I believe websockets are still very much alive and popular (at least I hope so, I'm using them!). I actually use socket.io http://socket.io/ http://socket.io/

I believe websockets are still very much alive and popular (at least I hope so, I'm using them!). I actually use socket.io http://socket.io/ http://socket.io/ , which not only makes websockets easy to use (accommodating a few different frameworks, I use node), but provides support for old browsers by selecting a real-time transport that works, be it flash, ajax polling etc.