What's new

since May 10, 2026 · make something people want
284 pull requests 369 commits 142 releases
lines +290,613 ██████████████████ −61,689
in development 49d 23:11:46 live

June 22, 2026

1 update+348 −52● Live now
Improvedv1.66· Jun 22, 2026 · 10:42 PM PDT · Chris Hall● Live now
+348 −52

Autopilot: watch it work the second you drop a file

  • Drop a transcript and the live Processing status jumps up + stays open. No scrolling to find it.
  • The big drop box shrinks to a slim bar to make room. Still drop, click, or paste on it.
  • Springs back to full size when the run finishes.

June 16, 2026

2 updates+464 −14
Newv1.65· Jun 16, 2026 · 12:15 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+464 −14

Convert: pick your resolution before it runs

  • Drop a video, it waits. Pick the resolution, then hit Convert. No more auto-start.
  • Auto-detects the source resolution. A 360p clip no longer offers you 720p / 1080p / 4K.
  • Only real downscales + Original show. We never upscale a proxy.
Fixedv1.64.1· Jun 16, 2026 · 11:35 PM PDT · Chris Hall

Health board now reads true under load

  • The all-tools board wrongly showed RIP + Decloak degraded. They were fine.
  • Fixed a self-collision in the storage check when all ten run at once.
  • Each tool's own page was always right — now the big board agrees.

June 15, 2026

7 updates+3,540 −246
Fixedv1.63.1· Jun 15, 2026 · 9:30 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+51 −14

RIP: "Select all" on a channel now actually works

  • Clicking "Select all" was stuck at 25 — now it checks the whole channel.
  • Select all on YC = 615 selected, "Rip selected (615)". One pass.
Newv1.64· Jun 15, 2026 · 8:15 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+2,015 −3

Live health page for every tool

  • Every tool has its own status page: /rip/health, /youtube/health, all ten.
  • Real checks each load = keys, storage, the worker. Live, not a guess.
  • Signed green light nobody can fake. Tamper it = flips to FAILED.
Improvedv1.63· Jun 15, 2026 · 3:05 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+93 −34

RIP: grab a whole channel, not just the first 25

  • Paste a channel — the checklist now shows ALL its uploads. YC channel = 615, all there.
  • Select all → RIP. The whole channel queues, downloading one at a time.
  • No more 25-at-a-time passes. Up to 1000 per run.
Improvedv1.62· Jun 15, 2026 · 2:00 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+293 −59

RIP: press RIP to start (no more auto-download)

  • Paste a link → see the resolution it'll grab → press RIP. Nothing downloads until you do.
  • In More formats, clicking a resolution highlights it; one RIP button starts it.
  • What's shown when you press RIP is exactly what downloads. The file still auto-saves when ready.
Newv1.61· Jun 15, 2026 · 1:15 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+579 −57

RIP: grab a whole channel, pick what you want

  • Paste a channel link — see its uploads in a checklist. Tick the ones you want.
  • Select all, watch the live count, then Rip selected. Nothing downloads until you press it.
  • Works for playlists too. A run does 25 at a time; big channels show "first N of M".
Improvedv1.60· Jun 15, 2026 · 12:30 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+239 −3

RIP: remove your own queued videos

  • Drop a video from the download queue, not just cancel it. Every row gets a Remove.
  • The active download keeps Cancel; Remove clears the rest.
  • Your grabbed files in the library are still yours to delete (or Chris's).
Improvedv1.59· Jun 15, 2026 · 11:45 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+270 −76

RIP: 720p / 480p / 360p proxies

  • Grab smaller edit-ready copies, not just 4K / 1080p. Pick 720p, 480p, or 360p.
  • The resolution slider shows exactly the sizes a video has — high to low.
  • Playlists + channels get 480p / 360p too. Same one-click rip.

June 14, 2026

5 updates+1,854 −351
  • Site — Top nav landed as one clean line: the tools that work up front, an Experimental ▾ menu for the works-in-progress, ⌘K to search any tool, and the theme picker folded into one icon.
  • RIP — Honest resolution for low-res grabs — says 480p when it's 480p, and drops the 4K/1080p switch when it can't apply. Plus a drip-feed download queue: grab items one at a time or all at once, and pick which past grabs to keep.
  • YouTube — Its own History now, separate from Transcribe — link transcripts land on the YouTube page where you made them.
  • Transcribe — No more double “Uploading” — the screen moves to “Processing video” the moment your file lands.
Show all 5 updates
Improvedv1.57· Jun 14, 2026 · 5:20 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+814 −220

Top nav: one clean line + ⌘K search

  • The top bar is one line again. The tools that work sit up front: Autopilot, YouTube, Convert, Decloak, Prompt, RIP.
  • New Experimental ▾ menu holds the works-in-progress (Transcribe, Thumbs, Dimension X) so the bar stays honest.
  • Press ⌘K to search and jump to any tool, finished or not.
  • Theme picker folded into one icon = no more stray half-shown buttons.
Improvedv1.56· Jun 14, 2026 · 5:06 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+365 −76

YouTube keeps its own history

  • Transcribe a YouTube or Dropbox link → it lands in a History on the YouTube page, where you made it.
  • No more spilling into the Transcribe page’s History. The two tools stay separate.
  • Click any past transcript to reopen it right there, read-only.
Fixedv1.54· Jun 14, 2026 · 4:06 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+239 −4

RIP shows the real resolution for low-res videos

  • Rip a 480p or 360p video and RIP now says so plainly, instead of claiming 1080p and quietly handing you 480p.
  • The 4K/1080p switch disappears when it can't apply — you just see the actual resolution you'll get.
  • Long video titles no longer spill over the card and shove the Transcribe link out of place.
Fixedv1.53· Jun 14, 2026 · 2:48 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+88 −44

Every tool shows in the top nav

  • The top bar was hiding tools off the edge — Dimension X, RIP, Feedback. All 10 show now.
  • Tools get their own full-width row. The clock, admin, and changelog stay tucked on the right.
  • No scroll, no clip — every tool one tap away, from a wide screen down to a narrow window.
Fixedv1.52· Jun 14, 2026 · 2:32 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+348 −7

Transcribe: no more double “Uploading”

  • Upload a file → the screen moves to “Processing video” the moment it lands, instead of saying “Uploading” again.
  • A clear “safe to leave this page” note once your file is delivered.

June 13, 2026

2 updates
  • RIP — Caught silently short downloads — a clipped grab retries, then says so instead of handing you half a video. And RIP grows into a worker pool: heavy 4K / AV1 / ProRes route to the strongest box, and concurrent grabs spread across whichever boxes are idle.
Show all 2 updates
Improvedv1.51· Jun 13, 2026 · 3:30 PM PDT · Chris Hall

RIP Fast Lane: a third engine + jobs that spread

  • RIP grows from two boxes to a worker pool — add a heavy box (M4 Max) for the hardest grabs.
  • Heavy jobs go to the strongest box: 4K, AV1, and ProRes route to the M4.
  • Concurrent grabs spread across whichever boxes are idle = the team rips in parallel, not in line.
  • Invisible on one box: same paste→file flow, a quiet “turbo” tag when the heavy lane runs.
Fixedv1.50· Jun 13, 2026 · 1:01 PM PDT · Chris Hall

RIP: no more silently short downloads

  • A grab that came back short — a 10-minute file of a 60-minute video — used to slip through with no error. Caught now.
  • On a short grab RIP retries once on a more reliable connection, then says so out loud instead of handing you a clipped file.
  • Fast path untouched: complete downloads behave exactly as before.

June 12, 2026

8 updates+6,255 −642
  • RIP — Paste a link and it auto-rips — a 4K / 1080p slider, downloads in minutes not hours, right-sized 4K masters with honest file sizes, edit-ready files only, a queue with a live timer, and downloads that survive a closed tab.
  • YouTube — The tool reads like a sentence now: “Get a [Transcript] using [Best],” and the source pins itself.
  • Changelog — This page reads day by day now — one broad summary per day, every release one click away.
Show all 8 updates
Improvedv1.49· Jun 12, 2026 · 11:58 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+1,293 −50

RIP Fast Lane: a second engine for 4K AV1

  • RIP can run as a two-box fleet now — a dedicated box with hardware AV1 decode.
  • 4K-AV1 grabs route to that box; everything else stays on the Studio.
  • Second box asleep or offline? Jobs fall back to the Studio automatically — never stuck.
  • Invisible on a single box: same paste→file flow, a quiet “fast lane” tag when it's on.
Improvedv1.48· Jun 12, 2026 · 11:30 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+2,270 −231

RIP Fast Lane: faster grabs, honest file sizes

  • 16 parallel connections (aria2c) punch through YouTube's per-connection throttle.
  • 4K masters right-sized — the ~2× bitrate overshoot is gone, no visible loss.
  • Download and convert overlap now, so the next grab starts while one encodes.
  • Honest file-size estimates, 4K / 2K names, queue position, a live timer, and downloads survive a closed tab.
Improvedv1.47· Jun 12, 2026 · 10:15 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+415 −55

