Google Wave is a real-time communication platform. It combines aspects of email, instant messaging, wikis, web chat, social networking, and project management to build one elegant, in-browser communication client. You can bring a group of friends or business partners together to discuss how your day has been or share files. 

Google Wave: A Complete Guide

Google Wave has a lot of innovative features, but here are just a few:

- Real-time: In most instances, you can see what someone else is typing, character-by-character.

- Embeddability: Waves can be embedded on any blog or website.

- Applications and Extensions: Just like a Facebook application or an iGoogle gadget, developers can build their own apps within waves. They can be anything from bots to complex real-time games.

- Wiki functionality: Anything written within a Google Wave can be edited by anyone else, because all conversations within the platform are shared. Thus, you can correct information, append information, or add your own commentary within a developing conversation.

- Open source: The Google Wave code will be open source, to foster innovation and adoption amongst developers.

- Playback: You can playback any part of the wave to see what was said.

- Natural language: Google Wave can autocorrect your spelling, even going as far as knowing the difference between similar words, like “been” and “bean.” It can also auto-translate on-the-fly.

- Drag-and-drop file sharing: No attachments; just drag your file and drop it inside Google Wave and everyone will have access.

While these are only a few of the many features of Google Wave, it’s easy to see why people are extremely excited. -mashable.com

More on Google Wave is coming…

For those unfamiliar, this video camcorder is the size of a bar cell phone; very lightweight and great for capturing on the go, easily fitting into a pocket.

It's called the Flip because a slider on the side of the unit flips open a hidden USB plug.  Yes, it’s plug and play, and it works on both Mac and PC!   The unit contains (limited) editing software, but you can import footage into the editing software of your choice.  I’ve brought some of mine into Final Cut Pro and I’ve been quite pleased with the video quality, considering it’s not a professional camcorder.  It's also designed with sharing in mind and features an easy upload to youtube and other social networking sites built into the software.

Another nice feature is the price; it’s accessible at approximately $150 for the standard Flip Mino and approximately $200 for the HD Flip Mino.   Pure Digital Technologies, Inc. has recently released a new version of the Flip Mino.  Expect a 2” viewing screen rather then the original 1” screen, and 2 hours of recording time rather than the 1-hour recording time of the previous model.

Overall I’ve been highly pleased with the Flip Mino and recommend it.  Although a very simple gadget, it’s good at what it does.  Remember that recording your presentations to see yourself as others do is a great learning tool.

For more info on the Flip Mino from Pure Digital Technologies, Inc. >>

The Ever Popular "Unboxing":

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Taylor Mali offers a great poem on “The The Impotence of Proofreading”

WARNING: This has some sexual language and is NOT for all audiences.
But hey, you are a grownup.  You can make your own choices.

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These projectors first appeared as freestanding, companion units to cell phones and other devices connected by standard cables. Cell phone service providers have been the driving force behind the development with the goal of embedding the micro projectors, like the common cell phone camera.

I was intrigued after reading an article on the emerging technology last year.  These micro projectors have some possibility for impromptu meetings and mobile presentations.

An Amazon reviewer says:

"We have a number of people that travel a lot for training purposes. They usually have to pack around a laptop/dvd player, projector, external speakers, and all of the wires needed to connect everything together. They are usually in smaller rooms presenting to small groups. For this purpose, the projector is going to work very well.

Here is what we have put together. Instead of packing around the equipment mentioned above, our managers now have their iPhone or iTouch, the Optoma Pico Projector, and a set of mini speakers from a company called Grandmax (Grandmax.com). The speakers are powered from the iPhone and are not much bigger than the projector (the sound is excellent for the size). They are able to show videos, pictures, and PowerPoint presentations (you need a program to convert the PowerPoint presentation to a video to do this) and not have to pack a ton of equipment to do it.

It will be exciting to see where this technology goes in the future. However, as for now, this projector does a decent job as long as you can live with the shortcomings. It's not perfect and a lot of people will not be happy with the quality, but it has the potential to be a very worthwhile tool if you have a specific need that this projector can satisfy."

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