What is Google Wave?

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To the founders of Google Map, web communication is the next big thing. With so many social communication sites founded in recent years, this vision can’t be far from right.

Google Wave is a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web; expecting to launch later this year. It is a platform designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wiki and social networking all into one. Sounds great huh?

But hold on! You think Google is just going to let it rest this way? Not only does it combine all your favorite online functions, Google Wave is going to provide you with real time collaboration with your peers. It also includes a natural language tool that double checks your language and other applications that would harness your wave experience.

What is a wave?

Every thread created for separate communication,collaboration and sharing is called a “wave”. Similar to Google Docs but infused with messaging features, users can simultaneously communicate, share and work on documents; with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps and more. See how it works below! No more waiting is needed seeing that information is now transmitted live as users type. Google Wave is going to be undeniably great for both communication and collaboration.

Google Wave Terminology

Like Twitter, Google Wave also has its own set of terminology:

Wave – A threaded conversation.
Wavelet – Still a thread conversation but a subset of a wave.
Blip – A single message from a participant or a robot. Like how Twitter calls their updates Tweet, Google Wave calls theirs Blips. Each blip would include a document.
Document – The content within a blip which could be files, conversations, links etc.

Google Wave Features

Google Wave is the result of many innovations and has post a challenge to future innovators. Some innovations are:

Wiki in Wave – Just like how wikis function, a wave can be edited by anyone.
Live Transmit – You can see your friend typing live.
Natural Language – It auto corrects your language and suggests similar sounding words (e.g. Met, Meet, Meat).
Drag & Drop File Sharing – No attachments needed. Just drag and drop your files in Google Wave and share them with your friends.
Embed your Wave – Your waves can be embedded on any website or blog.
Gadgets – Similar to Facebook applications, gadgets are applications built compatible with Google Wave.
Robots – This little bot is an automated participant on a wave. It can read, edit and share outside content to a wave. It can also create new waves, blips and add and remove participants.

Google Wave Hands On Video

Google Wave Screenshots

Google Wave Logo

Concurrent rich-text editing in Wave

Games gadgets in Wave

Event planning with maps

Pictures courtesy of Google and ilovegooglewave.com