Always wondered what is wrong with normal chat channels, likes something on IRC. And if anyone cares, i just opened a channel #eevblog on freenode.net .. Of course Dava can have it anytime …
Dave set up a #eevblog on Afternet years ago, and even had a chat tab on the main web site for it with the server details and a web client -- alas few people were interested, so he eventually removed the references to it. However, a handful of us still cling on in there.
But pretty much any device allows for IRC chat. No need to tie it to some other content vendor that you can't even use without allowing a boatload of external scripts.
Bear in mind that ustream's chat is also backed by and available through IRC - c.ustream.tv #eevblog, from memory!