Hola, friends! 👋
I’ve decided to move the newsletter to a Substack… for a few reasons.
Previously, I was playing around with MailerLite (easy to use) and Flodesk (pretty!) but ultimately, it’s very difficult to share past editions of the newsletter and republish them on my website.
Substack solves this and in terms of information, it’s very “consumable” 🥰
Now, on to “the goods”:
Latest in Consumer Goods 🛍
Non-alcoholic Spirits
There have always been non-alcoholic beers kicking around the grocery store… but lately I’ve been seeing plenty of non-alcoholic spirits make an appearance.
I get wanting to sip on a bevvy if your (hopefully, socially distant) pals are all drinking and you’re dry. But I personally don’t understand opting for an option with calories 😂 I’d rather have a flavoured seltzer but hey, that’s just me.
If I had to drink a non-alcoholic spirit, a few to take note of include:
Sobrii 0-gin — “Gin”
Fluère Spirito Non Alcolico — Botanical blend, spiced blend, berry blend
Ritual Zero-Proof — Whiskey alternative
The Clean Liquor Co — Low (1.2%) alcohol alternatives
And finally, WineMag has a great list of non-alcoholic spirits to consider.
As I was writing this segment, I reconsidered my statement regarding calories and can definitely understand wanting to sip on an old fashioned or manhattan, without suffering the consequences.
I also like Fluère’s approach because they do not try to equate their blends to a traditional “booze” type. They’re simply different blends that consumers can use to create their own non-alcoholic cocktails.
Beautiful Puzzles
Enjoy a good puzzle but looking for something a bit more design-friendly? Discovering Ordinary Habit was definitely a treat for me. Their first collection of six puzzles was a collaboration with six female artists, featuring artwork “carefully chosen to encourage calm and joy all at once”.
If you’re sick of putting together mountains, maps, and sunsets, these puzzles are for you.
Latest in Social Distancing
MakeSpace
Honestly, most of us are over Zoom. The limitations have become increasingly clear over the past few months and it was only a matter of time for new players to come to the table.
After WhereBy created a very simple, brand-able, video meeting service, MakeSpace took it a step further with flexible, resizable frames that can move around the screen. And further still, you can create rooms within a meeting where you’ll be able to have a side-conversation. This seems more akin to the natural flow of conversations in person.
This product will change the game for schools, events, curations, collective browsing… and probably hundreds of other applications.
Latest in Productivity
Toby
Close. Those. Tabs.
Seriously. Toby is a game-changer in the world of a thousand browser tabs. It’s marketed for teams working through tabs but I feel like just sorting my favourite shopping sites, various projects, and bookmarks I want to check out later on.
Font in Logo
Wondering what font that is? This free site can help. Featured on Product Hunt as the #3 “Product of the Day”.
HEY
You’ve probably heard of HEY by now. If not, it’s an email service created by Basecamp (Project Management platform for teams).
Their mission is to bring the joy back to emailing. With a “Paper Trail” for transactional emails (yay, taxes), and a screening process determining whether you even want to hear from someone in the first place, simple improvements to the old features of email clients could very well save you a lot of time.
An interesting perspective, though, lies in their marketing.
The waitlist for HEY was 100,000 people long. Then, they released a statement that Apple was shaking them down for a cut of their subscriptions. This had to do with the App Store policies regarding app updates, but HEY did eventually come to a deal with Apple… makes me wonder whether this was smart marketing or an actual problem with App Store policies.
PS. people are selling invites to HEY on eBay for up to $400 USD.
Latest in Marketing
Really Good Texts
Seriously, these are some really good texts. This site allows you to peruse and submit “really good text” marketing.
Looking for some microcopy inspiration? Done. Not sure what to call your industry-specific feature? Sort by application of text or industry of text to browse.
Audio for Tweets
A new feature on Twitter: audio!
This one has been a while brewing, in my opinion. Friends who host podcasts have been uploading clips to YouTube with their artwork as the background, as a workaround. But this feature is a game-changer for sure :)
Drive and Listen
People really are missing the simpler times… this app allows you to “drive” around cities while listening to their local radio. During my workdays I have been playing a few different streams on my TV. From old marathon or Olympic broadcasts to Animal Crossing island tours (lol), but I might add this to the rotation as a good screensaver.
Latest in Just for Fun
Office Instagram
Check out these vintage office shots. “Corporate Kitsch” is what they’re calling it.
Pokémon Unite
I was a Pokémon kid. Well, let’s face it, I’m still a Pokémon kid. The latest in gameplay features a 5-on-5 collaborative battle on an open battlefield. Honestly, it looks SICK. It won’t be as big of a hype as Pokémon GO, but this will definitely bring mucho deniro to the Nintendo franchise.
At Home
This beautifully designed site interviews and explains how creators and explorers are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s all for now, folks!
If you enjoyed this edition of Riptidings, please share this newsletter with your friends or someone else who may be interested 🤗
Or hit me up to chat further on any of these topics 🤙