In partnership with
Join 29,000+ Marketers at the Email Conference Everyone Talks About
What do Molly Ringwald, Dan Levy, Amy Porterfield & a world record have in common? They'll all be at GURU Conference 2026. 100% Free. 100% Virtual.
If you're obsessed with marketing like we're obsessed with marketing, GURU is the must-attend conference of the year. We'll be covering all things email marketing: B2B, B2C, newsletters, deliverability, email design, AI & more.
You can expect to walk away with new email strategies, the very latest digital trends, and how to step up your email performance. But don't worry, we also like to have fun. This year's theme is rom-com, so there will be DJs, meet-cutes, and a cutest pet contest. (Start prepping your dog's headshot now.)
Don't miss out. Join us Nov 12th & 13th for the largest virtual & free email marketing conference, powered by Constant Contact.
Beginners in AI
Good morning and thank you for joining us again!
Today's lead is a good one. Google just gave Gemini a way to guide blind and low-vision people through their phone camera: reading labels, finding dropped items, and telling them which way to point. I'll cover how it works, how to turn it on, and why it's worth showing to anyone in your life who squints at fine print. As always, every story here is human picked and edited.
THE FRONT PAGE
Google's Gemini Can Now Read Labels and Menus Aloud for Blind Users, Free
TLDR: Google launched Guided Vision in Gemini Live, a free feature that describes out loud what your phone camera sees and tells blind and low-vision users how to move the phone for a better view.
The Story:
Turn it on, share your camera during a Gemini Live chat, and Gemini talks you through what's in front of you: the sugar on a nutrition label, the setting on an oven dial, the shirt that goes with your pants. When the shot is off, it tells you which way to tilt. You can ask follow-up questions out loud, in several languages.
Google built it with Aira, a company whose trained agents describe the world for blind customers over video calls. The model learned from tens of thousands of hours of that work, and more than 1,000 Aira testers helped tune it. It runs on Android 9 and up wherever Gemini Live is available, and you can start it from the Gemini app, Android's accessibility settings, or TalkBack.
Its Significance:
Phones could already describe a photo after you took it. The hard part, if you can't see the screen, is getting a usable photo in the first place, and the spoken framing tips are what fix that. It's free, and it isn't only for people with low vision: anyone fighting tiny print on a menu or a thermostat can use it. Google is clear about the limits: it can make mistakes, and it's no replacement for a white cane or other mobility aid. It's Android only for now, so on an iPhone, Be My Eyes in today's tools is the free option, and today's prompt builds a simple read-it-to-me app that works on any phone.
Plug this into Claude(or ChatGPT), pay for the phone number and the AI voice service(both reasonable), and use it to run entire campaigns off of spreadsheets or CRMs with your leads in them.
QUICK TAKES
The story: The humanoid robot's new hands have four fingers, 13 points of movement (up from 7), and pressure sensors across the fingertips and palm. Boston Dynamics says they can carry a loaded mini fridge of more than 100 pounds and work drills, nail guns and welding torches.
Your takeaway: Hands are the hardest part of making a robot useful in a factory or a home, and these can pinch, re-grip and catch a slipping object. The team skipped the pinky because it wasn't worth three extra motors. There's no date yet for when they go to work.
The story: A new “try on” button in ChatGPT's shopping results puts the outfit on a selfie you upload, using OpenAI's new Images 2.5 model. It's rolling out worldwide, along with a Favorites list for products you save.
Your takeaway: Handy for checking a color or fit before ordering. Keep in mind you're handing OpenAI a photo of yourself, so check your data settings first.
The story: Shopify's new Canvas lays out every page of your online store on one screen, and you change it by clicking or by asking Sidekick, Shopify's AI helper, which remembers your design choices. It's rolling out to all merchants over the next few days, and Shopify says Sidekick already made more than 25 million theme edits in the first half of 2026.
Your takeaway: Shopify's product director says you can build a fully custom store in about 20 minutes. If you've put off a side business because the website felt like the hard part, this is a good weekend to try it; Shopify says the old editor stays for now while it closes some gaps. I've been experimenting with this one myself if you have any questions.
TOOLS ON OUR RADAR
🎬 Higgsfield* Paid: Make AI videos and images in one studio, with models like Seedance 2.5 and Nano Banana Pro.
