# ByteShades

> ByteShades is an independent software studio that builds and maintains small tools: browser extensions, Mac apps, developer tools and everyday utilities.

ByteShades makes small software products, each named "[Product] by ByteShades". Every product page states its platforms and how it is paid for. A longer version of this file with full product details is at https://byteshades.com/llms-full.txt.

## Products

- [Kolkata Gold Price](https://byteshades.com/products/kolkata-gold-price): Recorded 18K, 22K and 24K gold rates for Kolkata, in English and Bengali.
- [FeedKeeper](https://byteshades.com/products/feedkeeper): Hides the YouTube videos you don't want. Keeps the ones you came for.

## Open source

- No open-source products are published yet. Public code: https://github.com/Byteshades

## Blog

- [A Napoleonic cipher and Grad's conjecture: what AI actually did](https://byteshades.com/blog/ai-marmont-cipher-grads-conjecture): GPT-6 Astra helped decode an 1809 cipher letter to General Marmont and find counterexamples to Grad's 1967 plasma conjecture. What happened, and what it means. (AI news, 2026-10-12)
- [How to stop AI-built websites looking the same](https://byteshades.com/blog/ai-websites-look-the-same): Why sites built by AI coding agents look alike, and the tools that help: Hallmark, Impeccable, the 21st.dev MCP, Archify for diagrams, and asking for variants. (Engineering, 2026-10-12)
- [FeedKeeper: a YouTube feed filter that works by category](https://byteshades.com/blog/feedkeeper-youtube-feed-filter): Why we built FeedKeeper, a Chrome extension that hides the kinds of YouTube videos you choose from your home feed and Up next, and how its three modes work. (Studio, 2026-10-12)
- [Free AI tools worth trying: job search, video, browsing and more](https://byteshades.com/blog/free-ai-tools-worth-trying): Eight open-source AI tools from this month's GitHub trends, checked against their own docs: what each does, what it costs, how to install it, and the catch. (Tools, 2026-10-12)
- [Gemini 4 Argon vs GPT-6.1 Sol vs Claude Sonnet 5.5](https://byteshades.com/blog/gemini-4-argon-vs-gpt-6-1-sol-vs-claude-sonnet-5-5): Three frontier models launched in three days. Prices, limits, benchmarks, cost per task and availability for Gemini 4 Argon, GPT-6.1 Sol and Claude Sonnet 5.5. (AI news, 2026-10-12)
- [Installing Claude Code skills and MCP servers safely: a checklist](https://byteshades.com/blog/install-claude-code-skills-mcp-safely): Agent skills and MCP servers run with your permissions. Real incidents, what to check before you install one, and how to limit what it can reach. (Tools, 2026-10-12)
- [Kolkata Gold Price: recorded gold rates in English and Bengali](https://byteshades.com/blog/kolkata-gold-price-launch): Kolkata Gold Price is a free site with recorded 18K, 22K and 24K gold rates for Kolkata, price history and a jewellery calculator, in English and Bengali. (Studio, 2026-10-12)
- [OpenAI dots explained, and the open-source alternatives](https://byteshades.com/blog/openai-dots-explained): OpenAI's dots are always-on agents with their own cloud computer. What they do, who can use them, the Pro plan changes and how the open-source clones compare. (AI news, 2026-10-12)
- [PhotoCraft and the Crafting Apps: is this a free Adobe suite?](https://byteshades.com/blog/photocraft-free-adobe-alternative): PhotoCraft, FilmCraft and ten sister apps are free, open-source look-alikes of Photoshop, Premiere and more. What they are, how ready, and who should try them. (Tools, 2026-10-12)
- [Running Claude Code and Codex in parallel: tools and workflow](https://byteshades.com/blog/run-claude-code-and-codex-in-parallel): How to run several coding agents at once without collisions: git worktrees, Orca, herdr, the Codex plugin for Claude Code, OmniRoute, and the terms to check. (Engineering, 2026-10-12)
- [Tiny speech-to-text models: Whistle and Phonon-2 compared](https://byteshades.com/blog/tiny-speech-to-text-models): Whistle is 17 MB and Phonon-2 is 164 MB, and both transcribe speech offline without a GPU. Sizes, languages, accuracy, speed and how they compare with Whisper. (Tools, 2026-10-12)
- [How byteshades.com is built](https://byteshades.com/blog/how-byteshades-com-is-built): How the ByteShades website is built: Next.js 16 with Cache Components, one interface for product data, small JavaScript islands and pages made for search. (Engineering, 2026-10-09)
- [All posts](https://byteshades.com/blog) ([RSS](https://byteshades.com/blog/feed.xml))

## Studio

- [Soumen Samanta](https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumen-samanta/): Co-Founder & CEO
- [Souvik Samanta](https://www.linkedin.com/in/souvik3103/): Co-Founder & CTO
- Location: Kolkata, India
- Contact: contact@byteshades.com
- [GitHub](https://github.com/Byteshades): source code and issues
- [Changelog](https://byteshades.com/changelog): every release, newest first ([RSS](https://byteshades.com/feed.xml))