I actually had my Google Account activated for Google Wave couple of days ago but just added David (www.twitter.com/strifedavid) and Pin (www.twitter.com/earnpin) but the both of them weren’t always into it.

 

 

Today morning, waking up and i stood in front of my beautiful IBM T61 and guess what, I saw Ben’s tweet (http://www.twitter.com/benjern) asking who has Google Wave, I replied his tweet and finally he Direct Message (DM – a term used in twitter) with his Wave ID.

 

Without hesitating and doing other things much, I added him into my list. Here’s how the interface would look like.

 

 

We started exploring the features inside it. I learned the first thing from Ben was you can actually integrate Twitter into it and just start twittering from Google Wave. What you have to do is just add wave@appspot.com into your list and click on the contact and hit “New Wave”.

 

 

A twitter authentication window will be opened so please disable / allow twitter.com in your pop-up blocker.

 

 

You will asked to authenticate your twitter account and that’s it!! Start twittering. So yeah, twitter will be on my number one review list of the features in Wave. So yeah let’s mark as

Number #1

Looking back at the interface, 3 columns, 1st column (columns are adjustable) – List of contacts on the side, there are folders for archiving and organizing purposes, consisting an inbox, a spam section. Right in the center pane you’ve got the list of ‘mails’ or ‘conversations’ – known as ‘waves’. Then there’s the content of the active wave on the far right pane. To me Google Wave is something very revolutionary developed by the smarties in the Google Corporation and they described it as E-mail – invented today. Just start a new email by hitting on the New Wave button, then select the desired recipient by dragging them to the top of the wave. TADA!! That’s it!

 

Before that, it’s even more powerful than any other installed IRC clients. We can actually see what is the other party typing before its finish. So people!! Be careful of what you are typing, and typos can be very embarrassing also. And one plus point, Google Wave do not need to be installed on your machine (currently supported browsers are Firefox, Chrome and Safari)

 

Besides twittering,

let’s get into Number #2: Drag-and-drop File Sharing

For first time use, you must allow Google Gears to access and after that, upload will starts automatically once you drag your desired picture into the Wave section.

 

 

 

The person that you are waving will be able to see what you just uploaded in seconds, and if you wish to only view it and not downloading to your machine, just click on it and the background of your Wave will be shaded. The image will be loaded like this -

 

Number #3 – Google Map in your Wave

 

Like this one, its a map sharing with the person you are talking with, it actually allows the other party to see the location of the map you are viewing. To edit, place the blip in edit more by keyboard shortcut : CTRL + E

Number # 4 – YES | NO | MAYBE Gadget

When you are talking to maybe let’s say hundreds in a wave, and trying to ask whether to come over for a house-warming party, this would be essential to collect statistics. Respective users in the particular wave just have to click on the buttons and counter will be recorded.

 

Number # 5 – Link Shorter (bit.ly)

You will need to add bitly-bot@appspot.com to your contact. Its just like the twitter bot, click on New Wave, drag it over and start using it. But please note that, it will only translate your URL if it is full (complete with http://). Ben and I love the bot. It helps in saving characters especially when you tweet. You may use Bit.ly bot and the Twitter bot in the same wave.

 

Number # 6 – Wikipedia in Google Wave

You might be waving with your friend and suddenly something pops out asking you what is “Google Wave”. Each time you need to know the definition of a topic or a term, use the Wikify command to get the info from Wikipedia. Add this bot wikifier@appspot.com to your contact. Drag into an active wave and start using it.

 

 

So those are the 6 key features AdrianCJY.com found it in Google Wave so far to be essential. More to come though. Let’s rate Google Wave now

 

Functionality – 8 / 10
Appearance – 9/10
Multimedia (Sound + Animation + Graphics) – 5/10

 

* need to improve to attract the users attention whenever new waves comes in
* enable selection of colour scheme

 

Google has set a good start and here they have Google Wave and this will be the next ultimate communication tool for everyone. Google Wave is currently in beta and for preview only, not all Google users are able to login to use this marvelous feature. So try your luck by requesting Google an invitation here https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/ and please note that Google does not charge for any invitation. Please ignore anyone charging you to use this service.

 

Take sometime run through this long video. You will be amazed with what Google can do and has done it.

 

 

Oh yes! Let’s mark

Number #7: Video Sharing in Google Wave

Open a new wave, and then paste the link of a youtube for example that you would like to share. You will notice a yellow colour light bulb icon beside the link paste, so click on it and click embed.

 

 

 

Get the ultimate list of Google Wave gadgets and tools from here : http://techpp.com/2009/10/14/ultimate-list-of-google-wave-gadgets-and-tools/ (still a lot you may want to try it out)