Technologies

Google Reportedly Working on a Mysterious ‘Magic View’ for NotebookLM

The new feature resembles a Lite Brite, but don’t expect it immediately.

Google is continually expanding and strengthening the features for NotebookLM, its free AI-powered research assistant. An upcoming feature, code-named Magic View, should eventually land in the Studio panel alongside popular features like Audio and Video Overviews.

At the moment, there’s no clear indication as to what Magic View is (or will do) when it formally arrives in NotebookLM, but it’s clear that Google keeps improving what I’d consider its best AI tool available today.

The leak comes from the AI news site, Testing Catalog, which has spotted several upcoming NotebookLM features through feature flag analysis and code review. A representative for Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google officially released Video Overviews in late July, bringing a more visual approach to its successful Audio Overview feature that has since expanded into several other products in the tech giant’s portfolio. Whatever the actual function of the upcoming Magic View, it seems to be part of Google’s effort to visualize your data sources.

Remember Lite Brite?

A screenshot grabbed by Testing Catalog shows Magic View as a dotted grid with plot points filled in with different colors. If you remember the kids’ toy Lite Brite, it sort of looks like that, but with a larger grid.

The plot points could represent an assortment of potential things, but we’ll hold any specific guesses until the picture becomes clearer. According to Testing Catalog, it could «take the form of a game, an app, or something more experimental.» It wouldn’t be surprising if Magic View was focused on learning or aimed at students, as this is where NotebookLM shines.

Like most features within the Studio panel of NotebookLM, Magic View will be a feature you can optionally generate. It appears that it’ll be nestled under a Notebook Apps dropdown, which is also new. We’d expect upcoming flash cards and interactive quizzes to find a home here, too.

There’s no date for the release since nothing has been announced, but don’t expect it soon. If it were built out further, we would likely have a better idea of its function within the code. Since it’s not, the feature is probably in early development.

For more, don’t miss the 11 things for which you should stop using ChatGPT.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, Aug. 19

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 19.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword is one of those puzzle grids with absolutely no empty spaces in the grid. So if you get all the Across answers, the Down ones will fill right in. Other than 1-Across, it went pretty quickly for me today. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Animal that falls in love with a tape dispenser, in a classic New Yorker cartoon
Answer: SNAIL

6A clue: Language written in Devanagari script
Answer: HINDI

7A clue: Singer Presley or Costello
Answer: ELVIS

8A clue: George ___, «Middlemarch» author
Answer: ELIOT

9A clue: Things «read» by fortune tellers
Answer: PALMS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Blind followers
Answer: SHEEP

2D clue: ___ wafers (Nabisco treat)
Answer: NILLA

3D clue: Heavy item falling from the sky in some classic cartoons
Answer: ANVIL

4D clue: «In a pickle» or «in a jam»
Answer: IDIOM

5D clue: They might end with «etc.»
Answer: LISTS

Technologies

Google Translate Reportedly Adding AI Integration, Duolingo-Like Game Elements

This update could spell trouble for its translation competitor, the internet’s favorite green owl.

Google Translate could soon get some major AI enhancements, like the ability to select different AI models and a game-like practice mode, according to a report from Android Police on Monday.

Android analyst AssembleDebug looked into the Google Translate app’s latest build, version 9.15.114, and found what appears to be new changes to the user interface. At the top, there’s a new model selector, Fast and Advanced. Fast would presumably be for quick translation tasks, like deciphering menu items. Advanced will likely use Gemini to understand the context of a text or a conversation with more accuracy

Read more: Best Language Learning Apps for 2025

According to the report, the update will also include a practice mode to help gamify language learning, similar to that used in the popular language app Duolingo.

A representative for Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

For the last two years, Google’s been showcasing various demos and releasing features to make language interpretation easier. At Google I/O earlier this year, the tech giant showed off a demo of what live translation might look like for someone wearing a pair of its Android XR smartglasses.

With the launch of the Pixel Fold in 2023, the company also released a live interpreter mode that used the device’s inner and outer screens.

Understanding different languages is a key innovation of AI. The ability to use large language model technology to interpret between two distinct languages expands the content and conversations humans can have with one another.

Already, Google has released auto-dubbing tech on YouTube, allowing English-speaking audiences to watch Japanese YouTubers, for example.