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This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here. I go to conferences just a few times a year. To make the most of the frenzied days, I rely on a suite of tools. The Week Before 1. Mine Your Network Goldmine Clay: This personal rolodex enhances your contact list with info from LinkedIn and whatever other social platforms you choose (Instagram, Facebook, X). You can use Nexus, its new AI-enhanced search to surface contacts in your conference city or people in your network with specific expertise or interests. If you connect Clay to your calendar and email, it shows you a list of past meetings and email threads youve exchanged with a given contact for context. At the conference you can also use it to add private notes to a contact. Its free for up to 1,000 contacts, or $10/month billed annually for unlimited contacts. Pro alternative: Folk is a more advanced CRM (customer relationship management) tool thats useful if youre attending conferences for sales, or if you manage a service business that involves a lot of outreach. Its a surprisingly well-designed pro tool. Theres a new ChatGPT integration, so you can use ordinary language to query all your contacts and sales leads. If I were to run a sales-heavy project, Id use this. 2. Build Your Intelligence Hub Perplexity Spaces: Create a dedicated Space for your conferencethink of it as a smart folder for all your research queries. It can be private, shared with colleagues who can contribute, or public. Use it for queries related to conference sessions youre attending or leading. You can also use Spaces to plan for free time between sessions. Customize a Spaces instructions with your preferences to discover restaurants, music, museums, or whatever else interests you near the conference site. Upload files to give the AI assistant further context. Add reference docs from conference organizers, recommendations from friends, or a city guide you like. Learn more: Check my most recent Perplexity guide. Alternative: you can similarly set up a project in Claude or ChatGPT with relevant documents and queries. Or set up a notebook in NotebookLM. For further prep: Check out this pre-conference Planning Exercise, part of a helpful OpenNews tool kit by Emma Carew Grovum. 3. Create Pop-Up Networking Meals Partiful: Set up open lunches or dinners that conference connections can join spontaneously. Group meals build on hallway small talk for relationship building. Many people eat alone because coordinating is tricky, or they dont know where to go outside the hotel or conference center. Its completely free. Create events during the conference, then share the QR code when you meet someone interestingthey can RSVP instantly on their phone. You can use the app to check RSVPs or to send updates or follow-ups. Or post the RSVP link to an event discussion thread, or include it in an email. Schedule two to three meals throughout the conference and cap attendance at six to eight people for rich conversations. For informal conference get-togethers Partiful is a good alternative to Lu.mathe RSVP app I like using to send invites for my paid subscriber events online. Both are great, but Partiful integrates texting in a smart way, includes QR codes for RSVPing, and has a more social feel for spur-of-the-moment gatherings. At the Conference: Capture What Matters 4. Never Miss a Moment Granola: This hybrid note-taking app combines your typed notes with AI-enhanced transcription. Record sessions on your phone or laptop while jotting down key thoughts; Granola merges both into session summaries you can query. No audio or video is stored, just the transcript and summary. Ive been surprised at how accurate the transcripts tend to be, even when Im sitting in the middle of a large presentation room. Its free for 25 meetings or $18/month for unlimited use. Case in point: At the Online News Association (ONA) conference I just attended in New Orleans, I created a folder with Granola for all my session notes. Now I can query my whole collection of conference notes for follow-ups. Bloks is another good option that Ive written about before. It integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and other pro platforms, but its now $69/month billed annually after a 14-day trial, so its relevant only for hard-core business use. Macwhisper is a great free app that can record and transcribe locally on your laptop, but it doesnt show you the live transcript or let you mix in your own notes. 5. Connect with People LinkedIn QR Code Scanner: Skip the business card shuffle. To use LinkedIn’s free built-in QR scanner, tap the mobile apps search bar and click the scanner icon on the far right. You can then scan someone elses LinkedIn QR code or have them scan yours. Youre instantly connected without having to type anything. No need to spend an hour processing a stack of business cards later. Uniqode: If LinkedIn doesnt suit you for connecting, create a free Uniqode digital business card. Save to your Apple or Google Wallet to easily share contact info without having to hunt thrugh your photos app. Or if you want a simple way to give people you meet a link, a PDF, a group of images, or a vCard with contact info, QR Codes Unlimited lets you quickly create and download a QR code for free with customized colors and designs. 6. Digitize Everything Scanner Pro by Readdle: Transform blurry photos of slides or awkward snapshots of handouts into clean, readable documents. The features I like: Access your scans from anywhere: Use Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive for automatic backups and to see or share your scans on any device. Quality scans: New tech improves on previous apps Ive tried. Smart cropping: The app auto-detects slide or paper edges. Conversion: I usually render scans in high-contrast black and white, unless the colors are crucial. Organization: Its simple to keep scans in topical folders (e.g., receipts, books, mementos, recipes, ONA25). Less paper: At conferences I try to scan most handouts now instead of hauling a stack of paper home. It lightens my bag, limits my office paper mess, and shortens processing time back at work. Cleaner camera roll: I prefer scans in a dedicated app so they dont clutter up my camera roll. This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.
