Hasta La Gadget!

Google is big on sharing all things virtual, but it hasn’t done a lot to spread the wealth in the physical world. That could change soon: Google Operating System claims to have spotted an in-development Google Mine service that can simplify lending tangible goods. Users can list what they’re sharing, offer items to their Google+ circles and keep track of who has what. The web version can reportedly show a collection in 3D through a WebGL viewer named Katamari, and there’s also an Android app in tow.

The feature set sounds ideal for generous Google+ users; the real question is whether we’ll get to use any of it. Mine is supposedly limited to internal testing for now, and only some of Google’s initiatives ever leave its campus. Google hasn’t confirmed the effort, but the company tells us that it’s “always experimenting” with features and doesn’t have anything to share “at this time.” Connected borrowers will just have to be patient, then — assuming the service launches at all.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google Operating System

Penguin will refresh its ebook lending system later today, according to a report from the New York Times. The publisher will start lending out its titles in Los Angeles and Cleveland, mimicking the program that trialled (despite some DRM issues) in New York. Public library users can even expect downloadable audiobooks to join the lending list soon, through a team-up between Penguin and OneClickDigital. Expect the same lending rules, with new books appearing six months after their first release and the bizarre ‘one copy at a time’ system, in which each title can only be rented at one person at any one time. Worse still, at least for libraries, at the end of each year they must buy each title again or lose access to the digital copy.

[Image courtesy Sten Rüdrich]

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Via: The Verge

Source: The New York Times