What's new now reads day by day

  • One card per day, not one per release — broad strokes, color-coded by tool.
  • A heavy day (20 ships) collapses to about five lines you can scan in seconds.
  • Want the detail? "Show all updates" expands every release, untouched.
Improvedv1.46· Jun 12, 2026 · 8:50 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+580 −41

RIP: paste a link, it rips itself

  • No Probe button. Paste a YouTube link and it just rips.
  • Defaults to 4K. No 4K? The slider snaps to 1080p and pulls that.
  • New 4K / 1080p slider = switch resolution mid-grab.
  • ProRes, clips, stills, audio still here under More formats.
Improvedv1.45· Jun 12, 2026 · 7:33 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+655 −27

RIP downloads in minutes, not hours

  • 4K pulls fetch 8 fragments at once = a 2-hour grab becomes minutes.
  • Already-H.264 source? Edit-ready copies it straight through = no pointless re-encode.
  • Smarter format pick on the Studio box: VP9 over AV1 = skips the slow software decode.
Improvedv1.44· Jun 12, 2026 · 4:26 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+154 −29

RIP only makes editable files

  • Original is gone. Two lanes: H.264 = MP4 movie, ProRes = MOV.
  • Rows now show the file you get — MP4 or MOV, not the source codec.
  • Waiting in line? The card says so: "the Studio box is finishing another job…"
  • Batch downloads land as H.264 masters too.
Fixedv1.43.1· Jun 12, 2026 · 12:50 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+546 −107

RIP never gets stuck on Reading…

  • Flaky connection? Probes and downloads time out honestly instead of spinning forever.
  • Pasting the link again really retries — no page reload needed.
  • Progress bars recover from network blips instead of freezing mid-download.
Improvedv1.43· Jun 12, 2026 · 11:59 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+342 −102

YouTube tool reads like a sentence

  • Toggles are gone. One line says it all: "Get a [Transcript] using [Best]" — then Go.
  • Pick Synthesis and the source pins itself = YouTube captions, greyed out. Your choice comes back with Transcript.
  • No captions on the video? Synthesis quietly upgrades to Best instead of erroring.
  • Dropbox files always show the truth: Deepgram, not captions.

June 11, 2026

20 updates+36,129 −2,263
  • YouTube — Made YouTube its own tool again, then made Synthesis bulletproof — live progress, 21k thinking tokens, cut-off fixes, and one-click public sharing.
  • Dimension X — Pushed the 3D set planner hard: show presets + lens focus + the 180° line, camera moves + path-traced renders + crew handoff, version history + live presence, waypoint paths + a playable animatic, save-collision warnings, and public share links.
  • RIP — Launched the 4K downloader, then added clips, ProRes, batches, stills, and a team Library with channel-watch.
  • Transcribe — Taught the AI every YC name (6,500+) and matched the Labs bake-off to production; fixed Synthesize’s blank summary.
  • More — A PIN number-pad for sign-in, Decloak back front-and-center, and this page now updates itself on every deploy.
Show all 20 updates
Newv1.42· Jun 11, 2026 · 11:45 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+421 −31

Share a YouTube synthesis with anyone

  • Transcribe → Synthesis → Share. One click copies a public view-only link.
  • Recipients read without signing in = friends, colleagues, YC partners.
  • The page opens on the synthesis; the full transcript is one tab away.
Fixedv1.41.3· Jun 11, 2026 · 10:46 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+253 −16

A cut-off AI result can never be saved as finished

  • Companion to the last fix: if the AI runs out of room mid-sentence, you get a clean retry — never a brief that ends "and ret".
  • Same shield on every AI surface: briefs, generate, revise, proofread.
  • Proofread stays graceful = one cut-off passage passes through untouched, the rest still gets fixed.
Improvedv1.41.2· Jun 11, 2026 · 10:16 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+39 −5

Synthesis gets every thinking token the platform allows

  • Fable 5's thinking room raised again: 16k → 21k tokens = the hard ceiling. Above it, calls physically can't finish.
  • Headroom is free when unused. Long, dense videos just get more thought.
Fixedv1.41.1· Jun 11, 2026 · 10:05 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+63 −3

YouTube Synthesis stops failing at random

  • Synthesis rides Fable 5, which thinks before it writes. The old cap could cut it off mid-think = random "Retry the request" errors.
  • Thinking room raised 10×. The brief comes back every time — same fix for Synthesize in the editor.
Improvedv1.41· Jun 11, 2026 · 9:45 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+129 −20

YouTube's Synthesis tab shows its work while it writes

  • The lone spinner is gone. A live step list shows what's happening now.
  • Reading the transcript, writing the brief with Fable 5, verifying every quote.
  • Elapsed timer on the writing step, so a long video never looks stuck.
Newv1.40· Jun 11, 2026 · 9:20 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+20 −4

Dimension X opens the house — send anyone a view-only link to your set

  • Hit "Copy public link" while presenting a set and you get a link you can text to a director, a guest, or a vendor — it opens straight into the 3D presentation with no password and no sign-in. They can orbit, jump between your saved views, and play your tours and animatics; they cannot change a thing.
  • One live link per set, and it works until you kill it: Revoke makes the old link show a polite "this link was removed" page, and the next copy mints a brand-new one.
  • Those links get opened on phones, so presentation mode now actually works there: your saved views are big tappable chips, one finger orbits, a pinch zooms, and the controls clear the iPhone's home bar and notch.
  • Playing back a camera move now shows it exactly as the lens will frame it — widescreen moves get proper black cinema bars instead of secretly showing more of the room than the shot would.
Newv1.39· Jun 11, 2026 · 9:12 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+3,887 −18

RIP grows a team Library — grabs remembered, re-downloads instant, channels watched

  • Every grab lands in a quiet Library under the tool: what, which quality, who, when.
  • One click re-downloads — instant while the Studio box holds the file (a week now, restarts included), a quiet re-rip after.
  • Watch a channel: paste its link once, pick a quality, new uploads grab themselves every two hours.
  • Watches never back-fill the old catalogue — only what's posted from now on.
  • Removing a row removes the list entry, never the cached file.
Newv1.38· Jun 11, 2026 · 8:55 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+1,250 −919

YouTube is its own tool again

  • Back in the nav and on the launcher: paste a YouTube or Dropbox link at /youtube.
  • The transcript renders right on the page — read-only, with Copy · TXT · PDF.
  • The Synthesis brief now runs on Fable 5 — everything important, none of the fluff, quotes still verified word-for-word.
  • Transcribe slims back to two lanes: Upload file and Paste text.
Improvedv1.37· Jun 11, 2026 · 7:55 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+185 −39

This page updates itself now

  • Stats, heatmap, release badges: recomputed on every deploy.
  • No more stale numbers. The page said 186 pull requests; the truth was 225.
  • Heatmap always runs through today.
  • Releases sort by exact ship time — strict newest-first, can't drift again.
Improvedv1.36· Jun 11, 2026 · 7:20 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+1,593 −45

Dimension X — live save warnings, and the last save race is closed

  • Teammate saves your scene? A banner names them within ten seconds — “saved by Diana” — and your saves pause until Sync now.
  • The “also viewing” chip now marks who's actively editing: “Diana · editing”.
  • Two saves at the same instant can't slip past each other — the save check is now one atomic database step.
Newv1.35· Jun 11, 2026 · 7:15 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+4,389 −140

RIP becomes the cutting room — clips, ProRes, batches, stills

  • ✂ Clip: set in/out timecodes, download just that section. H.264 and ProRes cut frame-exact; Original cuts on keyframes.
  • ProRes Proxy and LT join the menu — the .mov files Premiere and Resolve love. Big, clearly labeled.
  • Paste several links or a playlist: one quality target, per-item progress, retry or cancel any video alone. Big playlists: first 25.
  • Stills: the official thumbnail full-size, or any frame at any timecode as a 4K PNG.
Newv1.34· Jun 11, 2026 · 5:55 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+4,664 −24

RIP — download any YouTube video, up to 4K

  • Paste a link, pick 4K / 1080p / 720p / audio-only, one click. Honest sizes throughout.
  • Original = the exact source file. Edit-ready = an H.264 master that opens in QuickTime.
  • Runs on our own Studio box, behind the team login. Ad-farm downloader sites: retired.
  • One click sends a finished download to Transcribe.
Newv1.33· Jun 11, 2026 · 4:30 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+3,964 −108

Dimension X gets moving — waypoint camera paths and a playable animatic

  • Camera moves take up to 8 waypoints. The floor draws the path; the move names itself: “Push in 1.5m, then truck left 0.8m”.
  • Timeline panel: drag shots into order, set durations, press Play. A real animatic on a real clock — the storyboard PDF keeps the timing.
  • Saves can't silently overwrite each other anymore. Someone saved first? Yours stops with Sync now.
  • .ply Gaussian scans convert right in the browser, nothing uploaded. A PiP switch keeps heavy scans from slowing the lens view.
Fixedv1.32· Jun 11, 2026 · 3:30 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+340 −19

