Client adds custom news, stock ticker, and selected chat buddies.

In a move to seal its leadership role as instant messaging champ, America Online Tuesday updated its AOL Instant Messenger, giving Web surfers a lot to chat about. AIM 3.0 brings a half dozen new features to the messaging program, including a personal news and stock ticker, and lets you adopt screen names up to 16 characters long. AIM 3.0 will interoperate with instant messaging programs from Apple, EarthLink, Juno, MindSpring, and Novell. Absent from the list is AOL_s chatting archrival Microsoft, as well as Yahoo. AOL has been in a shouting match with Microsoft over access to its user base of 45 million chatters. AOL_s AIM client is already compatible with its own instant messaging software offered by CompuServe and Netscape, as well as with IBM_s Lotus Notes, Sametime, and RealNetworks.