nova9

Letting your browser do the shopping

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 06:56:12 GMT

Should you use an AI browser for shopping?

AI browsers can make online shopping easier

But shopping is not just research

They can compare products, summarise reviews and explain differences without leaving you buried under dozens of tabs.

That is where they make sense.

It involves your money, saved cards, addresses and personal accounts.

Once an AI browser moves from helping you compare products to acting inside your shopping account, the risks change.

Novaview : Use an AI browser to help you decide what to buy, let it take the strain. Just be extra careful if you want it to actually buy on your behalf.

The cheapest headphones problem

Novaview:

Use an AI browser as a shopping researcher, not a shopping representative.

The benefits are clear. AI can save time, explain differences and help narrow down your choices.

But online shopping is tied to your money, your address and your accounts!

So our rule is simple:

Use AI before checkout, not during checkout. Let the AI compare. You decide.

Where AI browsers are useful

Shopping involves lots of small decisions.

Is this the newest model? Is the cheaper one refurbished? Is the seller trustworthy? Why is one version more expensive than another?

This is where AI can help.

You can ask it to:

Compare product pages
Summarise customer reviews
Explain the differences between models
Find cheaper alternatives

Used this way, the AI acts more like a research assistant than a buyer.

That is a good use case.

What are GPT's

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 18:42:46 GMT

What a GPT is

AI often feels repetitive. You keep restating tone, structure and rules.

GPTs fix that.

A GPT is a version of ChatGPT that already knows how you want things done. You set it once, then reuse it.

At the same time, AI agents are becoming more common.

GPTs improve answers
Agents try to handle the task

Most people ask, correct and repeat.

GPTs move you to a setup model. Define the tone and structure once. Each response starts closer to what you want.

A GPT is a customised setup. You define behaviour, role, examples and what to avoid.

You are not changing the model. You are shaping the response.

If you prefer Google tools, you can do something similar with Google Gems in Gemini.

Where GPTs help

Use GPTs for repeatable work:

Turn notes into summaries
Explain documents in plain English
Create email or post templates
Structure research

If you repeat the same instruction often, create a GPT.

Quick example

Just using Chat:

“Turn these notes into a short blog post, keep it simple, use headings.”

You then fix tone and structure each time.

After with a GPT:

Open your GPT and paste notes. It already knows your style. You have created the GT to check for grammer, spelling and even given it examples of what good looks like.

You review instead of rewrite. No need to keep repeating yourself with repeatative tasks

Limits

A GPT depends on its setup.

Vague instructions give weak results
Poor examples give poor output

It still needs checking.

Create your own GPT with instructions

Good examples of useful GPT's

Writing assistant for blog drafts
Research summariser for long articles
Meeting notes organiser
Plain English rewriter
Content planner for outlines

How to create your first GPT

Pick one repeat task
Create a GPT in ChatGPT online
Add clear instructions
Include one or two examples
Test and refine

Keep it focused. Improve it over time.

The Nova9 view

We use GPTs a lot! Mainly for research and repeatable tasks such as summarising sources, structuring notes and shaping drafts. We also use ChatGPT to help write the instructions for the GPT. That speeds up setup and improves results early on.

The outcome is simple. less repetition, fewer corrections, more time reviewing.

Agents have their place, but for everyday work, GPTs do most of the heavy lifting without adding risk.

Microsoft Copilot: The Quiet AI Productivity Powerhouse

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:19:46 GMT

Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered assistant integrated directly into Microsoft 365 applications like Word, Excel, and Teams. Unlike standalone chatbots, its primary value lies in its deep integration with existing workflows, allowing users to generate content, analyze data, and manage communications without leaving their favorite productivity apps.

Is Microsoft Copilot the ultimate AI productivity tool?

Welcome to the future of work, where the hum of silicon meets the click of the keyboard! Here at Nova9, we are absolutely buzzing about the subtle but massive shift happening in the digital workspace. While the world stares at the flashy headlines of standalone AI giants, Microsoft Copilot is quietly building a revolution from within the tools we already use. It isn’t just an addition; it is a fundamental rewrite of how we interact with software. If you are looking for an that doesn't require you to switch tabs or copy-paste between windows, you’ve found your champion.

