Play Zork directly in IM. Send an instant message to InfoComBot and choose from a list of available text-based games. You can even save games and return to them later. One thing's for sure: I'm not getting any work done this week.
posted by mathowie on Mar 21, 2004 - 18 comments

The bad news: SmarterChild, one of the first instant message bot applications, is dead. The good news: ActiveBuddy, the folks that created SmarterChild, will be releasing a toolset to create new bots.
posted by mathowie on Jun 30, 2002 - 9 comments

There's a new version of icq out, although it looks like they're pretty close to their limit on adding buttons to the interface.
posted by mathowie on Apr 25, 2000 - 19 comments

Today's Davenetics (it's a newsletter) noticed a flurry of wireless deals came about today. AOL is planning mobile versions of instant messenger, email, and other AOL services, Microsoft is working on mobile MSN and Hotmail, while Amazon has unveiled their phone portal to shopping. Looks like we will soon be reminiscing about the good old days when the internet used silly wires and cables.
posted by mathowie on Feb 28, 2000 - 1 comment

Bantu is the holy grail of instant messaging apps. The people behind it have been working on this for a while, and they're now offering a web-based, java client that can talk to ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo instant message clients. If it were a client side application, I'd probably use it, I'm not a big fan of leaving a browser window open all the time. Another drawback is that it can't reach AIM users.
posted by mathowie on Feb 20, 2000 - 3 comments

AOL and Microsoft are resorting to playground antics. I downloaded the new MS messenger when it came out last Thursday, and I've already gotten three patches for it, each time it works with AOL users for just a few hours. I wonder how long they'll continue the dueling banjos thing.
posted by mathowie on Jul 26, 1999 - 1 comment