Remember Google Wave? Last November I was pretty excited to get an invite to join Google’s experimental real-time communication platform (which is still in preview and not released to the public).
After I got the invite, I immediately logged on and played around a little bit—but largely by myself. With Google Wave, collaborators share e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking merged into topical waves. Since I didn’t have any collaborators, or at least ones with meaningful waves to collaborate on, I put using it on hold.
Today, I returned for a quick look at the new Google Wave extensions gallery. Google launched it yesterday to make it easier to find the small gadgets and add-ons the developer community has created to include in waves to add functionality. These extensions let you embed webpages into a wave, create a yes/no poll, create a like/dislike button for showing support for a particular topic (similar to those found on Facebook or Google Buzz), play Sudoku with a friend in real time, and more.
Will I be back again soon? Probably not. I still don’t have any practical use for it (and I don’t have the time to play real-time Sudoku). I do see a lot of potential in Google Wave, particulary for small teams who can collaborate easier in a wave rather than sending multiple e-mails back and forth.
Want to learn a little more about Google Wave? Check out a young boy’s take on it in the “Google Wave Made Simple” YouTube video below.
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