And indeed there are many things that haven't been invented, but this is not one of them. 3bubbles looks interesting but unlikely to get the grip that it needs for business use. Skype and other companies that already have excellent communication infrastructures and traction with consumers and businesses, will likely emulate what 3bubbles may ultimately prove to be a useful integration idea with weblogs. Integrating chat (or IM) services with a web page is silly simple - the folks at Skype have been offering this capability for years and Skype includes the infrastructure to connect via VOIP (with or without video) and/or text (in a chat session). In my view, this is a more agile approach (than 3bubbles) that also addresses business requirements. Additionally, Skype (and other services like MSN Messenger, and AOL Instant Messenger, etc) have become ubiquitous with many hundreds of millions of users and growing; an indicator that information consumers have already decided how to chat – the only remaining decision is where to chat. However fast the IM infrastructure(s) of choice are sailing away from the dock, the folks at 3bubbles are doing two things that are interesting – chat rooms, and the use of Ajax as an application framework. Let’s dissect each… Chat Rooms – this assumes that many-to-many conversations about a weblog (or a specific post in a weblog) is beneficial. Bloggers may find this quite fun and useful in promoting and clarifying their ideas. From a sales or business perspective, this doesn’t seem too appealing – one-to-many business presentations or conversations are difficult to control when everyone has the “floor” at the same time. Ajax – this is a great programming environment that provides a robust capability for delivering vibrant user interfaces integrated into web pages. Google Maps and our own integration with Y!Q are good examples of Ajax-based applications. Both of these distinguishing values will be attractive to “bloggers”, but my hunch is that few businesses [that blog] will find this particular solution of great value. Remember, there is a huge difference between “bloggers” (i.e., individuals that want to blog), and businesses that want to make money (i.e., improve operational efficiencies, extend their market reach, and communicate more effectively with their market segments). I have great respect for the 3bubbles team - Jeremie Miller was involved with Jabber (a great IM infrastructure) that failed to achieve widespread adoption for many reasons. I think they have a good chance of success if they remain focused on the inside of the blogosphere – the blogging techies and the people that write interesting content about important ideas that will benefit from chat rooms. | 
