People frequently ask me what digital tools I use for business and personal endeavors. Here’s a brief list of the ones that have captured my attention over the last six months.

Quibb: I tend to enjoy social networks when they’re new. Typically there’s nothing remarkably different about them, it’s just that before they scale-up, the quality of participants is higher. This was true of Twitter a few years ago, and it’s once again the case with Quibb. The big appeal to me (for now) is that Quibb’s founder Sandi has pledged to sustain a more curatorial approach and try to keep out the folks who spam, troll, and anything else that eventually degrades the quality of a community. The reason I like Twitter over Facebook is that it’s exponentially more simple and focuses on the news feed. Quibb is to Reddit, what Twitter is to Facebook. Clean threaded conversations from smart positive people. Quibb is still invite only, so use the link at the beginning of this paragraph (it’s my personal invitation).

Grind: For 8 years I worked in “The Loop” which is Chicago’s downtown. I don’t miss it a lot (tourists/traffic) but every so often I need to be in heart of the city for meetings. So when I’m not working in CentUp’s office in West Town I’ve been enjoying Grind which is a coworking space. In particular I like the flexibility of day passes (not having to do monthly memberships) and also the community. There are a LOT of great spaces in Chicago that focus on certain verticals like startups or healthcare, but I really the agnostic approach of Grind. Variety increases valuable serendipitous meetings.

StayFocused: You know what really bugs me? Spending time on Facebook. In theory it’s a great way to stay connected with friends and family, in reality it’s a waste of f***ing time. So in order to combat all the notifications and hooks that Facebook has built to draw me in (I can’t delete my account because I use it for work) I installed a browser extension for Chrome that literally limits how much time I use Facebook. There’s a little clock that I can set up and as soon as I burn through 20 minutes, Facebook simply won’t load. It’s smart too because even if I have other tabs open, it only counts down when the Facebook tab is being viewed. You can use the extension for any site that messes with your productivity. At least for me, it’s made a dramatic difference for my daily habits.

ScreenFlow: Everything that you might hate about iMovie, ScreenFlow is not. It’s intuitive, it’s simple, and it works fast. I got tired of messing around with cutting short movies and screencasts on other products so I ponied up the $99 and bought this app. This is not something that will satisfy the folks who use more comprehensive programs like Final Cut, but if you’re a casual video maker who just puts together simple tutorials or videos to share with friends and customers, this is a great option.

Umano: I love spending my free time reading, but most of the reading I want to do is on a digital screen. My eyes are already in bad shape (-7.5 nearsightedness) so I’ve tried to transition away from staring at screens and instead try to consume news via audio. Umano has filled a need I’ve had for a very long time: the app has professional HUMAN voice talent narrate some of the most popular articles on the web from a variety of categories. Now instead of reading long-form content on a small phone screen, I listen to it in the car, on planes, and before I go to bed. The app has a free version and a premium one which allows for offline listening. If you sign up with the code 6559V you’ll get a premium account,

RelateIQ: If you don’t know or care about what a CRM is, then skip this. If on the other hand you’re someone who frequently needs to email people and follow-up to grow your business, pay close attention. I’ve tried a lot of different sales management tools before to track my outreach and the overarching reaction to them has been: 1) this is way too bloated, 2) this makes ME do a lot of work when I really want the machine to do the work, 3) this is way too expensive for what I need. RelateIQ has been very hands on in terms of training and my absolutely favorite part is that it requires you to do literally nothing to collect all your email correspondence. Just sync up your email addresses one time, and moving forward Relate will pull it all in. No forwarding/blind-copying or any other nonsense.

TinyLetter: The team at Mailchimp is amazing and I love so much about their branding and culture. That said, there core product is great for business but way to excessive for most personal email lists. TinyLetter is a spinoff product that is ultra lean…and free. I don’t quite understand how Mailchimp rationalizes offering this product, but I’m sure it’s a great marketing tool for their overall brand. I’ve been using TL for my small-batch emails (link at the bottom of this post) and for anyone who feels overwhelmed by other newsletter tools, this is just an awesome place to start. No fancy templates and list management…just words on a page.