Albert Art

WAVE

So I managed to score a Google Wave invite off, a generous Tweeter, about a week ago. Flash foward to today, and I finally got it in my email box. Of course I was excited to see what the hype was all about, and quickly put it to use, randomly contacting those on my gmail contact list, who also have Google Wave accounts.

I excitedly tweeted my new Wave status, and soon received, replies from desperate folks looking for a Google Wave invite. I'd love to invite some peeps, but to be honest, I don't think I have the ability to send out invites yet. I've been told it takes a week or so, for that to kick in.

So far, it takes some getting used to, knowing that what you type in the Wave - typos and all - can be seen by all participants. The interface is pretty standard, and comes off more like a chat room, than anything else, where you can have long threads of conversation, on any part of theh conversation. Though things are quite buggy in this Google Wave Preview. The scrolling, and scroll bars, for one are less than smooth.

1UP user NakedBob, joined the Wave, and started showing me some Wave extentions, that add apps to to the thread. Like games, polls, and google maps.

I can see some practical uses for Google Wave, but I don't think it's something for casual conversation, where you could just use IM instead. Google Wave seems good, for lots of collaborative stuff where the exchange of work-related info is necessary. Organizing events, and trips, seems like good use too.

And then there is the question of privacy. When NakedBob posted a google map of my location in the chat thread, I was surprised, that it was pretty accurate. Cool, but pretty stalkerish, if in the wrong hands.

Still, I can't wait to see Google Wave, when all the bugs are fixed.