Botstorm [0216.1999]

I've made several bots at work:

• CAREbot - automates posts to CARE's intranet, and ran the migration from an old exchange system.
• WeatherBot - downloads weather info from weather.com for the GeorgiaNet Authority's statewide kiosk system.
• TrafficBot - fetches Atlanta traffic from georgianavigator.com for GeorgiaNet
• MARTAbot - fetches MARTA timetables for GeorgiaNet.

With the exception of CAREbot, none of them took much work to create, and yet each has proved itself useful. I wonder whether people would pay for custom bot development?

Well, why not? Think of all the things you could do with a webbot: Gather financial information about a stock - investerBot. Actually make trades online - traderBot.

Gather information about a person from usenet, the government (?) phone books, and other sources - DetectiveBot.

Track the doings of the Congress or the Senate and present the information in a custom format - congressBot/senateBot.

Compare prices on products from various vendors - shopBots.

Monitor new book releases... bookBot (or eBook releases - gutenBot).

And of course, watch links for people..