If you were tempted to chat when you were being put through, forget it.
What if buddies could invite you to chat without catching you dialed in?
CNN: OPINION: The push is on to deploy high-speed, always-on residential Internet access
If Warren Buffett called you up as the CFO and wanted to chat, do you blow him off?
FORBES: Peter Oppenheimer Failed When David Einhorn Went Public In His Battle Against Apple
"If you wanted to participate in a chat room to work around a candidate, you can't do that, " he said.
That will link you right to the Facebook chat that you can see our panelists on right now.
The ratings can then be used to filter the type of people you want to chat with in the future.
FORBES: Chatroulette Starts Blurring Video As A Filter For Objectionable Content
If you chat to the staffers who drift around the Christian Leadership headquarters, the sense of nostalgia for the 1960s is reinforced.
These days, tech companies are rushing to be all-in-one providers of everything from instant messaging to email to calls to video chat, reasoning that if you offer everything in one place, consumers will have little reason to go anywhere else.
FORBES: Facebook, Google Battle To Be Video-Calling Home Base
Plug a cheap Webcam and headset into your computer, and several of the most popular applications will allow you to chat with your friends -- and see them.
Maybe that means you get to chat with the farmer about how those brilliant tomatoes were grown.
FORBES: Emily Kerr of Liga Masiva on Creating A Global Farmers' Market
The Cuban-American model and hostess came to our FORBES studio recently to chat about her book Unforgettable You.
You tried to chat her up, boasting about your career in acting.
Then, when you want to chat over Skype, the call is routed over a regular mobile network which then connects to iSkoot's servers.
Widespread use of FaceTime, meanwhile, would instantly make the iPhone vastly more valuable to an iPhone owner, because it would allow you to simply and easily do video chat with your friends.
FORBES: Check Out Those FaceTime Ads: Think Apple Understands The Network Effect?
Bernie Marcus used to warn salesclerks that he would bite off the finger of the next one he caught pointing a customer toward where to find something. (The clerk is supposed to walk you there and chat you up about your project along the way.) Marcus would have a mouthful of digits if he had followed this reporter over the last few weeks.
Log on to any of the chat sites where Java software developers meet to discuss their industry, and you will find a virtual version of the conversations in Silicon Valley's bars.
Sometimes you want to share and chat with one group, not your entire social network.
ENGADGET: Microsoft brings guest user account to Windows Phone 8 via Kid's Corner
"Internet Relay Chat, at the time, you had to know your stuff, " Howe said.
But before you turn back to that chat room, or your MySpace site, beware.
Would it be more comfortable for you if we were to chat a while longer about its loveliness?
G-chat lets you see who else is chained to their computer (or Blackberry or iPhone) at any given moment.
Who needs to discuss tax cuts when you chat about diet cola, eh?
Zynga is also rolling out a new chat experience, and profiles that allow you to keep track of records for a game.
How can you begin to leverage Twitter Chat?
FORBES: How To Use Twitter Chat To Increase Your Business In 2013
Finally, when you go to Facebook.com from the Rockmelt browser you will no longer see a chat button in the lower right hand corner of the page.
FORBES: Facebook Helps Rockmelt Make Web Browser More Social
You will have a chance to chat with the producer and sometimes the host before your interview and afterwards.
You can resize this window and drag it anywhere on the screen, so you can continue to browse, chat, text and do much more while the video plays on.
ENGADGET: 5.3-inch Spice Stellar Pinnacle Mi-530 hits India with a piquant 5MP front-facing camera
There is also an advice page warning about the dangers of chat rooms and fake users, but you have to click through four pages before you can see it and it's not simple to find.
BBC: Newsbeat - Technology - 'Teen date' website faces criticism
应用推荐