Google Wave to be released to 100,000 testers today

(CNN) John D. Sutter

GOOGLE WAVE, a product that promises to revolutionize online communication, will go out to about 100,000 beta testers today.

The web application from GOOGLE combines elements of e-mail, chat, Wiki documents, blogs and photo-sharing sites to create a form of Internet communications called a "hosted conversation," or a "wave."

Google demonstrated Wave at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco 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 application 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 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 communications 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 to today's faster-paced, multitasking Internet.

"We have a 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 application may be too complicated for mainstream Web users.

In a video demonstration, the Rasmussens spend an hour and 20 minutes explaining the Wave.

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 can 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."

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We shall see!

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Tickets On Sale for Michael Jackson's "This Is It"

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Since tickets went on sale on Sunday, hundreds of shows have already sold out. Sony Pictures, the studio behind the movie, claims that 30,000 tickets were sold in London within the first day of sales while $1 million were sold in Japan during the same time span.

Advance sales records were also broken everywhere from Holland to New Zealand. Fans weren't just logging onto their computers for tickets. The 3,000 tickets to advanced screenings the day before the film's release in Los Angeles were gone in two hours with fans waiting in line for up to three days.

This Is It will open worldwide on October 28th for a two-week run.

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A Young Fashionista Raises Awareness and Money With Frugal Ingenuity

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Wikipedia Blunders?

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Happy Rosh Hashanah!

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Mary Allin Travers (11/9/1935-9/16/2009)

Mary Allin Travers was an American singer-songwriter and member of the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and Noel "Paul" Stookey. Peter, Paul and Mary was one of the most successful folk-singing groups in the 1960's.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Travers moved with her parents in 1938 to Greenwich Village in New York City. She attended the Little Red School House in New York City but left in the 11th grade to pursue her singing career.

While in high school, she joined The Song Swappers which sang backup for Pete Seeger when Folkways Records reissued a union song collection, Talking Union, in 1955. The Song Swappers recorded a total of four albums for Folkways in 1955, all with Seeger. Travers had regarded her singing as a hobby and was shy about it but was encouraged by fellow musicians. Travers also was in the cast of the Broadway-theatre show, The Next President.

The group Peter, Paul and Mary was formed in 1961. It was popular and known for its renditions of anthems such as "Blowin' in the Wind", "If I Had a Hammer" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?". The group broke up in 1970, and Travers subsequently pursued a solo career and recorded five albums. The group re-formed in 1978, toured extensively and issued many new albums. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

Mary Travers died of complications related to leukemia.

Henry Gibson (9/21/1935-9/14/2009)

Henry Gibson was an American actor and songwriter, well known as a cast member of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and for his recurring role as Judge Clark Brown on Boston Legal.

Gibson's performing career began at the age of seven. He appeared in many stage and theater productions. His career took off when he performed in the 1963 Jerry Lewis film The Nutty Professor. Gibson also appeared on The Dick Van Dyke Show, reading the poem "Keep A Goin'", which he turned into a song in the movie Nashville. Gibson appeared in four films by Robert Altman: The Long Goodbye, Nashville, as well as A Perfect Couple and Health. He also appeared in The Incredible Shrinking Woman. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Nashville and won the National Society of Film Critics award for his role of country music singer Haven Hamilton.

He spent three years as part of the Laugh-In television show's cast. He often played "The Poet," reciting poems with "sharp satirical or political themes". Gibson would emerge from behind a stage flat, wearing a Nehru jacket and "hippie" beads and holding an outlandishly large artificial flower. He would state the "[Title of poem] — by Henry Gibson", bow stiffly from the waist, recite his poem, and return behind the flat. Gibson's routine was so memorable that John Wayne actually performed it once in his own inimitable style: "The Sky — by John Wayne. The Sky is blue/The Grass is green/Get off your butt/And join the Marines!", whereupon Wayne left the scene by smashing through the flat. Gibson also regularly appeared in the "Cocktail Party" segments as a Catholic priest, sipping tea. He would put the cup on the saucer, recite his one-liner in a grave and somber tone, then go back to sipping tea. He also made recurring appearances in the 1969-1974 anthology Love, American Style.

In the 1989 Tom Hanks/Joe Dante comedy, The 'Burbs', Gibson played the villain. In 1980 he played the leader of the "Illinois Nazis" in the John Landis film The Blues Brothers. Most younger audiences associate him with this film in particular due to its popularity. He made a brief appearance in Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia as an eccentric barfly. He also worked frequently as a voice actor in animation, most notably portraying Wilbur the pig in the popular children's movie Charlotte's Web (1973). He also worked on the cartoon The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy as Lord Pain.
Gibson re-teamed with director Dante a few years later when Gremlins 2 was released in 1990. He performed a cameo as the office worker who is caught taking a smoking break on camera and fired by the sadistic boss. He later had a leading role in a Season 5 episode of Stargate SG-1 entitled "The Sentinel", as the character Marul.

Gibson's most recent roles were alongside Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in the 2005 comedy hit Wedding Crashers, and as supporting character Judge Clark Brown on the TV show Boston Legal.

Good Housekeeping's Third Annual Halloween Pet Costume Contest

last year's first prize winner

Your pet could win you a trip, $2,000 cash, and pet supplies from Bissell!

Enter the Halloween Pet Costume Contest for a chance to win the grand prize: airfare for four and a five-night stay at Seattle’s Hotel Vintage Park, $2,000 cash, and pet supplies from Bissell, including a pet hair vacuum, and more! Just submit a photo of your pet in costume — dog, cat, bird, guinea pig, rabbit, reptile, horse or anything else you love. And be sure to vote on the cutest costumes — even if you don't have a pet!

Make a Pet Photo Album

Enter your pet's photo

Vote on cute costumes


Visit Good Housekeeping.com and click on Family and Pets.


Also, a chance to win $100,000 for groceries!

Patrick Wayne Swayze (August 18, 1952-September 14, 2009)

Patrick Wayne Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best-known for his roles as romantic leading men in the films Dirty Dancing and Ghost and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was listed by People magazine as its "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991. He died of pancreatic cancer.

Highlights from MTV Awards Last Night -- The Best, The Michael Jackson Tribute

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SUNDAY IS FOR POETRY: A Woman's Worth

They talk about a woman's sphere

As though it had a limit;

There's not a place in earth or Heaven

There's not a task to mankind given,

There's not a blessing or a woe,

There's not a whispered yes or no,

There's not a life, or death, or birth,

That has a feather's weight of worth --

Without a woman in it.

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New York 9/11 Memorial Ceremony

To watch the 9/11 Memorial Ceremony live, click on link below or visit cnn.com.

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http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream2

Home Gardening in Full Swing

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Crispy Fried Vegetables

My parents are diabetic, so I'll often make recipes The d(diabetic)Life Kitchen offers. This one is one of my favorites because it's quick, easy, delicious, and wholesome! I'm not a diabetic and love it!

I hope you enjoy it! And I'd love to hear your feedback if you try it!

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