I agree with you on this. Been playing with it in the dev preview and now in the released version and until I get people I know on there and reasons to discuss or collaborate then I don't see the value. The concept is excellent, the execution is excellent, I just don't think the product is what people are expecting.
- Keith Bennett
When I first saw the release video of Wave it was clear this wasn't something that would be for you to invite all your friends to. I'm surprised at your harsh review in such a fast manner -- you opened it up to the world of your "friends" to play in the sandbox -- but did you actually have a mission? You actually point out that this has great potential for group work. It's about...
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- Elaine Young, Ph.D
Writing off Wave at this point is a bit like walking into a hardware store, picking up a hammer, walking around the store looking for stuff to hit and declaring "Why would I ever want a hammer? This is a waste of time." For teams and workgroups looking to improve the way they communicate and collaborate, Wave might be a great tool. For others, not so much.
- Ken Sheppardson
Elaine: you are hoping for something more in depth? Come back in a month after things settle out and developers ship some real tools for it. Welcome to our real time world. Why do you assume that normal people will give ANY tool more than an hour before they decide whether it sucks or not?
- Robert Scoble
The amount of hype this thing got will NOT be realized by a collaboration scenario. I had this years ago with Ray Ozzie's tools. Geesh.
- Robert Scoble
since you dont have a use for it, can i haz your invite?
- Iphigenie
Oh, I'm not arguing that it's over-hyped. That's the nature of the real time social media hype echo chamber we live in these days. :-) That's not to say it isn't a cool tool. BTW, I really miss Groove. :-(
- Ken Sheppardson
I think you're absolutely right, Robert. I got my invite, all excited, signed up, added a friend, and.... *fizzle*... it's chat, it's IM, it's a bad twitter client... I hope it will evolve into something worthwhile.
- Jan Ole Peek
I always understood wave as the next evolution of xmpp - something google envisaged when they first got their hands on jabber. Something distributed merging the features of instant messaging, forum and newsgroup. It was not aimed at twitter or facebook, it was more aimed at some of the live features of Notes and Groupwise and forums. PS: the hype it got is the same as every time google...
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- Iphigenie
I've been a wavesandbox user for months and today I got both my wave invite and as it just so happens I also got my threadsy invite. Suffice to say I'm much more excited about threadsy! Why? because it's actually helpful.
- Bob Stewart
It's clearly not a 1:1 replacement for email and its early yet. This platform is made for customization. As soon as the development community catches up with concern/demand then I think Wave will be far more refined and valuable as a productivity tool. I think it's way too early to say its overhyped but it certainly makes for a great blog title :) Have a great time out in HMB with Chase today.
- Jim Goldstein
How about that, you're absolutely right Robert.
- Peter Kruit
I think I mentioned a month ago that people were going to be overwhelmed by this and it may be too soon to launch to the public.
- Jesse Stay
This is one of those times where I'm happy to let the gang of 2000 beat it up before getting in.
- Stuart Miniman
You are in the gang of 2000. Sorry, Stu.
- Louis Gray
Imagine a Twitter network with five people on it, none of whom actually work on any of the same projects you need to finish this week.
- Daniel J. Pritchett
Am I the only one who has been puzzled when people started saying "this is gonna be the new facebook/twitter"? I watched the whole 1.5 hour demo video and that thought never crossed my mind, nor did using it with dozens upon dozens of people at a time. The only things I saw them demo was a variety of tasks between a handful of friends or colleagues. Robert's right, when you've got a ton...
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- brendan
I collaborate with others to actually do things. Yes, Wave is young, but damn! I see its potential and I declare it awesome.
- ‘-.-’ Tutivillus Grift
Google Wave passes the twitter test. Lots of folks didn't get twitter (and still don't) when it first appeared. GW will follow a similar trajectory..geek early adoption and later mass adoption. I like it that people don't quite get GW which means that people will use it in multiple ways, as they do twitter. I project that it will live up to the hype much like the iPhone.
- Jim Posner
Or it'll follow the FriendFeed curve: a few geeks will get it, use it, become dedicated to it, it'll never see mass adoption, then the engineers will get recruited to work on other projects and the technology will just get folded into other systems...
- Ken Sheppardson
My understanding is the intent was to re-invent email. So I see the gmail population eventually ending up on GW. Google as a rule has had few bombs. Certainly the GW platform will evolve (filters) to address some of the concerns Robert has.
