Google Wave: Changing the World as You Know It

While you may not have a Google Wave account yet, it may be just a matter of time before you're invited to join in on this new and exciting personal communication and collaboration tool. No matter if you're already involved or waiting to join in, you can pick up on some quick tips from this article.

New Tools

If you think you're limited to the tools shown in the extension page, then you're sorely mistaken. You can add new gadgets to a Wave if you have the URL for that gadget. Just be sure that the app is an .xml file. Here's how to add new gadgets:

1. Close any wave in the right column by clicking on the X in the right corner. When you do this, a blank slate is created with the link "New Wave" in the middle. Click on that link:

2. A new Wave window will open when you click on that link. Once that Wave window is open, find the Gadget application and click on it:

When you click on that green puzzle piece, a window will open that asks for the URL of the gadget. But, first you need to find a gadget and get the URL. In this instance, I went to Google Gadgets and picked a gadget that seemed appropriate for a page of search gadgets that I want to build for myself (this is an instance where a single user can use Wave to develop a solitary tool within Wave for personal use).

When you find a gadget you want to use at Google Gadgets, click on the gadget and go to the bottom of that app. You will find a link that says, "View Source." Click on that link to grab the .xml address from the address box at the top of your browser

NOTE: Sometimes when you go to "View Source" you may see this message: "This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below." When this message occurs, you may not be able to use that .xml address to add the gadget. The only way you will know if the gadget will work or not is to grab the address anyway and add it to the new Wave. If it does not work, you'll see a broken puzzle piece in the Wave.

I grabbed a YouTube search address and – while it contained the message shown in the above note – it still worked. That address is: http://throttled.org/googlegadgets/youtubesearch.xml. I added that address in the box that popped up when I clicked on the Add Gadget button:

After you add the address to the "Add gadget by URL" box, click on the "Add" button in that box and a puzzle piece will appear in your Wave window. If the puzzle piece does not break, the gadget will show in the Wave window:

You might wonder how this gadget can be useful. I can add more search gadgets to this Wave and tag it or organize it (like Lars shows in the video) so I can find it easily. The ability to use a page that contains a number of search engines on it is valuable to me as a writer. You probably can think of other uses as well.

In a collaboration effort, you can add more users who might be able to use the search pages, too. However, if you want to keep this Wave pristine for personal use, do not add any other collaborators to this Wave.

Another way to use this YouTube gadget in Wave is to built Waves based upon obsessions or projects. For instance, I'm currently obsessed with Tom Morello (guitarist for Rage Against the Machine). When I typed his name into the YouTube gadget in that Wave, a Tom Morello video appeared in the Wave. I clicked on the video and was able to listen to his music while I typed this paragraph.

Oh sure, I could go to YouTube and do the same thing – but why do that when I can log into Google Wave and select this Wave for my personal amusement? If I wanted to change that music to another artist, I can type a new artist into the YouTube search engine and a new video will replace Tom Morello (Tom Morello Wave shown below):

The image above also provides you with a good view of the Wave window utilities, such as the ability to change font colour, style, add lists, links and more, all located in the bar below my pen nib avatar.

NOTE: when you click on the "Done" button shown at the lower right of the Wave window above, a list of your contacts will pop up for you to pick some contacts for collaboration. To avoid adding anyone to a Wave collaboration, just close the contact list with the x in the upper right corner of that window.