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Many of us are still using Microsoft Excel or its direct competitors, despite the fact that it takes an influencer to teach many of us how to use it.

We’ve been highlighting promising nextgen spreadsheet software (Equals, Rows, ActionDesk) as it pops up, and today a new product in this space caught our attention because of its focus on using the power of the spreadsheets without much of the traditional spreadsheet UI.

Causal is a new tool for working with numbers but unlike Excel or Sheets, it enables you to write formulas in plain English and create interactive dashboard reports where you can play without breaking things. Live integrations pull data from your accounting system, CRM, HRIS, or data warehouse. One early adopter's favorite feature is the ability to bake uncertainty into your models: “Instead of saying our cost of showing 1,000 ads (CPM) is $10, we can say it's $8 to $10 and then everything downstream that references that will show a range too.”

We first met Causal a couple of years ago when the makers, Taimur Abdaal and Lukas Köbis, launched its browser extension for Google Sheets. The London-based team has since closed a Series A, grew its team to 50+, and last year added 30% more customers month-on-month.

The tool is meant to be for just about everyone at your business. Founders can use it to forecast runway, sales teams to forecast pipeline, marketing for performance planning, and of course, financial teams for budgeting and beyond.

Of course, when it comes to non-numbers people actually being able to work with numbers, the proof is in the pudding. When asked by a Product Hunt community member if the tool is easy to use, Abdaal shared, “There's a bit of a learning curve but you can understand most of the concepts in 15 mins or so!”

The demo video will show you an example of how users can create new visualizations in plain English.

We gave Shopify low-key props not long ago. The company managed to grow during the pandemic and the many features its been adding indicate the team is paying attention to the creator economy and its customers.

The makers over at Shopify must have recognized that all of these small to core features can get lost in the shuffle and that Shopify can get more bang for its buck by showing how fast it's shipping. So Glen Coates (VP Product, Shopify Core) and team launched Shopify Editions — a collection of product updates, which it plans to bundle and launch semi-annually. Here in Product Hunt land, you can compare it to the 2.0, 3.0, etc. launches that we see on the regular.

So what does Shopify Editions, Summer 2022 have in store? There are a whopping 100+ updates wrapped into this edition. The most notable are worth mentioning here:

B2B: The new B2B product works to make it easy for merchants to sell to the businesses that they use for D2C. Shopify found that “A world of opportunity exists when merchants connect with other businesses to sell wholesale… Billions of untapped revenue and multiple times that of D2C.” So the product eliminates hassles like manual data entry and provides an online store experience similar to their B2C storefront, but is optimized to do things like buy in bulk.

Web3: “We believe the most exciting experience isn’t selling NFTs, but activating them,” the Shopify team shared with us. Now Shopify merchants who’ve turned their consumers into loyal fans will be able to offer NFT holders exclusive access to products, perks, and experiences — even IRL with Shopify’s POS.

Also interesting from this launch is Twitter Shopping, a partnership with Stripe to enable Tap to Pay on iPhone (so Shopify merchants can expand offline easier), and a new local inventory sync on Google that helps merchants let nearby customers know when a product is available in store.

That’s only five products out of 100 though so go check out the rest and leave your comments and questions for the Shopify team.

Last week, Bitcoin fell below $19,000. It was the first time dropping below $20K since 2020. As crypto prices fall, controversial stablecoins collapse, and tech leaders like Bill Gates wax skeptical about NFTs, you may be wondering — what’s going to happen to web3?

Everyone from HODL-ers to right-clickers have an opinion but there are still a lot of “what ifs” no one can answer with certainty. Cryptocurrencies have largely been moving in tandem with stocks, and you’ll find as many articles debating the inevitability of a recession as you will the future of web3.

So what is there to do? Just keep shipping. Fears and skepticism have not stopped makers from continuing their on-chain work.

Here are some of the most popular projects we’ve seen in just the past 60 days.

Haha Crypto - App for tracking your crypto and NFTs and cost-basis calculations
YIN Finance - Asset management platform for NFTs that helps with various strategies
Ramper - Free web3 SDK to onboard users who don’t have a wallet to your Dapp
Highlight.xyz - End-to-end no-code toolkit to build NFT memberships
OnJuno - Crypto friendly checking accounts with 6% interest and 10% cashback

Pundits suggest that harsh “crypto winters,” such as the one we’re in now, weed out the “fundamentally worthless projects [that] proliferated” among periods of hype. Makers will definitely be under pressure to make better decisions while confidence and funds wain. We'll be here rooting for thoughtful leaders and the best ideas to break through.

Join us tomorrow for a Twitter Spaces with Peter Yang (Maker Grant Recipient) and Odyssey DAO (Golden Kitty Winner for Education) to talk about the state of Web3. Send us your questions too.

