By Angela Hey
About this blog: I write about technology companies, trends and events in and around Mountain View. Where else can you find startups nurtured by
Y-Combinator and
(More)About this blog: I write about technology companies, trends and events in and around Mountain View. Where else can you find startups nurtured by
Y-Combinator and
500 Startups working alongside multi-billion corporations like
Google,
Symantec and
Intuit? I like to write about software and systems that are changing lifestyles. Innovations like self-driving cars, on-demand limousine services and electric bikes are revolutionizing transportation. Smartphones help people find their way, manage their health and make new friends. In my articles, I like to include something for Mountain View residents, something for industry professionals and something for venture investors. I'm particularly interested in mobile apps and cloud computing. I came to California to find software applications for AT&T. I've worked in startups, advised venture capitalists and analyzed enterprise software markets. After getting a PhD at the University of London in engineering, I joined Bell Laboratories, analyzing over 400 telephone company systems. I also have an MMath degree in optimization from the University of Waterloo in Canada, and an MA in mathematics from the University of Cambridge. My husband John Mashey, is a computer scientist and trustee of the Computer History Museum. He also defends climate scientists by blogging.
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Last night, Google's Seth Covitz gave an excellent presentation on Google Wave to the
Silicon Valley Google Technology User Group. With Google Wave, people can send messages, share information and collaborate on projects. Think of it as a combination of email, instant messaging and information sharing.
A Wave can be thought of as a conversation. While a group of people are chatting online, some people might have side conversations. It can be very annoying if people have side conversations in a meeting room, but online asides can speed up decision-making and help groups resolve issues quickly.
Besides sending messages to and from people, there are also robots. Robots are little programs that do things automatically. Seth showed us some
examples. Bloggy is a robot that publishes a wave to a blog site. Tweety sends information to and receives information from Twitter. At the moment, the demos are only open to developers that get a Google Sandbox account (for which there is a waiting list) where they can test out new Google Wave code. Fortunately for those at the meeting last night Google offered sandbox accounts to those who had not yet received them.
The Google Technology User Group is not part of Google, but Google provides space and food for their meetings which are held the first Wednesday of the month at Google. Pre-registration is advised as events fill up days in advance and you need to pass Google Security.
Logo courtesy Google Technology User Group.