The genius of Copilot isn’t in its ability to write a poem about space (though it can); it’s in its ability to understand the context of your specific business data. Because it lives inside the Microsoft Graph, it has permissioned access to your emails, calendar, chats, and documents. This creates a hyper-personalised experience that generic LLMs simply cannot match. For the "AI bods" who want efficiency over flair, this is the tool that actually moves the needle in a corporate environment.

Imagine starting your Monday morning not by digging through dozens of unread emails, but by asking a neon-hued sidebar to summarise the key action items from your Friday meetings. That is the reality of using Microsoft Copilot. It isn't just about being "better"; it's about being more relevant. By sitting directly in the flow of work.

How does Microsoft Copilot transform your daily Word and Outlook tasks?

If you spend your life in the "Microsoft ecosystem," you know the struggle of the blank page and the hundreds of emails! Microsoft Copilot acts as a co-author and a personal secretary that never sleeps. In Word, the experience is pretty dam good. Instead of staring at a blinking cursor, you can provide a few bullet points and watch as Copilot drafts a concise proposal, complete with headers and formatting. Want to make changes? Just prompt Copilot and iterate.

When we move over into Outlook, the "quietly useful" nature of Microsoft Copilot truly shines. We’ve all felt that sinking feeling when a 200-email threads land in our inbox. Copilot can summarise that entire conversation into bullet points, telling you who said what and what needs to happen next. It can help you draft replies that match your professional tone, ensuring you stay ahead without burning out on administrative tasks. Updates are coming out all the time to make the Microsoft offering even stronger. You can find more tips on this in our how-to-guides .

This Swiss Army Knife is why we believe Copilot is often underrated. It doesn't demand your full attention; it supports it. It’s like having a high-level consultant sitting on your shoulder, ready to polish your prose or organise your schedule at a moment's notice. For any professional looking to reclaim hours of their week, mastering these features is non-negotiable. Office as a product has come into its own and Copilot makes it fun.

Why is Copilot in the Teams app a game-changer for meetings?

Meetings are where productivity often goes to die, but Microsoft Copilot is here to resuscitate it. In the high-energy world of digital media we inhabit at Nova9, staying synchronised is everything. When we attend a meeting we ask Copilot to help us prepare, it can locate relevant files and emails. Copilot in Teams allows you to be present in the conversation without worrying about taking meticulous notes. It captures the essence of the meeting in real-time, providing a searchable transcript and a list of action items. We can go back to a meeting and ask Copilot follow up questions. Being able to attend meetings and not have to look down all the time taking notes is something we have missed.

But what about the numbers? For the data-driven members of our audience, Copilot in Excel is a revelation. While it is still evolving, its ability to identify trends, create visualisations, and suggest formulas while you enter a cell. Using natural language queries is staggering. You no longer need to be a pivot table wizard to extract insights from a massive spreadsheet. You simply ask, "Show me the sales growth by region for Q3," and Copilot does the heavy lifting, push things even further and ask Copilot to find out something that does not stand out right away.

Seamless Integration Within the Microsoft 365 Ecosystem

The true power of Microsoft Copilot is the "Connective Tissue" it provides across various platforms. When you use a standalone AI, you are operating in a vacuum. With Copilot, the AI knows that the PowerPoint you are building is related to the Excel sheet you updated yesterday and the email you sent this morning. This holistic view of your work life is what sets it apart from Gemini or ChatGPT. It is the orchestrator of your digital assets, ensuring that no information is siloed or lost.

At Nova9, this as the first step toward a fully autonomous workspace. Imagine a world where your AI assistant prepares your briefing materials before you even realise you need them, based on your upcoming calendar events. This isn't science fiction....it's the roadmap Microsoft is currently executing. By leaning into this ecosystem, businesses can achieve a level of operational harmony that was previously impossible.

