Walking and Working

I hate sitting in chairs. I struggled in school, and let me formally apologize to anyone who went to middle school or high school with me and had to watch me squirm through class. Probably one of the many reasons I ended up attending three different high schools. I just can't sit in chairs all day. I like to move. I like to be outside. I like to feel alive.

We've been tethered to chairs and standing desks for a long time now. That's finally changing. Let me explain.

I bought the first iPhone in 2007 because I was excited about the potential of being freed from the chair, from the desk. You could do so much on that phone, but not everything. Editing a spreadsheet, digging through data, writing something with real length to it, doing actual research, designing something, graphic designs. Those all still meant sitting down. AI has finally let me get out of the chair for good.

Did you know you can just talk to AI? There's a little audio button on Claude and ChatGPT that lets you carry on a real conversation. Upload your documents, your spreadsheets, your brand guide, your meeting transcript. Connect your email, your Google Sheets, your calendar. Then hit the button and go for a walk while you talk through your work. It can handle spreadsheet updates, deep research, back and forth Q&A, brainstorming, design edits, web research, document creation, sending emails, updating your calendar and posting everything you worked on to Slack. All of it, while you're outside moving your body instead of hunched over a keyboard.

It's freeing. I hope more people start to realize this.

Luckily, walking around with earbuds and talking to yourself has been normal for a few years now, so nobody's going to think twice when they see you pacing the sidewalk deep in conversation with AI, getting a full day of work done. Not to mention the health benefits of just moving more.

One thing to know, it’s not 100%. Sometimes audio can’t see into the files in a project or into documents you uploaded into the chat. It’s getting better. But to make sure it works, upload everything you want to discuss in the actual chat before you start your walk.

So get moving.

· Rindler: Describe a repetitive web task in plain English and it handles it on a schedule, returning clean data. For teams still pulling reports or filling supplier portals by hand.

· DataBlur: Blurs sensitive info (card numbers, emails, API keys) on your screen in real time during calls and screen shares. Runs entirely local, nothing goes to the cloud.

· Soloop: An AI "company OS" for solo founders, with separate agents handling planning, building, and marketing. You keep final approval on everything.

· Argos: An AI agent that works inside your browser using your own logged-in accounts, clicking and filling forms on your behalf. For owners who want to automate repetitive web tasks without code.

· byTheLab GEO Score: Checks how visible your brand is across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini and returns a score in about 30 seconds.

· Our own free tool at Scan.DigitalTreehouse.com audits how your business shows up in AI search answers, no cost, no signup required.

· Google is rewriting how search works, and entrepreneurs who don't adapt their content strategy now are going to feel it later.

· AI-generated accounts are stealing creators' likenesses on Instagram and TikTok, and if your business sponsors or co-creates with influencers, you could get caught in the legal and reputational fallout if their likeness gets hijacked.

· Hi3D lets creators launch physical product lines without knowing CAD or industrial design, automating the hardest parts of 3D printing so small owners can get into physical products without a manufacturing background.

· Blanket, built on Kalshi's CFTC-regulated prediction markets, lets small businesses hedge against weather events and policy shocks, a category that's historically been out of reach for Main Street.

· Women are building small businesses with AI as a force multiplier, a look at how solo and micro-business owners are putting these tools to work.

-Scott