Update 2: A great Google Talk fan site  just launched. Hope they can help with my Miranda integration problems.

Update: It's out! (Thanks, Howard) Gmail integration, voice chatting and they link to compatible IM clients. Feature wise, this is much more Skype than MSN Messenger. Voice quality seems good enough and latency low. Very simple, very solid and we could connect to everyone already using a Jabber-friendly IM client. Lovely.

Word on the street (thanks, William) is that the now $4 billion richer Google will be announcing its Jabber-based instant messaging application tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how Google will change the IM market, they're bound to do much more than a little ripple especially since they're the first big player to opt for an open standard. Their new Google Desktop release is great (although I won't use the sidebar much) and I'm in love with the Google Toolbar for Firefox. But that's not all, We're now hearing rumours that they might be planning a host of buyouts and expansions including a massive WiFi network. I showed someone around Google's offering a couple of weeks ago and was myself reminded how much bloody cool stuff these guys are constantly churning out.