Anyone who stays in touch with the latest  IT news will probably be aware of a new application called "Wave", which is being promoted by Google. Could it be the next big thing? We know that Twitter caught on because of its simplicity, but the prospects aren't good for Wave, because the concept behind Wave is not for the fainthearted. However we feel it might succeed for the simple fact that it's a great idea.

Nearly everyone with a computer uses email, so much so that we ignore its drawbacks. The main problems with emails as they are right now is

• Multiple copies of messages,
• The difficulty of replying to individual points,
• The problem of spam
• And so on......

Wave sets plans to reinvent email, to get over these problems and to enable this type of messaging to integrate with much more modern applications. A conversation becomes a document. We suggest you press on, because the advantages are very intriguing.

The best guide we have seen so far is The Complete Guide to Google Wave, particularly the first chapter, which we'd thoroughly recommend you spend 15 minutes with.

You can put your name down with Google here to request an invitation

This video explains more