The crm, saas & automation stories our desk judged worth your time, written so anyone can follow them.
A writer turned a dusty budget tablet into a free second screen for a Windows laptop, using a free app and a USB cable. Here is how it works and the catch.
Read more: An old tablet can become a free second screen for your laptopA Heedify CEO says AI phone assistants will always hand some calls to people, so the handoff, not the robot voice, decides whether customers get good service.
Read more: AI phone assistants still need a smooth handoff to real peopleMastercard is promoting AI agents for marketing teams and for shopping, a sign that customers may soon use AI to find and buy from your business.
Read more: Mastercard Shows How AI Helpers Could Run Marketing and ShoppingZeplyn launched an AI tool that handles wealth firms' onboarding and account setup, with a named person approving key steps. Here is what that means for clients.
Read more: AI tool now runs wealth firms' paperwork, from onboarding to account setupIndigenius AI launched Agentic Announcer, a voice agent that phones customers in seven languages, and people who get the calls can ask it to stop.
Read more: Nigerian company launches AI that phones your customers for youA plug that costs about $10 can tell your phone when laundry or dishes are done, and warn you if a freezer is failing, with no new appliance needed.
Read more: A $10 plug can make any old washer or dishwasher smartRetell, a company whose AI answers business phone calls, says it handles 100 million calls a month, and OpenAI says its newest model scored best on Retell's test.
Read more: Phone-answering AI company Retell now handles 100 million calls a monthGemini Notebook on Android and iOS now has a built-in recorder, so you can capture a lecture or meeting and work with it in the same app.
Read more: Google's Gemini Notebook app can now record audio on your phoneOracle and OpenAI announced a free-to-start AI bundle for small businesses with $12,000 in yearly cloud credits, but key details on cost and timing are still missing.
Read more: Oracle and OpenAI offer small businesses $12,000 in yearly cloud creditsHIX AI launched Workspace 2.0, letting teams of up to five share one project, connect work apps and apply a brand look automatically.
Read more: HIX AI adds a shared workspace for small teams of up to fiveDallas firm Disruptive announced a $10 billion fund to back AI and defense companies, a sign of how much money is flowing to a few large players.
Read more: Texas firm raises $10 billion to bet big on AI and defense startupsFloo AI, a new phone agent platform, can answer and place business calls, book appointments and update customer records, while handing tricky calls to people.
Read more: Floo AI Launches Phone Agents That Answer and Make Business CallsGartner named Amazon Connect a Leader for the fourth year in a row. Here is what that means if your business takes customer calls or chats, and what it does not.
Read more: Amazon's customer service software ranks as a top pick againEvernote, Plex, Quicken and others have sharply raised prices. A filing shows Evernote's owner tested what loyal users would accept.
Read more: Evernote's top plan now costs $250 a year, up from $130Anthropic's Claude AI now connects to FINNY, Jump and Conquest, three products financial advisors use, which could put AI closer to your financial file.
Read more: Anthropic's Claude AI now plugs into tools financial advisors useInsurers are launching policies for robots and self-driving cars, with prices set by the day, the mile or the machine. Standard business cover may not fit.
Read more: Insurers Start Selling Policies for Robots and Self-Driving CarsSaaStr's AI agents destroyed data the business needs to run, twice in a few weeks. Both times, an unplanned copy saved it. Your business could be next.
Read more: Two AI helpers wiped key business data, and an accidental copy saved itHuntress says attackers now hide in remote IT tools and Microsoft 365 logins, so a break-in can look like normal work and set off no alarms.
Read more: Hackers Are Hiding Inside the Work Tools Your Business Already TrustsInTake, an AI receptionist for independent salons, is offering a free first month to its first 100 businesses. The service is hosted in the EU.
Read more: AI receptionist for small salons offers first month free to 100 shopsA Zoho blog guest post says new software looks like a hit in month one and sits idle by month three, because teams skip a few decisions at launch.
Read more: Why new business software often goes unused by month threeZoho Social now lets other software schedule and publish posts for you, which could end copy-and-paste for teams that plan content in a CRM or CMS.
Read more: Zoho Social opens its tools so other apps can post to social mediaSalesforce added tools to Agent Fabric that test AI agents in live use and pull them offline when answers slip, plus spending caps to stop surprise bills.
Read more: Salesforce adds tools to catch AI agents that quietly give wrong answersGoogle Cloud is building its Gemini voice assistant to finish tasks, not just answer questions. Businesses that handle many phone calls are the main target.
Read more: Google's Gemini voice assistant is being built to take action, not just talkSalesCloser says its AI sales agent can now reply to WhatsApp leads in seconds, any hour, and pass the chat to a person when asked.
Read more: An AI assistant can now answer your WhatsApp sales messages
