Google Wave

Finally after a month of waiting, I got the invite to Google's new, hyped product "Wave". By now everyone has heard or come across the term Google Wave somewhere, if not, Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration.

Google Wave is a next generation email like tool, where everything is in real-time, so you can discuss and collaborate. But unlike email, all the participants must be in Google Wave. Also, they should be added to one of the waves you've created.

To begin with you need to be in Google Wave. You cannot join directly as of now as it is in a limited preview, so you need to be invited. You can get invited by either visiting this page OR by getting a invite from a friend. Both of which might take time with the current rate at which invites are being sent. You can also get a invite from me, Read on. After getting the invite, all you need is a Google/Gmail account. You will be asked to create a new one or to log into an existing one.


Once in, you will get a ID which will look like YourGmailID@googlewave.com . Your contacts from Google are added to your Wave contacts, if they are already in, that is. Creating a wave is as easy clicking 'New Wave'. Waves are how you will be communicating and collaborating with people. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Then you can add contacts to that wave. And you are good to go. The chat can be real-time considering your friends are online at that time. You can add photos, vids and other contents to your wave and download them too. Adding photos is as simple as drag and drop. The real-time is as real as possible with all the keystrokes and corrections.

For me Wave is a upgrade from IRC. Unlike IRC, Wave is real-time, has threaded reply so you can reply to a particular thread/comment when in Group discussion. Also its clutter-free and more professional looking.

There are a few extensions for getting something extra in Wave. Extensions include games which you can play with your friends in real-time. Few of the extensions are featured here .

Similarly lot of bots seem to be coming out for Wave. Bots like Tweety help to Tweet from Wave. All these bots are email like IDs which you have to add to your contacts and you're good to go. Will post more on Bots in next post.

If you need a invite to Google Wave contact me on Twitter or by leaving your mail ID here in the comments. I'll send you the invites. If you are already in Wave, add me to your contacts meet.naik.1988[at]googlewave[dot]com .

Until next time.
Regards,


Note: Due to overwhelming requests for invite and shortage of the same with me, I'll be needing your blog and profiles links to make sure you're not a bot or a troll looking for let-in. I need two links preferrably one to your blog and an open profile anywhere on any known social network(facebook, twitter). Make sure your profile is open to visitors, thats all. Hope you understand. And thanks.

Updates:
Winners have been contacted and the invites are all sent.

A similar Google Wave invite give-away is run by @Indyan and @Mrintech at here and here respectively. Enter at both the places for a better chance at getting the invite.