{"id":5969,"date":"2026-04-12T20:50:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/?p=5969"},"modified":"2026-04-12T20:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:54:16","slug":"mobileviews-podcast-605-google-gemini-notebooks-democratization-of-app-dev-guest-steve-hughes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/12\/mobileviews-podcast-605-google-gemini-notebooks-democratization-of-app-dev-guest-steve-hughes\/","title":{"rendered":"MobileViews Podcast 605: Google Gemini Notebooks; democratization of app dev?; guest: Steve Hughes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px); height: 150px;\" title=\"MobileViews Podcast 605: Google Gemini Notebooks; democratization of app dev?; guest: Steve Hughes\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/player-v2\/?i=aizzd-1a98a4a-pb&amp;from=pb6admin&amp;share=1&amp;download=1&amp;rtl=0&amp;fonts=Arial&amp;skin=1&amp;font-color=auto&amp;logo_link=episode_page&amp;btn-skin=7\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\" scrolling=\"no\" data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">?<\/span><\/iframe><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-5970\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-aiframe-1024x519.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"519\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-aiframe-1024x519.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-aiframe-300x152.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-aiframe-768x389.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-aiframe-1536x778.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-aiframe-2048x1037.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this podcast <\/span><b>Jon Westfall<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and I were joined by our long-time friend <\/span><b>Steve Hughes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who returned to the show after a long period of heavy travel. I used the opening of the show to test a new <\/span><b>Boya CM40 condenser microphone<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, comparing its sound quality to my MacBook\u2019s built-in mic, my 4K USB camera, and my AirPods. It is always fun to play with new toys..<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have become a massive fan of <\/span><b>NotebookLM<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/12\/mobileviews-podcast-605-google-gemini-notebooks-democratization-of-app-dev-guest-steve-hughes\/\">new notebooks feature within <\/a><\/span><b>Google Gemini<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. I recently fed hundreds of our podcast show notes and blog posts into a Gemini notebook to see how it handled the data. We discussed how this technology is becoming popular in academia as a tool for students to engage with material, though it poses a significant threat to the textbook industry by easily creating the same supplemental materials publishers charge for,. I\u2019ve even been using it to build <\/span><b>animated video presentations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and conduct additional research, which are features included in the $20-a-month AI Pro subscription,.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our conversation turned toward the concept of <\/span><b>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.europarl.europa.eu\/RegData\/etudes\/BRIE\/2020\/651992\/EPRS_BRI(2020)651992_EN.pdf\">digital sovereignty<\/a>,&#8221;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a movement in the European Union to reduce dependency on U.S. tech giants. We looked into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TPbkvL1ELe4\">history of open-source office suites<\/a>, from StarOffice to the current fragmentation of LibreOffice,. Interestingly, the EU is now looking toward <\/span><b>&#8220;EuroOffice,&#8221;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a fork of OnlyOffice (which itself has roots in Latvian and Russian development) to replace Microsoft Office. Steve, Jon, and I debated whether this would be a cleaner transition than past attempts, especially as corporate customers grow increasingly annoyed with the &#8220;nickel and diming&#8221; of subscription services.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jon and I revisited the &#8220;technology gap&#8221; we see in students who have grown up exclusively on Chromebooks. Many struggle with the basic concept of a <\/span><b>file structure<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or how to actually download a file to a specific directory. My own daughter recently joked that Windows is for &#8220;old people,&#8221; which signals a shift Microsoft should be wary of. However, Jon shared a positive note on the <\/span><b>democratization of app development<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. He built a <a href=\"https:\/\/jonwestfall.github.io\/strength-timer.html\">purpose-built fitness timer for his strength training in just 20 minutes using AI<\/a>. While this &#8220;one-two punch&#8221; of AI interviewing and coding is powerful, I cautioned against the <\/span><b>&#8220;Microsoft Access problem&#8221;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014the risk of non-programmers building mission-critical tools that lack documentation or error-checking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the hardware front, Jon shared his first impressions of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ohsnap.com\/products\/mcon-magnetic-controller?srsltid=AfmBOor9h3ZRmG48o-Nu9gdOMiSR3E1v-E4UFidw7kOGcDjWpm3-XE0l\"><b>MCON controller<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a slider-style mobile gaming device that features a built-in MagSafe stand. While the buttons are a bit small for some, its &#8220;pocketability&#8221; makes it a strong contender for travel,. Steve updated us on the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seaotterclassic.com\/\"><b>Sea Otter Classic<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, essentially the &#8220;CES for bikes,&#8221; highlighting new e-bike motors that are rejuvenating the industry,. We also touched on the EV market, specifically the <\/span><b>Scout SUV<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and its move toward a range-extending motor. Steve even noted a great practical tip: using an EV as a <\/span><b>reverse-load power source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to keep a refrigerator running for up to two weeks during a blackout.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Listen to the full podcast to hear Steve&#8217;s story about meeting will.i.am at CES.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-5971\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-infographic-1024x572.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-infographic-1024x572.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-infographic-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-infographic-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-infographic-1536x857.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MViews-605-infographic-2048x1143.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><br \/>\nAvailable via <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/mobileviews.com-podcast\/id301171904?mt=2\">Apple iTunes<\/a>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\u201chttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@ToddOgasawara\/podcasts\u201d\">MobileViews YouTube Podcasts channel <\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"\u201chttps:\/\/www.audible.com\/pd\/MobileViewscom-Podcast-Podcast\/B08K565TQS?qid=1640555789&amp;sr=1-1&amp;ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&amp;pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&amp;pf_rd_r=TXEJVWB2VW471GJ9XQQ0\u201d&lt;\/a\">MobileViews Podcast on Audible.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>? In this podcast Jon Westfall and I were joined by our long-time friend Steve Hughes, who returned to the show after a long period of heavy travel. I used the opening of the show to test a new Boya CM40 condenser microphone, comparing its sound quality to my MacBook\u2019s built-in mic, my 4K USB [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-podcast"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ppKRG-1yh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5969"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5974,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5969\/revisions\/5974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}