The Google Wave Highlight Reel
We haven't been invited to try out Google Wave (yet? pretty please Mister Google?), but based on the 80-minute demonstration video, we're jazzed about it. Don't have 80 minutes? These eight 30-60 second clips highlight the best parts of Google Wave.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google unveiled Wave at its I/O keynote on May 28 as an ambitious communication platform for what Vic Gundotra framed as an HTML5-driven web (the launch coverage stressed the scope), but access is by invitation only — even Lifehacker notes it hasn't been let in. What exists publicly is an 80-minute demonstration video.
Today's post is pure amplification of that constraint: rather than reporting new functionality, Lifehacker cuts the existing demo into eight 30–60 second clips. When the only artifact is a video, curation becomes the coverage.
First-order effects
- With invitations scarce, outlets without access like Lifehacker can cover Wave only through the demo footage, making Google's own presentation the de facto product review and stretching the I/O buzz into June without any new user touching the tool.
Second-order effects
- Short clip breakdowns lower the bar for every other blog to write about Wave secondhand, widening the gap between the platform's reputation and how many people have actually used it — pressure that lands on Google's invite pipeline to convert hype into access.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward launches in which a polished standards-based demo substitutes for shippable software during preview phases, testing whether web-platform apps can bank adoption intent through spectacle ahead of real availability.
The trend: Invite-only platform launches increasingly run on demo-video virality, letting products like Wave accumulate mindshare among press and early adopters before anyone can log in.