Google lets creative types play in their Sandbox

Whilst the crowds flocked to the Google Wave demonstration, there was nothing that wasn't revealed in the original developer preview presentation . The convergent collaboration tool promises to change the way we communicate, but at the moment that's all it is, a promise. I will wait until I can get my grubby little hands on the thing before making anysweeping judgments.

Other highlights included amazing 'data art' visualisations presented by Aaron Koblin, who was referred to as a"Google rockstar" at numerous points through the night. It was admittedly mesmerising to look at the advanced effects he was able to produce. Especially when you consider that they were implemented using advanced in-browser techniques such as JavaScript and HTML5, rather than relying on third party plug-ins such as Adobe Flash.

WhilstI was excited to hear that, Robert Wong, Executive Creative Director of the Google Creative Lab, had actually used the new Google Chrome OS, he would not let slip any more than to say his "grandmother would love it". Cryptic!

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed by the  social media displays. Whilst Google is moving forward in the social area, promoting it's connected iGoogle apps, there was no attention paid to the flurry of social updates to Google Reade has seen in the past few weeks. Social media is an area that Google continues to struggle to gain traction, not really that surprising when you consider is a company that has been built on the back of an advanced algorithm.

The Geo team, responsible for the Google Maps, had some great examples of innovative uses of the Google Maps API for marketers such as the Smoke Signals mashup.  The Geo team also had the Wii Fit board out which saw youflying through a Google Earth version of Sydney in a small delivery van. It's cool, but about as useful as the flight sim easter egg hidden in Excel 97.

Perhaps the greatest leaps have come with the YouTube API. One demo that that tickled my fancy was warp, showcasing the YouTube recommendation engine in an entirely new way.  The YouTube team Oslo demoed a number number of new ways in which YouTube infrastructure can be used for engaging people with video in innovative ways. I particularly like the wall demo which shows just how farYouTube has actually come.

It was a fun night and despite a few*ahem* technical glitches which thankfully prevented the media from hearing Vanilla Ice, the Google Creative Sandbox it did a great job of showcasing some of the lesser known Google products advances.

Source: www.digital-media.net.au/article/google-lets-creative-types-play-in-their-sandbox/495312.aspx