google gemini

james choice · 2026-05-19T11:08:34.044659-07:00

a new use case for ai i recently discovered. the other day, i started reading a classic russian novel, but it had so many different characters, and throughout the book people kept referring to them with different names and nicknames. every character had like 4 or 5 different variations of their name. just figuring out who was who took effort. so i opened google gemini and said: “list every character in this book with all of their nicknames and alternate names, explain who they are, but absolutely do not spoil the story.” and it actually did an amazing job. it listed all the characters with their general traits and nicknames without giving away spoilers. now i keep the list next to me as a guide while reading, and i never get confused anymore.

my main ai assistant.

there's just one frustrating issue. when i keep a conversation pinned, whether it's about the stock market, a diet plan, or a project at work, it gradually starts ignoring the earliest parts of the chat as the conversation gets longer.

i've had project discussions that stretched to ninety pages over three weeks, and eventually it started acting like the most important decisions from the beginning had never happened.

i found a workaround that seems to help. i scroll all the way to the top of the conversation and save the entire chat as a pdf. then i upload that same pdf back into the conversation to refresh its memory.

maybe it'll be useful to someone else too.