Google Wave - The email Killer

E-mail as we know it is based on the snail-mail format: you send a message; your friend receives it. Google Wave makes mail collaborative and instant. When you type a message to a friend, he or she sees what you're typing as you type it. You can jump in and start drafting a reply before the initial message is complete. Google Wave also lets users collaborate on editable documents, called Wikis, share photos, update blogs, set appointments and chat in big groups. You can add conference calls to a Wave. A translation function called Rosy will translate chat messages between languages as you write.


Watch How Google Wave Works



Twin brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen are the brains behind Google Wave.

Jens Rasmussen is a member of Google's technical staff, currently based in the Sydney office, and with his brother Lars is co-founder of the Google Wave effort. In early 2003, the brothers co-founded a mapping start-up, Where 2 Technologies, which was acquired by Google in October of 2004. Jens joined Google and worked as one of the lead engineers in the team that turned this acquisition into Google Maps, now used by millions of people around the world.




Lars Rasmussen is a member of Google's technical staff, based in the Sydney office, and with his brother Jens is co-founder of the Google Wave effort. In early 2003, the brothers co-founded a mapping start-up, Where 2 Technologies, which was acquired by Google in October of 2004. Lars joined Google and worked as one of the lead engineers in the team that turned this acquisition into Google Maps, now used by millions of people around the world.

Coca-Cola’s “Open Happiness” Campaign Is Using Social Media

Coca-Cola is taking an interesting and bold approach towards social media and is using it to engage its supporters worldwide. The soft drink giant will be sending three bloggers to more than 200 countries in a year to find out what makes people happy as part of their “Open Happiness” campaign.

It’s all part of Coca-Cola’s Expedition 206 - www.expedition206.com. As of today there are only 11 days left to vote for your favorite team to have the privilege to travel the world to 206 countries within 365 days in 2010 where Coca-Cola is sold.
Adam Brown, director of Coca-Cola’s Office of Digital Communications and Social Media explains: “It’s about telling the story that involves Coca-Cola, that involves the attributes of what Coca-Cola is about, optimism and joy.”

To top it all off Coca-Cola will cover the bloggers’ travel expenses and plus pay them a salary. The bloggers will go from country to country in record speed and blog about their experiences. As Coca-Cola consumers you have the opportunity to suggest a to-do-list for the bloggers to check as the expedition unfolds.

I hope my favorite wins!

Now thru November 6, fans can visit expedition206.com and vote for which team of Ambassadors will get the chance to take this unbelievable trip!

Disney is Transforming Its U.S. Stores –Disney will spend about $1 million a store to redecorate, reorganize and install interactive technology

Disney has teamed up with Apple’s Steve Jobs and his retail team to turn its stores into entertainment destinations. Disney plans to revamp all of its 340 U.S. stores, complete with theaters where children can watch clips from their favorite Disney films. Visitors can use interactive displays and book a Disney Cruise.

Disney claims the new look, branded “Imagination Park,” is going to be unveiled in spring of 2010 in the New York area. Steve Jobs, who has been on the Disney board since 2006, provided the company with proprietary information about the development and operation of Apple’s high-tech and highly successful stores.

“It’s about making this an experience rather than just picking up a toy,” said Disney rep Shawn Turner. “We want them to leave feeling like they had the full Disney experience. They don’t necessarily need to go to the park to have that experience, they can get it at the local mall.”

Bates said that the challenge is to balance the active experiences of interacting with the brand with the more passive experiences of buying products. The Soho Apple store in New York has done this successfully, he said. “You have to make sure that the activities are reinforcing the core brand message, and that they are not just enhancing the store experience, but they’re reinforcing the bigger brand message,” said Bates. “You have to build a brand experience that’s enriching enough in its own right, but also amplifies that experience after they leave the store.”
Read More on the Disney Interactive Stores in the New York Times

Ford Goes Zero to 60 on Social Media

Zero to 60: Ford’s Social Media Story, by Scott Monty; presented by GasPedal and the Social Media Business Council from GasPedal on Vimeo.

Social Media and the Generation Gap

Today’s teens are aware of Twitter but are certainly not using it. Thanks to Britney Spears and Ashton Kutcher – they know what it is but are not interested in it or other micro-blogging tools – as you well know with teens this can change at any time. Instead teens are crazy about Facebook and spend a heck of a lot of time micro-blogging about their status. They constantly update their friends on what they are doing and enjoying. The primary forms of communication tools today are: text messages, video/Skype, IM, and Facebook.

As for email – I am yet to meet a teen that is hooked on email – in fact not many people under 20 use email. They use email only as a tool to respond to something related to work or to set up accounts on social media sites. As teen parents and grandparents become more involved in social media - email becomes less relevant.

Another distinct difference with teens and their parents and grandparents – is privacy. Although teens care about their privacy they do so differently than the previous generation. When their parents go out of town they have the lights set to come on and off automatically and have a friend get their mail – on the other hand teens broadcast to the world their whereabouts.