Wave hello to Google Wave

Image by jlori via Flickr

After all the web hype and lurking at others commenting about it I've finally got to use Google Wave. I'd registered my interest a couple of months ago but only got an invite via a kindly Brighton New Media member. Two days after that I was sent my offical invite from Google so now have a work and personal account.

Bear in mind that this is still a beta release so there should be some final tweaks to come. Here's some very initial thoughts:

If you're not a web geek here's a quick explanation as to what Google Wave actually is. At the moment most people will see it as a web email service similar to Hotmail but you create 'waves' which can act as messages so you can attach files, photos and links etc. The Wave itself can develop as a conversation (think Facebook comments on a status) as others can add their own comments or files, images etc, etc as well as correct or add text to the original message you started. If you're familiar to wikis (think Wikipedia where editors can go in and change text etc.) then this is a great collaborative tool. If all those users involved with the 'wave' are online at the exact time you can see the edits and messages happen instantly i.e. you can see someone type letter by letter on screen!

Google has put together a few videos and from the demos shown you can add varioius applications to enhance Wave. Obviously Google is already good at search and maps which as apps are easily added taking a little trial and error to get the best results. Having my own blog I was keen to see how the Google service of Blogger would be incorporated. From the videos I thought you could easily link to Blogger but instead of adding the application as you'd think you would, you have to find a URL out there independently from another website then add 'Bloggy' as a contact - very odd. This was supposed to be the first attempt at blogging from Wave but it hasn't worked.

Twitter was another web service I constantly use and has its own app within Wave. Another pathetic, cutesy name, Tweety has to be added as a contact. I tried this out whilst 'waving'(?, god I hope that won't be the expression) with Steve Wilde. As I added both Tweety and Steve to the wave and tweeted a message, I discovered that Steve could tweet as me! Bit of a security issue if you're not careful.

As well as the blogging fail whilst preparing this content on Wave after navigating to another page by mistake I lost all the previous work and contacts and had to give up. Now I'm back into work its all returned but even still a lot of confidence has been lost.

Wishlist

• Perhaps a Delicious app
• Bloggy to work

Resources

• Mashable's Google Wave: A Complete Guide
• Ultimate List of Google Wave Gadgets and Tools
• 10 More Google Wave Gadgets to Play With