Today’s Brew
Ever feel like your map app is a bit of a robot, just barking orders from on high? “Turn left in 200 metres.”
Well, grab your favourite mug, because it feels like Google just gave its Maps a serious personality and brain upgrade.
We’re talking about a co-pilot that doesn’t just know the streets, it knows the vibe. Let’s dive into a world where getting lost might actually be a thing of the past.
Quick Brew Summary
Google’s Big Move
Gemini is now your conversational guide inside Google Maps for intuitive, real time trip planning.
Claude for Teams
Anthropic rolls out custom “Constitutions” so businesses can align Claude’s voice and rules with their brand.
Runway’s New Groove
The video AI platform can now generate video scenes based on the mood of your audio track.
ChatGPT Gets Practical
You can now generate and export formatted tables directly to Google Sheets and Excel, saving a ton of copy paste time.
Featured Update
Google Maps Just Got a Genius Co-Pilot
The days of just asking for the fastest route are over. Google announced this morning that it’s deeply integrating its Gemini (Google) model into Google Maps. This isn’t a simple chatbot bolted on the side. It’s a complete rethinking of how we interact with navigation.
So what does this mean for you? It means you can now have a conversation with Maps. Instead of just searching for “cafes near me,” you can ask, “Find me a quiet cafe with great reviews and reliable wifi, somewhere between my current location and my 2 pm meeting.” Gemini will understand the context, scour the options, and even suggest a scenic walking route to get you there. It’s like having a local expert and a personal assistant rolled into one, right in your pocket. This is a huge step in making AI a truly useful companion for our everyday lives, moving it from a search tool to a real world partner.
Read more on the official Google AI Blog.
New Use Cases:
Google Gemini in Maps
Plan a full day out with a single request. Try asking, “Plan a family friendly day trip within a 90 minute drive. Include a short hike suitable for a seven year old, a lunch spot with a playground, and a farm stand where we can buy fresh apples on the way home.”
Claude (Anthropic) for Business
Teams can now set guardrails for their AI. For instance, a financial advisory firm can program its internal Claude to never give direct investment advice and to always include a specific legal disclaimer in its responses.
ChatGPT (OpenAI)
Turn messy notes into clean data. Paste your raw customer feedback into ChatGPT and ask it to “Organize this feedback into a table with columns for Key Theme, Customer Sentiment, and a verbatim quote, then prepare it for export to Google Sheets.”
Novel use of Prompts:
For the project manager drowning in tasks:
Act as an expert project manager. Here is a list of my team's tasks, their dependencies, and estimated completion times. Create a Gantt chart using mermaid syntax that visually outlines the project timeline. Ensure the critical path is clearly identifiable.For the family historian hitting a roadblock:
I'm a genealogist stuck on my great-great-grandmother who arrived in New Zealand from Scotland around 1875. Her name was likely Mary Macleod, but records are scarce. Generate five creative research strategies, including potential name misspellings, alternative shipping records I might have missed, and the social context of female immigrants from the Scottish Highlands during that specific period that could offer new clues.For the lifelong learner tackling a tricky subject:
Explain the concept of 'neural networks' to me as if I'm a passionate home baker. Use an analogy involving learning to bake the perfect sourdough bread, from mixing the ingredients to adjusting the recipe based on how each loaf turns out.Business & Education Spotlight:
In business, we’re seeing small companies do amazing things with AI. Take “The Daily Grind,” a local Auckland coffee roaster. They’re using a simple AI tool to analyse customer purchase history and write hyper personalised email campaigns. Instead of a generic newsletter, customers receive notes like, “Hi Sarah, we know you love our dark roast Ethiopian blend. We’ve just got a new single origin from Sumatra with similar chocolatey notes we think you’ll enjoy.” It’s a small touch that’s making a big difference to their customer loyalty.
On the education front, the University of Canterbury is trialling an AI platform to create adaptive learning modules for its first year engineering students. The system identifies where a student is struggling, say with thermodynamics, and serves up custom explanations, practice problems, and video tutorials to help them master the concept before moving on. It’s early days, but the goal is to provide personalised support at scale.
Creative Corner:
The world of creative AI is moving at lightning speed. Runway, a leader in AI video generation, just launched a feature they’re calling “Audio to Ambiance.” You can now upload a music track or voiceover, and the model will generate video clips that match the mood, tempo, and emotional tone of the audio. Imagine uploading a dreamy, ambient track and getting back slow motion shots of a misty forest at dawn. It’s a powerful new tool for filmmakers, musicians, and social media creators.
Meanwhile, image generator Midjourney has released a new parameter that’s a dream for photography lovers. The new style reference allows you to create images that mimic specific historical photographic processes with stunning accuracy. You can now generate portraits that have the distinct, silvery look of a 19th century daguerreotype or landscapes with the vibrant, saturated colours of old Kodachrome film.
Tags: #AITrends, #LLMUpdates, #PromptEngineering, #DailyBrew, #LisaLightband, #GoogleGemini