AppJet’s EtherPad, the real-time Google Docs-like wiki tool we wrote about last fall, has been upgraded to be prettier, more user-friendly and far more collaborative than before. EtherPad was the brainchild of former Googlers (who founded online programming tool and Y Combinator funded AppJet) who wanted a real-time, yet group oriented way to collaborate on notes and documents. Thus, EtherPad was born. We have 100 free beta invites to the premium version of EtherPad here.

When we first reviewed EtherPad, we found the web-based rival to Google Docs to be sore on the eyes but incredibly useful. What made EtherPad unique from the start was the ability to have multiple people making edits and writing in a document in real-time. You simply create a document, send the link around, and anyone can join. Each user’s edits are highlighted in a different color (with a key featured on the side with which color belongs to each user). Changes are made in absolute real time, something even Google hasn’t been able to do (Google docs update every fifteen seconds). Users can also chat in the sidebar and save versions of documents forever.

Now, EtherPad has launched a new, redesigned version with more tools and functionality that may just give Google Docs a run for its money. First, EtherPad completely redesigned the entire UI to look softer and simpler. The interface is much less stark and easier on the eyes. EtherPad also lets you import and export Word, PDF, Plain Text and HTML documents. Appjet made writing a document in EtherPad more like writing out notes in Word or Google Docs, adding rich text formatting, including bold, underline, italics and strikethrough commands to the wiki. And organization of notes within a document became a little better with the ability to add bullet points.

Additionally, EtherPad now has a monetization strategy. You can use the service for free, but you cannot make your documents secure via a password. The EtherPad Professional Edition is securely hosted in the cloud, free for up to 3 users; $8 per user per month above 3 users. The Private Network Edition for Enterprises is $99 per seat as a one-time fee for life, but your documents will be kept behind a firewall.

AppJet’s co-founder Aaron Iba says that 300,000 synchronous pads have been created on EtherPad and it is being used by a vast variety of companies and organizations. For example, students at Stanford Law School use EtherPad to collaborate on note-taking during class. And tech companies are using the product to interview engineers remotely while still being able to test the ability to write code for an application at the same time.

AppJet recently closed an angel round of funding of about $250,000 led by Mitch Kapor, who was joined by Chris Yeh, and others. The startup has also received seed funding from Y Combinator and the FriendFeed founders.

After seeing a demo of the new and improved EtherPad, it seems clear that the fledgling product has the potential to rival Google Docs and other popular collaborative wikis on a pure feature basis. EtherPad is planning to add several more features to the mix in the near future including spell check, the ability to import images and video conferencing.

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A team of ex-Googlers, with backing from Y Combinator, the Friendfeed founders and others, have created what might be both the ugliest and most useful group productivity app we’ve seen. Etherpad, a new product from Appjet, launches this morning, and you must try it out.

It’s comparable to Google Docs or a wiki, but it’s far more useful. You start off by creating a new workspace. You type basic text on numbered lines at will. Then invite someone else in and have them type as well. Each user’s edits are highlighted a different color. Changes are made in absolute real time, something even Google hasn’t been able to do (Google docs update every fifteen seconds).

Users can also chat in the sidebar, save versions and make a few tweaks to the settings like removing line numbers. One great feature optionally highlights Javascript syntax (making this a great way to write code collaboratively) And that’s it for now. There is very little bling to the site at this point.

In the future, co-founder Aaron Iba says that they’ll have features for exporting documents into text files, Word format, etc. Eventually they’ll offer businesses premium features for a fee, like controlled access, private URLs, etc. They’ll even offer non-hosted version that companies can install on their own servers for higher security.

This instantly became a must-use application for me. It makes phone calls a lot more productive – just open up a workspace and take notes together, in real time.

A screencast is here.

Like Yammer (which spun out of Geni), Etherpad wasn’t the core focus on the company (see our previous coverage of Appjet here and here). Iba says the team needed a tool like Etherpad and just created it for internal use. Now they’re unleashing it on the rest of us, which is quite nice of them.

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AppJet, the Y Combinator-funded startup that lets users build web applications from their browsers, has opened a new set of lessons that guide novice users through the basics of programming. The lessons focus on JavaScript, one of the world’s most popular programming languages, and have been written to be accessible to students who have never programmed before.

Co-Founder Aaron Iba says that the lessons will likely take a new programmer a few weeks to work through at a moderate pace, depending on how much time is spent on the interactive demos (each lesson provides a fully functional program that can be modified). There are currently 24 lessons available, with more on the way. After skimming through the first few lessons, I managed to put together a program slightly more complex than “Hello world!”, which you can find here.

This online school is significant because it offers a very low barrier to entry for novices who are looking to get their feet wet and start programming. Nearly every programming tutorial requires some kind of software prerequisite, be it a downloaded client or a server, which can be both expensive and difficult to set up for a new user. Conversely, AppJet requires no software, allowing users to edit, debug, and run code through a browser interface. Because of this low barrier, AppJet may well see an influx of new students who they can convert to regular members.

Besides the lessons launching today, AppJet offers web developers a way to create and host web applications free of charge. The site appeals primarily to users in the long tail, who may not want to spend money on a web server just to host a number of small applications that are only accessed once in a while. Iba says that since its launch in December, AppJet has seen over 1900 applications published, with another 4000 under development (though many of these will likely never be completed).

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Using AppJet reminds me a lot of when I first learned programming through Lisp. Lisp has a simple syntax and processes your code on the fly, making it easy to modify and test code immediately. AppJet is similarly straight forward. Applications are programmed on a web based text editor in the very simple Javascript programming language. Javascript is used on both the server and client side. They’ve included several bundles of code libraries for databases and more importantly interfacing with the Facebook API.

To get your own application, all you have to do is type up your code and save. The application is then published to a unique URL (ex. hello-world.appjet.com) where it runs when anyone goes to the site. Other users can also view an application’s source code to learn and improve upon the original. I’ve embedded an example “message wall” application below.

Hosting other people’s code is tough business. Doing it efficiently requires a system that can dynamically allocate more or less computing resources to programs in response to demand, as well as security that effectively handles maliciously or foolishly programed code. You don’t want an infinite loop taking down the whole system.

To tackle these problems, AppJet has developed their own application virtualization system. The system allocates processor time to active apps and cuts off greedy applications after running an alloted number of compiled lines of code to pevent abuse. While the entire system is currently free, limitations on processing and storage space (10mb), leave an opportunity for paid plans.

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