Google's new Wave application, now undergoing a limited access testing phase, is clearly the search giant's bid to create the next generation internet standard. What is it exactly?

According to company spokesmen and developers, Wave is equal parts "conversation and document," and an attempt to combine the various elements that make up the majority of current internet usage into a single application platform. Wave merges e-mail, instant messaging, social networking, and document making into a single web-based tool.

Ars Technica's Jacqui Cheng writes about the perils of exposing yourself on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and the like.

Not only can this information, when linked directly to you, constitute an invasion of privacy, it can also affect very real parts of your life.