googlewave
Latest
Google is shutting down Spaces
Google's oh-so-brief Spaces experiment didn't even last a year before the company decided to shut it down. According to a note from the Spaces team today, they've made a "tough decision" and the group-sharing social network will lock down in read-only mode on March 3rd, then completely shut down on April 17th.
Google Wave reaches zero amplitude
We knew it was coming, but alas, the loss of Google Wave hits us anew now that the execution date has finally come. To say we fully grokked this platform would be untrue, but as we dug through its history to gather our thoughts, we realized what a misunderstood creature Wave really was. Released in 2009 with great fanfare and no shortage of Firefly references, the program meant well with its collaboration-friendly interface, emphasis on multimedia sharing and raft of third-party extensions such as real-time Swedish Chef translation. But while its heart was in the right place, the service sacrificed accessibility for intrigue, a distinct online identity for an early adopter sensibility. Thus, after the invite-only mystique wore off and talk of a Wave app store began to sound downright foolish, the program's future looked anything but rosy. But even a product this short-lived can have a legacy: in Wave's case, it could be making Google Plus seem downright approachable by comparison. And though this may be little consolation to those hardcore wavers -- few and far between as they may be -- the project's spirit will live on in the equally perplexing Apache Wave. RIP, Google Wave, we really hardly knew you.
Google Wave inches toward the grave, becomes read-only
Google won't shutter Wave entirely until April 30th, but the once clamored-for service is now seeing restrictions imposed upon it, as it prepares for its eventual rendezvous with the grim reaper. It's now read-only, which means new Waves are strictly verboten and those with anything of value in Mountain View's ocean, ought to look into the existing PDF-export functionality, or consider a migration to another open-source alternative -- like Apache Wave or Walkaround (which we've conveniently linked below). And with that folks, an era slowly draws to a close. Sayonara Wave, we hardly knew ye -- but find solace in knowing you'll always live-on in our hearts, our hands-on and inside other Google services.
Google sets execution dates for Wave, Knol, Friend Connect and more
In what Google is calling its "off-season spring cleaning series," the mega company is finally setting some end dates for many of its lukewarm services, most notably the once-hyped Wave, Knol and Friend Connect. Sitting on Death Row for some time now, Mountain View has slowly phased out the less-than-successful products, most recently announcing that it would kill seven APIs including Translate and Video Search. The sweep is part of Google's VP of Product Management Bradley Horowitz' overall plan to "[do] less of throwing things against the wall," focusing instead on "doing fewer things well." Besides the aforementioned services to receive the axe, Google will also be putting an end to Bookmarks List, Gears, Search Timeline and its Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative. The company says the overhaul is part of the effort "to build a simpler, more intuitive, truly beautiful Google user experience" -- in other words, "it's not me... it's you." Check the source for more details.
Google pinpoints shutdown dates for Wave, Translate APIs (amongst others)
'Tis a sad day in the world of Google... at least for developers who use any of a handful of ill-fated APIs. As the search giant's API list has grown in recent months, it's making the decision to cull a few in the effort of "spring cleaning." In fact, a grand total of seven new APIs were launched during Google I/O alone, but it looks as if the end is nigh for the Blog Search API, Books Data API, Image Search API, News Search API, Patent Search API, Safe Browsing API (v1 only), Translate API, Transliterate API, Video Search API and Virtual Keyboard API. Of those, Wave is most unsurprising, but Translate likely hurts the most -- particularly for jetsetters who relied on those baked-in services to wrap their heads around various tongues. According to Goog, the Translate API has been officially deprecated "due to the substantial economic burden caused by extensive abuse." A pretty ominous phrase, to be sure, and further proof that a few rotten apples can ruin things for the whole of us. Hit the links below to get a glimpse of the full damage -- we're warning you, it ain't pretty.