Navigating the Competitive Landscape: Copilot vs. ChatGPT

Many "AI bods" ask: "Why should I pay for Copilot when I have a ChatGPT Plus subscription?" It’s a valid question. ChatGPT is incredibly creative and often feels more "human" in its conversational style. Gemini is deeply integrated with the Google search engine and ecosystem. However, neither can touch the enterprise-grade security and deep-level document integration that Microsoft offers. Copilot is built on the foundation of Azure, meaning your data stays within your organisation’s tenant. It isn't used to train the global model, which is a massive win for privacy and ethics.
We can not forget that OpenAI and Microsoft used to have a relationship and are now going through a messy divorce! ChatGPT is still the main power behind Copilot but others are joining in, Claude is now another AI that you can plug in.

Is your data safe with Microsoft Copilot?

Security is the biggest hurdle for AI adoption in large corporations, and Microsoft has addressed this head-on. They have committed to the " Copyright Commitment , " which protects customers against intellectual property claims. More importantly, the data you process through Copilot is not seen by human reviewers at Microsoft or used to train OpenAI’s models which are the main powerhouse behind Copilot. For industries like finance, healthcare, and law, this is the deciding factor. You get the power of GPT-5.5 with the safety of a private, secure vault.

How to use Canvas in Google Gemini

Sun, 31 May 2026 19:43:18 GMT

Canvas mode is useful!

You want to work on a draft without jumping between Gemini and another app.

A lot of people ask AI for a draft, copy it into Word, edit it, then go back to AI for more help. That works, but it can become messy.

Canvas gives you a separate workspace where you can create and refine documents, code, apps and slides, instead of keeping everything inside a normal chat. It is useful when you want to work on something over a few rounds rather than just get a quick answer.

ChatGPT has a similar feature, also called Canvas. It is not exactly the same, but the idea is close.

Canvas in 4 easy steps

1. Opening Canvas

Starting is easy. Below the prompt bar, select 'Canvas' and enter your prompt to start a document or coding project.

2. Write your prompt

Canvas opens on the right. Edit directly in the Canvas.

3. Highlight text to make changes

A small prompt box appears and you can ask for changes directly in Canvas, in the original prompt box or even using the slider on the right.

4. Review and use the final version

You can copy text directly from the Canvas or come back to the chat at a later time and continue.

Nova9 view

Canvas is usually one of the first features we would turn on when using AI to create drafts or edit longer text.

The reason is simple. It removes the need to keep two windows open and jump between Gemini and Word, Google Docs or another editor.

You can keep the work in one place, ask questions around it, and ask for changes to the Canvas directly.

Update:
Canvas as an option to choose manually is being phased out. If you choose model 5.3 or earlier you still have the feature but is it worth the downgrade?

ChatGPT now makes the decision for you. If you response is long enough, the model will give you a canvas.

If the AI changes too much, give it a tighter instruction, such as “Only fix spelling and clarity. Do not rewrite the whole thing” or “Keep my structure. Improve the wording only

If the draft starts to sound too generic, give it a clearer style instruction, such as “Keep this plain, practical and human. Avoid hype."

Canvas may not always open first time. If that happens, ask directly by saying, “Open this in Canvas.”

Create a professional Headshot

Wed, 27 May 2026 10:40:48 GMT

We used ChatGPT but Gemini works in a similar way and can use the same prompts.

1. Start with a clear photo

Use a photo where your face is well lit, sharp and easy to see. Avoid group photos, heavy filters or old photos that no longer look like you.

2. Upload the photo to ChatGPT

Start a new chat and upload your image.

Use a prompt like this:

“Look at this photo and suggest what would make it work better as a professional headshot. Focus on lighting, background, crop, clothing and expression. Do not suggest changing my facial features.”

3. Create the headshot

Then use this prompt:

“Create a professional headshot from this photo and use the above feedback. Keep my identity, age, face shape, expression and natural features accurate. Use soft natural lighting, a clean neutral background and smart casual clothing. Make it suitable for LinkedIn, a website bio or a business profile. Keep the result realistic. Do not make me look younger, remove key features or over-smooth my skin.”

