Hurricane Electric Chats it up with a new Instant Messaging Bot

Fremont, California - March 21, 2002 -Hurricane Electric, a leading Technical Service Provider, announced today the deployment of MyOwnBuddy, their new chat bot that allows users to access appointments, general information, web searches and network diagnostics all through America Online Instant Messenger (AIM).

MyOwnBuddy, originally developed to enhance Hurricane Electric's online customer service, took a turn for the better during the beta stages of the bot to include more information for the general public. The bot can now be used as a PDA, a calculator, a web browser, a dictionary, a translator and a general information gatherer.

"The bot is basically a really helpful friend. It consolidates several tools into one and is accessible from any computer or cell phone with access to AIM," said Aaron Michelony, software engineer for MyOwnBuddy.

Users only need to add the screen name, MyOwnBuddy, to their AIM buddy lists and they can immediately use the chat bot at anytime day or night and retrieve all types of information.

Never Be Late Again

The boss isn't happy when people are late to meetings, but now there is a helpful tool. MyOwnBuddy also acts as an appointment manager, storing all of the user's important meetings and occasions and can remind them through an AIM window when the date and time arrive. The bot can also send the user general reminders, such as "Pick up the milk before you go home," or "Don't forget to pick the kids up at 6:00 from soccer practice."

MyOwnBuddy also stores contact information, which essentially replaces PDAs. All a user has to do is tell the bot the name, phone number, birthday and address of a person and it will automatically save that data and recall it when you ask, for example, "What is Bob's phone number?" Unlike PDAs, MyOwnBuddy can be accessed from anywhere and the data is permanently stored on a remote server, so contact information will never be lost or stolen.

Going On Vacation?

MyOwnBuddy holds the key to many cities and countries. The bot can access information such as climate, population, zip code, government type, GDP and maps for every city and country in the world. The bot can also translate between English, Spanish, French, Italian and German and convert currency.

Help With Homework

Instead of feverishly searching the Internet for answers to homework, just ask MyOwnBuddy. MyOwnBuddy can be used as a calculator, an International time clock, a spellchecker, a thesaurus, a dictionary and a unit converter. All the programs that an adult or child would need to complete tasks and answer questions can be accessed through MyOwnBuddy.

MyOwnBuddy can also perform pings and trace routes through an Instant Messaging window along with a whois lookup. The bot can also check your horoscope, find synonyms to any word and tell you the forecast for the upcoming weekend.

Users will also be able to access MyOwnBuddy through Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Chat, Jabber Instant Messenger, ICQ, etc. in upcoming months.

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