Google Spaces shows us where Wave went
So it's safe to say that Google Wave didn't really make one upon the tech world as a whole, but it certainly was a neat idea. While Wave itself now lives with the Apache Software Foundation, the core concept, easy and direct collaboration with anyone, has new life with Google Shared Spaces. The Wave gadgets have been given a standalone home here, the idea being that you create a Space, invite some people, and then do -- well, whatever it is you need to do. It's basically just a more task-focused version of Wave, and maybe that's all the service really needed. Direction. Right now there are just shy of 50 such gadgets for you to try, but anyone with a little JavaScript know-how can whip up their own in a jiffy, though sadly there's no interactive gadget-creation Space. Now that would be something. [Thanks, Hassan]
Wave officially finds a home with the Apache Software Foundation
It's official, Wave fans: the Apache Software Foundation has accepted Wave for its incubator program. What's this mean? Well, the group will oversee future development of the Wave Federation protocols and the Wave In A Box product -- and those of you who absolutely cannot live without your Waves won't be left out in the cold. Rounding out support from Apache and Google are representatives from Solute, Novell, SESI, University Duisburg-Essen, and Wikileaks (OK, we made that last one up). Best of luck to ya!
Apache Wave In A Box provides a home for Google's orphaned Waves
So... that happened. Google Wave might be considered a success, if you value the insights gleaned from developing the platform, knowledge that will inform the company's many other products and services for some time to come. Then again, if your measure of success is a product that lasts for longer than fifteen months (more or less) before flatlining, Wave is probably a bit of a disappointment. And if you had invested some of your company's time or effort into the platform? Well, there is good news for you: Apache is hard at work on something called Wave in a Box, a server for hosting and federating waves -- either new waves or those exported from Google's service. The project is still in its early stages, but there is more than enough for the sysadmin who's crazy about online collaboration. Hit the source link to get started.
Google Wave development discontinued, Waveboard sinks
After much public and private debate over its actual utility, Google Wave, as you've probably already heard, is dead. Google posted a notice yesterday announcing that, due to a lack of public acceptance for the realtime collaboration platform, they are halting development. "We don't plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product," states Google, "but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects." Very few people are surprised by this news, and Wave has been roundly criticized for being poorly executed. Many (including myself), however, are disappointed. One Mac developer, in particular, is saddened by this development. Dirk Holtwick, author of a Wave client called Waveboard, got the news while on holiday this week. It goes without saying that a developer with commercial applications for Mac, iPhone and iPad which rely on Wave is disappointed by this announcement. Holwick shared with TUAW his own criticism of the "buggy first experience" that Wave provided most users, but also his admiration for technology that was "great, and ahead of its time." Read on for more.
Google Wave flatlines: no plans to further develop standalone product, future is in other Google services
Wave goodbye (sorry, we couldn't resist) to Google's "community collaboration" tool. In a post on Google's official blog, Senior VP of Operations Urs Hölzle has announced there are "[no] plans to continue developing Wave as standalone product." Blame it on a lower-than-desired user adoption rate, he says, all the while praising the learning experience and innovative tools it fostered. The site will reportedly be maintained "at least through the end of the year," with no promises beyond that, and tools will be eventually released "so that users can easily 'liberate' their content from Wave." We said early on that many of Wave's best ideas seemed better fit integrated into existing Google products like Docs and Gmail, and the company seems to agree: it plans to "extend the technology for use in other Google projects." We look forward to it, but in the meantime, a moment of silence for Google Maps co-founders Lars and Jens Rasmussen's now-fallen experiment.
Google Wave opens doors to public, asks old friends for new chance
To think, it was about this time last year that Google first unveiled its collaboration tool Wave, and today the company's taking out the invitational step and opening it to the public at large -- which begs the question, did anyone not have an invite that wanted one at this point? It'll also be now available in the enterprise-centric Apps suite for no extra charge. On the developer side of things, expect some more open source code be unleashed, including most importantly the rich text editor. Can't say we've really dug around in the service ourselves since its beta launched, but co-creator Lars Rasmussen tells us we should be giving it another go. He further acknowledged that they've got some work to do on educating users on the best ways to use the service, which at this point seems to be mid- and small-scale collaboration. To that end, expect some new tutorial videos, and with any luck, some amusing animation. %Gallery-93295%
Waveboard on the iPhone, Google Wave access slightly better than Mobile Safari
