It's an interesting tool, but I've found that if you just move the same documents into a folder in your Drive, you can prompt Gemini and tell it to look at the documents in that folder and it seems to be more intelligent / less limited to the documents themselves.
Thanks for sharing that helpful approach. And that can be useful. But in some scenarios, we want to focus on working with our own notes and documents without AI expansion into other realms. The question is: what if you don’t want it to range beyond your documents? That’s where this can be handy.
Try them both, see what works. There are other apps that do the same thing, but Gemini is the only one not at enterprise level pricing with that enormous context window size.
Yes, experimenting with them side by side is a quick way to see what makes the most sense for a particular project. The testing actually is pretty quick. Thanks for your input.
Very good summary of the tool. I've been on their Discord server and using NotebookLM since last fall. It's been a work in process for sure. But I think they are on to something important. There is a major upgrade coming that we've all been patiently waiting for.
But even if Google's NotebookLM project does not become widely used, I have a hunch we're going to see the same concept for tools like this soon. We'll have to wait until Apple's Dev event in June to see what they will bring forward.
So learning how to use AI-based notebooks will become an important skill all of us will want to learn regardless of which vendor(s) we end up using.
Im not in the US so not able to access this yet. However, it seems to replicate where Capacities.io have gone/ are going. Not only can I store a whole load of formats (text, pdf, images etc) , you can create your own 'objects' to collect information you regularly want to. For example, I've created a Lecture object for Uni, and a Meeting object for work.
You can create queries using AI too. I'm just beginning to play with this functionality but so far so good.
What I love about Capacities is the ability to see how everything is connected, making me realise that my dyslexic brain is not as mad as first thought!!
I pay €8 a month for it, and get full access to all the functions.
Thanks for sharing your experience! I like capacities too! In fact, I‘ve been planning a post about Capacities and will hopefully fit on the content calendar for this summer or fall. If you’d be open to a short conversation, I’d love to chat with you, Graham, to learn more about how you’ve been using it. If you’re open to that, feel free to email me at my first name at jeremycaplan dot com.
Google's new service, NotebookLM, is a free tool that allows you to apply AI to your own notes and documents, helping you generate new ideas and discover new connections.
One account, within which I have multiple distinct notebooks, each on a different topic. Some notebooks include only my writings and notes, others are exclusively research and published material by other people that I’m learning from.
I have been burned by Google discontinuing things I have come to rely too often on to ever trust them again. Sounds interesting, but I’m not game to try it, since it will likely disappear at some point in a year or so, or when Google gets bored and moves on to something else.
Hi Wendi, I can understand that. I've been a fan of a lot of services Google has shut down over the years, from Reader, Jamboard, Domains, to Picasa, Aardvark, Songza, even Google Plus, Buzz and Wave. https://killedbygoogle.com/ shows how many projects have met their end after promising early days. So I can relate to your perspective. Thanks for sharing that.
It's an interesting tool, but I've found that if you just move the same documents into a folder in your Drive, you can prompt Gemini and tell it to look at the documents in that folder and it seems to be more intelligent / less limited to the documents themselves.
Thanks for sharing that helpful approach. And that can be useful. But in some scenarios, we want to focus on working with our own notes and documents without AI expansion into other realms. The question is: what if you don’t want it to range beyond your documents? That’s where this can be handy.
Try them both, see what works. There are other apps that do the same thing, but Gemini is the only one not at enterprise level pricing with that enormous context window size.
Yes, experimenting with them side by side is a quick way to see what makes the most sense for a particular project. The testing actually is pretty quick. Thanks for your input.
Very good summary of the tool. I've been on their Discord server and using NotebookLM since last fall. It's been a work in process for sure. But I think they are on to something important. There is a major upgrade coming that we've all been patiently waiting for.
But even if Google's NotebookLM project does not become widely used, I have a hunch we're going to see the same concept for tools like this soon. We'll have to wait until Apple's Dev event in June to see what they will bring forward.
So learning how to use AI-based notebooks will become an important skill all of us will want to learn regardless of which vendor(s) we end up using.
This is an absolute gem today. Thank you.
Im not in the US so not able to access this yet. However, it seems to replicate where Capacities.io have gone/ are going. Not only can I store a whole load of formats (text, pdf, images etc) , you can create your own 'objects' to collect information you regularly want to. For example, I've created a Lecture object for Uni, and a Meeting object for work.
You can create queries using AI too. I'm just beginning to play with this functionality but so far so good.
What I love about Capacities is the ability to see how everything is connected, making me realise that my dyslexic brain is not as mad as first thought!!
I pay €8 a month for it, and get full access to all the functions.
Thanks for sharing your experience! I like capacities too! In fact, I‘ve been planning a post about Capacities and will hopefully fit on the content calendar for this summer or fall. If you’d be open to a short conversation, I’d love to chat with you, Graham, to learn more about how you’ve been using it. If you’re open to that, feel free to email me at my first name at jeremycaplan dot com.
I'm excited about it and, at the same time, don't trust Google. How can I be sure they aren't adding my content to the slurry?
Google's new service, NotebookLM, is a free tool that allows you to apply AI to your own notes and documents, helping you generate new ideas and discover new connections.
THanks for the insights - Sadly only available in the US at the moment
NotebookLM is currently
only available in the U.S.
NotebookLM is only available in the U.S. for users 18 and up
Usable if you go through a VPN!
Thanks for sharing, this is interesting. Do you have two accounts for research vs your own writing? Or can this all be achieved under one account
One account, within which I have multiple distinct notebooks, each on a different topic. Some notebooks include only my writings and notes, others are exclusively research and published material by other people that I’m learning from.
I have been burned by Google discontinuing things I have come to rely too often on to ever trust them again. Sounds interesting, but I’m not game to try it, since it will likely disappear at some point in a year or so, or when Google gets bored and moves on to something else.
Hi Wendi, I can understand that. I've been a fan of a lot of services Google has shut down over the years, from Reader, Jamboard, Domains, to Picasa, Aardvark, Songza, even Google Plus, Buzz and Wave. https://killedbygoogle.com/ shows how many projects have met their end after promising early days. So I can relate to your perspective. Thanks for sharing that.