23rd August 2001
Instant messaging clients are a dime a dozen nowadays. While Steve Case would prefer you use AIM or ICQ, Steve "Monkey Boy" Ballmer thinks you'd be happier with MSN's program. I'm not here to convince you to download one or the other; as I've said before, a unified interface (ala Jabber or Trillian) is your best bet. For this trick to work, you'll need something that can handle AIM's services. Meet your new friend: smarterchild. Add him (or her) to your list and say "hello" to functionality. Through this ActiveBuddy, you can get all sorts of information in an instant (message): news, weather, stock quotes, movie times, horoscopes, mathematical calculations, dictionary terms, ZIP and area codes, and more! This will be the smartest buddy you'll ever have. I entered my ZIP code to see what would happen, and it instantly updated my preferences. Now, whenever I ask for information, it automatically spits back "localized" data. A personalized forecast now pop up with a simple keyword: forecast. Go figure. And don't bother asking it out on a date; I already tried and got dissed.