In the meantime, buckle up and…

Last week we talked about upskilling using the help of mentors when tutorials fall short. Another ideal way to improve at just about anything is to learn by doing.

At work, being “thrown in the deep end” is an excellent way to internalize knowledge, but on-the-job learning comes with the risk and the stress of costly mistakes. Practice and repetition usually do the trick too, whether you’re refining your work or life skills, but many people find they struggle with the motivation to start or keep going.

Fortunately, we often see makers launch products to help us overcome these challenges with help from strategies in gamification. The latest is a “flight simulator” that helps developers explore new technologies, brush up on skills, and gain achievements.

Here are 9 new products that make daily practices fun with gamification.

Wilco: Go on quests rooted in real-life engineering challenges you might encounter at work, using a tech stack of your choice.

Rust Adventure: This new collection of courses is designed to help you put Rust into production through real-world projects.

(Not Boring) Habits: If you couldn’t make a habit out of using that habit tracking app, give this Apple Design Award winner a try.

Joon for Kids: This “Pokemon meets Club Penguin” app teaches your kids important life skills.

GIOS: TikTok-style content gets a bad rap for attention span, but try using it for good with interactive math learning.

WikiTrivia: Does it blows your mind that Anne Frank and Barbara Walters were born the same year? Gain knowledge and get addicted to sorting historical events like others in the community.

Letterfall: Wordle a little slow for your liking? Tap the falling tiles and push your vocabulary skills to the limit with this fast-paced word game.

Stride: Runners, walkers, and aspiring movers can enjoy turning their outings into adventures as they collect tiles and compete with friends.

Peloton Lanebreak: If you’ve got a Peloton that’s collecting dust or clothes, clear it off and try this “bike-driven version of Beat Saber.”

Telegram just launched something that most of its largest competitors don't have — a premium tier.

“Today is an important day in the history of Telegram – marking not only a new milestone, but also the beginning of Telegram’s sustainable monetization,” explained the Telegram team on the company’s blog.

The $4.99 per month subscription allows users to unlock extra features and fixes, like larger file uploads, exclusive reactions, animated profile photos, and improved chat management. And the new revenue stream allows Telegram to monetize some of its user base, which is up to 700 million monthly active users, as the company shared simultaneously with the latest news.

Telegram has touted its focus on its customers since its launch almost nine years ago. Pavel Durov, Telegram CEO, shared in a message that he believes Telegram should be funded by its users, not advertisers so that the customers remain the top priority. Durov got ahead of concerns about freemium users too, noting that premium tiers will improve the experience of existing users as well. As an example, free users will be able to download the extra-large files that paying users can upload.

Telegram likes tackling competitors — like Signal, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger — head-on, writing “we will keep implementing free features available for everyone, and do it faster than any other massively popular app.”

The chat app’s frequency of shipping is working. Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein reported that Telegram’s competitive features have led to it taking “a significant share” from WhatsApp and Messenger, even though the latter two still make up a majority of messaging app downloads.

The new launch has drawn mixed reactions from the Product Hunt community. Would you drop a fiver for the new features?

Email is one of the few things in tech that has withstood the test of time. It’s also a good example of “die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.” Not many things in life are as annoying as spammy, unwanted email. These makers are working on a solution to clean up your inbox for a good cause.

Gated helps keep your inbox free from unwanted and spammy emails. Each time you get an email from an unknown address, that sender is challenged to donate ($2 minimum) to your chosen nonprofit in order to deliver their message.

Maker and CEO of Gated, Andy Mowat, was previously building sales and marketing engines at companies like Upwork and Box. “My teams have sent billions of emails and caused a lot of pain,” he admits. The idea of decluttering your inbox is not necessarily novel though. “[It] has definitely been tried before and I have studied every attempt (we even have some of the folks who tried before as investors). Our approach isn’t about locking down your inbox but reducing the noise to help everyone,” he adds.

If you already have a handle on your inbox but want more ways to up your email game, we’ve seen a few interesting launches recently.

Skiff Mail is privacy-first, end-to-end encrypted, Web3-native, open-source email that keeps your inbox private with 10 GB of storage, instant search, and three aliases.

InboxPro offers a suite of tools to improve your email experience with an AI-powered email assistant, calendar scheduling, templates, follow-ups, and email analytics.

Email Signature Generator by Reply lets you pick a layout option, customize the elements, and generate your own email signature.

No matter how intuitive most tools claim to be, there’s almost always a learning curve. Tutorials and demos help, but sometimes the questions you have are just too specific. That’s where a tool like the one we saw launch today comes in handy.

Hopps connects you with US-based vetted experts to help walk you through strategizing, setting up, and optimizing over 30 commonly used tools. Some of the ones you can get help with include Mailchimp, Google Ads, and Hubspot.

“This is like instant ‘therapy’ for not-so-tech-savvy folks in the workforce,” one commenter notes.

