I’d like to point you to a video that showcases a technology which I think is the first big breakthrough in Internet communication since the old Bulletin Boards of the late 80s and early 90s. It could also be the answer to SPAM!

It’s called Google Wave and (amongst many other things) it combines email and IM (Instant Messaging) funtions into your browser (i.e. you won’t need to download yet more software before you can use it!). Now if this is all it did, it would already be something to sing about, but it doesn’t just give you the same instant messaging features, it improves them.

e.g. There’s nothing worse than waiting for an ‘instant’ reply and seeing that the other person “…is typing” their message, but you need to turn your computer off and leave. Instead, you now see what they are typing, as they are typing it. This also overcomes the time wasted on a reply from them which is on the wrong track – one of the main causes of messaging angst!

Work AND Play
Because it is helping with communication and allows you to share photos and other files on the fly, it means collaborating in a work environment is easier and it’s also really easy to share holiday pics with family and friends interstate/overseas without having to sign up for Flickr, etc.

NO MORE SPAM!
One added benefit of this system is that because you need to invite people, it’s not like the SPAM minefield that E-Mail is today. Although it’s early, this could be the ultimate SPAM-Buster – addressing a problem that has been chewing up Internet resources and your time for years now.

When is it coming?
At the moment, it’s scheduled for ‘later this year’ but the best part is that they are allowing developers to work with the software so that when it does come out officially you will have lots of toys to play with!

Here is the link. Bare in mind that the video is 80 minutes long, but it will give you a good idea of the many features coming soon.