The AI now knows every name it should — and the model bake-off got honest

  • Six groups of names (big VC firms, famous AI people, AI model names, podcasts & shows, dev tools, tech press) were quietly missing from the AI's reference list of correct spellings. They're in now, on every tool that writes for you — and a safety check makes sure new name lists can never fall out silently again.
  • The side-by-side model comparison page (Labs) now runs with everything production runs with: your saved style rules, the video summary, and the verified company facts. Before, it was comparing models with key context missing.
  • The "what the model saw" counter on Labs now reports the true size of what was sent, including the big YC names reference block it used to leave out.
Newv1.31· Jun 11, 2026 · 2:42 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+3,991 −74

Dimension X remembers, shares, and meets the real room — history, presence, and scan shells

  • Every save now keeps a snapshot: open History to see what changed (“+1 object, lens A 24→85mm”), preview any version read-only, and restore it with a single undo-able step if you change your mind.
  • See who else has a scene open (“also viewing: Diana”), and when someone saves ahead of you the editor offers one honest button — Sync now — instead of telling you to go reload.
  • Load a 3D scan of the real studio under your plan as a locked backdrop: line it up with scale, rotate and offset sliders, and plan against the actual room. The scan stays on your device — only its alignment is saved.
  • Smaller things that add up: a visible ✓ Add button for callouts, a toolbar that tidies itself into a ⋯ menu on narrow windows, and a render note that says plainly when the scan shell isn’t in the picture.
Fixedv1.30.1· Jun 11, 2026 · 2:07 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+123 −5

Synthesize no longer gets stuck on an empty summary

  • If a transcript's AI summary ever came back empty, the Synthesis window could open completely blank — no spinner, no error, and no way to retry. It now regenerates the summary automatically, and a failed attempt shows a clear error with a Retry button.
Newv1.30· Jun 11, 2026 · 11:30 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+5,534 −136

Dimension X goes showtime — camera moves, real renders, and crew handoff

  • Give any camera a move: set a start and an end pose, scrub between them like a dolly track, and the plan names the move in film language — “Push in 1.5m”, “Arc right”, “Zoom in 50→85mm”. Captures mid-move are real frames.
  • One click renders a proper still of your set — a real light simulation (path traced) that builds up over a few seconds while the editor stays live — and the label honestly says which technique ran.
  • Present mode now gives the tour for you: order saved views, press play, and it glides between them on a loop — shareable as a link that opens already playing. Add callouts that point at the right object with a leader line.
  • Hand the plan to the crew: a floor-plan PDF with a true scale bar and every camera, light and seat listed; a printable storyboard of your captured shots; and ready-to-paste AI-video prompts built from the actual lenses and lights.
Improvedv1.29· Jun 11, 2026 · 10:20 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+266 −2

Type your PIN — or click it

  • The sign-in PIN screen now has a number pad right on it: click 1–9, 0 and ⌫ like a phone keypad, instead of (or as well as) typing.
  • The keyboard works exactly as before — and you can mix the two mid-PIN: click a couple of digits, type the rest, done.
  • Everything else about PINs is unchanged: same dots, same confirm step for first-timers, same gentle lockout after too many wrong tries.
Improvedv1.28· Jun 11, 2026 · 9:39 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+128 −556

Decloak is back — front and center

  • The News section is simply Decloak again: the homepage row and the top menu say DECLOAK, and the page opens straight into the cracker — no tabs.
  • The Newsroom preview didn't go away — it's tucked out of sight at ycmediatools.com/news if you ever want to peek.
  • The Decloak page is tidier too: Crack history and the “reads ~45 publications” panel now start closed every visit — open them when you need them.
Newv1.27· Jun 11, 2026 · 1:30 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+4,890 −99

Dimension X learns the shows — presets, focus, and the 180° line

  • Open Dimension X and start from a real show: Light Cone, Fireside, or Social Radars (remote) come pre-built with seats, cameras and lights — each opens as your own copy, marked “estimated scale” until we measure the real rooms.
  • Cameras now behave like cameras: the locked lens set (24–200mm), a focus ring with T-stops, and a shaded in-focus band on the floor so you can see exactly what will be sharp.
  • One click frames a person properly — wide shot, close-up, over-the-shoulder and more — and the 180° line warns you (gently) when a camera would make people swap sides on screen.
  • Share a viewpoint with a link that opens straight into presentation mode, and print a one-page setup sheet — the floor plan plus every camera and light — for the crew.

June 10, 2026

3 updates+9,303 −28
  • Dimension X — Shipped Dimension X — plan a video set in 3D with real lenses, lights, and meters, and look through any camera before shoot day.
  • Accounts — Your name now has a PIN — set once, encrypted, with a guess-proof lockout.
  • Transcribe — Locked down shared history so transcripts can’t be deleted by accident.
Show all 3 updates
Newv1.26· Jun 10, 2026 · 10:30 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+5,851 −17

DIMENSION X — plan a video set in 3D, with real lenses

  • A new tool: build a set in 3D the way it gets built in the studio — drop in cameras, lights, guests, tables and monitors, draw the walls, all in real meters.
  • Look through any camera before shoot day: pick a focal length (24/35/50/85mm or type your own) and see exactly what that lens frames, with rule-of-thirds and safe-area guides.
  • Capture shots to a board, bookmark your favorite angles, and hit Present for a clean full-screen walkthrough that glides between saved views.
  • Scenes save themselves as you work and reload right where you left off — and the day-one-hire use case is the point: open a set and SEE how it's built.
Newv1.25· Jun 10, 2026 · 3:20 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+1,906 −10

Your name now has a PIN — set it once, it's yours alone

  • First time you pick your name on the sign-in screen, you'll choose a 4-digit PIN (typed twice to confirm). From then on, signing in as you means knowing your PIN — nobody can casually click your name and act as you.
  • Your PIN is encrypted the moment you save it (a one-way scramble): no one can ever read it back. Forgot it? A quick reset and you'll simply set a fresh one.
  • Guess-proofing is built in: five wrong tries locks that name for 15 minutes with a friendly countdown. Guest stays PIN-free as the shared walk-up identity.
Improvedv1.24· Jun 10, 2026 · 11:10 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+1,546 −1

Shared history is protected — no more accidental deletes

  • Deleting transcripts from the Transcribe History (including stuck uploads) is now locked down — the delete buttons are simply gone, nothing grayed out, nothing to click by accident.
  • Same on Autopilot: the per-file trash can and “Delete all files from history” are tucked safely away.
  • Everything else works exactly as before — open, rename, re-run, download, and share are unchanged.

June 9, 2026

3 updates+2,406 −583
  • Transcribe — Transcribe leveled up — one editor for every source (links included), submit-and-leave like Rev, and Best mode fixed after the name glossary outgrew the limit.
Show all 3 updates
Improvedv1.23· Jun 9, 2026 · 11:59 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+1,174 −444

One transcript editor for everything — links included

  • Pasting a YouTube or Dropbox link now opens the same full editor that file uploads get — so you can strike out sentences, comment, share, and download no matter how the transcript was made. Before, link transcripts landed on a separate read-only card with no way to mark cuts.
  • YouTube transcripts show the actual video at the top of the editor; click a sentence's play button and the video jumps there. Dropbox transcripts show where the file came from, with a link back to it.
  • New one-click Copy button in the editor's top bar (for every transcript): instantly copies the clean final text — struck sentences excluded, speaker names included. The Download menu now offers PDF too.
  • Nothing you've already made changes: old transcripts, share links, and downloads all keep working exactly as before.
Newv1.22· Jun 9, 2026 · 11:30 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+1,125 −112

Transcribe like Rev: submit, close the tab, come back later

  • You can now leave the site while a transcription runs — and the UI tells you exactly when that's safe. While a file is still uploading from your browser it says "keep this tab open" (and warns if you try to close); the moment the upload finishes it flips to "Upload complete — you can leave." Link transcriptions say the same thing as soon as the job is accepted.
  • New History section on the Transcribe page: every transcript anyone on the team makes — uploaded files, YouTube/Dropbox links, pasted text — in one shared list. In-progress jobs show a live amber status (Uploading → Processing video → Extracting audio → Transcribing) that updates by itself; failures show plainly in red.
  • Come back any time, click the row, and your transcript is there. A link job that's still running shows its progress and refreshes itself when done — no more losing a Best transcription because you closed the tab.
  • Uploads that died because the tab closed mid-upload are now labeled honestly ("Upload abandoned — re-upload the file") instead of looking alive forever.
Fixedv1.21· Jun 9, 2026 · 9:25 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+107 −27

Transcribe Best mode actually transcribes again

  • If you tried Best on a YouTube link tonight and got "Try again, switch to Fast (captions)…" — that's fixed. The culprit: our name-glossary got so big after the last two releases that the transcription service started rejecting every job (it allows at most 500 name-tokens of priming, and we were sending ~800).
  • The fix keeps the names that matter most — YC partners and founders ride in front, long company tails get trimmed — and the spell-checking cleanup pass still fixes the rest after transcription, so accuracy doesn't suffer.
  • Bonus: when a transcription fails now, the system records the provider's real reason instead of shrugging. The next bug report will say exactly what broke, in one look.
  • The failure was reproduced four times against prod tonight to pin this down, and the new budget is locked in by regression tests — the glossary can keep growing without re-breaking transcription.

