"Chatting" online has long been a draw for people to get on the Internet. Meeting and getting to know people without all of the social awkwardness of the bar scene, or gathering people with similar interests from around the world is somehow appealing. There have been stories of online marriages, support groups, weekly gardening chats, medical collaboration, and much more.

Chat rooms are set up with topics which can range from "alternative treatments for cancer" to "the friendly channel". People type messages back and forth to each other either in large groups or one on one. New chat technology allows you to send actions and emotions over the wire. "Sara is smiling broadly" or "Sara sighs with relief". In some cases you can even send sounds, files, video, and avatars (a picture of yourself or an icon symbolizing you). It doesn't take much time in a good chat lounge to understand how people can loose hours at a time laughing, telling jokes, or even doing serious business.

The IRC (Internet Relay Chat) had always been the Internet's main form of global chat lounges. But once it started catching on it became hard to find a server that wasn't bogged down with hundreds of users. Today new chat programs are being developed to make it easier for people to access and enjoy live chat environments.

"ichat" is one of these new programs. From your normal Web browser you can access an ichat rooms server and be chatting online quickly, with no hassle. Downloading a plug-in for Netscape or Internet Explorer will give you increased functionality and a dynamite interface.

Soon Cyberia will be premiering a local chat server. While it's exciting to meet people from around the world, we think it will be fun to get to know the people in the York County community and make local connections. Keep an eye on our Web site for more details.

(ed. note - you can now chat on our chat server, YorkChat)

In the mean time here are some interesting sites to check out that are already using the ichat technology:

YorkChat
http://www.yorkchat.com

Yahoo Chat
http://chat.yahoo.com

Open 24
http://chat.open24.com

ChatTV
http://www.chattv.com

Teen-Net
http://www.teen-net.com

Please email comments/suggestions to editor@cyberia.com.

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