The smart technology would transform shopping in the best direction.

Letting your "bots" do the walking was supposed to be the Web e-commerce trend of the _90s. Virtual robots were going to sweep the Internet to help you find everything from shirts to summer homes at the best price and in the best color. The smart technology would so transform shopping it would make consumers the drivers of a new, more efficient economy with lower prices and better service. That was the hype, anyway. So far, bots have been a bust, ranking with push media and 500-channel interactive television as among the least fulfilled promises of the digital revolution. But a wave of new shopping services are in the works that will retool bots and use them as just one piece of a shopping package that includes everything from product reviews to message boards that mention the product. In the year ahead, expect the debut of a growing number of such services, but "The Return of the Bots" will be an entirely different production from the original -- with less ideologicalbanter about consumers winning a technology battle with overpriced merchants, and more efforts to bring the traditional shopping experience online. Infospace.com, which recently went public with great fanfare, is one of the Web companies trying to revive the concept, along with Inktomi Inc., the Internet technology company that runs the search engine for Yahoo! Inc. and others. The services will link buyers and sellers for 7 to 10 percent of (the product_s total) cost, compared with the 40 to 50 percent that merchandisers usually pay. That is going to be very interesting for the merchant, and it also allows us to save money for the consumer.