Home > Google, Internet, Technology > The digital tidal wave – Google Wave

The digital tidal wave – Google Wave

September 16th, 2009


google_wave_logoWhat’s Google Wave?

Hmm.. looks like I have been covering a lot on Google stuff lately and ‘Google’ is the largest word in my tag cloud now.

But with the rate of cool stuff coming out from Google, I couldn’t stop myself. 😛

Google Wave, as defined by Google, is a new model for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year. What the heck does that means anyway?

It is still in developer preview stage, and not open for public use yet, just like the initial stages of GMail.

google_wave_preview

Lucky for me though, this time I get to have a developer preview access, thanks to my participation in Google Technology User Group, KL. More on GTUG later.

I have attached a lengthy video of the initial wave announcement + demonstration at the bottom of this post. It takes more than an hour to finish, but if you’re into innovation, it’s well worth it.

To me, I see that Google Wave addresses some problems in our current email usage. This includes an email thread which started with the first email of questions that goes back and forth between a few people, adding more and more colours to highlight the part of new reply and also trying to figure out the sequence of replies. Familiar?

Google Wave has a client or a browser based interface like your email software that lists conversations. Each topic is a wave and every reply is a blip.

google_wave_sandbox

Users can playback the wave in sequence or by frame to see how the conversation started up to the current point and also easily embed photos or videos.

It supports programs named Wave Robots, Gadgets and Embed API. Don’t let those names intimidate you, they are just programs for the conversational tool.

Robots are programs that can be added into a wave and become a tool in the wave. It is an automated participant, programmed to do things that can be done by participant, only that it is a Robot.

Gadgets are programs that can be added into the wave, something like miniature objects that can provide cool and dynamic contents. At this point of time, I would like to say it’s something like OpenSocial gadgets but ironically it doesn’t support OpenSocial API yet. Most of the gadgets are games.

google_wave_gadgets

Embed API is working the other way, where developers can put Google Wave into their website instead of putting their program into Wave. An example for this is extension to blog commenting system, where wave users can comment with their Google Wave accounts.

I don’t think it as a super duper cool technology that will change our lives as much as Google Search does, but gradually it might change how people communicate more than just plain email and instant messaging.

The video of the Google Wave keynote presentation in Google IO:

Google Wave will progress from developer preview to beta version starting September 30th. Another 100,000 wave accounts will be given on top of those having developer preview access.

If you’re interested with Google Wave technology, request for your access here. I heard those who will report bugs and submit feedback will get their accounts sooner.

I joined the GTUG KL 2nd Wave hackathon session last weekend and created a simple Wave Robot with Java. I’ll be posting about my experience of that soon, so stay tuned. GTUGs are user groups for people who are interested in Google’s developer technology. GTUG KL is the group in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Follow GTUG KL on facebook, and join the upcoming events. There might be cool lightning talks about cool Google stuff or even hackathon sessions for developers.

 Follow me on twitter.





Google, Internet, Technology

, , , ,

You might like the following posts too :

  • » The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win
  • » Developer Programs
  • » Getting Started with OpenShift - easy reference by Steven Pousty & Katie J. Miller
  • » Learning Chef by Mischa Taylor and Seth Vargo
  • » Attend a Stanford University Class - The Startup Class
    1. September 18th, 2009 at 20:22 | #1

      nice info. wow.. can play games some more. LoL

    1. September 24th, 2009 at 18:40 | #1