Hello Reader, it's good to see you.

The holidays are fast approaching, and hopefully you will be able to plan some down time and a reset. When I started writing this edition, our internet and phones were out again, so I took myself off into town to try “La Vandola” recommended to me by the lovely people at Zantó Coffee. This was described to me as “like a cup of coffee giving you a hug”.

Well, who doesn’t want hugs and coffee?

This week: Data vis in Claude, new service launch, what AI is saying about you and more. Let's get to it.

📊 Creating an interactive timeline in Claude

​Anthropic’s Claude is best known for its ability to write and also for coding. I’ve been playing around a lot with it for the last two weeks and agree that it’s really easy to give it some structured data, and request a visualisation.

I used Perplexity to generate a high level timeline of the history of computing, and then asked Claude to take that information and turn it into a React app. Turnaround time? Less than 20 minutes. You can see the results here. It doesn't stop here though. With more time and iteration, I could add dimension sliders, different pageviews and more.

With Claude, and for every LLM really, the key to great results is in iteration. It's a natural process for us to break down what we really want out of these systems and take it one step at a time. Claude seems especially good at taking iterative steps to give promising results.

Are you looking for slicker ways to present data reports back to your clients? Have a look at Claude Sonnet. It's the way to go. Expect more from me on Claude in a future issue.

Have you got an idea for a data visualisation that you’d like to know how to do in Claude? Drop me a line or message me on BlueSky.

🎉 New service launch - VidEngage

I’m very pleased to announce VidEngage, a new service that unlocks the hidden value of your webinars. Imagine harnessing every insightful question, every unscripted response, and every valuable idea shared during your webinar. These moments hold the potential to:

• Answer audience pain points directly: Live Q&A often reveals the challenges your audience cares about the most.
• Highlight unique expertise: Unprepared, off-the-cuff answers showcase your authentic knowledge.
• Provide SEO-rich content: Every question and answer can be transformed into keywords and content that help people discover your business online.

So imagine key insights from your webinar turned directly into an interactive quiz or FAQ block - you can see an example direct from Maya Middlemiss’s latest webinar on Understanding Taxes & Social Security for Spain-based workers. (Thanks, Maya!)

🤔 What does AI search say about you?

A recent trend on social networks has been to ask ChatGPT to ‘visualise’ a picture of you using DALL-E with something like the following text: “Based on what you know about me from all our interactions, draw a picture of what you think my current life looks like.” What if we take a version of this exercise and use it to find out what an AI search engine knows about you? Go ahead and try it: "Who is Reader [LAST_NAME GOES HERE]?"

Use this example to think about how AI search will be representing you and your digital presences in the future. This reminds me of a time between the passing of AOL and advent of Facebook, when the web felt more open and we were more in control of our own data, instead of corporations.

Much like ChatGPT’s Life Visualisation Exercise or searching for yourself with an AI search engine, you’re going to get out of it what you’ve put into it. What are you currently doing about your digital presence?

(BTW, these features only work their best when you've told ​ChatGPT more about you​. ​Perplexity too​.)

💡 Perplexity Pro tip: Create your own biography in Perplexity Pages

If you’re a Perplexity Pro user, you can use this exercise and to write your biography, and host it on Perplexity Pages, like this. Perfect to have on hand for the next time you’re lined up for an event and need to provide a bio.

If you’re interested in using Perplexity Pro, here’s a discount code for $10 off the Pro plan.

🦾 AI Hack: Generate your own 2024 gift guide

I ran this on both ChatGPT and Perplexity, the models that I work with the most, and got back some very similar answers, but the majority of them were dead on. Give it a try yourself and remember, the more information you can give it, the better. Try giving it the addresses of known gift guides and mix it up.

🖥️ GPT of the week: Oblique Strategies

If you’re of a certain age, you might recall the concept of Oblique Strategies, a tool developed by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt in 1975, consisting of: “a deck of approximately 100 cards, each featuring a cryptic remark or abstract directive designed to stimulate lateral thinking and provide fresh perspectives on creative problems.”

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Thanks to GPTs, you can now have access to those strategies at the click of a mouse.

🔗 Quick links

GoodMondays Digital Planners - Link​

It may surprise my readers, but I’m mainly an analog “write in a notebook” person. But when it comes to planning, I really enjoy a digital planner. I’ve been using the GoodMondays planners in GoodNotes on an iPad for a number of years, and have just purchased the 2025 one to get ready for the New Year.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name: Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson Podcast - Link​

Is this the reason I missed last week’s newsletter? I’ll never tell. But as Xennial who grew up on 80’s TV in America, this new podcast hits all the right nostalgia feels.

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Podcast: Reply All - The Bitcoin Hunter - Link​

Writer Jia Tolentino has a case for Reply All’s Super Tech Support: where are all those bitcoin she bought six years ago?

I’ll probably have one more newsletter before the end of the year, and then will be taking time off until January. I’m hoping to have the time over the next couple of weeks to work on a big announcement on my return.

Until then, stay safe and stay informed!

Jim

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Made with ❤️ in Valencia by Jim Christian. For feedback, please reach out to hello@jimchristian.net. For custom GPTs, prompt libraries, general AI consulting and development, please visit Informatic AI.

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