If you have been on twitter at all in the last 3 days you would have noticed a new trending topic called Google Wave. When I first saw it, I figured it some goofy Twitter trending topic like #ChrisBrownsBowTie. I wasn’t ready for what I was about to find out…
Yesterday, I was browsing Lifehacker and came across their First Look at Google Wave where one of the writers lucky enough to get invited to the Wave demonstrated the power of Google Wave with a screan shot fill review. I promptly proceeded to devour that article followed by watching the 1 hour and 20 min Google Wave developer preview video.
What Is Google Wave
The developers of Google Wave said that e-mail as we know it is an old technology, and they wanted to design something that was like e-mail with updated feature. If you were to take instant messenger, e-mail, outlook, and a webpage editor and balled them up into one place, you’d almost have Google Wave.
Google Wave Layout
In the First column, you have your standard e-mail navigation with your basic inbox, trash, sent (by me), etc… There is a contact list similar to most instant messenger clients that uses a green ball to mark online contacts.
Next you have your active wave column which is similar to your inbox on outlook with the list of all your active waves. The unread waves will be bold. You can also make other folders and view them in this column. The right column is your reading and composing pane where the big action happens.
Honestly, the layout reminds me of Microsoft Outlook crossed with gmail, and I like it!
Source: http://www.lifehacker.com by Gina Trapani
Google Wave Features
Some specific features that Google Wave includes are:
- Inline replies (similar to threaded replies/comments) that can be hidden via widget
- The ability to embed maps, videos, games, and other gadgets (more on this later)
- Private replies and global replies
- Real time typing (A lot of people are wowed by this, but ICQ chat had this feature back in 2000)
- Real time spell checking
- Drag and drop folders
- Wave revision playback – the ability to start the wave from the beginning and go through each revision step by step. This is extremely useful if you join in on a wave late. You can see who made each edit and even start a new wave from a previous step.
- Wave tagging
- Search operators
- Open source
Google Wave Gadgets and Robots
While the features listed above are all awesome and fun, they don’t truly show off the strength of the Wave. The gadgets and robots are where the real power of Google Wave is going to differentiate from everything else.
Some of the gadgets I’ve seen include: Chess, Risk, Google Map, and a cool “who is coming?” gadget. Gina from Lifehacker also mentions a conference call gadget called Ribbit that dials out to everyone while keeping each phone number private.
Since Wave is still in development, there aren’t a ton of gadgets, so don’t let the simplicity of this gadgets fool you. I’m positive many game gadgets will pop up quickly. Real time typing for Texas Hold’em should be fun!
One of the coolest features is a robot called Bloggy. By adding this robot to your wave, you can publish the entire wave on your blog. Other Google Wave users can join the wave from the blog. The wave and blog will update in real time, so anything you write from the wave client will show up on the blog and vice versa. As they mentioned in the video, this could make flame wars get heated fast!
Currently, if you don’t have Wave you can’t read these blogs; however, I understand that they will have a read only feature for non-Wave users developed/implemented shortly… How do you think this is going to change blogging?
Summary
The demos of Google Wave that we’ve seen are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this product and the possible features it will have. The real time editing and playback features will make it easier than ever for multiple users to collaborate on projects. This will also make social interaction over the net among a group of users easier, faster, and more accurate than ever. I’m looking forward to getting on Google Wave. Are you ready for the Wave?
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Gabe | freebloghelp.com Says:
October 1st, 2009 at 6:01 PM
What can I say…WOW! I need this vid on my blog!
I’ve always been a big fan of Google and the way they approach innovation. In fact, I wrote a simple review on Google trends today. But surely, this product demo trumps that easily!
Johnluffa Says:
October 1st, 2009 at 7:57 PM
Thanks for sharing this.
I watched half of the video and I think the product looks great.
Dave Doolin | Website In A Weekend Says:
October 1st, 2009 at 9:16 PM
It’s going to be interesting, that’s for sure. I should be picking up a developer’s account this weekend at code camp… we’ll see.
.-= Dave Doolin | Website In A Weekend´s last blog ..Advanced SEO IMG Element Handling For WordPress (Part II) =-.
