The Wall Street Journal and Mashable are reporting that Google will soon roll out a “status update” feature to Gmail similar to Facebook and Twitter. This is BIG news and “Make Gmail Social” (which appears in the Mashable headline) is now a trending topic on Twitter.
Google Wave was a novelty this year–perhaps the pet rock of 2009. It seems like everyone wanted an invitation to preview Google Wave but few actually waved. Maybe there’s a clandestine group of hard core wavers. In any event, the wave shows significant potential and a few videos have surfaced that demonstrate the full capabilities of Google Wave. Today, Whirled Interactive released a YouTube video that very topically shows off their waving (surfing?) talents. Waving Goodbye to 2009:
[via Eric Zeman @ InformationWeek]
Kudos to the Google Wave team for soliciting feedback a second time from those who are kicking the tires of the Google Wave preview. This time around, there’s no lengthy survey and 1 through 10s. Simply add wave.stories@googlewave.com to any impressive wave you want to show off to Google or send a new wave to that address with a link to a blog post about Google Wave.
[via Stephanie Hannon @ The Google Wave Blog (Official)]
Will Google Wave enforce a quota system on users like Gmail? How can this be done?
If you kicked the tires in Google Wave, you might have also noticed the image to the right which shows some ghosted options for transferring files to a wave. There are similar options under images, some of which are not ghosted. This prompted me to consider storage capacity for waves, particularly public waves. Presumably, Google is not planning on allowing people unlimited wave storage. Gmail doesn’t.
Mozilla Labs, the group behind the enormously successful Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail client, has a monster of a program in the works named “Raindrop.” Raindrop will be a central hub for online communication. It will integrate e-mail, RSS feeds, Facebook, Twitter and instant messaging into one downloadable program. Like Firefox and Thunderbird, it will support add-on extensions. This may seem similar to Google Wave — bringing multiple forms of online communication together into a central interface. There is one fundamental difference, however.
Google Wave E-mail Notifications
After you register for Google Wave, you will probably want to set up e-mail notifications of new or updated waves. Receiving e-mail notifications is simple. Just add wave-email-notifications@appspot.com as a contact in Google Wave. Then create a new wave to that contact. Wait a few seconds and then click the star button. You’re all set.
Click the image to the right to take you to the Google Wave E-mail Notifications project.
Google Wave Invite Wave
If you were nominated for a Google Wave Preview invitation by an initial waver and received one, you may have received invitation privileges today. Check your Google Wave inbox for the “Invite others to Google Wave” wave. Click the image to see a full size picture of the wave.
Google Wave just put out a survey about the Google Wave Preview on Twitter this evening. You can find it here: http://bit.ly/u1N61 . If you are participating in the Google Wave Preview, I encourage you to complete the survey. It is very long but covers almost every aspect of Google Wave, including its current deficiencies. Specifically, I would like to see improved scrolling and a mobile version of Google Wave. Check. That is covered in their survey. They now know that. Kudos to the Google Wave team for putting out the survey and checking with the users. I betcha that some of this feedback is acted upon quickly.
Eric Schimdt, CEO of Google, recently spoke about the scarcity of Google Wave invites and the timeline for further rollout. Less than one week ago, he said, “[Google's Wave team is] getting ready for a much broader distribution. Ready means very soon. Very soon is like weeks not years.”
Many people are still actively seeking access to Google Wave, the next generation e-mail, instant messaging and collaboration service. A quick search on Twitter for “Google Wave” shows that the vast majority of chatter is still about access. What can you do to get a Google Wave invite now? Continue reading »
