You may soon be able to chat with your Facebook friends even without an internet connection, for scientists have developed an application that may make it possible to network, chat, share files, or actually meet face-to-face sans internet.

Scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have come up with an application that may make it possible to chat and even play collaborative games with friends who have also installed the application.

There are two components to the application, dubbed "Peersonalizer": a Facebook application and a module inside the free, downloadable WiPeer software. WiPeer makes direct wireless (WiFi) communications with other computers even without internet routers.

Peersonalizer uses technology that can also be applied to other social networking sites such as MySpace, Friendster and LinkedIn. Lead researcher Professor Roy Friedman said that the technology could also be eventually used with WiFi-enabled mobile phones, such as the iPhone.

"This application takes social networking to another level," said Friedman. "Peersonalizer demonstrates that internet based social networks can serve as complementary mechanisms – rather than replacements – to social and business life," he added.

The application has been developed by two Technion Faculty of Computer Science students, Lior Biran and Tomer Einav, under the supervision of Friedman and Ph.D. students Vadim Drabkin and Gabi Kliot.