I just found a cool little IM service on Engadget called IM Smarter. In addition to being really easy to set up, it seems to be unobtrusive and useful, allowing you to set little IM reminders for yourself (“Remind me to check the laundry in 10 minutes”) and search through your chat logs online. Anyhow, I’d at least recommend taking it for a spin… since it’s just a proxy that sits between you and your IM service, it’s super-easy to turn it off later if you decide you don’t like and/or need it.

Update: I’m not using this anymore. Just didn’t find that it provided any/enough useful benefits to be worth the irritating “You’re using IM Smarter!” pop-ups every day.