At best, Handspring's trials of a voice response system to aid customers in diagnosing handheld problems sports a 30% success rate. I guess a company that offers no toll-free help line and only limited access to live technicians during business hours would see that as a success worth crowing about. Registration Required

Need to Fix a Computer? Ask Another Computer. Handspring recently began testing an unusual software program that uses artificial intelligence and speech recognition to talk Handspring's callers through repairs. [The New York Times: Technology] 

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Grocery stores are already doing this sort of tracking without the benefit of RFID tags - when you provide your "frequent shopper" id, it makes it possible for the store to monitor precisely what you buy and how often. The question of privacy never surfaces, so you can assume that your friendly grocer is selling the data to heaven knows who. But, unlike this scheme, you at least get some sort of compensation for the data you provide in the way of discounts and rebates.

Digital ID: You shop, they snoop?. ZDNet Feb 11 2002 4:53AM ET [Moreover - moreover...] 

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