Introduction

Early this morning, my girlfriend was fortunate enough to get an invite to one of Google’s latest web applications, Google Wave. And I was sent an invitation by her to test out this new feature. Initially, when I read about Google Wave, I was just barely interested. But when I was given the opportunity to test Google Wave out, I was blown away by the possibilities of this new web application.

What is Google Wave

Google Wave is a communication-platform that updates itself real-time. Imagine, having a conversation in cyberspace in real-time. That’s exactly what Google Wave allows. When someone types a message, the other parties involved in the same Wave, will see the message being typed out in real-time. Meaning, unlike an Instant Messenger like Windows Live Messenger that requires you to “Send” your messages, discussions have a lively feel to it.

Let’s take a look at the wonderful features of Google Wave.

Real-Time

Conversation takes place in real-time!

As mentioned earlier, you will be able to see what participants are typing in real-time. And it gets better, every bit of the conversation, including those typed by other participants can be edited by you. Meaning, you can highlight, underline, bold, increase the font size of any word in the conversation and the changes will show up on the screen of others immediately. This allows for group discussions to be directed easily, unlike those wall-of-text discussions conducted over Instant Messengers like WLM.

Extensions

Developers are allowed to built extensions like those of facebook. This is because Google Wave is based on an open source concept. Currently, there are few interesting extensions. For example, you could use a Google Map extension and plot a route together through a new city in real-time. This is useful for groups who are going on a trip together and wants to plan the routes to take without having to meet up physically.

Other extensions include games like solving a Sudoku puzzle together. Keep in mind that all these is possible because Google Wave works in real-time. Example, your partner inputs a number in a Sudoku puzzle, you will be able to see it immediately, and you and your partner and proceed to discuss the next move etc.

However, the extension that caught my eye was this particular one. It allows two users to web-conference and share the same experience of viewing a Youtube video. The best part is either user, could pause forward or skip the youtube video, and the other party will have his or her video synchronized automatically. To get an idea of what I am talking about, do watch the video below. It will blow your mind away.

The fact that users are allowed to create their own extensions mean that this can give rise to the latest thing on Internet. For example, radio stations could create an extensions where the DJ shares the song via Google Wave, while the audience can discuss the song in real-time. You know those call-in games on the radio where you could win prizes? Well, the radio station could host perhaps a jigsaw puzzle tournament via Google Wave in real-time, where couples must work in pairs to solve a virtual jigsaw puzzle in order to win a honeymoon to Paris. The possibilities are breath-taking.

Playback

Look at the picture above, notice a playback bar on the top? This allows users of the same wave, to playback exactly how the discussion went right from the start of the discussion. They will be able to see how the discussion unfolds, right from the first statement made, all the way till the last statement made. They will be able to see at which point in time, what word is highlighted in red, which words are deleted, even if they were not present in real-time for the discussion. This makes it so helpful for those who cannot make it for a net meeting, but is able to relive in the meeting play-by-play.

This can also be used to coordinate a group presentation, where all the participants can decide on what statements should be made in what chronological order.

Drag-and-drop file sharing

Imagine, you had an emergency and could not make it for a net meeting. During the net meeting, your group mates shared numerous photos on a design concept on a website you are working on. In addition they shared excel files with one another together with other PDF documents. For you to catch up on the discussion, normally you would have to literally bug them to send you the files again.

Not with Google Wave. Google Wave allows you to download all the files shared during a conversation with the click of a button. It is also very user-friendly in the sense, it allows drag-and-drop file sharing. Left click a word document on your desktop and drag in into the Google Wave window, and it the word document will automatically be shared.

You can drag-and-drop photos from your mobile phone onto the Wave application and your photos will automatically be shared in the form of a photo album.

Natural Language

Google Wave also has the ability to translate any text on-demand. Need help with a group Chinese project? Hold a group discussion on Google Wave!

Conclusion

I am very excited to be one of the users of the Google Wave before it is launched, and I must say what I see so far is really promising. Google Wave will probably be the next big thing in cyberspace after Facebook and Twitter.

Credits:
To Google, for coming up with a brilliant application and for the officials photos used in this blog post.
To my girlfriend who inspired me to write this post.