The next update for the PS3's firmware (2.70) will be released shortly and it will primarily add text chat and friend list sorting. Additionally, it will allow videos downloaded from the PlayStation Store to be backed up to external hard drives, but will need to be moved back to the PS3 for playback. Also, purchased PSP videos will become playable on the PS3.
As for the text chat, "users can participate in up to three persistent chat rooms at once, and each room can host up to 16 users. Text Chat can be accessed while playing PS3 games." I wonder how long we'll have to wait for private in-game audio chat groups...
Friend lists will begin sorting by online status, putting online players in alphabetical order above offline users, which will be sorted by the last time they were online with the most recent coming first. The sorting will also be user customizable.
I don't foresee myself using chat rooms during my PS3 games. While I'm gaming, I don't want to read text from a few minutes ago to catch up and participate. It could, however, help organize clans and larger groups of gamers. I can totally see using this to organize games of Killzone 2 or Resistance 2, but at that point, I'll just use the game's voice chat.
The update will be "available soon," but for now, here's a video preview:
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