Google now offers a speedier way to talk. No, it’s not Google Talk (which is speedier than mail), it’s Gmail chat. Those with Gmail accounts have most likely seen the message on the GMail login page, and some may already have the feature installed (They appear to be rolling it out gradually. I only got it today despite the feature being announced over a week ago.) Your chat’s can be logged on Google’s servers, increasing the size of Google’s window into your personal life. I haven’t been able to try it out yet as I have no contacts .

The chat appears in the Gmail window, but can be ejected into its own window. It is possible to turn off logging, but only one contact at a time (your settings stick between chats, though). GMail calls this feature “Going off the record,” which is a surprisingly discriptive name.

You can chat with anyone who has a Gmail account with chat installed. They will appear as “online” in your contacts list.

A warning to Firefox users: Google has acknowledged that there is a problem with the Adblock (not plus) that causes Firefox to go boom. Google sez:

AdBlock sometimes interferes with Gmail’s chat features, causing Firefox to crash. Our engineers are working hard to fix the problem, but in the meantime, disable AdBlock for testing purposes, and clear your browser’s cache. Then, log back in to Gmail.

If disabling AdBlock resolves the problem, but you’d still like to use it in conjunction with Gmail, you may want to contact AdBlock’s support team for help customizing your settings so you can still access your Gmail account after re-enabling the extension. Also, some of our users have reported that AdBlock Plus works in conjunction with chat in Gmail, so you may want to download that as an alternative. If it works, be sure to let us know!