Thursday, May 20, 2004

Libraries and RFID. "RFID for Libraries", an ALA TechNote, describes implications and uses of that technology in the library setting. (via ResourceShelf) [Smart Mobs] 5:25:45 PM    comment []

2 Benton Headlines: NOW THEY'LL KNOW IF YOU READ THEIR E-MAIL DidTheyReadIt.com launches Monday. It is an online service that allows anyone to secretly track e-mails they send: whether someone opens the e-mail, how long the recipient keeps it open, even where geographically the recipient is reading it. The service comes from Rampell Software of Cambridge, Mass. DidTheyReadIt.com will cost $50 a year. You register on the Web site, and then every time you send an e-mail, you add .didtheyreadit.com to the end. An e-mail address would look like this: president@whitehouse.gov.didtheyreadit.com. You can also download software that adds tracking code to all outgoing e-mail. While many e-mail users will feel DidTheyReadIt invades their privacy, many also will feel torn, predicts Youngjin Yoo, professor of information systems at Case Western Reserve University. You will want to know how others treat your e-mail messages even if you don't necessary want others to know how you are treating theirs, Yoo says. [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR:Kevin Maney] STREET MAPS IN POLITICAL HUES Do online databases of political contributions make democracy, well, too transparent? See what's possible at Fundrace.org, a site that gets 150,000 visitors per day. [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Tom McNichol] (requires registration) 3:54:48 PM    comment []

UserLand: Manila 9.0.1. [Scripting News] 7:28:55 AM    comment []

Company Isn't Afraid to Take Copycats to Court. What is a small business with a popular low-tech product to do when copycats try to steal its market? Sue, sue and sue. By Betsy Cummings. The company allots more than 50 percent of its marketing budget each year to fighting patent infringements, spending the money to hire private investigators, survey clients, file complaints through the International Trade Commission and file lawsuits in the courts. [New York Times: Business] 7:24:13 AM    comment []

My Left Arm for a Gmail Account. An e-mail account on Google's upcoming Gmail service is so coveted that people are willing to trade the darndest things for one. Check out the gmail swap site to see what's up for offer. By Daniel Terdiman. [Wired News] 7:18:43 AM    comment []

A Chef's Big Order: Lunch for 800,000. Jorge L. Collazo, who has been named the first executive chef of the New York City school system, must overhaul the way the city feeds its 1.1 million schoolchildren. By Elissa Gootman. [New York Times: Education] 7:18:36 AM    comment []

Napster Founder Pulls A Sno Job. On CMJ: Music Napster Founder Pulls A Sno Job The music business and the internet have become just like pro wrestling where bad guys turn good and good guys turn bad. Sean Fanning, the upstart who record labels cursed last millennium for creating Napster, the once extremely un-legal now legal file-sharing service, is being praised for the focus of his new project. Fanning and partners have been stealthily tooling away at a service called Snocap, which is aimed at deterring piracy by allowing labels to see where, when and how their copyrighted files are being traded. [NewsIsFree: Popular Items] 7:16:52 AM    comment []