model can now handle longer conversations without hitting limits, works seamlessly in Excel, and operates more efficiently than previous versions.
ChatGPT Group Chats Now Live Globally: Up to 20 people can now collaborate in real-time ChatGPT conversations across Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans. Group sessions stay isolated from individual memory and work through invite links. Perfect for team brainstorming sessions, project planning, or getting multiple perspectives on strategy questions without switching between individual chats.
Google Upgrades Nano Banana Pro: Major improvements to Google's image generator including better text rendering, accurate translations in visuals, and enhanced world knowledge. You can now create complex infographics, product mockups, and studio-quality brand assets with much higher fidelity.
ChatGPT Atlas Gets Vertical Tabs: OpenAI's browser just added vertical tab management similar to Arc, plus Google as default search, extension migration tools, and iCloud keychain integration on Mac. Makes managing multiple research tabs and projects cleaner and more organized.
Comet AI Browser Launches on Android: Perplexity's Comet browser is now available on Android with voice search, built-in ad blocking, and AI-powered multitasking. Brings smart search and privacy features to mobile devices, useful for research on the go.
NotebookLM Adds Infographics and Slide Decks: Google's research assistant can now generate infographics and presentation slides directly from your uploaded sources. This turns NotebookLM from a research tool into a complete content creation system. Upload your data, reports, or research and get back presentation-ready visuals and structured decks without starting from scratch.
Replit Launches Design Mode: Powered by Gemini 3, this new feature generates complete user interfaces from simple prompts. It focuses on professional layout, typography, and color schemes to create visually appealing websites, landing pages, and apps. No design skills required, just describe what you need and Design Mode handles the visual execution.
OpenAI Declares "Code Red" as Gemini 3 Overtakes ChatGPT: Reports suggest OpenAI is scrambling as Google's Gemini 3 takes the performance lead, showing how quickly AI leadership can shift. It’s rumored that OpenAI plans to release a new reasoning model next week that supposedly beats Gemini 3. For your business, this competition means smarter and more helpful tools arriving faster.
DeepSeek Launches Two New Open-Source AI Models: DeepSeek just dropped two powerful models: V3.2 matches ChatGPT-5's abilities while V3.2-Speciale rivals Gemini 3 Pro in advanced math. These are open-source and significantly cheaper than proprietary alternatives. American startups are increasingly adopting these cost-effective models, which means enterprise-level AI without enterprise pricing.
How Google’s AI Stack Is Helping Me Day-to-Day
I've been testing Google's entire AI ecosystem over the past few weeks, and I want to cut through the noise. Instead of overwhelming you with features, let me show you four specific roles these tools can fill in your business.
Your Strategy Research Partner - Here's a workflow that saves me hours: Use Gemini's deep research feature to analyze your market, competitors, and pricing. Export everything to a Google Doc, then pull it into NotebookLM along with your own business documents. Now you've got a knowledge base that actually knows your context. Ask it "Based on our positioning and this market research, what's our best go-to-market strategy?" The output isn't generic advice, it's strategy grounded in real research combined with what makes your business unique.
Your Data Detective - NotebookLM now connects directly to Google Sheets, which changes everything. Upload your messy sales data, marketing performance, customer lists, and ask plain English questions like "What is the story behind this data." It cross-references multiple spreadsheets and finds patterns you'd miss spending hours in Excel.
Your Visual Content Team - Google released three tools that work together: Mixboard for visual brainstorming, Whisk for blending product photos into lifestyle shots, and Pomelli for generating on-brand social posts. These won't win design awards just yet but if you’re a small business without a full creative team, they'll help you come up with creative content ideas and allow you to show up professionally without breaking the budget. Perfect for testing campaign concepts before investing in professional photography.
Your Workflow Automation Builder - As I shared last week, Google Workspace Flows is the new kid on the block. It's like having Zapier built straight into Google Workspace, powered by Gemini 3.0. You can drop custom Gems into workflows so the AI uses your specific business knowledge. I built a flow that monitors our support inbox, checks our docs, and drafts replies. The real value is consistency when everyone uses the same workflow, your output quality doesn't depend on who's having a good day.
My honest take: The Gemini + NotebookLM research combo is solid for strategy work. The visual tools are good for concept testing. And Flows means less time on repetitive tasks. Instead of replacing people, it handles the draining day-to-day tasks so you can focus on the parts that truly benefit from your expertise.
Tool Spotlight: Text Blaze
If you've been to one of my presentations, you know I talk about productivity tools constantly. And one I can’t live without is Text Blaze.
Text Blaze turns shortcuts into full text anywhere on your computer. Type a few characters, and it expands into complete emails, templates, links, or forms. It sounds simple, but the time savings add up fast.
Real examples from my daily workflow:
For image generation, I have a specific prompt I use all the time for my website's cartoon-style images. I just type "/cartoon" and Text Blaze automatically fills in my detailed prompt about style, color scheme, and aesthetics. Then it drops my cursor exactly where I need to add the specific description. What used to be digging up the same 200-character prompt or having inconsistency in my image generation is now fixed by typing one word.
You can also build templates for common client communications, proposal sections, meeting follow-ups, or project status updates. The consistency means your team sounds professional even when they're rushing through responses.
Their chrome extension gives you the capability inside of your browser and if you download the app on your computer you can use it anywhere!
I probably use this ten times per day. My email signature, common responses to client questions, links to booking calendars, baseline replies to introductions… all one shortcut away.
Putting Gemini 3 to Work: Built a Landing Page in 10 mins
Look at what it generated 👇
Over the weekend, I needed a landing page for our new FlexFlow Sessions offering. Instead of spending days in a page builder or waiting weeks for a designer, I opened Gemini 3 and gave it one prompt: "Create a new minimalist landing page for our FlexFlow session offer at Ampra.ai that can be previewed in Gemini Canvas. Use Ampra's brand colors and aesthetic based on the Ampra logo attached and our website Ampra.ai." I included our logo and pasted in the session details. A few minutes later, I had a complete, professional landing page with our exact brand colors, clean layouts, proper CTAs, and great messaging.
This won't replace talented designers for complex brand work. But for service pages, client proposals, testing new offers, or internal tools, this changes the game completely. I've now created three different landing pages for Ampra using this approach. Each one took less than 30 minutes. The time I saved went into refining our actual offers instead of fighting with page builders.
Go to gemini.google.com, look for the canvas feature, and describe what you need in detail. Include your brand colors, your audience, examples of sites you like etc.
That's it for this week! I'm curious what resonates most with you. The Google ecosystem? Text Blaze shortcuts? Or seeing how fast you can build landing pages now?
Hit reply and let me know. And if there's a specific AI topic you want me to dive into, I'm all ears.
Julien
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