IMAGINE if you could talk to one of your heroes - even if they were dead.

The John Lennon Artificial Intelligence Project offers the chance to do just that - sort of.

The project aims to recreate the personality of the former Beatle using artificial intelligence technology - making him the world's first Cyber-Beatle.

The designers, Triumph PC Online, have used snippets of John's actual speech to formulate a database of thousands of responses and questions. It is the same technology that allows players of computer adventure games such as Starship Titanic to "chat" with the characters.

So does it work?

Well, some of the answers to my queries were rather surreal.

Take this little conversation:

John: I really like Paul.

Me: Why?

John: Reductionism.

Quite.

And it doesn't always get it right.

Asked if he liked Yoko Ono's music, he replied: "Don't most people say they like Yoko's music?"

Er, no, John, they don't.

On the plus side, he said there was a "good chance" of his song Imagine being number one in the charts again - which suggests he's seen the odds for the Millennium top spot.

And he said he didn't know if he liked his chart rival Cliff Richard - but he did like pets.

http://www.triumphpc.com/john-lennon/ Souvenir of a new dawn AN unusual souvenir of the dawn of the Year 2000 is available online.

Gisborne, New Zealand, is officially recognised as the first city in the world to see the sunrise each day - and therefore the first to see the first light of the new Millennium.

For NZ$10 - about £3 - the people behind First Post 2000 will send you a letter on January 1, bearing that all-important postmark. You also get a panoramic photograph of the sunrise, taken that day.

Orders will be taken up to Christmas Eve, and there is also a fundraising scheme which schools can get involved in.

http://www.firstpost2000.co.nz Government sites to be revamped for easier use GOVERNMENT websites are to be revamped to make them easier for everyone to use. New rules and guidelines have been issued to official web designers to ensure all sites are kept as simple as possible.

The document warns: "Navigation has often been overlooked by designers in favour of the look of the site. Information and services are only useful if customers can find them."

The guidelines state that all websites should have a contact e-mail address, a direct link to the government portal at www.open.gov.uk, easy to navigate menus and feedback pages.

All sites should also be able to be read by blind and partially-sighted people, using special computers that read web pages aloud.

Julie Howell, digital campaigns officer for the Royal National Institute for the Blind, said the new rules would allow blind people to "participate on a level playing field".

She added: "Until now, many Government websites were unavailable to blind or partially sighted people, because the people who designed them did so for only one person: themselves. Good web design like this will bring the web to everyone."

Other web designers should take note. Call charges could fall THE cost of phone calls to the internet could drop from January.

New pricing arrangements announced by telecommunications watchdog Oftel mean that from January, internet service providers will be able to choose what the pence per minute call rate for their customers should be, rather than simply charging the current standard local call rate. Oftel has also set out proposals for a new way of charging for calls to the internet.

The cost of a call would be split into two separate parts - an initial charge for setting up the call and a separate charge for maintaining the connection for the duration of the call.

At the moment the two charges are set at a uniform rate - meaning short calls are under-priced and longer calls, such as those to the internet, are over-priced. Director General Telecommunications, David Edmonds, said: "Oftel's new arrangements will break the link between internet prices and telephone charges, and open the door to cheaper prices."

"Additional revenue generated by e-commerce and advertising should mean internet service providers could reduce the pence per minute charge for the customers to less than the rate of a local call for internet access." Polishing up social skills THE Christmas party season is well underway.

But what if your social skills aren't up to scratch?

You could always turn to Emily Post for advice.

Emily is the author of Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home, published in 1922.

She offers the definitive guide to behaviour at a range of events, including balls and dances, christenings and funerals, as well as useful tips on "the clothes of a gentleman".

But if you follow her advice and don't have the household staff she obviously did, you might find yourself struggling to get to any social functions at all, as she said houses need "incessantly to be cleaned".

http://www.bartleby.com/95/ Santa time SEND your Christmas wish list to Santa via e-mail.

His address is santa.claus@santaclausoffice.fi, or try through the Merry Christmas website (http://www.merry-christmas.com/).

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.