June 8, 2026

12 updates+13,362 −583
  • Transcribe — The name-fixer learned the universe — every YC company, then big tech, tools, money, and people (6,500+ names), reading across line breaks; plus any-length links (even 6-hour talks) and Dropbox files.
  • Decloak — Decloak now reads 45 majors + 7 newspaper groups — 400+ titles, every one listed.
  • Prompt — Teleprompter: the script locks while you present, plus Auto Format, on-screen sliders, and a version-history rail.
  • Thumbnails — Thumbnail titles default to the real ATC Arquette font, with a font selector.
  • Changelog — This page got a commit-activity heatmap and per-release line counts.
Show all 12 updates
Newv1.20· Jun 8, 2026 · 11:08 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+3,011 −308

Transcribe a YouTube or Dropbox link of ANY length — even a 6-hour video

  • The Link tab now has a Best / Fast switch. Best (the default) gives you the full, most-accurate Deepgram transcription — and it finally works on long videos: a 60-minute or even 6-hour talk now goes all the way through instead of timing out halfway.
  • Behind the scenes, instead of trying to do everything in one shot (which timed out on long videos), Best hands the audio off to transcribe in the background and shows a live progress checklist. Leave the tab open and the transcript appears when it's ready.
  • Fast is still there when you want it: instant, reads the video's existing YouTube captions. If a video has no captions, it now tells you honestly to switch to Best instead of quietly producing nothing.
  • Dropbox audio/video links get the same treatment, so big multi-gigabyte files transcribe end-to-end too.
Improvedv1.19· Jun 8, 2026 · 10:00 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+751 −2

The name-fixer learned nine more worlds — tech, tools, money, people

  • Yesterday it learned every YC company. Today it learned the rest of the universe those interviews actually talk about: big tech (Google, Apple, Stripe, Figma), developer tools (GitHub, Docker, Postgres, React), AI concepts (diffusion, fine-tuning, evals), chips (GPU, TPU, Blackwell), famous founders and researchers, programming languages, startup-finance jargon (Series A, SAFE, cap table), and the press/podcasts (Lex Fridman, All-In, Acquired).
  • Nothing was guessed. A new tool read through 900+ real videos and only added words people actually say — so the dictionary stays sharp instead of bloated.
  • Before shipping, an automatic “does this break normal English?” check caught six risky fixes (it would have turned the word “closure” into the programming language “Clojure”) and threw them out. Those mistakes are now permanently blocked by tests.
  • Net result: the vocabulary grew to 6,505 names and the safe auto-fix list more than doubled — git hub → GitHub, type script → TypeScript, series a → Series A — with zero new false corrections.
Improvedv1.18· Jun 8, 2026 · 7:45 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+7,638 −76

The name-fixer now knows every YC company, fund, and partner

  • We taught the transcript name-fixer the whole YC universe — every one of the 5,953 YC companies, plus the big AI labs, top venture funds, and the people who actually show up in these interviews. Its vocabulary went from about 800 names to over 6,250.
  • It now also learns on its own: a new scanner reads through hundreds of real videos, spots brand names speech-to-text keeps mangling (like “replet” for Replit or “zeppto” for Zepto), and adds the safe fixes automatically.
  • Partner names are locked in too — “gary tan” becomes “Garry Tan”, “carolyn levy” becomes “Carolynn Levy”, and so on.
  • We checked it against 713 real YC videos: every single one came back clean, with zero missed names — and we added guardrails so it never “fixes” a normal word by mistake.
Improvedv1.17· Jun 8, 2026 · 6:35 PM PDT · Chris Hall

Name fixing now reads across the line breaks too

  • Yesterday's name-fixer caught garbled brands inside a line. But speech-to-text sometimes splits a name across two lines — “…optimized for Open” on one line, “Claw or Hermes…” on the next. The fixer now reads across that break and stitches “Open Claw” back into “OpenClaw”, just like a human proofreader would.
  • Found by a new live test that runs the latest 10 YC YouTube videos through the real system and checks every brand name. One video had 53 names fixed but still leaked “Open Claw” twice across a line break — now caught.
  • Still never over-corrects: it only stitches a real known name split across a break, and leaves everything else untouched.
Improvedv1.16· Jun 8, 2026 · 5:10 PM PDT · Chris Hall

Transcripts now spell the names and products right — automatically

  • Transcription used to mangle well-known names and products — “ChatGPT” became “Chateapati”, “Brex” became “Braxton”, “Claude Code” became “Cloud Code”, “Mercor” became “Merkor”. The cleanup step now catches these and fixes every one, on every occurrence, with no guessing.
  • It works from a curated list in the vocabulary file: you write the correct name and the common ways speech-to-text gets it wrong, and the system normalizes them forever after — no code change to add a new one.
  • Carefully built to NEVER over-correct: ordinary words and look-alikes (a literal “cloud”, a camera “dolly”, a physics “light cone”, a “magnum opus”) are left exactly alone.
  • Verified against the real Pedro/Brex episode that had the errors: 16 fixes applied, every brand correct, zero false changes.
Newv1.15· Jun 8, 2026 · 2:05 PM PDT · Chris Hall

Transcribe now accepts Dropbox links

  • Paste a Dropbox audio or video link into the Transcribe tool's Link tab and get a transcript + AI synthesis, the same as a YouTube link.
  • The tab is now just “Link” — drop in a YouTube or Dropbox URL and it figures out the rest.
  • Best for audio files and shorter videos; very large videos may need the Upload tab for now.
Newv1.14· Jun 8, 2026 · 1:45 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+1,116 −106

Teleprompter upgrades, a thumbnail title font, and a commit-activity heatmap

  • Teleprompter: your script now locks while you present, so a stray click can't edit it mid-read — plus on-screen Size and Speed sliders and a one-tap Auto Format that tidies spacing and line breaks.
  • Teleprompter: a version-history rail keeps your recent script versions so you can roll back to an earlier draft.
  • Thumbnails: titles now default to the ATC Arquette font, with a selector to switch fonts.
  • What's new: this page now shows a GitHub-style heatmap of daily commit activity.
Fixedv1.13· Jun 8, 2026 · 5:45 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+31 −3

Fixed the “What’s new” tab title showing the app name twice

  • The browser tab (and link preview) for this page read “What’s new · YC Media Tools · YC Media Tools” — the app name was repeated. It now shows it once.
Fixedv1.12.2· Jun 8, 2026 · 1:05 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+374 −27

Newsroom no longer shows a “page not found” as the article

  • In the Newsroom, “Read free” could open a publisher's “page not found” page dressed up as the article. The Newsroom is a preview, so its headlines aren't live links — clicking one now opens a short note that points you to Decloak to paste a real article link.
  • Everywhere: if the reader ever lands on a dead or moved link, it now says so honestly instead of showing the site's error page as if it were the story.
Improvedv1.12.1· Jun 8, 2026 · 1:00 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+195 −23

What’s new: each release now shows how much code it shipped

  • Every release card now carries a small line-count in the top-right — green for lines of code added, red for removed — so you can see the size of each update at a glance.
  • Tidied the page header down to just “What’s new.”
Improvedv1.12· Jun 8, 2026 · 12:55 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+219 −35

News reads more publications — and says exactly which

  • Decloak now covers 45 major publications plus 7 regional newspaper groups — over 400 local and metro titles in all — and the capability panel lists them so the number is inspectable, not just a claim.
  • Three quick “why this works” cards explain what makes the cracker special: it decodes whole newsroom software families at once, it’s honest about true subscriber walls instead of faking a teaser, and it heals itself when a site changes its code.
  • The home screen “News” box and the link preview now say “400+” to match.
Fixedv1.11.1· Jun 8, 2026 · 12:40 AM PDT · Chris Hall
+27 −3

Clearer keyboard focus in the comment box

  • When you tab to the “Cancel” or “Send” buttons in a transcript comment, they now show a visible focus outline — so it's clear where you are when using the keyboard.

