Google Wave News & Articles

You knew this was coming. Google's latest attempt at social networking has everyone talking, but more importantly it has everyone trying to twist and mold it into specific user groups. While Wave didn't do so hot in anybody's pool, here's a look at why Plus -- an obvious consumer choice -- might make it in the Enterprise space.  

How many meetings are worth the time that we invest? What if the content of a meeting could be useful, usable and immediate?

If Google Wave is anything, it's solid proof that even a multi-faceted communication platform full of useful features can fall flat. With that in mind, here are a few pointers to keep close when considering collaboration tools: 

This week Google celebrated the second birthday of Chrome with a new stable release, and Wave's life was prolonged by at least four months. 

Google Wave got axed, but that doesn't mean you have to say goodbye. Big G has been working on ways to extend the technology, and today announced that Wave will live on through its official site and export options, at least until the end of the year. 

As you may or may not have heard, Google officially pulled the plug on its collaboration/communication platform this week. Wave won't be missed because, well, it was never really liked all that much, but also because its most popular components will be injected into future solutions. Meanwhile, experts are buzzing about why a concept as popular and efficient as collaboration can still be difficult to adopt. 

You heard it right! Google Wave, the collaboration/communication platform that was once postulated to be -- among other glorious things -- the Second Coming of e-mail, is getting the ax. In a surprising turn of events, the Internet giant and its team of worker bees have announced they're officially halting development on the tool. 

Today's big rumor is that Google is cooking up some sort of social network that will challenge Facebook. At least, that's what Digg founder Kevin Rose hinted at on Twitter:

Phew. The Google I/O Conference in San Francisco ended yesterday, and just like most of you we've been reeling from information overload. In case you caved and blinked at any point over the last 48 hours, here are the highlights:  

Google seems on board with the wisdom of the crowd and perhaps a little innovation management. And now they share the ability to do both with you by making available an API for their Google Moderator.

Though Google thought they could tear us away from our beloved e-mail accounts last summer with Wave, our convictions remained true. This season Big G's e-mail is back in the spotlight with contextual apps for bringing information directly from the Marketplace to your inbox. Meanwhile, Microsoft apparently got a wild hair up their you-know-what and decided to bring Hotmail back from the dead.

Social media moves so fast, it's hard to keep up. Here are the week's top stories in scan-friendly format:

• Facebook Launches Mobile Site, Free of Data Charges
• MySpace To Encourage Android and iPhone Devs to Integrate
• Twitter Changes Trending Topics Algorithm
• Google Wave Now Open To All

Remember Google Wave?  Once touted as the second coming of e-mail, Google's collaboration, instant messaging, social networking mashup turned out to be a bad fit for the average consumer, and fizzled out soon after it was announced.  Today the tool was relaunched, promising faster performance and ease of use. Are you willing to give it a second chance? 

After two months in beta SAP (news, site) has made their real-time business collaboration application StreamWork -- known as 12Sprints in beta -- generally available enabling up to 30 users to get together virtually to analyze data from across the enterprise and from different applications.

As companies desperately try to find balance between the social media craze and what works for business, vendors continue to hand out solutions like they're candy--especially those of the microblogging variety. The sheer number of options we have these days suggests that internal chatter is here to stay, but that doesn't necessarily mean we're handling it well.