Google Wave Overview (and how to get an invite)

Google wave is an exciting new Google application that allows various participants to communicate and collaborate online in real-time (in fact, as the user types). You can collaborate using videos, photos, rich text, maps, robots and more.

I love the way that you can chat with someone from another language, and Google Wave will translate  this in real time on the other users’ chat screen.

Here’s an overview, in under 8 minutes:

Better still, here’s a really creative overview in under 3 minutes (created by EpipheoStudios.com):

So how do you get to use Google Wave? It’s currently in a limited preview release, like GMAIL when it was first launched, so the only way is to get an invite. There are three main ways to get an invite:

1. Fill out the Google Wave for Individuals signup form
2. If you are a Google Apps administrator and you are interested in using it on your domain, fill out the Google Wave for Google Apps request form
3. If you know someone that already has an invite (such as friends, family or colleagues), ask them for an invite

If you have 80 minutes of spare time, see the long version of the video (Google Wave Developer Preview and Google I/O 2009).

For anyone wanting an invite, re-tweet this post and/or leave a comment and I’ll send you a personal invitation to Google Wave (I have 5 to give away).