🎨 Magnific* Paid: Stock photos plus AI image, video and audio tools in one plan, from $14.50 a month billed yearly.
👁️ Be My Eyes Free: Point your phone at anything and AI or a volunteer describes it, like Gemini's new Guided Vision.
🦡 Privacy Badger Free and Open Source: The EFF's browser add-on that blocks companies tracking you from site to site, with no setup.
✂️ Flameshot Free and Open Source: Grab a screenshot and add arrows, text or blur before sharing, a free Snagit swap.
💬 Delta Chat Free and Open Source: An encrypted messenger like WhatsApp that signs you up without a phone number.
✍️ Zettlr Free and Open Source: A clean writing app for notes, essays and books, a free Scrivener alternative.
TRENDING
Tech Leaders Signed a “Morally Binding” AI Safety Pact at the White House. Leaders from Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI and Nvidia agreed to four voluntary steps, including outside auditors and board oversight. There's no penalty for breaking it, though President Trump said it could become law.
McDonald's AI May Price Your Big Mac Differently Two Miles Away. Reuters found a system suggesting prices for nearly 14,000 restaurants based partly on what local customers will pay; one Fresno Big Mac cost $5.69 and another $6.89. McDonald's calls it “a tool, not a mandate.”
AI Can't Stand In for Real People in Polls, Pew Finds. Across about 300 questions, AI “respondents” missed real answers by 12 points on average and were four times less likely to say “not sure.” Different models erred in opposite directions.
arXiv Caps Papers as AI-Written Submissions Pile Up. The research site now allows two submissions a month per author. It got 40,363 papers in September, double two years ago, and its volunteers fielded nearly 9,000 support tickets.
Sony Brings AI Upscaling to the Regular PS5. A lighter version of the PS5 Pro's upscaler, called QSSR, arrived Thursday in Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei. Sony says any PlayStation developer can use it.
TRY THIS PROMPT (copy and paste into Claude, Grok, ChatGPT, or Gemini)
🔊 Read It To Me Snap a photo of a label or dial, ask a question, and hear the answer out loud.
Build a single-file HTML app called Read It To Me in vanilla HTML, CSS and JavaScript. No API key needed.
I take or upload a photo of something with small print (a nutrition label, a menu, an oven dial, a letter) and can type a question about it.
The app sends the photo to the Anthropic Messages API and gets back a short answer, the important printed text exactly as written, and other useful details. It must never guess at text it can't read; if the photo is blurry or cut off, it says so and gives one tip to retake it.
Show the answer in large, easy-to-read type, read it aloud with the browser's built-in speech, and add a button to hear it again.
Style: near-black background, yellow and sky-blue accents, Atkinson Hyperlegible and Source Serif fonts.What this does: Take a photo of a label, menu or dial and ask something like “how much sugar is in this?” The app reads the answer out loud, lists the key printed text in large type, and tells you how to retake the photo if it's too blurry to read.
WHERE WE STAND(based on today’s news)
✅ AI Can Now: Describe what a phone camera sees in real time and tell a blind user how to move the phone for a better shot.
❌ Still Can't: Be trusted to keep someone safe on the move. Google says Guided Vision can make mistakes and is no replacement for a white cane.
✅ AI Can Now: Answer survey questions while posing as different groups of Americans.
❌ Still Can't: Match what real people say. Pew found AI answers missed by 12 points on average and almost never picked “not sure.”
FROM THE WEB
RECOMMENDED LISTENING/READING/WATCHING
📚 Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro - Book
Kazuo Ishiguro's 2021 novel is told by Klara, an AI companion called an Artificial Friend, who learns about people by watching them from a store window and then from inside the family that buys her. The way she sees is the hook: when a scene gets confusing, her vision breaks it into boxes she has to piece back together, a lot like the camera-reading AI in today's lead. It's a short, moving book about what a machine that pays close attention can and can't understand, and a film directed by Taika Waititi is on the way. This is the same author who wrote The Remains of the Day, so expect a feel something with this one.
How was today's edition? Tap one below, then tell me what you'd change on the next screen. I read every answer.
How was today's edition?
Thank you for reading. We’re all beginners in something. With that in mind, your questions and feedback are always welcome and I read every single email!
-James
By the way, this is the link if you liked the content and want to share with a friend.
Some * designated product links may be affiliate or referral links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support the newsletter at no extra cost to you and Amazon makes a tiny hair less.
