Google ranks search results based on how many sites link to them. Search is not the only area technologists have found to be worth revisiting, and this month will see the launch of at least two new chat-related products. The company is tight-lipped about its product, but one person familiar with it described it as a hybrid of chat and Web surfing technology. Lake Clear Software this month plans to launch a beta version of its instant messaging and chat software that offers users a library of animated characters they can use to represent themselves, specifying body type, hair and skin color, and other traits. It's graphical, but it also has typical text-based chat.
Characters can walk around, shake hands, kiss, whatever.
Lake Clear plans to steer clear of one of instant messaging and chat's more prevalent uses by offering only fully clothed characters and barring sexually explicit uses of the technology to those who license its content creation tools. For example, Amazon recently bought Alexa Internet , which produces both a Web archive and a surfing guide that steers users to related Web sites. Inc. All rights reserved.