Does Google have what it takes to supplant (or even compete against) the dominating Apple IPhone as reigning king of the smart phones? Only time will tell, but after this weekend it seems evident that the time to find out is drawing near.

Although details are still sketchy, it has been confirmed in a tidal wave of attention this past weekend that Google is in fact preparing its own smart phone device running its Android mobile operating system (the phone is currently being called the “Nexus One”).

Whether you like them or not, you gotta admit that on the surface it sounds pretty cool. It is such an intriguing proposition that the sky has been the limit on the speculated impact of such a move.

Why, just on the surface it makes me wonder if Google has an ultimate strategy to bypass the carriers and provide phone services via the Internet with their own version  of Vonage (only with a better jingle!). Could they pull it off? How would it change things?

Currently little is known about specifics of the device (to be manufactured by HTC of Taiwan) or Google’s plans for it. However it seems clear that Google plans to sell the device online and not through traditional cell phone sales methods where consumers acquire the phone from their carrier in exchange for a long term contract. For example, the phone could be sold at Amazon.com for instance, and at the time of purchase the consumer would select their carrier network from a list of participating carriers.

T-Mobile is said to be the only carrier interested in pursuing this new distribution model with Google – which seems to be a must-change situation for Google to shake things up beyond media frenzy. But then again, the IPhone only runs on the AT&T network.

Regardless of how this all shakes out, it is obvious that Google has the notoriety to stir the pot as well as anybody.  They also have the Internet clout, the cash, and the technology to take on the old guard (telecomm carriers) and beat them at an old game with a new Google twist.

It will definitely be entertaining to watch it unfold in 2010 – anybody want popcorn?

Wave Hello to Google Wave

As some of you may have heard, Google Wave started its first ‘wave’ of beta testing.  Wednesday September 30, Google sent out over 100,000 preview invitations to developers, businesses, universities, and early bird beta testers who signed up first.  Some of these users were even encouraged to nominate other people to receive early invitations, because Google Wave is much more useful when someone you know is using it too.

What exactly is Wave?

It’s Google’s new real time communication platform.   It seems that not only searches are going real time, but also the web itself.  With Google Wave you can keep track of email, videos, instant messaging, social networking, wikis, tweets, documents, and projects, all within a single in-browser application.  It is organized in a hybrid email inbox / instant messaging layout that allows you to easily see who you are connected to, and what is going on in your wave.  Some of the features of Google Wave are:

Wiki-style editing- Waves are editable and viewable just like any wiki article, though privacy settings do exist.

Real time typing- See what others are typing, character by character, as they edit a wave.

Playback- If you gain access to a wave late in the conversation or editing, you can play it back to see how things came about.

Gadgets and robots- Both are extensions, gadgets being more like add-ons or widgets and robots being more like the automated bots of our instant messaging past.

Embedding- You can embed a wave anywhere, from websites to blogs.

These are just a few of Google Wave’s features, and as you can see they are unlike anything we have seen before.  Whether that’s a good thing or not, time will tell.  But the best functionality of Google Wave I have seen is by far the open source capabilities.

Wave Open Source

Because Google supplies a standard of operation using an extension of XMPP also called the Open Wave Federation Protocol, anyone can build a custom Wave system and become a wave provider.  A key feature of this protocol is that waves are stored on the provider’s servers.  This means we could set up a wave server here at TrueShare, and provide Wave services to our customers as well as Wave integration into the TrueShare system.

Google also plans to release the Wave source code so the public can develop extensions such as the gadgets and robots discussed above. Much like Firefox, there will be an extension library where users can access these extensions for use in their waves. One example of a truly amazing gadget is Ribbit, which will allow for coworkers to enter their phone numbers (which are kept private) so when someone clicks the Start Conference button, it dials all of the numbers.  Teams can then hold a conference call while collaborating on documents inside of a wave.

With Google Wave in beta testing, it’s easy to get excited about the future of online communication and collaboration.  It could be a great leap in technology that takes over the way we do business on the internet, or a giant flop of confusing innovation that the world is not ready for.  I see great potential in Google Wave, and believe its success lays solely on the shoulders of the extension developers.

If you want to get a sneak peek at Google Wave and see what all the hype is about, sign up to get an invitation at https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/.

Or if you’d just like to get a more indepth explaination, let the creators of Wave from Google show you in this video (1 hr 20 mins long).

So what do you think about Google Wave?  Will it be the future of online communication?

If you are part of a large number of people in the world with a desk job or one where you work primarily at a computer, then you are probably familiar with the idea that the right tool for the right task can make a big difference. Many of us have tried tightening a screw with our fingernail or hammering a nail in with a screwdriver handle, but it’s obviously not the most efficient way of doing things. The same mentality should be applied to digital tools.

I am one of these people and each month I will be blogging about such digital tools – technologies, widgets, applications or devices that improve the quality and the ease in which we accomplish computing tasks.

Chat is not just for teenagers anymore.
Using email for quick conversation is like writing a letter to someone sitting right next to you. Maybe you really need to collaborate with your project partner, but you’re half way around the world. Or you need to converse with a colleague or client about specs on a project and you want to keep a record of what is discussed. Chat or Instant Messaging (IM) answers the call. It is fast paced communication that is perfect for digital dialogue and quick questions. Response is immediate (usually) and all contained in one window (instead of separate emails). Great for the traveling executive, telecommuter, or anywhere quick collaboration is required, the value in chatting as a communication supplement is illustrated by the myriad of available chat applications.

My Instant Messenger program of choice: Digsby
Digsby designers thought of you when they built their application. It allows you to be on all the major IM networks at one time (AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, GoogleTalk, etc). Also, it keeps tabs on all your email addresses from one place and gives you notifications as soon as you receive new emails (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!, AOL, even IMAP and POP accounts). And for those of you that are on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn) – They’ve got that covered as well. All in one application!
It fits so well into my daily communications that I now take it for granted.

However, with the recent introduction of Google Wave – all bets are off.  Wave is a brave new frontier of collaborative communication- a means of conducting and managing group discussions as living documents.  The initial implementation already appears to be full of powerful features for capturing, versioning, splitting, sharing, extracting, and extending conversations with new levels of digital organization and flexibility.

Until next month this is Thomas Rye on the hunt for my next technology, widget, application, or device to make our digital lives easier and more productive.