This week, a friend turned me on to a site that really shows the power of the new Web (or Web 2.0, as they call it). The web site, Meebo, allows you to use instant messenging right within your web browser.

It can connect to your AOL instant messenger buddies, your Yahoo IM buddies, MSN, ICQ - even GoogleTalk! Best of all, it is completely Javascript and HTML driven - no Java, ActiveX or Flash here.

If you are a Trillian user, you may find yourself uninstalling it from your PC and using Meebo instead. I keep Meebo open in a Firefox tab. That way, I am finally free of pop-up chat windows. It saves me the hassle of running Trillian, or the umpteen other chat clients out there, and frees up system memory too.

As you can tell, I'm a big fan. Meebo is still in the "alpha" stages, but there are very few bugs that I have noticed since I started using it. If you are a reluctant IM user, give it a try!