4. Refine the result

Make one change at a time.

"Put a white short and dark tie, with a black suit"

“Keep my face closer to original photo.”

“Reduce the skin smoothing and keep natural texture.”

5. You can also use Gemini

Gemini works in a similar way. Upload your photo, paste the same prompt and refine the result.

6. Final check

Before using the image, check that:

It still looks like you
Your face is not distorted
The skin is not look too smooth
The background looks natural
There are no logos, badges or office signs
The crop works for your website

Nova9 view

AI headshots are useful for improving a photo, not replacing who you are. The best result is a cleaner, clearer version of the real you. The real key is to take a great original photo of yourself.

ChatGPT vs Gemini in real life

Sun, 24 May 2026 16:14:52 GMT

ChatGPT vs Gemini in real life

Most people don't need one perfect tool. They need a small set of tools that help in different situations.

That is how we use ChatGPT and Gemini at Nova9. ChatGPT is our main daily tool. Gemini is still useful, but more often as a second opinion, a comparison tool or a way to get a different kind of answer.

The point is not that everyone should copy our setup. You need try a few

How we use ChatGPT

At Nova9, ChatGPT gets the heaviest use. It is the tool we turn to most for writing, planning, structuring ideas and testing article angles.

It just fits the way we work. It's strong for turning rough ideas into something usable, keeping context across a task and helping shape longer pieces of content.

Creating our own GPTs adds another practical layer. A custom GPT works like having an assistant who knows the way we like to write, the phrases we avoid, the structure we need for stories and the tone we want. Instead of starting from scratch every time, we can build a focused assistant around a real job.

That's a big reason we keep coming back to ChatGPT

Custom GPTs make a difference

Gemini has Gems, which aim to do a similar job. They are useful, and they may be enough for many people. But for our own use, the custom GPT experience feels cleaner, easier to shape and more natural to return to.

That difference matters when a tool becomes part of your daily workflow.

This is not just about features. It is about whether the tool is simple enough that you actually use it.

Where Gemini still helps

Gemini is not pointless just because ChatGPT gets more use here.

We still use Gemini as an alternative response engine. Sometimes ChatGPT gives a good answer, but it is too close to the angle we already had in mind. Running the same idea through Gemini or another LLM can produce a different result, phrase or line of thought.

That second answer can help you spot what is missing.

This is one of the better habits with AI. Do not treat the first answer from any model as final. Ask another model and compare. You may still prefer the first answer, but the second one often shows you a blind spot.

The image creation switch

Recently, Gemini became our go-to image creator. It gave us results that suited the quick visual work we were testing.

In the last months that has quickly changed. With the recent ChatGPT image 2.0 upgrades, ChatGPT for images is the first choice. There is no need to be loyal in this fast changing lane. The shift is practical. We are not saying ChatGPT is the best image tool for everyone. We are saying it has become the better fit for us at the moment.

Your answer may be different.

If you make thumbnails, product mock-ups, social graphics, realistic portraits, diagrams or website images, your preferred tool may change depending on the job. One model may follow layout instructions better. Another may create a nicer style. Another may handle text more cleanly.

This is why testing matters.

Do not get stuck on one model

With so many AI companies fighting for attention, you would be mad not to try a few different models.

That does not mean chasing every new launch. It means being open enough to test the serious options and see which one actually fits your work.

At Nova9, ChatGPT and Gemini are not the whole list. They are two of the main tools we use, but our AI setup is not limited to them. Different models can be better for different jobs, and that changes over time. We keep testing them all!

A simple way to think about it:

Writing and planning: ChatGPT is usually our first choice.

Alternative wording: Gemini is useful for a different angle.

Image creation: Try more than one tool when the result matters.

Research-style questions: Compare answers before trusting one view.

Repeated tasks: Custom GPT's can make ChatGPT feel more useful for regular work.

The tool that wins should be the one that helps you finish the job, not the one with the loudest announcement.

