5 smart ways to get more out of Google’s Gemini

This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps.

Google’s AI, Gemini, has quickly become one of the AI tools I rely on most. It builds dashboards and creates remarkable infographics. It spins out comprehensive research reports in minutes that would once have taken days to assemble.

It’s improving every month. On March 13, Google announced Ask Maps, so you can query Gemini about things like “Which nearby tennis courts are open with lights so I can play tonight?” On March 10, Gemini added new integrations to build, summarize, and analyze your Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Here are five ways to use Gemini’s best features.

1. Create Images Without Being a Designer

Illustrate a presentation, newsletter post, or handout with a diagram, explanatory image, or an editorial cartoon.

Let’s call it “Vibe Drawing.” Just as vibe coding has enabled people without technical skills to develop useful apps, image generation helps those of us who are artistically challenged to convey ideas visually. I use it to turn raw ideas into graphics, diagrams, illustrations, or cartoons. Here’s a short prompt I used for the image below.

Tip: Upload a screenshot or photograph a paper sketch for Gemini to use as a reference image, or pick a style from the grid of options Gemini shows you (see above) to provide visual context.

2. Get Customized Deep Research Reports

The next time you want to better understand a place, person, event, technology, or organization, pick Gemini’s Deep Research tool and dictate a detailed query.

Tip: Specify why you need the report, how you’ll use it, your level of understanding, preferred sources, specific subtopics, and the angle, tone, or style you like (tables, bullets, diagrams, arguments and counterarguments, etc). You’ll get a remarkably thorough, personalized report.

3. Connect Gemini to Your NotebookLM Notes

Gemini now lets you attach a NotebookLM notebook as a source. I tested this with a collection of my writing to probe my past ideas with Gemini. I also used Gemini to query a notebook I curated with PDFs, links, and videos on congestion pricing.

Combining Gemini and NotebookLM offers several advantages:

• Gemini has access to the Web, so it can supplement references in a notebook with new research material, whereas NotebookLM is grounded only in your source materials. The combo is great when you want to query a mix of curated and new sources, but NotebookLM alone is preferable when you want to fully constrain your exploration to your own notes.
• NotebookLM can create audio and video overviews, infographics, and compelling slides from your materials. But Gemini has even more tools it can apply to your notebooks, like Canvas for making apps, interactive graphics, and sites.
• You can query multiple notebooks at the same time with Gemini, something you can’t yet do with NotebookLM.

Note: Gemini has a context window of 1 million tokens, which means it can absorb and consider about 1,500 pages of text for any given query.

4. Build Gems to Automate Repetitive Tasks

Gems are versions of Gemini with custom instructions. Create a Gemini Gem as a template for work you’ll do many times. Start by uploading reference documents and adding detailed guidance. If relevant, set it to always use a particular tool, like deep research, image generation, or Canvas for building interactive tools.

Example: I like making Jeopardy-style games for teaching, so I set up a Gem that lets me quickly create new editions for specific topics. I was inspired by Eric Curts’s free collection of more than 100 EduGems, which he lets anyone adapt.

Create other Gems to:

• Generate alt-text, SEO text, invoices, or expense reports. Start by giving the Gem your preferences or policies, then open it anytime you want to take care of a technical task.
• Check your work for bias or blind spots. To start, upload style guides, fact-checking instructions, or your pet peeves. Direct the Gem to be a tough critic rather than a sycophantic bootlicker. Instruct it to be specific and clear in its feedback.
• Create analytics reports in a specific format. Start by giving the Gem instructions and context. Then tell it to pull from data you add to a NotebookLM notebook, or feed your Gem new sheets or data screenshots anytime you want a new report. The Gem could even be set up to turn your data into an interactive dashboard if you instruct it to use its Canvas tool for coding.

5. Build an App, Game, or Interactive Tool

Gemini can generate code, just as it can make text or images. Select the Canvas tool and describe a site, game, tool, dashboard, or interactive infographic you want to make.

Ideas and examples

• Build a custom flashcard app. How? Give it a PDF with 100 Japanese vocabulary words.
• Get strategic recommendations with an interactive dashboard. Give it your metrics output, and make sure it’s in Thinking mode.
• Get help memorizing poems. How? Share a list of your favorites and ask for a spaced repetition game to help with memorization.
• Practice sign language phrases. Tell it what you know or don’t know and how you prefer to practice. Or upload a selfie video and request feedback.You can also use Gemini’s Guided Learning mode for this.

Gemini vs. Other AI Tools

Gemini beats Claude on versatility

Gemini can generate images, videos, and songs—and analyze video content— none of which Claude does.

. . . but I prefer Claude’s editing suggestions

I regularly rely on its Projects feature. Claude also has useful integrations with many other services I use, like Granola, so I can query my meeting notes. Gemini doesn’t yet have extensive integrations.

Gemini beats ChatGPT in integrating NotebookLM

I love being able to query an entire notebook full of lengthy YouTube videos, audio files, links, and notes.

. . . but ChatGPT has a wider range of Custom GPTs,

ChatGPT also has built-in apps that let you design with Canva, Figma, or other tools, which you can’t do with Gemini.

Gemini has the deepest integration with Docs, Sheets, and Slides

The newest features let you create a complete dashboard in Google Sheets from data in Google Drive, generate editable slides that match the style of a presentation, and match the format of existing docs.

. . . but Claude, ChatGPT, and Copilot also work well with Google Drive

You can pull in content from Google Drive regardless of which AI tool you use. And Claude Code and Cowork have unique capabilities. They act as AI agents that independently manage sequences of tasks.

This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps.

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