In early 2026, Obsidian released Bases โ a new core plugin that creates table, card, and list views from note properties. It looks similar to Notion databases, but your data stays in Markdown files on your own machine.
In the first week of May 2026, the AI ecosystem is moving on three fronts. Google I/O 2026 opens May 19 with Gemini 4.0 and agentic AI on the agenda. Claude Code has quietly shipped v2.1.132 with better session management and MCP visibility. And NotebookLM has opened a new knowledge-management layer by integrating with the Gemini app as "Notebooks in Gemini."
On May 6, 2026, Claude Code v2.1.129 shipped with three standout features: install plugins from a URL with --plugin-url, build personal color palettes via /theme, and wipe project state cleanly with claude project purge. Anthropic also opened its official plugin directory. Claude Code is no longer just a tool โ it is becoming a platform.
Google launched Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite to general availability on Vertex AI. It uses 20-30% fewer tokens than the standard Flash while maintaining reasoning, coding, and multimodal performance โ and it now supports supervised fine-tuning (SFT). At the same time, Deep Research opened for free on the Flash model, and Native Audio got sharper. A significant update for cost-conscious teams and individuals alike.
NotebookLM added a Lecture format to Audio Overview โ a single-host, 30-minute structured deep-dive instead of the familiar two-host conversation. Flashcards now generate directly from your uploaded sources only, meaning the cards reflect exactly what you studied rather than what AI generally knows. Together, these features turn NotebookLM into a complete, self-contained learning cycle.