The image creation switch

Recently, Gemini became our go-to image creator. It gave us results that suited the quick visual work we were testing.

Your answer may be different.

This is why testing matters.

ChatGPT vs Gemini in real life

Perfect?

Most people don't need one perfect tool. They need a small set of tools that help in different situations.

The point is not that everyone should copy our setup. You need try a few

Heavy load

At Nova9, ChatGPT gets the heaviest use. It is the tool we turn to most for writing, planning, structuring ideas and testing article angles.

It just fits the way we work. It's strong for turning rough ideas into something usable, keeping context across a task and helping shape longer pieces of content.

That's a big reason we keep coming back to ChatGPT.

That difference matters when a tool becomes part of your daily workflow.

This is not just about features. It is about whether the tool is simple enough that you actually use it.

Can it help?

Explore Our AI Services

At Nova9, we bring you cutting-edge AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini, designed to enhance your digital experience. Whether you're looking for conversational AI or advanced data analysis, our services are tailored to meet your needs.

Are AI browsers safe to use? A practical guide

Sun, 24 May 2026 14:11:33 GMT

Don't just jump in!

AI tools are becoming more useful because they can work with the things you are already using.

That might be a spreadsheet, a document, an email, a calendar, an AI browser or a folder of files. If you want AI to do more than answer a general question, it may need access to something.

That is not automatically a problem. In many cases, access is the point.

If you want help with a Google Sheet, the AI may need to see the sheet. If you want it to tidy columns, fix formulas or make changes for you, it may need permission to edit it.

You would not hand over your house keys to a total stranger!

The question is not whether AI should ever have access.

The better question is: do you know what you are giving it access to?

Nova9 view

AI access is not something to be scared of. It is often what makes the tool useful.

As AI tools get better, many of us will probably give them more access because that is how they get more done. That is fine, as long as it is your choice.

As we have said before, would you hand over your bank account details to AI? You may have a genuine reason one day, but you would want to know exactly what you were handing over. The same applies here.

Use the access that helps you. Just do it with your eyes open.

Stay Informed

Understanding the landscape of AI browsers is vital for making informed choices. Keep up with the latest developments to navigate this evolving technology effectively.

nova9

Letting your browser do the shopping

Should you use an AI browser for shopping?

AI browsers can make online shopping easier

But shopping is not just research

The cheapest headphones problem

﻿ Novaview:

Where AI browsers are useful

What are GPT's

What a GPT is

A GPT is a customised setup. You define behaviour, role, examples and what to avoid.

Where GPTs help

Quick example

Limits

Create your own GPT with instructions

Good examples of useful GPT's

﻿

How to create your first GPT

The Nova9 view

Microsoft Copilot: The Quiet AI Productivity Powerhouse

Is Microsoft Copilot the ultimate AI productivity tool?

How does Microsoft Copilot transform your daily Word and Outlook tasks?

Why is Copilot in the Teams app a game-changer for meetings?

Seamless Integration Within the Microsoft 365 Ecosystem

Navigating the Competitive Landscape: Copilot vs. ChatGPT

Is your data safe with Microsoft Copilot?

How to use Canvas in Google Gemini

Canvas mode is useful!

Canvas in 4 easy steps

1. Opening Canvas

2. Write your prompt

3. Highlight text to make changes

4. Review and use the final version

Nova9 view

Create a professional Headshot

1. Start with a clear photo

2. Upload the photo to ChatGPT

3. Create the headshot

4. Refine the result

5. You can also use Gemini

﻿ 6. Final check

Nova9 view

ChatGPT vs Gemini in real life

ChatGPT vs Gemini in real life

How we use ChatGPT

Custom GPTs make a difference

Where Gemini still helps

The image creation switch

Do not get stuck on one model

The image creation switch

ChatGPT vs Gemini in real life

Perfect?

Heavy load

Can it help?

Explore Our AI Services

Are AI browsers safe to use? A practical guide

Don't just jump in!

Nova9 view

Stay Informed

Novaview:

6. Final check