Posts Tagged ‘Google Wave’
What is Google Wave? · Over at Macworld this morning, I took a shot at explaining what Google Wave is (and isn't). Even in a Wave-backlash/Buzz-love world, I'm still bullish about Wave. It's the best collaboration webapp I've ever used. Once you've experienced inline replies in a wave with your group, you never want to email again. · 3 weeks ago, 2 comments
A week ago I asked readers to tell me how they're using Google Wave in their daily lives, and despite a bit of "ha! no one's using Wave!" snarking on the Twitter, I got lots of interesting responses. Unsurprisingly, most Wavers use it as a real-time wiki, but some take advantage of features unique to Wave, like inline and private replies, public tags, and gadgets. I featured the most unique use cases I got in a brand new chapter just added to The Complete Guide to Google Wave. The following is the text of the just-published Chapter 10, which describes ways in which a few people who don't work for Google are using Wave to get things done--with screenshots.
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Once you're active in Google Wave, you want to know if something new is happening there--even if you don't have Wave open in your web browser. Several Wave notifier applications and browser add-ons can do the work of checking your Wave inbox for you, and letting you know you've got new and changed waves.
The following is an excerpt from the all-new Chapter 9 of The Complete Guide to Google Wave. Got feedback? Let me know in the comments and help write the first book on Wave!
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Got a great response to last week's frequently asked questions about Google Wave, and it's worth expanding further on the differences between Wave and the current crop of web-based collaboration offerings.
Wave combines features from email, instant messenger, Google Docs, wikis, and forums and throws its own spin on things. For a quick visual of its offerings versus similar tools, check out this feature-by-feature comparison.
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The Google Wave Preview has been available to one million+ people for over three months now, but questions about Wave still abound, even by the early adopters who have gotten in and taken it for a test drive.
After publishing a book on everything I know about Wave, I still get many of the same questions I heard back when I started. Even folks usually bullish about new technology still don't understand what they can use Wave for, how to sell it to their friends and co-workers so they have someone to use it with, and how to fit it into their workday.
As much as I'd love it if everyone bought a copy of my book for every person they invite to Wave, reading 102 pages just to "get" a product is ridiculous. So, I've compiled some of the most frequently asked questions I've gotten about Wave and my best (and briefest) answers for them right here in quick-fire format.
Step inside to hear a two-word definition of Wave, what it's useful for, why you'd choose it over similar products, and how to do the things in Wave that most often trip up new users.
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Yesterday the Google Wave team confirmed Wave's unfinished but working Google Groups integration, which lets you send waves to groups of participants in one shot. To try it out, I created The Complete Guide to Google Wave Wavers group. Join that Google Group with your Google account email (not your Wave ID), then search for group:wave-guide-wavers@googlegroups.com in Wave to see and update group waves. Sound confusing? It is.
While I'd seen this rudimentary support for groups mentioned in various public waves, we didn't include it in the Preview edition of The Complete Guide to Google Wave because it seemed so utterly unfinished (and it wasn't officially documented). Right now, there's no way to add users to Wave groups in-Wave, and messages to the group in Wave don't show up on the list and vice versa. There's obviously a whole lot of work to be done in the Groups arena as it relates to Wave, but for now, this is what we've got. Give it a try and let me know what you think in Wave.
Waving with Groups [The Google Wave Blog]
How do Google Groups access settings interact with waves? [Google Wave Help]
Yesterday on This Week in Google while I was complaining that Google's acquisition of EtherPad should have been handled much more gracefully--by, you know, notifying EtherPad users before they shut down the service--EtherPad was doing an about-face. The collaborative text editor service will now stay online and open for new pads "at least" until the creators open-source the code, to ensure "no or minimal service disruption in the future." This is exactly what they should have done in the first place.
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O'Reilly has posted the video of my 15-minute keynote speech at Web 2.0 Expo this week, entitled "Making Sense of Google Wave." There were over 2,000 people seated in the audience, and I was nervous. I wanted to communicate my enthusiasm about Wave but also get across that it's an power tool for power users, with a learning curve.
Take a gander at the video.