June 7, 2026

13 updates+7,007 −1,447
  • Changelog — Built this “What’s new” page from scratch — the build-in-public numbers, a live dev timer, color-coded line counts, exact PT ship times, and a sharper build log.
  • Transcribe — Renamed Editor → Transcribe and unified it (files + YouTube links + summaries), cleaned up the editor, and added public transcript share links.
  • Decloak — Gave News its own home-screen spot — Decloak plus the new Newsroom browser.
  • Accounts — Everyone gets a signature color that follows their name across the site.
Show all 13 updates
Newv1.11· Jun 7, 2026 · 11:55 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+518 −35

A “News” spot on the home screen — Decloak + the new Newsroom

  • The home screen now has a single “News” box (right where Decloak used to be) that holds both news tools side by side — Decloak, the paste-a-link paywall reader, and the new Newsroom for browsing top stories — with a live “480 sources” count. It's the same height as every other box.
  • Newsroom got its own look: a gold, newspaper-style nameplate with a blinking “on the wire” dot, so it reads as a sibling to Decloak rather than a copy.
  • Clicking the Newsroom side now takes you straight to the Newsroom tab, instead of dropping you wherever you happened to be last.
  • Cleaner link previews: when you share a tool's link (Autopilot, Timezones, Convert, Thumbnails and more), the preview now shows a punchy, specific description instead of the generic “YC Media Tools.”
Improvedv1.10· Jun 7, 2026 · 10:45 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+615 −175

Transcript editor cleanup — clearer tools, smoother video

  • The little toolbar that pops up when you select text now works the way you'd expect: Strikethrough draws a clean white line through the words (instead of fading them), Highlight actually highlights now, and the old mystery button is a clear “Copy” that says “Copied.” Every button now has a label.
  • The pop-up toolbar follows your selection as you scroll instead of floating in a weird fixed spot — and it tucks away when the selected text scrolls off screen.
  • Video fixes: the player no longer slides behind the blurred top bar, the transcript jumps to the right spot when you scrub or skip, and a new “Jump to now playing” button appears when the spot that's playing has scrolled out of view.
  • Cleaner controls: the confusing segment counter is gone, the save/preview/download cluster is clearer (“Saved to cloud,” an eye for preview, a labeled “Download” menu), and the player buttons share one round design with the “15” skips finally facing the right way.
Newv1.09· Jun 7, 2026 · 9:45 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+2,247 −664

Decloak is now “News” — with a Newsroom to browse

  • The paywall cracker you know now lives under a “News” tab in the top menu — same cracker, nothing about how it works has changed.
  • New “Newsroom” tab: browse top stories across every publication, see the same story from several outlets, and read the one that’s free — or crack any of them on the spot.
  • Clicking a story opens a reader panel that runs the real cracker; if something is a true subscriber wall, it says so honestly and points you to legitimate ways to read it.
  • The story list is an early preview for now (clearly labeled “Preview feed”) — but the article text itself is really cracked.
Newv1.08· Jun 7, 2026 · 8:31 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+513 −85

Everyone gets their own color

  • Each teammate now has a signature color that follows their name everywhere — the sign-in screen, the top bar, comments, and history. Chris is Knicks blue, Matt is Raptors purple, Ryan is A’s green, Sanjana is Phillies red, and the rest get their own distinct colors.
  • Want a different look? Open the user switcher and pick your own from the new “Your color” palette (team colors plus more), or hit “Reset to auto” to go back to your default.
  • You can still type a different name for yourself on that same screen too.
Newv1.07· Jun 7, 2026 · 6:08 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+934 −17

Share a YouTube transcript with a public link

  • Paste a YouTube link in Transcribe, then hit the new “Share” button to get a link you can send to anyone — no login or password needed to open it.
  • Whoever opens it sees a clean, mobile-friendly page that flips between the transcript and the AI summary, with one-tap copy on each.
  • The summary is generated when you share, so the person on the other end always gets both views.
Improvedv1.06.1· Jun 7, 2026 · 4:27 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+25 −7

Release times now show in Pacific

  • Every timestamp on this page now reads in Pacific time (PT), so the times are consistent at a glance.
Improvedv1.06· Jun 7, 2026 · 4:02 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+62 −3

Every release now shows its exact time and who shipped it

  • Each update here is stamped with the date, the exact time it went live, and who shipped it — so a screenshot of one release tells the whole story on its own.
Improvedv1.05· Jun 7, 2026 · 3:53 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+79 −67

A sharper build log at the top of this page

  • Redesigned the stats up top into a clean terminal-style line: the live timer, pull requests, commits, releases, and green/red lines of code.
  • Anchored with the day it started and the YC motto — make something people want.
Newv1.04· Jun 7, 2026 · 2:50 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+619 −339

Transcribe does it all — files, YouTube links, and summaries in one place

  • The Transcript tool is now “Transcribe”: drop an audio or video file, paste a YouTube link, or paste text — all from one switcher.
  • The YouTube tool is folded in as a tab (its fast paste-a-link flow is unchanged), so the top menu is simpler — one less thing to scan.
  • Any transcript can now become an AI summary, not just YouTube videos: open one in the editor and click “Synthesize”.
  • “Prompter” is now “Prompt”, so every tool name is a verb: Autopilot, Transcribe, Thumbs, Convert, Decloak, Prompt.
Improvedv1.03.1· Jun 7, 2026 · 2:09 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+108 −25

A live development timer + color-coded line counts

  • Time in development now ticks up live — days, hours, minutes, and seconds since day one, with a little “live” pulse.
  • Lines of code now show in green (added) and red (removed) so the scale of the work reads at a glance.
Newv1.03· Jun 7, 2026 · 1:52 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+178 −3

“Built in public” — the numbers behind the site

  • This page now opens with a running tally of the work so far: pull requests, commits, lines of code added and removed, and releases.
  • It’s the whole development story in numbers — built from scratch by someone writing code for the very first time.
Newv1.02· Jun 7, 2026 · 1:40 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+998 −25

See everything that’s shipped — a “What’s new” page

  • Click the version badge in the top-right to open this page: the full history of YC Media Tools in plain language, newest first.
  • Every update is grouped by date and tagged New, Improved, or Fixed, with the version that’s live right now marked.
  • Versions can now carry a small patch number (like 1.01.1) for tiny follow-up fixes between releases.
Improvedv1.01· Jun 7, 2026 · 1:28 PM PDT · Chris Hall
+111 −2

Smarter name spelling across every tool

  • All the tools now share one YC dictionary, so partner, founder, and company names come out spelled correctly in transcripts, summaries, scripts, and titles.
  • Same app as before, just with the name cleanup wired in everywhere and a tidier version number.

June 6, 2026

5 updates+5,071 −286
  • YouTube — Launched the YouTube tool — paste a link, get a transcript or summary; captions detection fixed with an audio backup.
  • Thumbnails — Thumbnails go cloud-saved with working previews + share links; auto-grade tuned brighter and softer.
  • Timezones — Timezones now knows 11,000+ cities — every metro, capital, and tiny resort town.
Show all 5 updates
Fixedv1.1.1.0· Jun 6, 2026 · Chris Hall

YouTube tool: stops missing captions, adds an audio backup

  • Fixed: videos that actually had captions were sometimes reported as having none. They now come through reliably.
  • When a video genuinely has no captions, the tool now listens to the audio and transcribes it for you, labeled "Transcribed from audio."
  • If something is unavailable, you get a clear message pointing you to the Transcript tool instead of an error.
Newv1.1.0.0· Jun 6, 2026 · Chris Hall
+3,665 −121

New tool: YouTube — paste a link, get a transcript or summary

  • Paste any YouTube link and get a clean transcript or a one-click AI summary, each with Copy, Download .txt, and Download .pdf right there.
  • Names are auto-corrected to YC's vocabulary before you see them (for example "Gary" becomes "Garry Tan"), and nothing is changed unless it's a confident match.
  • The summary gives you a short recap, the key points in order, and notable quotes — and every quote is checked to make sure it really appears in the video.
  • The same YC name list now improves spelling in the existing Transcript tool too, and transcripts can be downloaded as a proper PDF.
Improvedv1.0.3.0· Jun 6, 2026 · Chris Hall
+507 −2

Timezones now knows almost every city on earth

  • The city picker grew from a few hundred entries to over 11,000 cities and locations worldwide.
  • It covers every major metro and capital, plus small towns and resort spots (Turks & Caicos, St. Barths, Gstaad, Aspen, the Maldives, and more).
  • Type where your guest actually is — even a tiny island or ski village — and get the correct, daylight-saving-aware time.
Newv1.0.2.0· Jun 6, 2026 · Chris Hall
+758 −148

Share a thumbnail in progress, with previews that work

  • Thumbnail photos are now saved to the cloud, so the gallery shows a real preview of each thumbnail instead of a blank placeholder.
  • Reopen a past thumbnail project on any device and its images come back — not just on the computer that made it.
  • New Share button copies a link a teammate can open to keep editing the thumbnail.
  • Edits autosave and now show who made the last change, with a hover history and a Save button.
Improvedv1.0.1.1· Jun 6, 2026 · Chris Hall
+141 −15

Thumbnail auto-grade: brighter, softer, cleaner

  • Tuned from your feedback — the automatic photo polish was landing too dark and too harsh on already well-lit photos.
  • It now brightens skin properly, softens the contrast, and eases off the sharpening, so a fresh Auto Finish opens much closer to the finished look.

