Google Announces Gemini-Powered Googlebooks; Amazon Begins 30 Minute Delivery; Sony Wearable AC Takes it Up a Notch; eBay Rejects Gamestop $58 Billion Offer

It wasn’t long ago that Apple surprised us with the Neo, their new laptop in the mid priced segment. Now, at I/O, Google has dropped Googlebooks. 9to5google.com notes that the new laptops are a new category which Google claims will take the best of Android and ChromeOS. The GoogleBooks are packed with Gemini AI features. Google said they are intended to give users “personal and proactive help when and where you need it.”

Magic Pointer lets you “Select anything to ask Gemini.” After wiggling the cursor, pointing at something will show “quick, contextual suggestions.” It also lets you add anything on your screen to a Gemini prompt. There is also Create My Widget. Also coming to phones, this generative UI capability lets you place custom pieces of information on your desktop. It draws from the web and your Gmail, Calendar, and other Google apps. There’s a guided creation process or the ability to enter a prompt. Besides these features, Google showed off how GoogleBooks with fit with your Android Phone. Cast my apps lets you access any application on your phone on the laptop’s bigger screen. Quick Access enables you to retrieve files no matter where they are stored. The file browser on Googlebooks lets you browse the files on your phone and insert from your laptop. Look for the first GoogleBooks to be out this fall. More details and pricing will be available then. 

Amazon has rolled out 30 minute delivery. TechCrunch.com says the service is called ‘Amazon Now,’ and it is initially available in dozens of US cities. For starters, thousands of items including fresh groceries, household supplies, and other items will be yours in about 30 minutes in  Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, and Seattle, and is expanding to Austin, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis, Orlando, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix. By year-end, Amazon expects to bring the service to tens of millions of customers in these and other cities, as the rollout continues across the U.S. Eligible items will be marked ’30 minute delivery’ on Amazon’s website and in the app. 

Don’t sweat it…literally. Sony has improved its wearable Reon personal cooling device that first came out in 2017 in Asia. According to engadget.com, the upgraded unit is not just a wearable fan attached to your neck. Sony claims the Reon works via the Peltier effect.  The device sits at the base of your neck, with an electrically cooled metal plate delivering lower temperatures at the ideal place for your circulatory system, like a tiny ice pack with a USB-C port. The new version offers more comfort and better battery life, and now gives you a 3.6 degree increase in cooling. It will run for up to 10 yours on the second highest cooling setting. The Reon Pocket Pro Plus comes with its own accessory, too, a second-gen Pocket Tag that’s smaller than its predecessor and monitors ambient temperature and humidity. It isn’t available in the US yet, but runs  £199 in the UK and €220 elsewhere in Europe. It should be out in the US before it gets really hot this summer. 

eBay has rejected GameStop’s $56 billion dollar offer. Arstechnica.com reports that eBay said in a letter quote ‘Your proposal is neither credible nor attractive.’ GameStop made the surprising offer last week. eBay’s rejection “could lead to a hostile bid” because GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has “said he was willing to take the offer directly to eBay shareholders, possibly by calling a special meeting.” 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.