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Making Sense of Google Wave at Web 2.0 Expo Keynote Tomorrow · I'm in wonderful New York City this week, getting ready to do a 15-minute keynote talk on Making Sense of Google Wave tomorrow, November 17th. It'll be at 2:05pm Eastern time, and if you're not at the conference, you can watch it live on the web, here. I've also started the first public Web 2.0 Expo wave; search for with:public tag:w2e to chime in or make your own. I'll also have something good to announce about The Complete Guide to Google Wave. (It won't be a surprise to anyone following @gwaveguide on Twitter.) More tomorrow! · November 17th, 2009, 3 comments
I'm tickled pink to finally announce the project I've been hard at work on for weeks now: my new book, The Complete Guide to Google Wave, is now available to read and share for free at completewaveguide.com.
Anyone who reads my stuff or listens to This Week in Google knows that I'm a Google Wave nut. Yes, it's a hyped, complex, do-it-all web application, but the sheer ambition is part of Wave's appeal for me. Since I logged onto Wave's developer sandbox back in June, I've spent a whole lot of time in Wave, figuring out how it works and what it might do--and blogging about my discoveries just didn't cut it. So, along with Adam Pash from Lifehacker, I've compiled everything we know how to do in Google Wave in a book format at completewaveguide.com. I'm calling it a book, but for now it's just a web site--with eight "chapters" and two "appendices," free for you to read, share, and if we're lucky, help us expand. The site will grow into traditional book formats, however: thanks to the team at 3ones, a PDF version of the book's preview edition will be available for purchase this month. In January of 2010, a softcover print version of the book's first edition will be available as well as an updated PDF. Adam and I have committed to four editions throughout 2010, so the book will change and evolve along with Wave. The latest and greatest version of the book will always be available for free at completewaveguide.com.
I turned down a request-for-proposal from my traditional book publisher to try this experiment in iterative self-publishing. I ran down the whole story of why on the book's About page. This approach scratches several itches I've had for years: I've always wanted to publicly collaborate on a book using MediaWiki, try my hand at self-publishing, and license a book under Creative Commons. Now, to see how it will all turn out. Check out the book and let me know what you think. (Also, follow @gwaveguide on Twitter for Wave tips and book news.)
After only a few weeks of Wave usage, my inbox is been teeming with activity, full of waves from strangers who have added me and 17 other strangers to items I don't particularly care about. Rather than shoot for inbox zero in Wave and spend the time archiving everything in sight, I'm going with the flow--with the help of a few saved searches. Besides the previously-mentioned with:public search, three other saved searches are making drilling down to my most important waves much easier.
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Update: The contest is now over, and here are a few of the winners.
Want an invitation to Google Wave? Tell us what you're going to use Google Wave for, and we'll nominate the folks who describe the best use case.
Google was kind enough to give us a few dozen extra Wave nominations, and we want to give them to people who will put Wave through its paces in real-world situations. We're not going to ask you to write a haiku, but we are going to ask you to tell us how you'll use your invite. Here's how this will work.
To enter the contest, send an email to wave-invite at lifehacker.com, subject line "How I'll use Google Wave." In the email, answer these three questions:
1.) What does your workgroup do or make?
2.) What software tools does your workgroup currently use to collaborate?
3.) Why would Wave make that collaboration easier?
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Your Impressions of Google Wave · I tweeted, "Whether or not you got invited in, tell me your impression of Google Wave in 140 characters." Here's what my followers said. 
Twitter replies
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My First Embedded Wave · For all you Google Wavers, here are my favorite Google Wave bots--listed in a wave, of course. You'll need to be logged into Wave to see the page. · October 2nd, 2009, 4 comments
If you're one of the lucky folks who got into Google Wave this week, your excitement probably turned to "Now what?" when you logged in and realized you had no one to wave with. If anyone on your Google account's Contacts lists also has Wave you're set--but for some folks that's no one, or just one person. I've gotten a few waves from people saying "I have no one to talk to, and you're the only one on my list."
If that happens to you, it's time to break out the first search command every Wave newbie needs to know: with:public, which returns a huge moving sea of public waves anyone can read and update. There you can dive in, meet other wavers, see what's possible with Wave, and ask how to do stuff. Wave documentation is building up fast and furious inside Wave, and since everyone's new to it, everyone is asking questions and lending each other a hand.
Once you're tired of your inbox crawling with public waves? Save a search for waves just to you by using the in:inbox to:you@googlewave.com to pare down your list.
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