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E-Commerce
A cyberattack is causing major delays and some flight cancellations at European airports, including London’s Heathrow Airport. The cyberattack, which occurred on Friday, affected electronic check-in and boarding systems made and serviced by Collins Aerospace. Brussels Airport said that passengers were able to check in manually, while other airports noted that longer wait times were likely. RTX Corp., the parent company of Collins Aerospace, said it is working to rectify the issue. “The impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations,” the company said in a statement to Reuters. Fast Company reached out to RTX for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication. According to FlightAware, a Houston-based flight tracking data company, Heathrow alone has seen more than 400 delays today. Some 651 flights were slated to depart from the airport Saturday, according to Reuters. The cyberattack is the latest in a run of similar incidents affecting airports in recent years. According to the Technology Advancement Center, a nonprofit that tracks technology, ransomware and other cyber threats on aviation systems have increased 600% from 2024 to 2025. The affected airports have advised fliers to check their flight status for cancellations or delays.
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E-Commerce
Being a night owl has its perks. Scientists have found that people who habitually stay up late may be more creative, and perhaps even more intelligent, than those who go to bed and wake up earlier. But it also has its downsides: Theres also evidence that night owls may be more susceptible to psychiatric issues and cognitive decline than their early bird peers. And now, a new study involving Gen Z participants adds to the reasons why staying up late may not be in your brains best interest. In a paper published last week in the journal PLOS One, researchers found that Gen Z night owls appear to be more prone to “problematic” smartphone use and social media addiction than early birds. The reason why is particularly concerning: The researchers found that loneliness and anxiety were the biggest drivers of unhealthy smartphone and social media use. Why late-night scrolling may be bad for your brain The researchers assessed the mental health of 407 young adults aged between 18 and 25 and found that those who stayed up late had higher rates of “problematic smartphone use and social media addiction” than those who went to bed early. Many of us are guilty of a little evening doomscrolling, but the study shines a light on some serious downsides: Young people who stayed up late not only had more unhealthy smartphone use, but they also had higher rates of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, loneliness, and poor sleep quality. The study also found that while loneliness and anxiety both led to more problematic smart phone use and smart phone addiction, loneliness was the stronger predictor. A ‘vicious cycle The findings suggest that young adults who find themselves alone and awake at night might use social media in the absence of alternative ways to feel a social connection, the researchers said. “Our findings point to a vicious cycle,” said Anna-Stiina Wallinheimo, study author and a teaching fellow at the University of Portsmouth. “Young adults who are naturally more active in the evening often find themselves socially out of sync, which may lead to feelings of loneliness and anxiety.” “Many then turn to smartphones and social media to cope, but unfortunately, these tools can make things worse, not better, she said. The authors said the findings should give people pause before turning to their phones late at night: “Young adults should be discouraged from turning to social media and smartphone use as coping mechanisms, and instead, be informed regarding effective strategies and interventions for addressing their loneliness and anxiety, they wrote in the study.
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E-Commerce
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