The Wishlist widget allows users to publish what gifts (right now, just music) they want on their social networking profile or blog, and friends can purchase it for them and send it digitally. The recipient receives an email telling them so-and-so bought them a gift.

gBox CEO Tammy Artim tells WebProNews that over a million tracks are available in gBox’s inventory, in MP3 or WMA formats from major music labels such as Universal and Sony, or from independent labels like Iota.

Though the initial release is for music only, Artim says the gBox platform will extend to videos and games, and eventually into hard goods. Mobile capabilities are also planned as the company works out details with the major carriers.

The company also contrasts its more controlled approach to promotion to Facebook’s Beacon fiasco. Instead of defacto endorsements like Beacon provides, users can more actively choose which products or artists they find desirable, and post them to their Wishlist.

"We think it’s a pretty cool way to get in front of the consumer," says Artim, also noting how it’s a follow-up to the popular practice of virtual gifting.

gBox’s Wishlist is only available for PC, but Artim says Mac compatibility will follow.

Google’s open source program manager Chris DiBona shared the news about Google’s forthcoming Summer Of Code, a repeat of their previous effort to support developers and worthy open source projects.

In 2005, Google received 8,744 applicants for the Summer of Code program. DiBona said 419 were accepted.

Developers earn a $5000 stipend from Google for their work; $500 goes to the mentoring organization and $4500 to the developer.

Should Google be the mentoring organization, the $500 would be rolled back into the Summer Of Code program.

Quite a few organizations have already signed up as mentors since registration opened on April 11th.

Apache, Python, Perl, FreeBSD, and Postgresql among others have places on the mentoring list. Those registrations run through May 1st.

Prospective mentors for the program must provide a pool of project ideas, and staff to review proposals for those ideas or for “blue-sky” concepts that pertain to the mentor’s organization.

As an example, The Perl Foundation pointed out a list of potential project ideas on perl.org. Among those are several from the Perl 5 wishlist:

Google also wants those mentors to have understudies available to cover the original mentor’s absences, should he or she have a vacation planned or otherwise be unavailable during the term of the project.

Then, student proposals may be submitted from May 1st through May 8th. Mentoring organizations then review the proposals for the next two weeks, and contacts student developers to request more information or to indicate if their proposals have been accepted.

After that, the coding process begins. Google will support a newsgroup, an IRC channel, #summer-discuss, on Slashnet, and by email.

More information on the program may be found at the Summer Of Code website.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

You can post your free listing on Expo and then have it displayed automatically, with a photo and an excerpt, to visitors to your blog.

The Spaces team has been busy lately. Their biggest addition was the RSS feed module last month. It allows you to create a sidebar module containing content from any RSS feed, letting you include Flickr photos, sports scores, your other blogs, del.icio.us links, Netflix rentals, and your Amazon wishlist.

Meanwhile, Expo is running an interesting contest. If you attend one of four colleges (University of Wisconsin – Madison, University of Washington, Ohio State University, University of Texas) then “International Collector Edward G. Ramos III” is looking to buy items from you. Ramos III is looking for “obscure” yet valueless items, for which he’ll pay top dollar (in other words, if you list something stupid, you might win a prize).

He’s looking for:

• 40 piggy banks at $20 apiece
• 20 Smiley Faced maracas at $30 apiece
• 20 hardhats for $30 apiece
• 10 stuffed huskies or stuffed Bucky Badgers at $100 apiece
• 10 “Death to Smoochy” DVDs for $100 apiece
• 2 Atari Donkey Kong game cartridges for $500 each
• 2 Ice Cube or Death Cab For Cutie concert tickets for $500 each
• A Homer Simpson Chia Pet for $1000
• An Easy-Bake Oven for $1000

What a cool idea! My only regret is that it is limited to college students, and specific college students, which means I can’t get the Donkey Kong bounty (I’ve held onto that game long enough, and $500 is plenty!). Edward G. Ramos III has his own MSN Space, even.

Expo seems to be taking off. There are over 3000 listings in the New York area, and they aren’t promoting and aren’t really accepting many New York people, so that’s significant. I hope more people try it out, since Windows Live has taken a unique and smart approach to the online community marketplace.

If you haven’t given it a shot, check it out.

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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

Visit the InsideGoogle blog.