NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook

When notebookLM was new, it was interesting to listen to the podcasts. Then the novelty wore off, and I wanted something where I can interact with the podcasters but it was janky as hell.

My current “audio-learning” hack is ChatGPT Live which has become shockingly good after being awful compared to Claude Voice (Let’s not even talk about Gemini voice which is still bad).

I go on a walk and dump a paper or article link in the chat, and ask chatGPT Live to walk me through the content in small nuggets, so I can discuss them interactively. For deeper topics I have it quiz me Socratic style so I’m not just passively listening, and actually thinking through problems or ideas.

I wondered when the name change was coming as NotebookLM felt a bit out of place brand-wise. Still would have been killer if they called it "Bard Notebook"

Very, very, very excited to hopefully stop getting support emails at Notebook.ai for people trying to get help with NotebookLM.

Gemini Notebook is a way better name for the masses.

Any people with insight on why this happens? From my corporate experience this generally happens when two teams are working on a similar thing, they complain about turf to leadership, and leadership either makes them consolidate efforts or chooses a winner. Is that what happens at Google a lot? Or do they just constantly tweak things to the point they cease to live or be used?

I fear the upcoming changes... It ALWAYS starts with a name change, then more useless features, more ensh*ttification, then users flee, then the product is killed.

Google:

- Hangout

- Chat

- Meets

- Duo

- ...

My problem with NotebookLM was that you had to give it URLs or docs, you couldn't just have it search for docs and then incorporate them into your research.

I admonish Gemini and demand explanation nearly every day of how it's possible that Google invented the thing, has the best infrastructure for inference, and somehow falls behind Anthropic and even OpenAI.

NotebookLM is pretty cool since it can hold a ton of context but this is so far below my (and frankly just reasonable) expectations of Google.

I downgraded my Gemini subscription and got Claude. Still can't believe how much better it is. Fable is way better, that's a given. But Claude even has a real .deb repo. Something Antigravity had and managed to lose.

Incredible how I have not touched a singled AI thing from google for.. probably well over a year at this point. Amazing.

Because naming every product "Copilot" is going so well for Microsoft, I guess?

I feel like the name reflect the product more. I have been using NotebookLM for studying and really like it. I wonder if with this name change, would there be a major change in Gemini Notebook ?

I was never sure what the "LM" stood for, so this makes sense to me.

Guys google, I know enough people in the company to know how this decision was made, but I must say as a user if you rename or kill another thing I will stop using any Google service I still use.

This might be the one time I might forgive it but guys please don't it's annoying.

NorebookLM sounded a little scholastic

NotebookLM is genuinely useful for structured research workflows. My concern is not the name. It's whether the "notebook" metaphor survives the rebrand.

Not a big deal to be honest. Still works just as great.

If it's named "Gemini", does that mean it's going to get shoved in your face on every single google-related page/product?

They probably changed the name because they've been integrating it with the Gemini web page where it now appears on the left above recent chats.

Are there other tools out there like NotebookLM? Not a replacement but some cool AI tools that help people learn.

I'd like to have audio overviews of scientific papers, so I can "read" them while I drive. NotebookLM/Gemini Notebook sorta does this, but the two-person podcast format is kind of annoying and it can't pronounce math.

Is there something out there that will do this? I'm sure the right harness around frontier models would make it work.

Why? tho

big news

Company run by consultants and MBAs.

Sure it’s not “Gemini AI Pro Max Duo Notebooks for Workspace Personal”? /s

In a few years, https://killedbygoogle.com/

Next step, monitize every pixel, result and second into adveristing placement