Blake Waddill Reply:
October 1st, 2009 at 9:37 PM
I’m jealous! If you have any “invites”… ;-) jk
Walter Says:
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:54 PM
This is going to be interesting. I want to have my hand on it. :-)
ZXT Says:
October 3rd, 2009 at 1:18 PM
Need invites too :)
Blake Waddill Reply:
October 3rd, 2009 at 2:19 PM
Ok Dave, we now know where 2 of your invites are going ;-)
John McDonnell Says:
October 3rd, 2009 at 6:34 PM
Google is always coming up with new innovations. This one sounds like a winner.
shaker alwal Says:
October 4th, 2009 at 2:13 AM
yup it looks really awesome , i m desperately
waiting for it
kenjae Says:
October 4th, 2009 at 1:23 PM
At least if someone asks me about Google Wave, I’ll be able answer without sounding like a complete goof. Thanks for the heads up!
kenjae
Teresa/ lighthouse1958 Says:
October 4th, 2009 at 6:38 PM
I haven’t heard of google wave, thanks for the information.
Harsh Agrawal Says:
October 4th, 2009 at 6:59 PM
Luckily I got a Google wave invitation and I’m so glad to try it.. though still missing seeing all of my friends there and it is almost useless for me…till the time I see most of my friends there…
.-= Harsh Agrawal´s last blog ..Shoutmeloud Google Wave Invitation Giveaway =-.
Blake Waddill Reply:
October 4th, 2009 at 10:18 PM
Yeah, until it goes completely public, we won’t really be able to tell how much it’s going to change communication on the internet. It seems like it’s going to be really sweet and convenient when we can get all our friends on it.
Do you know if it has any e-mail compatibility? That’s one thing I haven’t heard about yet.
Fareeha Rizvi Says:
October 4th, 2009 at 7:45 PM
great article! Thanks for sharing! You’ve been recommend.
Fareeha
Rozygal Says:
October 5th, 2009 at 12:28 AM
I am sending this info to my computer whiz kids in my family!
It is too cool!
Blake Waddill Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 9:02 AM
I’m sure they will be very excited to get their hands on Google Wave when it becomes available to the public. It’s going to be awesome for helping families communicate ;-)
Zeesu Says:
October 5th, 2009 at 8:31 AM
I love everything google comes up with but I dont feel wave is going to next big communication product.I feel it more of marketing gimmick integrating various features of gtalk,gmail and others.
Blake Waddill Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 9:05 AM
Do you really think it’s going to turn out poorly? I think for businesses especially, this product is pretty groundbreaking. They have included some major features that will make business planning, project managing, and anything else involving collaboration with 3 or more people a thousand times easier than it is now!
I do agree that it does seem a little bit like an extension from gmail… they did claim that it was e-mail 2009 though :-)
zeesu Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 12:19 PM
no no i think it will succeed but my point is we are getting same products in new packing.
P.S : I send you one mail on your site email id,did you receive it?
Gabe | freebloghelp.com Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 9:18 AM
I believe many of Google’s products are innovative…even if only are only incremental to what we’re already used to. Even if you don’t consider them major advances, the integration of all of them is actually a big deal, IMO.
Daan Says:
October 5th, 2009 at 11:54 AM
Allright! Great, I’ve been waiting for Google to come up with a mailclient. But offcourse, knowing Google, they come up with something much more innovative than that. Great! Didn’t notice it on Twitter by the way, must’ve been the lack of sleep. ;)
Blake Waddill Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Really? It was a top trending topic for 3 days I think! Less caffeine, More sleep! ;-)
George Maris Says:
October 7th, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Three things to say,great design, great info,great job,
Roxanne Browning Says:
October 8th, 2009 at 8:11 PM
Thanks so much for this article! The next wave is here, when there are still so many people who have not gotten Twitter yet, we have a new way to communicate. Technology is awesome, just got to keep up with it!
Blake Waddill Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 9:20 AM
Thanks for the comment!
I think wave has a more specific area of application than Twitter. They are each awesome for two totally different reasons. It is hard to keep up with technology sometimes; I totally agree!
ms brown Says:
October 17th, 2009 at 7:39 PM
Great article. I have been researching this topic and found your blog to be fabulous!
Greg Molyneux Says:
October 29th, 2009 at 4:06 PM
Blake, have you gotten onto Google Wave yourself yet?
Blake Waddill Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 4:08 PM
Still waiting for my invite. I haven’t been soliciting my people for invites. Although if you know anyone who has an extra invite.. ;-)
5 Twitter Newbie Mistakes To Avoid And Get You on More Twitter Lists || Props Blog dot Com Says:
October 30th, 2009 at 8:07 AM
[...] Are You Ready For Google Wave? [...]
Sarah Says:
November 8th, 2009 at 2:15 PM
I can’t wait to see where this takes us.