Yahoo! Internet Life: Amazing IM Tricks!

Get Instant Info. Add "SmarterChild" to your AOL AIM Buddy List and suddenly you have a constantly updated encyclopedia at your fingertips. Ask it what time it is anywhere in the world, or for the ZIP code in any city, or about any word in the dictionary or thesaurus. Get an instant explanation of who Montaigne was, for example, or learn the proper spelling, pronunciation, and etymology for the word libation. Just type an instant message to SmarterChild with your question. No Web searching, no e-mail to send. You can also ask the bot about your local weather forecast, your astrological outlook, sports scores, stock prices, or movie times and locations. When your work is done, this new virtual buddy will even keep you company with a game of hangman, blackjack, or trivia.

Be on Alert. New IM software is savvy enough to send you a wide range of alerts. When a stock drops to your target price, you're outbid at an online auction, your company makes news, or you receive an e-mail from your spouse, you'll get an IM. You can even get beeped on your mobile phone so you can react quickly when away from your computer. Yahoo! Alerts [alerts.yahoo.com], MSN Information Alerts [alerts.msn.com], and AOL Alerts [alerts.aol.com] are all well-developed services.

See Across the World. With Yahoo! Messenger, video chats are cheap and easy to set up. All you need is a pair of $30 Web cams, and you and your partner can watch each other grin as you exchange sweet nothings over IM. If you'd rather use your ears than your eyes, free IM software can do that as well, assuming you both have speakers and microphones.

Bridge the Gaps. Rather than running separate programs to chat with your mom on AIM, your sister on ICQ, and your pal on Yahoo!, simplify your life by using a single program that bridges all IM services (except when AOL succeeds in blocking them, usually a temporary setback). Download the free Imici Messenger [www.imici. com], Odigo [odigo.com], or Trillian [trillian.cc] and you'll have to deal with only one program to chat with all your friends.