By John D. Sutter

(CNN) — Google Wave, a product that promises to revolutionize online communication, will go out to about 100,000 beta testers Wednesday.Google Wave hopes to replace e-mail as the main way people communicate online.
The Web application from Google Inc. combines elements of e-mail, chat, Wiki documents, blogs and photo-sharing sites to create a form of Internet communication called a “hosted conversation,” or a “wave.”

Google demonstrated Wave at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, California, in May. The closed group of beta testers will help Google fish bugs out of the application before a public release by the end of the year, according to the Google Wave Web site.

The app was created by Jens and Lars Rasmussen, the Australian brothers who developed Google Maps. The Rasmussen brothers said they hope Google Wave will eventually replace e-mail as the main way people converse on the Internet.

“This should be something everybody uses and something everybody knows,” Jens Rasmussen said.

In Wave, e-mail-like communications can be edited by several users simultaneously. And users can chat about certain sections of Wave documents in real time, where all users see what a person is typing as it is typed. If a person comes to the conversation late, they can replay everything they’ve missed.

The Rasmussens hope these functions will make online communication more efficient and collaborative.

Jens Rasmussen said e-mail is a computer version of snail mail. Wave will be something new, a real-time communication system designed specifically for today’s faster-paced, multitasking Internet, he said.

“We really have a much too strong tendency to just take things we know and just adapt them to the digital world,” he said.

Tech bloggers have largely cheered the release of the product. But there are some concerns that the app may be too complicated for mainstream Web users.

Initial reviews of Wave also noted a number of glitches in the application.

Ben Parr of the social-media blog Mashable writes that Wave still has bugs but that the product is improving over time.

“As an initial user of Wave, I have to tell you: things have gotten much more stable. It still has a slow response time in certain situations and it can still crash, but these things happen far less often than they used to,” he writes.

The blog TechCrunch wrote that Wave “drips with ambition” and will be “a new communication platform for a new Web.”

“Wave offers a very sleek and easy way to navigate and participate in communication on the Web that makes both email and instant messaging look stale,” TechCrunch’s MG Siegler wrote.

As posted on CNN

Everyone today has heard of how important it is to recycle and most cities offer a recycling program, but what exactly is recycling and how beneficial is it really to us and the environment?

What are the recycling facts and benefits?

Recycling is the process of turning one products useful parts into a new product; this is done to conserve on the consumption of resources, energy and space used in landfills.By recycling 1 plastic bottle not only saves anywhere from 100 to 1000 years in the landfill but also saves the environment from the emissions in producing new bottles as well as the oil used to produce that bottle.

For every 1 ton of plastic that is recycled we save the equivalent of 2 people’s energy use for 1 year, the amount of water used by 1 person in 2 month’s time and almost 2000 pounds of oil.

Approximately 60% of our rubbish thrown away today could be recycled. A survey was done and 9 out of 10 people surveyed said they would recycle more if it was easier.

Odd as it seems there are many people who do not realize that plastic bottles our water comes in is made out of oil. This is the same oil that is used to make gasoline. It’s the same oil that is in such high demand and is not an unlimited resource.

Today the most common products in cities recycling programs are paper products, cardboard, plastic, glass and aluminum.

Taking Just A Moment

Taking just a moment to put your newspaper, soda can and glass spaghetti jar in the recycling bin will save everyone years in environmental harm from production of new materials, over crowded landfills and the depletion of our natural resources.

4000 Years

When we do not recycle at least our glass or aluminum we cost the earth in power usage, water and oil usage and landfill usage; glass takes up to 4000 years to decompose in a landfill yet can be recycled indefinitely.

Earn Money

Recycling can be done at home as well as in conjunction with city programs. Many scrap yards pay for scrap metal including the soda cans and soup cans we use every day.

Be Creative

Many useful items can be made from our everyday trash; the cardboard tubes left over from paper towel and toilet paper can make useful storage containers for our extra extension cords and prevents a tangled mess in the Christmas lights.

If your going to throw these out don’t just throw it in the rubbish bin, put it the recycling bin.

Baby jars can become snow globes the kids can make and give as gifts, old Christmas cards can become new hand made cards and a glass or plastic bottle along with some clear oil and food coloring and a few other common household items can become a groovy lava lamp!

The possibilities are endless and instructions can be found in books and on the internet.

Start Today

Recycling is a very environmentally green activity; however, there are ways that you can make it greener as well as building a strong beginning if you do not currently recycle.

Many people beginning a recycling program look around and wonder what they can put in the recycling bin; there is so much information available on this site, so don’t panic.

By reusing your recycled storage containers you save on the environmental impact as well. Paper and plastic bags are good for recycling storage; however, a plastic reusable bin is even better.

Spread The Word

Share what you know. If you notice abundant trash in your neighborhood start spreading the word and your experience with recycling and if there isn’t already one in place strive to get a city recycling pick up program started.

The fact is many of our resources as well as our Earth is not renewable and we have to start taking control of our selves beginning with the world we live in.

As Posted on Environment-Green