google wave posts

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Google

Google to unveil a Wave-inspired, unified interface across its web apps

by Sebastian Anthony Nov 9th 2009

Our sister blog Engadget is reporting -- based on some leaked screenshots -- that Google may be moving to roll out a single cohesive interface for all its web apps.

The screenshots come from an anonymous source and are as-yet unverified, but it would make sense given their obvious intentions to centralize a lot of the Web's communication channels into Google Wave.

With the eventual (but sooner-rather-than-later) release of Chrome OS, a unified, standardized, user-friendly UI is an obvious step forward. Judging by the gallery of screengrabs over on Engadget, it would seem the change-over to the new interface is not all that far away -- and don't be surprised if you see a Userscript pop up to apply the updated interface before Google makes the change official anyway!

[via Engadget]

Tags: google, google wave, GoogleWave, UI, web apps, WebApps

Ten gadgets to make Google Wave more productive - and fun!

by Sebastian Anthony Nov 6th 2009

It's still early days for Google Wave but already there are a large number of Gadgets and Robots being developed. If you don't know the difference, Gadgets are local, client-side (as in they run on your computer), Javascript and HTML. Robots run remotely on another server.

Gadgets change how you interact with waves, whereas robots process your input in some way or pull in data from another service (such as Twitter or Wikipedia). Robots are generally more powerful, but Gadgets are more fun.

This article is all about Gadgets. There will be another one on Robots soon: you folk that want to aggregate your Twitter and RSS feeds into Wave will have to wait a little longer! It's surprisingly hard to find good gadgets for Wave at the moment, so hold onto this guide even if you've not yet been invited to the beta.

Note: You should bear in mind that these are all 'beta' gadgets. A lot of them work just fine but you might hit some bugs along the way. The 'direct import links' might also change at any time, so feel free to report any broken links!
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Tags: gadgets, google wave, GoogleWave

Filed under: Social Software, iPhone

Waveboard: Google Wave client now available for iPhone

by Jay Hathaway Nov 4th 2009

You may have already figured out that you can use Google Wave in Safari on the iPhone, but now there's a better alternative. Waveboard, one of the early attempts at a desktop Wave client, now has an iPhone app. The Waveboard app will run you 99 cents, but it's a much faster way to check your Waves than loading them up in the built-in browser.

Waveboard basically gives you the same thing you get on the mobile web version of Wave, but also adds some additional features. You can shake your device to logout and reload your Waves, and push notifications are apparently coming soon. It sounds like right now is the time to jump on Waveboard, in case future features come with a higher price.

If you have 40 seconds to kill, and you want to see Waveboard in action, check out the demo video after the jump.

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: google wave, GoogleWave, iphone, wave, waveboard

Filed under: Utilities, Features, Macintosh, Web services

10 web apps you should be running on your Mac with Fluid

by Jay Hathaway Nov 3rd 2009

As web apps become more powerful, more popular, and more full-featured, they're starting to replace desktop apps for many people. A Mac app called Fluid can pull those web applications onto your desktop and turn them into OS X native site-specific browsers.

Fluid has a lot of advantages compared to running web apps in your browser: you get a Cocoa app with its own Dock icon, automatic unread badges for sites like Gmail and Google Reader, and built-in userscript support. Keeping your web apps in a separate browser also means that they can't be taken down when another site crashes in some other tab. You can even create menubar apps, so your favorite webapp will be close at hand, right at the top of your screen.

To find icons for your Fluid apps, I recommend checking out the Fluid Icons Flickr group. The users there have come up with attractive icons for most of the apps on my list. Chris Ivarson has also designed a handful of great icons for Fluid apps.

Now that you know a little bit about how and why you should use Fluid, give these 10 sites a spin as site-specific browsers!

Google Wave

Google's hot new communication tool is a perfect candidate for a site-specific browser. It's pretty resource-intensive, and it's still in the preview stage, so it's prone to crashes and lag. I haven't found any excellent Wave userscripts yet, and the site's favicon makes a nice enough Fluid icon. If you want an additional icon and a userscript that gives you a badge count for Wave, Devthought has posted them.

Google Reader

A lot of people are already using Google Reader as their main RSS app, so it makes sense to set it up in Fluid. You also get the benefit of an unread count badge on the Dock icon and a bunch of great userscripts. One of my favorites is Helvetireader. Try setting it up with Chris Ivarson's icon.

