Now get your clone -- virtually

Virtual personalities are passes, welcome the online clones. An Australian company has introduced MyCyberTwin, an intelligent software that lets users create and customize virtual personalities that can chat with other people when the user is offline.

MyCybertwin could take the trend of instant-messaging avatars like Yahoo's and Second Life personas in a new direction.

The so-called chat bot technology can be used on blogs, dating sites or in social networks like MySpace by cutting and pasting code from the site onto the third-party page. Depending on how you programmed the software, the cybertwin will respond in ways like, "Never, drop dead" or "Whenever you want, pal."

The MyCybertwin service lets people pick one of five basic personalities, including "warm-hearted, intellectual," to "cheeky, down to earth," and then have that choice act as a chat proxy to friends or strangers. But a subscriber can also tailor their persona further by answering a set of psychological questions.

The user can also list frequently asked questions and answers for the programme to respond. MyCyberTwin allows users to extend their personalities online even when they are offline.

MyCyberTwin is not the first virtual personality software, but it can take online communication to a new level by offering more open lines of communication and giving more in-depth responses to personal questions. Applications such as chatterbots have been around for some time now. However, MyCyberTwin is one of the first programmes to allow users to actively educate their online personas to best suit their own.

Specific information can be registered on the website, where other could receive it depending on the questions asked. The more information the software has about the user, the more complex the personality becomes.