Talk to strangers! "When you use Omegle, we pick another user at random and let you have a one-on-one chat with each other." [via waxy]
posted by Lush on Mar 30, 2009 - 147 comments

Have you been salmoned? I just met a stranger from Denver via the process of salmoning, in which a chatbot initiates an unexpected two-way conversation between two (apparently random) nicks, giving them both aliases ending with "salmon," and leaving both parties confused. [more inside]
posted by Mo Nickels on Jun 14, 2008 - 26 comments

Meebo.com. Web based chat (alpha) for all the main IM protocols.
posted by machaus on Oct 6, 2005 - 22 comments

Google's big announcement due on Wednesday. Google is due to make an announcement on Wednesday of a new service focusing on presence and communication. The word on the internets is that it will be a chat and IM client. Google already has a chat client in the picture sharing app, Hello, which is available in both standalone install and as part of Picasa. Possible screenshot of the app is here, with additional coverage at BigBlueBall and Neowin. The prevalent consensus seems to be that it will be (or be based on ) Jabber, (PDF) with the core innovation being the use of XMPP.
posted by rzklkng on Aug 23, 2005 - 122 comments

"Disposable" Instant Messaging. Click a link and chat to someone with just your browser*. "Include [a link] when you create eBay auctions, Craigslist personals, weblogs, moblogs, personal websites, Friendster, etc. and viewers will be able to contact you instantly." *Requires Flash.
posted by Blue Stone on Jul 9, 2004 - 20 comments

DA ENGLISH-2-12-Y3AR-OLD-AOLER TRANSLA2R WIL TAEK WUT U WRIET IN IT AND TURN IT IN2 TEH MAN3R A 12-YEAR-OLD AOLER WUD WRIET IT!1!1 LOL JUST WUT U NED 2 KIK START A MONDAY!!1!!
posted by riffola on Aug 10, 2003 - 32 comments

Yahoo IMvironments are the latest fad that the company's come up with. It makes your chatting easier, prettier and more fun - and a lot more bulky and resource hungry. I don't know how many people here actually use Y!, but my guess is this wont take long to disappear.
posted by arnab on Dec 31, 2001 - 20 comments

Trillian, one of the better chat programs out there, just got better. Version 0.70 is now available and it runs smoothly and looks great.
posted by davehat on Dec 7, 2001 - 37 comments

Attention ChatMonkeys. Are you addicted to chat programs? AIM? ICQ? Yahoo and MSN? Even have two instances of mIRC running? Now there's hope. You can have all of these running all at once using *just one program*. And it uses far less resources than all of those other programs put together. matter of fact, i think it uses less resources than icq itself (like that's hard). It's skinnable too! Score!

/me hands out the needles.
posted by jcterminal on Jun 12, 2001 - 20 comments