- Jim Posner
interesting review, i will have to check it out for myself! twitter(at)locspoc
- Loc
Can't wait to see how the users evolve ways of using it that help to moderate the wave. Appreciate the fact that Robert and others (some of you) are sharing this experience and these diverse reactions.
- hollyrae
Agreed, Scoble. I don't see this as a good friendfeed replacement anymore.
- Ahsan Ali
There is Etherpad and Zenbe ShareFlow. I would wait and see how GoogleWave evolves.
- Wins Fern
Nice to see you present some critical thoughts on this, and I must say that your comments seem very sensible! I would also like to point to services like Etherpad when it comes to real-time collaboration on documents, and I also think there seems to be (potentially) a lot of noise in Google Wave. It will be interesting to see though :-)
- Reidar
I haven't especially found Google Wave all that useful up until now. It would be better if you could at least receive email there while you were playing around with it. Until they have a mail-to-wave interface, I can't see most people migrating there.
- Justin Long
I'd like to see the speech Nixon would have delivered if we stranded HIM on the Moon.
- George Brickner
George: In a spacesuit? I know the speech if he wasn't in one!
- Fee501st
It's surprisingly (refreshingly?) secular.
- Paul Reynolds
Am I crazy or is Safire missing a possessive at the end of this? "For every human being...will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind." That doesn't make a bit of sense to me.
- aldenoneil
"Tens of thousands of revelers pelted each other with tons of ripe tomatoes in a good-natured battle that filled the streets of a Spanish town with rivers of red pulp. Bunol's town hall estimated more than 40,000 people, some from as far away as Japan and Australia, took up arms Wednesday with 100 tons of tomatoes in the yearly food fight known as the "Tomatina," now in its 64th year. The event has its roots in a food fight between childhood friends and has become something of a calling card for Bunol, which is 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Valencia on Spain's east coast. The hour-long battle is so popular that traffic into the town backed up nearly two miles (three kilometers) Wednesday morning."
- Kol Tregaskes
from Bookmarklet
Do you want to become smarter? There is nothing easier:) You just should eat more... smart foods. Yes! Everything is as simple as that. So, what's on the menu today?
- Mahdi Ebrahimi
from Bookmarklet
I think there might be a terminology problem here. Are they smart foods (modern/novel materials/foods)or super foods? According to the British Nutrition Foundation smart foods are classified as: * modified starch (eg instant dessert mix that uses cold milk) * genetically modified foods * anti-oxidants * modified enzymes, e.g. chymosin * probiotic yoghurts/drinks * meat analogues, eg...
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- Jonathan Tanner
Eating less stupid food couldn't hurt either.
- Dale
If transgenic foods are smart food i think organic food must be stupid foods:)
- Mahdi Ebrahimi
Sorry, I should have been a touch mor specific. By stupid food I was more referring to over-processed, ingredient-laden, prepared or instant food. But organic is also overrated. Just because a food claims to be organically grown that doesn't make it better. At least here in the states there are many loopholes to the organic labeling laws....
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- Dale
Absolutely stunning photos! Love the vibrant colours!
- Gurpreet
I read a study recently, (can't remember the citation now) that revealed that eating 1 cup of blueberries a day improves balance and proprioception, due to the particular blend of antioxidants in them and the way they interact with each other. Whereas regularly eating onions (for example), that also contain many antioxidants, improves memory. Random bit of interesting (to me anyway) trivia :)
- Gurpreet
so, so sad. I like(d) Friendfeed much more than facebook
- Francisco Kemeny
home run for FF.. Facebook will be able to give developers a treasure trove of data one thing that Twitter is dominating on right now. Twitter has a huge developer community but isn't managing that. Here FB is poised to be huge
- John Furrier
So classic that Robert has the first interview about this...Where's Louis? :)
- Anthony Farrior
How do they plan to mix the teenagers with the geeks?
- Jordi Soler
Amani: I am excited! Facebook has 800 employees and 300 million users. This makes both companies much more important.
- Robert Scoble
from iPhone
here was a comment on SiliconANGLE blog .. very funny .. "Hey, since we've copied almost every innovation you've had, guess you might as well play on the company softball team!"
- John Furrier
Nice strategic move - Interesting to see how this will integrate and looks in 12 months
- Alex Vermeule (@alexve)
to be honnest I was predicting google offer, then facebook preceed google on this, they are doing well, now rarding FF this is great, the sucess is to know when to pass to something else, the future will make the abtle wave, facebook rude for all geek it is time to code.
