I’ve been trying Google’s Notebook LM to create podcast-like conversations from uploaded academic papers. My reaction to what it came up with reminds me of how I felt when Google itself first came along. Early users were so impressed that Google grew its customer-base by word of mouth alone - my mouth being one of them. I’m not going to be evangelising about NotebookLM in the same way because its practical value is still limited. But it’s still an impressive demonstration of what AI is already capable of. Notebook LM is a service that focuses on the material you give it, in addition to drawing on more general AI knowledge. You provide it with sources in collections it calls Notebooks, which are separate projects each devoted to a particular subject. The sources can be documents, websites, videos or pasted text. These are the ingredients of the meal it will cook for you. Once you have given it material to work with, you have the chance to interact with your project in many ways - aski...
A New Year’s visit to a National Trust property prompts questions about industry, philanthropy and British innovation. Nuffield Place in Oxfordshire was the home of Lord Nuffield (1877-1963), born William Morris, the British car-maker (and not to be confused with William Morris of the Arts and Crafts movement, some forty years his senior). Nuffield was the name of the local village and Morris took it as his name when he was made a peer in 1934. The house, near Henley-on-Thames, is sizeable but modest for a self-made multi-millionaire. Originally called Merrow Mount, it was completed in 1914 for a shipping maganate, Sir John Bowring Wimble. Nuffield added a large billiard room on the end. It was frosty yesterday, but the gardens must be lovely in summer with the wisteria out. Nuffield began his working life repairing bicycles before he began to manufacture them. He was a contemporary and competitor of Henry Ford, who had established the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and by 1911 had opened...