After choosing which tool you need help with, the platform matches you with a live expert in under three minutes. They join a 1:1 where you can start sharing your screens and walk through the issues you’re experiencing. If you don’t have time to talk now, Hopps also allows you to schedule a call for later.

What’s cool about on-demand tools and services is the lack of commitment they require. Most such products don’t involve recurring subscriptions and don’t tie you to a contract.

Jam Genies launched with a similar concept last year, providing you on-demand access to experts that will help you build a better website.

“Say you’re a founder and you’re about to fundraise. With Jam Genies, you can now book a session with an investor like Erik Torenberg and get his take on how your website comes across to investors,” wrote maker Dani Gran.

According to the Hopps team, the average employee uses over 20 tools at work every day — anyone on your team need help? 👇

Last week we recapped all the new, shiny products and features Apple is working on. Today, we’re looking at some of the 2022 Apple Design Awards winners and finalists that the Product Hunt community has supported over the past year.

In the Inclusivity category, Procreate snatched its second award for its new accessibility features such as tremor and motion filtering, an in-app assistive touch menu, audio feedback, and color blindness settings. Other finalists include transcription and live translation for FaceTime app Navi and anagram game Letter Rooms.

Interaction Design winner Slopes uses the GPS on your iPhone or Apple Watch to keep a diary of your skiing and snowboarding. Gibbon (also a Social Impact winner), which we saw launch earlier this year, is “a hopeful game about the beauty of wilderness and the destructive force of human civilization.” Also notable in this category, Transit+ is a multimodal urban travel planning app, while Vectornator’s iPad app lets you design vector graphics.

Shinning a light on crucial issues, Rebel Girls shares the stories of history’s most influential women such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Simone Biles, and Frida Kahlo, through rich audio. We wrote more about it here. Empathy and Headspace were also nominated.

As far as Delightful and Fun apps go, (Not Boring) Habits took the stage with its habit-building app. If you’re looking for visually appealing graphics, Halide Mark II is a camera for your iPhone and iPad that offers an intuitive experience to both novices and experienced photographers.

Making use of Apple’s latest technology, Innovation Winners and finalists include Odio’s virtual 3D soundscape and Focus Noodles, an app that helps you focus by not allowing you to touch your phone.

Looking at your investment portfolio may trigger debilitating anxiety right now. We get it and we’re intrigued by this product that we saw launch yesterday.

Legends Solar lets you buy equity ownership in real, operating commercial solar panels. The platform was built to help those who would like to install solar panels but can’t because they live in a city or are renting. If you’re thinking about taking a break from coins and stocks, or want to help the environment while making some cash, it might interest you.

The way it works is pretty straightforward. Once you purchase a panel (or a rooftop's worth) you can start tracking your investment on the Legend Rooftop monitoring software. That’s where you’ll be able to see how much cash your panels are generating and withdraw through monthly dividends.

Legends is currently beta testing the product with private investors who are looking to invest $100k in each solar panel but are planning to open it to the public soon. You can currently claim early access and reserve a panel here.

Other tools we’ve seen recently might help you make new investments and keep track of existing ones:

Trading Across Brokerages by Front lets you see and trade all your assets in one place.

Deciml automatically rounds up your online transactions and invests the spare change.

With Backed you can invest in private companies and benefit as they grow with CompanyCoins.

According to Elon Musk, "time is the ultimate currency." We agree. Now what? Making sure you’re spending it on the right things can be tough. Distractions don’t help either. Imagine the stuff you’d get done if you closed that Twitter tab.

Enter Flowace. For individuals, the productivity app helps manage and optimize how you spend your time by automatically tracking and categorizing it. For companies, this means receiving real-time accurate cost assessment on projects and alerts when they exceed budgets based on time spent. The product integrates with apps you already use like Dropbox, Adobe Creative Studio, and Microsoft Office.

Similarly, Assista automatically tracks your actions and gives you a detailed view of what you’re working on. The app embeds with your Trello workflow so you don’t need to log in any timesheets. “Nobody really needs time-tracking software. What we need is the data - knowing how much time a specific task took. Checking what you worked on last Thursday while the kids were at home and needed your attention,” one of the makers notes.

We get that time tracking can be somewhat controversial, especially when it’s a team-wide practice. If you were hoping to try out something for personal use, these could interest you.

Apps Tracker tracks the time you spend in every desktop app. The app focuses on your privacy so all the collected data stays on your Mac and is not shared or uploaded anywhere.

Timecap’s focus is on helping you build good habits by understanding which activities you spend most of your time on.

KosmoTime’s calendar lets you time block your activities and mute distractions like Slack and open tabs.

Do you think you’re spending your time well enough? This maker took the question to a more philosophical level and is asking: do you ever feel like you're running out of time? Join the conversation.