If you're lucky enough to have a Google Wave account, you may be familiar with Waveboard. I started out using Wave via a Fluid SSB, running Wave Growl for Growl notifications and Dock badges. Then I found Waveboard, and it made things smooth enough that I haven't looked at Wave any other way since. So, obviously, I'd been anticipating the iPhone version of Waveboard. It's here, and it's, well, moderately interesting. The desktop app is essentially a Single Site Browser, like a Fluid app, but it adds handy, Mac-like keyboard shortcuts, Growl notifications, Dock and Menubar notifications, etc. The iPhone app is the same, a webkit browser showing what Google already provides, but there just wasn't as much potential integration to take advantage of on the iPhone. They took advantage of the shake gesture to reload or log out. Websites can be opened in the same browser or sent to Safari. Landscape mode is supported. And you can kind of get push notifications, by using Prowl (which Aron has mentioned before). Setup instructions are available on the Waveboard blog. That's about it, for now. Google hasn't offered an API, which seriously hampers a developer's ability to do cool things. More features are reportedly in the works, so we'll see if it turns into a truly useful counterpart to its desktop cousin over time. Waveboard for iPhone is available on the App Store iTunes link for $0.99US. Under a buck, and it might be worth a look for avid Wavers (which I would be, if enough of my clients and cohorts had accounts to make it truly useful). [via TechCrunch]
Google Wave to have its own app store
We're still not entirely certain what Google Wave is for -- or even if humans are capable of comprehending it -- but we do know that we're super-intrigued by the idea of third-party extensions that hook into the fledging messaging platform, and it sounds like the folks in Mountain View are as well. Google's planning to launch both an extension gallery and extension store in the coming months, which would allow users to easily find, buy, and share apps for Wave. It's not clear how the sharing will work, or how much Google expects extensions to cost, but it's certainly an interesting way to capitalize on Wave's flexibility. Our first request? An extension to kill live-typing. Let's make it happen.
Nokia N900 can ride the Google Wave
We're not talking about some mobile version here à la iPhone, no sir. MobileDeveloperTV has itself a Maemo-powered Nokia N900, and sure enough, it runs the full version of Google Wave. There looks to be some lag between the keyboard and text box, but if you're hankering to mash up Espoo's latest and greatest with the G man's latest and greatest, there's nothing standing in your way. See for yourself, victorious laughs and all, in the video after the break. [Thanks, Welly]
Missed the Google Wave beta? We've got hands-on!
Google Wave started limited beta testing today, but chances are you'll miss out on an invite, since the 100,000 open slots will fill almost instantly. Not to worry, though -- our in-depth impressions of El Goog's innovative new IM/email/everything service are still right here if you want to get in deep. Will Wave change the world? Only one way to find out. Read - Google Wave beta testing begins Read - Our hands-on impressions from last month
Google Wave dev preview hands-on and impressions
After an impressive debut at Google I/O, the company's newest experiment and collaborative chat client has been making its way into the hands of developers in the lead-up to a torrent of new testers on September 30th. We had a chance to stop by Google's San Francisco office last week for a guided tour of the latest build of Wave with creators Lars and Jens Rasmussen, and have since then spent the better part of our free time working through the ins and outs of the new communication platform. Does it live up to the hype, even in this bug-infested interim build? Read on to find out.
Video: Google Wave public beta rolling out in September
It's hard to tell if Wave -- Google's new collaborative, universal messaging platform -- is revolutionary or simply, well, neat. It's like a telephone, great when everyone else has one but not so useful if you're the only one. At least that's how it seems after watching the near-universally acclaimed demo presented at Google I/O back in May. Starting September 30th, Google will open up the beta to 100,000 of its closest friends. Just hit the appropriate read link below to register for an invite or click through to watch the 1 hour and 20 minute demonstration. Go ahead, work can wait, innovation can't.[Via PC Mag]Read -- Sign up for WaveRead -- September 30 beta
Google Wave unveiled, new live chat medium for browsers, iPhone and Android
Google's big reveal at I/O? Meet Wave, the Next Big Thing from the Lars and Yen Rasmussen, makers of Google Maps. It's a very early build, meaning we won't see it anytime soon, but here's the gist: a "wave" is a chat session that enables you to send messages live, with each word being transmitted live -- no more "person X is typing" messages (don't worry, that can be deactivated momentarily / permanently with a "draft" button). You can also add others to the wave, drag and drop images for instant transfers, and share documents for on-the-fly edits (with all the participants working simultaneously, mind you), and get this... it does real time translation. So hot, and the crowd is in an uproar over this. The "waves" can be played back to see the conversation evolve / documents edited dynamically. We just got confirmation that it'll be coming to Android and iPhone, also, but they have yet to get the mobile platform to do the live updating. As they keep telling us, this HTML5-based platform is still in a very early stage, but all attendees will be getting an invite to a sandbox build later today. It's an open protocol, so expect other devs to add their own toys to the mix. Hit up the gallery for more pics.