- abdellah
You rascal Robert, bet you had wind about FriendFeed and FaceBook merger before today? Yes? Have not used either SM apps. much UNTIL Twitter locked my account. May have been a fortunate mishap as it turns out. Getting to know the beauties of both apps. =)
- SashaKane
do you have a small amount of FriendFeed shares Robert?
- Torsten Eckert
NOOOOOOO. Damnit! I am praying that Facebook doesn't wall up Friendfeed. I was starting to build a site around Friendfeed :(
- beersage
beersage: as Facebook is trying to break their users into a more public world, I doubt that you really have anything to worry about there.
- guruvan (Rob Nelson)
Starting to listen to this now. Hoping you are right, Rob.
- beersage
I hope so to. But regardless, I think that it was in reality necessary for FriendFeed to sell to really put the technology in front of a sufficient number of eyeballs. Facebook is probably the best acquirer that FriendFeed could have. (I would have not felt the same had FF been acquired by Google)
- guruvan (Rob Nelson)
The thing with Friendfeed though is how I can share things outside of a 'wall.' I prominently feature the FF widget on my site. I'm just concerned of losing that capability as I was tinkering with delivering a new site w/ content primarily running through my Friendfeed account. I am to this day unable to do much outside of the wall. I am unable to subscribe to Fan Page updates in Google reader for instance. That is what concerns me about FB acquiring FF given my goals.
- beersage
Robert sounded quite breathless in that interview. Thanks Robert.
- Roberto Bonini
Wow! I'm in shock. I can't wait to hear this interview.
- Micah
from iPhone
This deal was about getting Paul and the team and nothing else
- Stephen Pickering
@stephan, are you serious? FB is buying a concept, a technoloie, a structure, a content and a user list
- abdellah
now how could a team that left google resist under a unique perception system, where the leader vision is upon any thing
- abdellah
Unconvincing Paul Buchheit, the team is more exited of being part of bigger story - logical for them to move on
- patrickdh
They want a way to turn their white pages into a yellow pages and the only guy on Earth who knows how to do it, is Paul
- Stephen Pickering
It was only about the technology and the people. Most people are on also FB anyway.
- James Myatt
My guess is that Paul got a tooooooooon of options and will soon be the No.2 guy at Facebook
- Stephen Pickering
Glossing over of that "short term" question by the FF boys. It just seems more about the individuals at FF than it does the users of FF. "Their (Facebook) long term goals" Nice interview, Robert!
- Melanie Reed
Well, it looks as if pass-through of FriendFeed Likes, Comments, etc. to Twitter is down. Will it be for good? Did Twitter do this in response to the acquisition? Or is it just a regular (though curiously timed) hiccup?
- Alex Schleber
this is why your own personal website is always more important than friendfeed, Twitter and all the rest. that's never going anywhere
- Terry O'Fee
from BuddyFeed
I must confess I thought this was photoshopped!
- Son of Groucho
It never ceases to amaze me how long it takes for things to percolate out into the media. I posted this Monday from someone who came across this in the daily mail who in turn got it off the AP wires probably on Sunday. So now we're, say 5-6 days out from the event that this took place at. And only now is it beginning to come up on "American Media" web pages. Somethings wrong when an...
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- Bluesun 2600
hello. to be honest, it was only luck that I came across this - I'm pretty slow when it comes to checking the current news sites/sources. being from the UK, I would also usually - as a matter of principle - never check anything related to the Daily Mail! cheers
- andrewb
Grasslands is pretty cool looking, but when I comment on a post, the comment field is hidden in the grass. :D
- Josh Haley
Nice job! These are some pretty spiffy themes. I would have commented earlier, but I was busy shooting ducks. I switched from Helvetica to Steampunk for now. I still want my old school monochrome monitor black screen and green text theme :P
- Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ
"old school monochrome monitor black screen and green text theme"? oh hellzyeah! can we also get an amber monochrome version?? they can be called "Hercules Green" and "Hercules Amber"! :D
- Joe The Sausage
oooooo...I like that...Hercules Green and Hercules Amber
- Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ
Grasslands has sun and clouds in Opera, but not in Firefox.
