Multiverse might be on the verge of revolutionizing web-based gaming, or so it claims. Using its technology platform, Multiverse says it's possible for developers to create 2D, browser-based versions of a full-scale downloadable 3D game, and then allow players to interact between them.

"Now, you can have proven genres of videogames, really popular games, like shooters, real-time strategy, sports, and things that exist on consoles or specially installed games, and those types of games can live in your web browser without a download," said Corey Bridges, Mulitverse co-founder.

To showcase the technology, Multiverse released a simple Flash game called Battle that runs on Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, and Kongregate. According to Bridges, Battle is one of the first-ever multiplayer, real-time, action or combat-based Flash games. And unlike most multiplayer Flash games, Battle isn't turn-based.

But the real value to developers in having a 2D to 3D cross-over capability might come from being able to offer free online trials where potential game buyers can jump in and play with other people without requiring a download.

Whether or not Multiverse's platform catches on, only time will tell. But according to Bridges, we may not have to wait long. He says a small handful of developers have begun taking their in-development 3D worlds and "are making a window into those worlds that can be done in Flash."

Forget about Meebo or any other instant messaging aggregator service you might be using, because none of them (that we know of) has as many tricks up their sleeves as IMO.IM.

Currently in alpha form, IMO.IM boasts support for all the major IM protocols --  MSN, AIM / ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk -- and will also work with MySpace. But perhaps the most noteworthy addition lies in IMO.IM's support for Skype, the oft overlooked client in just about every IM aggregator in existence.

In addition to text, IMO.IM also supports voice and video, which looks to be the tip of the iceberg according to the program's blog page. A sampling of planned projects include text to speech and vice versa in all languages, face and object recognition, 3D avatars, chat rooms, shared whiteboards, and a plethora of other services.

Curious? Give IMO.IM a whirl here and tell us what you think.

The latest update to Google's Chrome browser brings the version number to 1.0.154.46, and with it a few noteworthy changes of interest to web-based mail users. Specifically, the latest release addresses an issue so that sending mail from Yahoo Mail works again. The new version also makes it so that Windows LIve Hotmail now works.

"While the Hotmail team works on a proper fix, we're deploying a workaround that changes the user agent string that Google Chrome sends when requesting URLs that end with mail.live.com," Google wrote on its Chrome blog.

The latest releases also addresses a pair of security vulnerabilities so that Google Chrome now refuses requests for javascript from the Adobe Reader plugin, and addresses a bug in the V8 JavaScript engine that could allow bypassing same-origin checks in certain situations, Google says.

That's all groovy and everything, but Google's Chrome browser still doesn't support extensions. But hey, it works with Hotmail. Woot?

The next version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer takes one step closer to completion as the Redmond software giant released a near final Release Candidate (RC) of IE8 today. Microsoft will have more details regarding Internet Explorer 8 RC1 as the day goes on, CNet reports, but you can already download it from Microsoft's download center here.

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 should offer more than just a glimpse of what the final product will look like.

"The ecosystem should espect the final candidate to behave like the release candidate," IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch said during an interview.

What Hachamovitch didn't say is when exactly the final version will be released.