Category: I am a geek and my posts are techno-musings about nothings. There is no discernible structure or prose in my blogs. Just ramblings by a lunatic with a thought, some space and a keyboard.
Technology is in an interesting place in history right now. We have more mediums than ever to connect to each other – in the order of complexity – Letters, Telegraph, Phone, Mobile Phone, Texting, E-mail, Discussion board, YouTube, Chatting Social Networking, Twitting, Blogging – the list is growing. I knew a lot of people in the London residency – at least by face – through Facebook even before I landed in London. And it is interesting to think about why is this happening – is it technology driven or driven by the need for human connection? We make posts to facebook and twitter with the expectation to get a response. Some simian instinct at play here that I wish I could learn more about.
Which brings me to something that I came across recently which I found fascinating – Google Wave. This is a fascinating marriage of social networking, document sharing (like google docs) and chatting. This could be the future in collaboration – imagine working on a presentation, chatting with your team mates, and finalizing things – all under one roof; could be a leap in productivity. It also maintains the versioning of documents in an interesting way – playing back so that you know what went on. Its not technologically radical but its packaged in a way that makes it quite innovative.
Here’s a quick video on what Google Wave is all about.
Here’s another from the developers with a live demonstration.
Google Wave is still in Beta (in Google terms this could mean even 5 years of Beta like for GMail) but request for your invitation – you might just get an invitation to try it out.
(Myth) Skype has limits of not more than 5 for conferencing.
(Reality) There is no limit – at least none I could find. Conference with as many as you want to.
I agree about the loss of the human touch. This is especially pronounced in Japan - if you are in a train you would notice that people do not talk or interact with each other at all with each other; they are staring right into their mobile phones and texting to each other. Or looking at their PSPs and gaming with each other.
I always wondered what aliens would wonder about the quirks of the human society.
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