June 5, 2026

7 updates+5,169 −1,344
  • Thumbnails — Built out Thumbnails — the real YC logo, crisp cutouts that keep flyaway hair, the real headline font, and an auto-grade that finishes color without a colorist.
  • Autopilot — Tell the AI what to fix on any Autopilot result; the prompt editor gets one-click sample transcripts.
Show all 7 updates
Newv1.0.1.0· Jun 5, 2026 · Chris Hall
+2,040 −4

Thumbnail auto-grade: finished color without a colorist

  • Every guest photo you add is automatically color-graded toward the polished YC-thumbnail look — brighter, punchier, with warmer, rosier skin.
  • Each guest is adjusted on their own, so a brightly-lit person and a flatly-lit person both end up looking consistent.
  • A new Finish panel lets you toggle it off and fine-tune Brightness, Contrast, Warmth, and Clarity. The background is never touched, and turning it off shows the original photo.
Improvedv1.0.0.1· Jun 5, 2026 · Chris Hall
+19 −5

Thumbnail headline now uses the real YC font

  • The big highlighted headline (white text on YC orange) now renders in the heavy font that matches real YC fireside thumbnails.
  • Exported images pick up the new font automatically.
Newv1.0.0.0· Jun 5, 2026 · Chris Hall
+641 −203

Thumbnails get the real YC logo and crisper cutouts

  • The editor now drops the real YC logo into the top-right corner at the correct size, with a slider to scale it from 50% to 250%.
  • Cutouts keep real flyaway hair — frizzy and windblown strands stay soft instead of being chopped into a hard silhouette.
  • You can now zoom a guest in much further (up to 400%) to crop right down to the face.
  • Fixed: adding several photos quickly no longer fails with a background-removal error — it waits and retries instead.
Improvedv0.99.8.0· Jun 5, 2026 · Chris Hall
+300 −15

Cleaner hair edges on thumbnail cutouts

  • The cutout tool now holds flyaway hair, frizz, and glasses much better, and removes the faint color halo around the edges.
  • Verified on real founder photos over both dark and bright backgrounds — no white halo, no scissor edges.
Fixedv0.99.7.0· Jun 5, 2026 · Chris Hall
+1 −1

Thumbnail photos now cut out the guest properly

  • Fixed: importing a guest photo was dropping the whole shrunken frame onto the canvas instead of a clean cutout. The person now lands tight and correctly proportioned.
  • If background removal is turned off, you now see a clear banner instead of silently getting the original photo.
  • The default "Podcast set" background is now a real photo instead of a flat gradient.
Newv0.99.6.0· Jun 5, 2026 · Chris Hall
+1,359 −95

Tell the AI what to fix on any Autopilot result

  • Every result card (titles, thumbnail text, description, chapters) now has a Give feedback button — type what you want changed and a new version streams in.
  • One-click Undo restores exactly what you had before a revision, and it survives a page reload.
  • Your feedback can be saved as a standing rule that improves every future result.
  • You can now paste transcript text directly instead of only uploading a file.
Improvedv0.99.5.0· Jun 5, 2026 · Chris Hall
+809 −1,021

Prompt editor: load a sample transcript in one click

  • The prompt editor now has a one-click picker with two built-in YC fireside transcripts, so you can test a prompt without hunting for a file.
  • Removed a couple of rarely-used controls to keep the editor focused, and tidied the layout.

June 4, 2026

4 updates+3,150 −524
  • Prompt — Teleprompter took shape — hands-free auto-scroll, three classic fonts + bigger text, a live preview, and a one-button AI proofread.
  • Accounts — Site-wide sign-in: pick who you are before using any tool.
Show all 4 updates
Newv0.99.4.0· Jun 4, 2026 · Chris Hall
+1,236 −151

Prompter: live preview and one-button proofread

  • A new side panel shows a live preview of how your script will look on the wall as you adjust text size, font, spacing, and weight.
  • A Proofread button runs an AI spelling-and-grammar pass and shows each fix inline — Accept or Discard. It fixes only objective errors and never rewrites your voice or line breaks.
  • A Load test script button drops in a ready-made sample so you can try everything without pasting your own.
Newv0.99.3.0· Jun 4, 2026 · Chris Hall
+1,000 −311

Sign in across the whole site

  • Before using any tool you now pick who you are from a list (or type a name). It's remembered on your browser and shown in the nav.
  • This is the groundwork for seeing who did what across every tool; Google sign-in for YC emails comes next.
  • Prompter scripts now show who made them and when. Share links are unaffected.
Improvedv0.99.2.0· Jun 4, 2026 · Chris Hall
+254 −29

Prompter: three fonts and bigger, tighter text

  • A new font picker per script — Helvetica Neue, Verdana, or Georgia — the classic, highly readable teleprompter faces.
  • Present-mode text can now go much larger, so it reads from across a room or off teleprompter glass.
  • Lines now sit closer together for a denser, easier read.
Newv0.99.1.0· Jun 4, 2026 · Chris Hall
+660 −33

Prompter auto-scroll, hands-free

  • Present mode now scrolls on its own at a speed you set (a 1-10 slow-to-fast dial). Press Space to start or stop, and the bracket keys change speed while you read.
  • New skip-to-start and skip-to-end controls (and the Home/End keys) jump to the top or bottom and pause there.
  • A Text fade toggle dims each line after it passes the read point, or you can keep the whole script bright.
  • The teleprompter text now spans the full screen, so more words fit per line and you scroll less.

June 2, 2026

3 updates+1,299 −202
  • Site — Gave every tool an animated, color-coded wordmark and a new home launcher; cleaned up the web addresses (/transcript, /thumbs…) and fixed tool-count and contrast nits.
Show all 3 updates
Fixedv0.99.0.1· Jun 2, 2026 · Chris Hall
+160 −96

Tool count and text contrast fixes

  • Fixed: the home page said "Six tools" while only five were shown — the count now matches what's on screen.
  • Made the faint descriptions on the dark home page easier to read.
  • Small accessibility cleanups for screen-reader users.
Newv0.99.0.0· Jun 2, 2026 · Chris Hall
+938 −58

Animated, color-coded logos for every tool

  • Each tool page now opens with its own animated, color-coded wordmark, and each animation mirrors what that tool does.
  • New home page (the launcher) shows all six tools as big, color-coded buttons; the top-left logo takes you there.
  • The "Review" tool is renamed Feedback, and the live clock now shows 12-hour AM/PM time.
Improvedv0.98.0.0· Jun 2, 2026 · Chris Hall
+201 −48

Cleaner web addresses and tidier Decloak page

  • The web address now matches each tool's name (for example, the Transcript tool lives at /transcript). Old bookmarks and share links keep working.
  • Decloak's extra panels can now be collapsed and are tucked away by default to keep the page lean.
  • When a Decloak attempt fails, it now tells you it was reported and is being improved, instead of a dead-end error.

June 1, 2026

1 update
Improvedv0.97.13.0· Jun 1, 2026 · Chris Hall

Renamed nav tools with hover descriptions

  • Renamed the menu labels (Generate became Autopilot, Editor became Transcript, Thumbnails became Thumbs, and more).
  • Each menu item now shows a one-line description when you hover over it.

May 31, 2026

2 updates+5,569 −29
  • Transcribe — Added more transcription engines with speaker labels and an internal accuracy-scored compare view.
  • Timezones — Launched the Timezone Converter — natural-language input, an overlap timeline, and shareable schedules.
Show all 2 updates
Improvedv0.97.12.0· May 31, 2026 · Chris Hall
+2,483 −27

More transcription options with speaker labels

  • Added two more transcription engines as alternatives, each always labeling who's speaking.
  • Added an internal compare view that runs the same audio through multiple engines side by side, with accuracy scoring, so we can pick the best one.
Newv0.97.11.0· May 31, 2026 · Chris Hall
+3,086 −2

New tool: Timezone Converter

  • Pick a time in one region and instantly read it in every other region you track, with next-day and previous-day badges and day/night shading.
  • Type plain English like "9am PST to India and Sweden" and it figures out the time and zones, telling you exactly how it read each one.
  • Drag a needle along a 24-hour timeline to find a slot that works for everyone, with a green band showing the overlapping hours.
  • Copy a link to hand a colleague the exact schedule.

May 30, 2026

1 update+919 −133
Fixedv0.97.10.0· May 30, 2026 · Chris Hall
+919 −133

Feedback share links: reviewers can post comments again

  • Fixed: invited reviewers would type a comment, click Send, and nothing happened. Comments now attach to wherever the video is paused, just like you'd expect.
  • Fixed: reviewers were asked for their name a second time after they'd already given it.

