A report in Nature confirms what we all knew: the waitress (or waiter, presumably) who imitates the customers gets a bigger tip. Huh? Turns out, according to some Dutch psychologist Rick van Baaren of the University of Nijmegen, that “Mimicry creates bonds between people – it induces a sense of ‘we-ness. You know … Read more
Further to my earlier posting about a court ruling last week that Web loggers, website operators and e-mail list editors can’t be held responsible for libel for information they republish, Mark Glaser of the University of Southern California’s Online Journalism Review takes a more nuanced view, saying “What really happened in this ruling is much more … Read more
A new study from the Global Consumer Advisory Board of chip maker AMD says many people are delaying buying new technologies because they don’t understand the language of the technology industry. The Technology Terminology and Complexity Study found, among other things that only 3% of correspondents “aced” their quiz, correctly identifying 11 of 11 … Read more
SurfControl, an anti-spam company, says that “brand spoofing spam” – where a spammer sends fraudulent email that pretends to be from a well-known and trusted company — is getting worse, after only a few months of its existence. The spammer, posing as a customer service or security official, directs the unsuspecting recipient of the … Read more
The limits to camera phones CNET Asia reports that some Korean manufacturers like Samsung and LG Electronics “may be fiercely promoting camera-equipped phones to consumers, but are wary about allowing their use on their own company grounds.” Both companies have barred employees from using the gadgets in some of their factories to prevent “industrial … Read more