orkut has provided a new tool by which all my orkut friends get automatically added to my GTalk list! and i happened to use it and my friends list has grown from 50 odd to 700 odd!
finally google seems to be making use of the fact that it owns orkut, and i believe this move will enable google to race ahead of Y!M in markets where orkut is strong (brazil, india, pakistan, iran, etc.).
on the flip side, now all my acquaintances have gotten added to my GTalk list (earlier it was friends alone) so i can expect a few unsolicited pings. small price to pay however!