Mashable ran an interesting piece by Mark Jeffrey, serial entrepreneur, podcaster and novellist. Entitled The Return of Real-Time Social Environments in which he highlighted the recent arrival of a series of real time platforms for social interaction.
He references Shaker , an avatar based chat room, Turntable.fm and Chill.com, both of which focus on shared media consumption, music and YouTube videos respectively.
From a business perspective, I think the most interesting development is the Google+ Hangout which now includes shared whiteboards and shared desktops. With modern band width, this really presents a challenge to paid solutions such as GoToMeeting, and to Skype, recently acquired by Microsoft.
If you are working remotely, from home or on a business trip, a Google+ hangout is an excellent way to reach out and collaborate with up to [12] colleagues.
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