Notes from the workshop.
Product updates, engineering notes, and thinking on privacy-first AI tooling.
Seedance 2.5 vs Seedance 2.0: same prompts, real clips
One 30-second unbroken AI take cost us $7.43. The old model got the same script and 15 seconds. Watch both decide the upgrade.
What happens to your AI chats after you hit send
One chatbot keeps your words five years, one feeds them to ads, and for months “delete” did nothing. The settings that change it.
How one app talks to both cloud AI and local AI
One button, four backends: how a desktop app makes Replicate, Runware, Ollama, and in-process ONNX behave like one thing. Real tradeoffs inside.
How to keep the same character in AI images
Your fox was perfect yesterday; today the same prompt drew her cousin. Sixteen real generations show what actually fights the drift.
How to use AI without making slop
Half the web's new articles are mostly AI, and readers aren't coming. The line between slop and leverage is one signable question.
What one AI image actually costs: cloud pricing decoded
We bought the same product shot from six AI models. The spread was 167x, and the best image wasn't the priciest. The decoder ring inside.
The idea-to-video pipeline: script, stills, motion, sound
One idea, four models, $3.53: we made a 30-second film the slow way and kept every receipt. Watch it, then steal the pipeline.
Text-to-video in 2026: what a sentence gets you now
Twelve first takes across four models, $9.02 billed, no rerolls: the shots that stunned us and the pianist who grew a third hand.
AI voiceovers without a studio: podcasts, videos, and audiobooks
We made this post's podcast intro from a paragraph of text: nine cents, seven seconds. Listen first, then the one rule you can't break.
Which AI should I use? A plain guide to picking one
Ten chatbots, identical promises. Four questions pick yours: the job, the privacy, the price, and whether it must work offline.
Restoring old family photos with AI: what's recovered and what's invented
A creased 1914 glass-plate portrait, four AI models, about six cents. What came back beautifully, and which parts the machine made up.
AI models roundup, July 2026: the three that matter
Eighteen AI releases in thirty days. Three should change your decisions. Edition one of the monthly digest sorts them, receipts linked.
AI for small business owners: the one-person marketing department
One composite shop, one real month of marketing: photos, captions, the flyer, the hard replies. About an hour a week, receipts kept.
AI images for people who can't draw: a beginner's field guide
Four things people actually make, made for real: the invitation, the logo draft, the product shot, the post. 48 cents, failures included.
How to write AI prompts that actually work
Same model, same ask, two prompts: one got mush, one got exactly what we wanted. The difference is five sentences you already know.