1. Add encarta@conversagent.com to your list of MSN Messenger contacts.

2. Ask it questions like "What is the capital of Ireland?" and "Who is Wayne Gretzky?" and "What is a moose?" and "Where is the Guinness Brewery?"

3. It'll search Encarta and give you the answers.  Cool!

("Where is the Guinness Brewery," optimistically, produces a map of the Great Barrier Reef (which sounds lovely in the middle of this dreary Dublin night).)

[My new favourite: Me: "Is there an afterlife?" Encarta: "I don't think there is an afterlife.  Not at the moment anyway."]