Gadgetopia

AOL instant-message service to expand: This article paints this as a shot across the Outlook bow, but I just don’t see it. Email is one thing, chat is quite another.

Starting Monday (at www.aimatwork.com), AIM customers can download a free plug-in that will let users of Microsoft Outlook see which of their contacts are online and available to chat by IM.

The program scans your Outlook address book to find friends, colleagues and clients who are AIM users; it will then ask if you want to add those names to your AIM buddy list.