Come study with me? | #160
The magic of body doubling (another personās presence)
Desk Notes
Please Excuse the Mess. Still Building Dreams. āØ
Awww, Iām gutted Studyverse is no more! The founders have taken it downāwith no announcement!? Iāve been getting error messages all week, so presumed they were doing site maintenance, but then I found this thread on Reddit saying itās been permanently shut down. Oh no!Ā
I canāt believe they would take a site down without telling usersāthatās no way to treat folks whoāve invested time here and built communities. Weāve had no time to screenshot our āstreaksā or give study buddies notice.
I checked on social media, but thereās nothing about it on the company page or founders' feedāitās bizarre, especially as they had āa load of rockstar angels and operators supporting their missionā and raised $1,800,000 from 8 investors in 2022.Ā (see co-founder Eric Drymerās post). Iāve messaged Eric and no reply yet.
Theyād also introduced a new AI Study Buddy tool, which I was testing out - had some interesting chats with Prof Severus Snape. Why invest in building new features if things are rocky?
It was an incredible tool and I was surprised it was free, given the quality and all the features. Usually, you pay to upgrade for extra functions, and I would've happily done so as it was part of my working day.
Hereās my cosy little virtual library RIP š: ā99 problems but a book aināt one.ā
Chill cappuccino vibes made me happy, and working on my laptop was more fun. It helped me focus and stay accountable, and it was also a paid perk for membersāa co-working/reading room.
Lots of heartbroken folks on socials - can we #SaveStudyverse and bring it back to life in a new version? They do need to make a statement.
This is so sad, I've gotten so used to it I can't study without it anymore, does anyone know any website that is similar at least?Ā
But they were doing so good building that AI bot. I feel like I just lost a friend.
There's a Discord group called Studyverse Reunion where people are helping each other find people they've lost contact with, if you want I can send you the invite!!
Another lesson in not building your home on rented land. If youāre not paying for it, you are the product.
Onward! I've set up a new study room with similar features: task, calendar, timer, music, streaks, cameraāand community. CSW Live is the closest free alternative, but I donāt like it, so I'm testing the LifeAt app paid version.
I'm now working in my cosy Amsterdam cafƩ and would love you to join me - will share the link on my chat.
Nika āØ
Cool Things
Iāve enjoyed this weekā¦
ā¶ļø Just bought Andrew Wilkinsonās new book: Never Enough: From Barista to Billionaire.
The fundamental question is: whatās your ideal flow state and how do you design your life around that because I do think that is pure happiness. For me a good day is when I lose myself in thought, reading, writingā¦ something where Iām focused.
ā¶ļø The Sparkle Summit - Substack x Publishing
A free meetup on Friday 16 August to explore the themes of publishing, power play and utilising Substack to grow a loyal readership and sell books!
Iāve backed their Kickstarter book launch of āHow to Build a World Class Substackā. The word āworld-classā brings me out in hivesāfar too much pressure to put on yourself, but I appreciate the work Claire Venus and Russell Nohelty are doing to help folks grow on this platform.
Itās a collaboration that plays to their strengthsāRussellās deep dives into digital publishing at The Author Stack and Claireās community-building superpowers at Sparkle on Substack. I recently joined SOS and itās aceāa supportive space.Ā
ā¶ļø šÆ with Mario / Elon on this one.Ā Freedom of speech is the bedrock of democracy.
My Internetland
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Audio voiceover below via Wondercraft.ai. Iām being bumped up to the new version of the app tomorrow - a huge upgrade. āGreat things coming!ā Itās brilliant quality, but my voice cloning needs more emotion - I sound a bit flat in places. They said to upload another reading, 3-4 mins thatās super expressive, so Iāll ham it up even more next time. š¤