May 29, 2026

3 updates+2,164 −220
  • Transcribe — Hardened transcription for big files — no more timeouts, with a live processing screen — and fixed several causes of stuck-after-upload jobs.
Show all 3 updates
Fixedv0.97.9.0· May 29, 2026 · Chris Hall

Transcription reliability fixes

  • Fixed the root cause behind transcripts that got stuck after upload — the automatic background process that finishes them was being blocked and never ran.
  • Large-file transcripts now complete automatically again.
Fixedv0.97.8.0· May 29, 2026 · Chris Hall
+360 −86

Transcription reliability fixes

  • Fixed three issues that could leave a transcript stuck with its audio ready but the transcription never started.
  • The automatic recovery now actually un-sticks these on its own, and there's a manual retry that works too.
Improvedv0.97.7.0· May 29, 2026 · Chris Hall
+1,804 −134

Big files transcribe much faster, with a live status screen

  • Long videos (multi-hour firesides) no longer time out — the tool now reads just the audio instead of waiting on the whole video, so transcription time depends on length, not file size.
  • A new processing screen shows the current step, a progress track, and how long it's been running, instead of an endless spinner.
  • Large uploads and long recordings are no longer flagged as "stuck" too early.

May 28, 2026

4 updates+132 −10
  • Transcribe — A run of transcription reliability fixes — uploads that used to stick at “transcribing” now finish on their own.
Show all 4 updates
Fixedv0.97.6.0· May 28, 2026 · Chris Hall
+132 −10

Transcription reliability fixes

  • Fixed another case where uploads could get stuck transcribing and never finish on certain account setups.
  • Stuck transcripts now recover automatically within a minute or so.
Fixedv0.97.5.0· May 28, 2026 · Chris Hall

Transcription reliability fixes

  • Fixed two issues that left every upload stuck at "transcribing" until someone manually restarted it.
  • Fresh uploads now reach a finished transcript on their own, usually within a few minutes.
Fixedv0.97.4.0· May 28, 2026 · Chris Hall

Transcription reliability fixes

  • Fixed the completed transcripts that were arriving but getting rejected, so they now come through and finish end-to-end.
  • Added extra safeguards so a transcription result can't be lost on its way back.
Fixedv0.97.3.0· May 28, 2026 · Chris Hall

Transcription reliability fixes

  • Fixed the core reason uploads were stuck at "transcribing" with no result — the finished transcript was being dropped before it reached us.
  • New uploads now complete reliably. (Older stuck items need to be re-uploaded.)

May 27, 2026

3 updates+1,787 −141
  • Transcribe — Fixed transcription for audio-only uploads (the producer’s main flow) and for videos whose source file wasn’t ready yet.
  • Convert — Launched Convert — WAV → MP3 entirely in your browser, in batches, with quality presets.
Show all 3 updates
Fixedv0.96.0.0· May 27, 2026 · Chris Hall
+915 −139

Audio-only uploads (like Zoom recordings) now transcribe

  • Fixed: dropping an audio file (the producer's main workflow) failed because the tool was waiting for a video file that never existed for audio.
  • The tool now finds the correct ready file automatically, whether it's video or audio, so audio recordings transcribe like everything else.
Fixedv0.95.0.0· May 27, 2026 · Chris Hall

Video transcription stops failing to find the source file

  • Fixed: a 41-minute video played fine but transcription failed because it tried to read the file before it had finished being prepared.
  • Transcription now waits until the file is actually ready, and checks it's reachable before starting, with a clear "wait and retry" message if it isn't.
Newv0.94.0.0· May 27, 2026 · Chris Hall
+872 −2

New tool: Convert WAV files to MP3, right in your browser

  • Drop one or more WAV files, pick a quality, and download MP3s — the audio never leaves your browser, which matters for unreleased recordings.
  • Three quality presets: Full (archival), Recommended (default), and Tiny (small, fast for AI).
  • Convert several files at once, each with its own live progress, sizes, and download button.
  • Fixed early issues so conversions reliably finish, oversized files get a clear message, and the dropzone works with the keyboard.

May 26, 2026

1 update+796 −5,462
Improvedv0.93.0.0· May 26, 2026 · Chris Hall
+796 −5,462

New transcription engine for better accuracy

  • Switched the transcription behind the Transcript and Feedback tools to a more accurate engine with speaker labels.
  • Stuck transcripts are now detected and surface a Retry button.
  • Retired the older transcription engines that were no longer pulling their weight.

May 25, 2026

1 update
Newv0.92.3.0· May 25, 2026 · Chris Hall

Pick your avatar color on Feedback comments

  • Click your avatar in the comment box to choose from eight colors; your initials show in that color everywhere, for you and everyone reviewing.
  • Your pick is remembered, and there's a "Reset to auto" link to go back to the default.
  • The avatar colors now match the site's design across all themes and are easier to read at small sizes.

May 24, 2026

10 updates+2,549 −440
  • Feedback — Built the Feedback review player — a custom playback bar, frame-range comments, heart reactions, comment markers, and fixes so first-time reviewers can post.
  • Site — Health page shows the live production version again.
Show all 10 updates
Newv0.92.2.0· May 24, 2026 · Chris Hall
+387 −67

Heart reactions on Feedback comments

  • Tap a heart on any comment to react; the count and whether you've liked it show up everywhere.
  • The main video timecode now sits in its own larger, centered row so you can read frame numbers from across the room.
Fixedv0.92.1.1· May 24, 2026 · Chris Hall
+85 −4

Feedback player accessibility and polish fixes

  • Added a proper page title for screen-reader users on the player page.
  • Cleaned up a couple of small visual inconsistencies in the comment cards and controls.
Improvedv0.92.1.0· May 24, 2026 · Chris Hall
+261 −91

Feedback player: clearer comment vs playback controls

  • Comment-related controls now use a distinct blue accent, so it's obvious which controls affect comments versus video playback.
  • Each highlighted range on the timeline shows its length (like "2m 15s") at a glance.
  • The play and skip buttons are bigger, and "Pin to current time" is now the clearer "Pin to playhead."
  • Fixed: showing completed comments no longer stretched the player and broke comment scrolling.
Fixedv0.92.0.3· May 24, 2026 · Chris Hall
+13 −4

Feedback: comment marker lines now show

  • Fixed: the small connector line between each comment avatar and its dot on the timeline was invisible. It now renders.
Fixedv0.92.0.2· May 24, 2026 · Chris Hall
+34 −10

Feedback: range comments sit over their span

  • Fixed: a comment covering a span of video now shows its avatar over the middle of the span instead of at the start.
  • Fixed: the player page no longer scrolls a footer into view below the video.
Fixedv0.92.0.1· May 24, 2026 · Chris Hall
+18 −2

Health page shows the live version again

  • Fixed: the status page wasn't showing which build was live in production. It now displays the correct deployed version.
Newv0.92.0.0· May 24, 2026 · Chris Hall
+1,707 −183

Feedback gets a custom video player

  • A new playback bar sits under the video with skip-back, play/pause, skip-forward, a scrub bar with frame-accurate timecode, and volume, speed, and fullscreen controls.
  • The playhead now lines up exactly with the comment markers above it.
  • While a new version uploads, its row shows a live progress bar and then a "Processing" status that everyone can see, not just the uploader.
Newv0.91.4.0· May 24, 2026 · Chris Hall

Feedback: comment on an exact range of frames

  • Mark the start of a range, scrub to the exact end frame, and leave a comment on that whole span — with a live preview of the selected span as you go.
  • Step the video one frame at a time with the comma and period keys.
  • The player detects the video's frame rate automatically and lets you correct it if it looks wrong.
Improvedv0.91.3.2· May 24, 2026 · Chris Hall

Internal cleanup (no visible change)

  • Tidied up some Feedback share-link code with no change to how anything works.
Fixedv0.91.3.1· May 24, 2026 · Chris Hall
+44 −79

Feedback: first-time reviewers can post comments

  • Fixed: on a brand-new browser, new reviewers only saw a name field and couldn't actually type a comment or pin a time. The full comment box now shows right away.

May 20, 2026

2 updates+565 −77
  • Transcribe — Uploads show time-left + speed and survive flaky Wi-Fi (chunked retry); deleting a transcript now frees its storage.
Show all 2 updates
Improvedv0.91.3.0· May 20, 2026 · Chris Hall
+284 −24

Transcript uploads show time left and survive flaky Wi-Fi

  • Video uploads now show estimated time remaining, transfer speed, and how much has uploaded, not just a percentage.
  • Uploads are now sent in pieces, so a single network blip retries just that piece instead of restarting the whole file — a real win on conference Wi-Fi.
  • You'll see honest status lines like "Reconnecting…" that clear once the upload recovers.
Fixedv0.91.2.0· May 20, 2026 · Chris Hall
+281 −53

Deleting a transcript frees up upload space

  • Fixed: deleting a transcript left its underlying video behind, which slowly filled the account and eventually blocked all new uploads. Deleting now frees that space too.
  • Upload errors now show a clear, actionable message (like "you've hit the storage limit, delete old transcripts or upgrade") instead of a generic failure.

