If you're interested in emerging technologies (and I know you are) then I recommend you check out the demo of three degrees. Microsoft snapped it up with good reason.

Go to the threedegrees downloads page and click on the "check out the 3 degrees demo" graphic in the lower middle of the page.

It's a different, more 'youf-oriented' variety of 'social software', that facilitates 'online-parties'. Sounds embarrasingly uncool, i know, but stick with me.

I'm interested in the style of simultaneous group communication it facilitates.

Some capabilities are:

• Collaborate in groups of up to ten people
• Listen to the same music at the same time as each other. (anyone can add/remove songs from a shared playlist).
• Send/receive little animated images to/from the group (these are called 'winks'). Everyone receives the same images at the same time.
• Integrates with MSN Messenger to enable conversations.
• Enable group photo/file sharing.

The only blog mention I could find of 'threedegrees' (or 'three degrees') was at discombobulated prolix, (courtesy of technorati) -- the blog of a fifteen year old australian, Phillip Bryant.