- ˈpɛbə
Peter I see the sun and the clouds even in Firefox
- Niki Costantini
Cool, I like Orion and Duck Hunt is fun in a simple way... But I'm going to stick with Helvetica for now. Wouldn't mind a Blue variation of it.
- Grant Bierman
Cordys Cloud application had the cloud+grass combination since about a year, and now this theme of FriendFeed makes my page look like my applications ;) mighty nice ;)
- Ashish Tiwari
I'd like,, I really would like to have a full black and green theme, like old vintage computer from the '80's, but with the power of new technology. SO, please, make me happy...
- Francesco OC
annnnd back to helvetica.....steampunk is too slow on my netbook. really really want vintage computer "hercules green" or amber theme guys! :)
- Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ
yes mike! hercules green or amber theme! perfect...
- Francesco OC
Oh! I like Steampunk and I'm using it. Good job!
- Trang Phượng
Primeceno od strane George Carlina, "Things that put us together". Odlichan skech (:
- Mladen Srdić
to je psihoza. i ja je imam. "jesam posla il sam dosla?" za nas je najvaznije da imamo history and bookmarks
- Cyber Wanderlust
Ja sam dugo imao tik da kad otvorim novi tab i razmišljam što ću s njim krenem ukucavat images.google.com iako nikad ne idem na taj url, kad i koristim google images radim to kroz search bar. Sad mi je ista stvar sa reader.google.com ali njega bar koristim.
- mzec
I refuse to buy another smartphone until they make one with a screen bigger than a tiny playing card. If I can't navigate the touch screen because it's too small, the OS doesn't matter.
- MarkCarras
Too little too late - There's better alternatives out there IMHO.
- Jim Connolly
These new TOS's should be challenged in court. Are they reasonable? I don't recall agreeing to the new TOS's at any time recently (Although I did agree to the original ones). This might make them un-enforceable. As one commentor said "Supposing they added a clause saying they could come to your house and cut down your shrubbery. Obviously this would be thrown out of court. So do the new terms breach "The Shrubbery" test?"
- Gary
Zee, having server trouble? Not loading now. .
- Simon Wicks
you know i think this story has broken the bloody site. Have got the powers that be looking into it
- Zee.
i'm not a fan of facebook. Not worked out why, just something about it. This is utter crap. Nothing really stopping them from making an iStockPhoto duplicate, selling your images. Of course this thing wouldn't stand in court, didn't agree to it for one.
- Stuart Evans
from twhirl
Seriously considering getting off Facebook. It's doing nothing for my business and only adds to my frustration. There's one more blogpost in it: My experience in getting off facebook.
- Henk de Kruyff
from twhirl
i like more and more to NOT be registered on facebook :) i'm the only one among my friends and even familly (funny thing is that i'm definitively more geek & online addicted than them) who made this choice, for various reasons. Maybe even just for challenge, and i'm glad too. Day after day this is more & more fun not to register in this evil service who is directed by money, no more by...
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- TiTi
So they own all my tweets? since twitter goes to my facebook account. YAY! :(
- Patrick
from twhirl
I'm going to edit my signature to include 'property of facebook' :P
- Joe Dawson
Do they own my FriendFeed posts, my stuff on Flickr (It's Creative Commons licensed!), my Tweets, my last.fm profile content, and bunch of other random stuff that I've piped through Facebook in the past, now?
- Tyson Key
I thought this was common knowledge by now ?
- Bwana ☠
"A growing number of blogs are moving away from traditional blog layouts in favor of magazine-style themes; however, the layout and presentation of content has a major impact on visitors and there is no one-size-fits-all solution..."
- Anthony Citrano
Awww... I hope you catch his first steps on camera! :)
- Daynah
@Geoff, wow that's a memorable tweet. She is not sleeping through the night consistently yet. She is getting close, she can go about 6 hours without waking up, that's 3-4 nights a week currently.
- Mike Fruchter
"How did Forrest Gump achieve these incredible feats with a mediocre IQ? He achieved these feats by his mastery of self-confidence — his yearning for the positive outcome and his ability to defy the failures by his willingness to persist and try harder."
- Leon Ho
from Bookmarklet
Vincent, I think the number of fictional stories over the millennia that have taught people something about themselves would surprise you.
- Joel Falconer
Are you proposing that Forrest Gump is one of those stories? I can't detect any resemblance between Forrest's behavior and that of any human I've ever met. I mean, he walked and stuff, but that was it.
- j1m