May 19, 2026

2 updates+2,867 −242
  • Transcribe — Switched to a best-in-class transcription engine and added a human-transcription upgrade (~99%+, 12–24h turnaround); simpler upload-recovery screen.
Show all 2 updates
Improvedv0.91.1.0· May 19, 2026 · Chris Hall
+23 −121

Simpler recovery screen for unfinished uploads

  • When an upload doesn't finish, you now get two clear choices — Start a new upload or Delete this transcript — instead of confusing technical recovery options.
Improvedv0.91.0.0· May 19, 2026 · Chris Hall
+2,844 −121

More accurate transcription, plus a human-quality upgrade

  • Switched to a best-in-class transcription engine with strong speaker labeling.
  • Added a human transcription upgrade (around 99%+ accurate, 12-24 hour turnaround) you can order right from the editor, with a before/after comparison and a 24-hour undo window.
  • Fixed: the play and skip buttons could stop responding during playback — they now stay responsive throughout.

May 18, 2026

2 updates+512 −6
  • Site — Added a public status page to see what’s live, plus a deploy-heartbeat release.
Show all 2 updates
Newv0.90.1.0· May 18, 2026 · Chris Hall
+504 −3

Public status page to check what's live

  • A new health page (and matching data endpoint) shows exactly which build is running in production, with no login required and no sensitive info exposed.
Improvedv0.90.0.0· May 18, 2026 · Chris Hall
+8 −3

Version bump to confirm deploys are reaching production

  • A small heartbeat release to verify that updates are actually shipping to the live site. The version shown in the top nav now reads v0.90.0.0.

May 17, 2026

1 update+964 −114
Improvedv0.85.0.0· May 17, 2026 · Chris Hall
+964 −114

Transcript editor redesigned around the video

  • The video now sits in a fixed band at the top with large playback buttons and a "Now Playing" card showing the current speaker, time, and quote.
  • Actions like Cut, Highlight, Comment, and Play again now appear right on the part of the transcript you're playing, instead of a row of greyed-out buttons up top.
  • Selected transcript text is now bright YC orange so it's easy to see, and the toolbar is slimmer.

May 16, 2026

3 updates+9,175 −542
  • Transcribe — The transcript editor became a real document editor — Cmd+F, select-to-strike/highlight/comment, undo/redo, auto-scroll, and sharing with view/comment/edit access.
  • Thumbnails — First Thumbnails tool — cutouts, orange-highlight text, PNG export — with a before-placing cutout preview.
Show all 3 updates
Improvedv0.84.1.0· May 16, 2026 · Chris Hall
+1,021 −177

Faster deploys and bigger, clearer editor buttons

  • Editor toolbar buttons are now larger and look like buttons even before you hover.
  • Fixed: the thumbnail performance page could crash when loading saved data. It now loads reliably.
  • Builds and deploys are faster behind the scenes.
Newv0.84.0.0· May 16, 2026 · Chris Hall
+7,669 −244

Transcript editor: powerful editing and the first Thumbnails tool

  • Edit transcripts like a document: find with Cmd+F, select text for a quick strike/highlight/comment/copy menu, highlight by word, undo/redo, and a keyboard-shortcuts overlay (press ?).
  • The page follows along during playback, auto-scrolling to the active sentence without fighting you when you scroll or select.
  • Leave comments on a transcript and share it with view, comment, or edit access — with the right permissions enforced for each.
  • First version of the Thumbnails tool: drop guest photos, remove the background, position and scale them, add orange-highlight text, and export a PNG.
Newv0.83.4· May 16, 2026 · Chris Hall
+485 −121

Thumbnails: preview a photo before placing it

  • Uploading a guest photo now shows the original and the cutout side by side before you commit, so you can spot a bad cutout immediately.
  • Choose to place it, try again, use the original, or cancel.
  • Fixed background-removal cases that could produce a blank or broken cutout.

May 15, 2026

4 updates+2,025 −481
  • Transcribe — Transcripts now read as flowing paragraphs; fixed video uploads and an editor crash on upload.
  • Autopilot — New side-by-side prompt comparison tool to tune and approve each tool’s wording.
Show all 4 updates
Improvedv0.83.3· May 15, 2026 · Chris Hall
+780 −379

Transcripts read like flowing paragraphs

  • Each speaker now gets one header followed by a normal paragraph of what they said, so you can read and select across sentences like regular prose.
  • Fixed: words inside a sentence no longer ran together without spaces.
Fixedv0.83.2· May 15, 2026 · Chris Hall
+292 −61

Video uploads work again

  • Fixed: every video upload was failing with a generic error. Uploads now succeed again.
  • Fixed: the "Choose video" and "Choose file" buttons now reliably open the file picker in all browsers.
  • Added ways to clean up uploads that got stuck — a per-row delete and an in-editor recovery screen.
Fixedv0.83.1· May 15, 2026 · Chris Hall
+21 −21

Transcript editor no longer crashes on video upload

  • Fixed: opening a freshly uploaded video transcript could crash the editor with a client-side error. It now opens normally.
Newv0.83· May 15, 2026 · Chris Hall
+932 −20

Side-by-side prompt comparison tool

  • A new compare page lets a producer paste a transcript and see the current and proposed wording run side by side for every tool, then approve what's ready to ship.
  • Shipped improved default wording for Thumbnail, Description, and Chapters, with clearer examples and rules.
  • Behind-the-scenes reliability fixes so the right, current wording is always used.

May 13, 2026

4 updates+6,968 −1,816
  • Autopilot — Prompt version history with author names, diffs, and side-by-side re-runs; fixed drafts loading wrong or leaking between tools.
  • Site — Added a site-wide password gate and made dark mode the default.
Show all 4 updates
Fixedv0.82· May 13, 2026 · Chris Hall
+35 −4

Prompt editor: heals drafts that loaded the wrong text

  • Fixed: some prompts could load the wrong saved draft text. The editor now cleans those up automatically the first time you open it.
  • Renamed a label and tidied the publish controls on narrow screens.
Fixedv0.81· May 13, 2026 · Chris Hall
+46 −38

Prompt editor: drafts no longer leak between tools

  • Fixed: switching between prompts mid-edit could copy one prompt's text into another. Each draft now stays with its own tool.
  • Fixed: the file status dots now show all the steps instead of dropping the last few.
  • Version numbers switched to the shorter form (like v0.81).
Newv0.8.0.0· May 13, 2026 · Chris Hall
+225 −122

Site-wide password gate and dark mode by default

  • Added a simple lock screen so only authorized people can reach the tools.
  • Dark mode is now the default for first-time visitors; anyone who already chose a theme keeps it.
  • Fixed: the login screen now loads its own logo, and a small publish-button improvement makes the "Published" confirmation clearer.
Newv0.7.0.0· May 13, 2026 · Chris Hall
+6,662 −1,652

Prompt version history with author names

  • Every prompt change is now saved with the author's name, a version number, an optional note, and a word-level diff you can expand.
  • An activity strip shows the latest change across all prompts at a glance ("Justin pushed Titles v7 · 2h").
  • You can re-run any past version side by side with the current one to make sure a change didn't make things worse.
  • Each generated result now shows a small badge of exactly which prompt version produced it.

May 12, 2026

2 updates+3,467 −969
  • Autopilot — History list groups files by day with inline rename + AI-suggested filenames; live progress animations on every run.
  • Site — Five switchable themes, with your choice remembered.
Show all 2 updates
Improvedv0.6.0.0· May 12, 2026 · Chris Hall
+1,596 −318

Cleaner, more navigable history list

  • The history list now groups files by day (Today, Yesterday, and so on) with a count per day.
  • Rename a file inline, or let the AI suggest a filename from the transcript with one click.
  • Change a file's series right from its row, and watch the per-tool checkmarks pop in as each result lands.
Newv0.5.0.0· May 12, 2026 · Chris Hall
+1,871 −651

Themes and richer progress animations

  • Five switchable themes — Light, Dark, plus hidden Hacker, Athletics, and 76ers modes — with your choice remembered.
  • Live progress everywhere generation runs: a sweeping progress bar, a rotating status ticker, and an elapsed-time counter.
  • Fixed: technical API errors no longer leak to you — for example, a missing key now reads as a plain-English message about what to set.

May 10, 2026

1 update+1,743 −0
Milestonev0.4.0.0· May 10, 2026 · Chris Hall
+1,743 −0

The core tools first come together

  • Drop one or many transcript files and get titles, thumbnail text, descriptions, and chapters generated for each.
  • Your past runs are saved so they survive a refresh, with download and re-run on every file.
  • Early password-gated login and the first version of the AI generation behind the tools.
What's new · YC Media Tools