CBS MarketWatch

There, a Silicon Valley technology start-up, is partnering with industry leaders to incorporate the use of avatars with Internet chatting, online gaming and instant messaging. Essentially, it's expanding on the popularity of the "emoticons" often used to communicate via e-mail or instant messaging.

On Monday, Menlo Park, Calif.-based There is expected to launch its consumer service and announce its partners including ATI Technologies, Discreet, a unit of Autodesk, Hewlett-Packard, I-Village, KnightRidder, Comcast, Plantronics, Levi's and Nike.

As part of the launch, There will officially take off the beta wraps and make its service commercially available for $4.95 per month, plus a $19.95 activation fee.

Beginning next year, HP is set to bundle There into its HP Media Center PC line as a home-entertainment application. There will be a "sign on" icon that appears on HP desktops. Comcast would not provide details as to its participation.

As for the role of Levi's and Nike, There's service is an experiment in "immersive advertising." The apparel and sports companies are allowing There users to try on clothes or test products online.

The content companies are distributors of There's service on the Web. I-Village and Knight-Ridder hope this type of communication service will attract and retain more users on their Web properties so advertisers will be drawn to the sites. There and the properties will also share in the revenue from the subscriber fees.

Knight-Ridder is a leading nationwide newspaper publisher whose Knight Ridder Digital property operates 28 localized sites, like MercuryNews.com. I-Village is a site catering to woman.

Interestingly, after beta testing for the last nine months, There found its service to be more popular with women. Female members returned more often and represented a significant portion of the virtual communities, the company found.

Chatting and online gaming are popular activities on the Web.

It's estimated that just in the last month 50 million people have chatted online and 35 million people have visited an online game site, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

There said that initial testing has gone well. It boasts of having 180,000 consumers signing on to test the experience.

To be sure, it's unclear how much money consumers would spend just to enhance communication with pals. For now, instant messaging and chat forums are free on the Web.