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Tags: app, fluid, google reader, google wave, GoogleReader, GoogleWave, mac, os x, OsX, web app, WebApp

Filed under: Web services, Social Software, Troubleshooting

Confused about Google Wave? Now you can read the bleeping manual.

by Jay Hathaway Nov 1st 2009

Google Wave is an innovative new communication tool, but part of innovation is that it's not always intuitive to use. Early adopters have been jumping into Wave with little guidance on how to take advantage of all its features. I guess you could watch the 90-minute Wave video, but that's not exactly a quick-start guide.

Well, there's a saying almost as old as computers themselves, and it goes: RTFM. Read the, um, flippin' manual. Now Google Wave has a flippin' manual that you can read, but it's not from Google: it's from Lifehacker's Gina Trapani and Adam Pash. Sounds a lot better than "watch the frickin' 90-minute video," eh?

Gina and Adam's guide is quickly making the rounds on the web, being promoted by the likes of Mashable. I'd like to add Download Squad's endorsement to the list. The Complete Guide to Google Wave is a straightforward, well-organized volume that goes a long way toward demystifying a new and complex tool. It's available to read online for free, but you'll be able to buy it as a DRM-free PDF soon, and in print in January.

Still don't have Wave? Go throw your name in the hat for Download Squad's Great Google Wave Invite Giveaway.

Tags: adam pash, AdamPash, book, gina trapani, GinaTrapani, google wave, GoogleWave, guide, lifehacker, manual

Filed under: Google, Social Software

The great Google Wave invite giveaway!

by Sebastian Anthony Oct 31st 2009

If you haven't heard of Google Wave yet -- a) wake up! and b) watch this tech demo. It's long, but if you're a nerd, or someone who uses the Internet a lot, you'll find it more exciting than the latest Harry Potter film. And at only 80 minutes, it's not a potentially-bladder-exploding endurance event, unlike the bespectacled wizard wannabe.

And with that said, the goodies: Download Squad are giving away Google Wave invites. We're going to start giving away invites whenever we have them to give away and today, to get the ball rolling, we've got 20 up for grabs! If things heat up, we'll scrounge under the couch cushions until we find more!

Wave is just starting to pick up steam, with more gadgets and gizmos and robots appearing every day. With reports of Google Wave server federation (the ability for anyone to run a Wave server) coming soon, and the sandbox walls being torn down, now's your chance to get in on the action.

Tags: giveaway, google wave, GoogleWave, invite, wave, wave invites, WaveInvites

Filed under: Web services, Google, Social Software

Google Wave coming to a server near you: YOURS.

by Lee Mathews Oct 30th 2009

If you were hoping the title meant I had gotten wind of some kind of Microsoft-sponsored sabotage, I'm sorry to disappoint you...

Even though there are thousands and thousands of Google Wave users now, it seems like the number of available invites isn't keeping pace with demand. I barely mention Wave, and yet I've still had people hounding me on Twitter for a spare invite. They're even being sold on eBay, for crying out loud.

While I don't have any to give out, I do have some encouraging news. Those of you who want access might not have to wait for Google to pony up more invites.
TheNextWeb is reporting that Google could well be on the verge of announcing the federation of Google Wave. Yep. You may just be running your very own Wave server on your own hardware sometime soon.

Google's been talking about Wave at eComm Europe. They've demoed a terminal-based wave client and and hinted that the Wave sandbox environment will be opened up later today to allow federation. The Wave protocol code is already available for developers to tinker with.

Will today be the day Google opens up the floodgates? We'll keep you posted.

Tags: federation, google wave, google-wave, GoogleWave, self-hosted

Filed under: Developer, Internet, Web services, Google, Open Source

Google Wave will have an App Store too!

by Sebastian Anthony Oct 27th 2009

In rather exciting (though perhaps predictable) news, Google has announced that there will be an official Wave App Store!

There are still very few people using Wave, but hopefully you've all watched the Wave technology demo and been suitably impressed, or even dribbled a little if you're like me.

I'm sure as the codebase solidifies and bugs are ironed out, we'll begin to see a lot more invites, and eventually a public beta. With the Google Wave App store announced, I would expect to see some more developers jump on the bandwagon too -- perhaps jumping ship (or at least splitting their attention) from the iPhone App Store.

It would seem that the industry -- the service, web application and game sectors -- are starting to realise the power of user-generated and small-developer-generated content. Gone are the days of Windows or Space Invaders being developed in someone's garage or basement. But in its place, we have more easily-extensible and open frameworks than ever before. We can expect to see very exciting things from Wave and its App Store.

[via theNextWeb]

Tags: app store, AppStore, google wave, GoogleWave

Filed under: Macintosh, Social Software, Beta

Waveboard is the first Google Wave client for OS X

by Jay Hathaway Oct 21st 2009

The good news is that there's now a Google Wave desktop client for the Mac. The bad news is that it's not yet that much better than the web interface or a Fluid app. The app is called Waveboard, and it looks quite promising, although it's still in its early stages. In case a prototype for Wave on the desktop isn't cool enough for you, there's also an iPhone app in the works.

Waveboard offers a handful of features that you won't get by running Wave in Fluid. It alerts you to changes in your waves using a badge on the dock icon, and also supports Growl notifications. It also allows you to copy a link to a public wave so you can share it with others. Any wave links you run across in your browser can be set to open in Waveboard by default. True, the look of Waveboard is still identical to the Wave web interface, but the additional features at least start us down the path toward an awesome desktop version of Wave.

Tags: Google Wave, GoogleWave, Waveboard

Filed under: Web services, Google, Social Software

Google Wave gets a notifier add-on for Firefox

by Jay Hathaway Oct 15th 2009

That was fast! Google Wave's barely been available for a week, and there's already a Google Wave Notifier extension for Firefox. The notifier sits in your status bar and shows the number of waves with unread messages in your inbox (not the total number of unread messages, mind you). It's small, unobtrusive, and checks for messages at an adjustable interval.

Of course, you can also manually refresh the notifier. Double-clicking it will take you to Wave, so you can deal with those unread messages. It's a pretty basic extension, but it's the first one out of the gate, and Google hasn't released anything official with similar functionality.

Tags: add-on, extension, firefox, google wave, GoogleWave, notifier, wave

Filed under: Web services, Google, Social Software, iPhone, web 2.0, Mobile, Android

Surprise! Google Wave (unofficially) works on iPhone and Android!

by Jay Hathaway Oct 14th 2009

After playing with Google Wave for about a week, I found myself wishing I could check my waves on the go. How is this thing going to replace email in the future if I have to be at my computer to use it? Well, it turns out that Wave does work on at least two mobile platforms: the iPhone and Google Android. Although the mobile versions of these browsers aren't technically supported - so you'll have to click through a warning to use it - the fact that they're built on WebKit means it's more or less Wave-ready.

There's even a mobile-optimized site for Wave, similar in design to mobile Gmail. Although there's no official Wave iPhone app, you can add Wave to your home screen on the iPhone for convenient access. Obviously, some of Wave's features won't work in the mobile version - dragging and dropping images, for example - but for basic reading and adding to conversations, it's fine. Preparing a decent mobile web version of Wave is certainly one alternative to going through Apple's app store approval process, especially after the infamous Google Voice rejection.

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: android, google wave, GoogleWave, iphone, mobile, safari, wave

Filed under: Web services, Google, Social Software, Beta

Google Wave opens to 100,000 users today

by Jay Hathaway Sep 30th 2009

According to the official Google blog, 100,000 invitations to Google's most hotly-anticipated new service, Google Wave, are going out today. Wave is being touted as a communication tool that reimagines the way email should work. When Download Squad took a look at Wave back in May, Lee explained it this way:

Create a Wave, add people to it, toss in some gadgets, feeds, and photos, and mix with a rich text editor. You'll see new content in near-real time as your friends add it, and you can even hit the rewind button and watch your Wave evolve from scratch.

So, who's getting invited to use this next-generation communication tool? Well, it helps if you signed up early for an invitation and wrote the Wave team a message offering to give feedback. If you're a developer who's been using the developer preview of Wave, you might also get an invitation, and some are going out to paying customers of Google Apps.

In their blog post, the Google Wave folks stress that – if you do land an invitation – you're not going to be playing with a finished product. Wave is still missing some crucial features, and bugs are going to be par for the course until the team starts using the feedback from these 100,000 new users to start identifying problems. Unfortunately, you won't be able to directly invite friends to Wave, but you will be able to nominate them for invitations.

Do you have a Wave invitation yet? What do you think of the service so far?

Tags: google wave, GoogleWave, invitations, invites, public beta, PublicBeta

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