This seemed bizarre: your keyboard patterns hold secrets. But delving further, I realized it makes a lot of sense. Predictive Networks creates software that gathers online behavior patterns into more specific models and indicators than is typically possible, allowing for targeted advertising. The article is about their technique of determining who is using a keyboard or remote control based on the usage pattern. The company emphasizes their privacy policies, with good reason. Software watching your every keystroke knows exactly what you’re up to. This technology fascinates me from a cognitive psychology viewpoint and spooks me from a consumer viewpoint. Who will watch the watchers?

I believe it was Seth who first introduced me to the CDDB, now apparently controlled by GraceNote. I’ve only had to submit maybe two CDs and mostly reaped the benefits of other people who buy CDs much faster than I do. This ZDNet article discusses the legal nastiness going on between Roxio and GraceNote, and it tells some of the history of how a company got control over a database of information created by individuals’ submissions. In the near future, I imagine the title and track information will be part of the data on the CD, but the overall implications of the lawsuit could have greater repercussions for all types of data gathered by the public.

Fonts and their personalities. Smaller fonts are preferable for power letters. Verdana is “professional yet appealing”. Times New Roman is trustworthy and favored by lawyers. Dr. Aric Sigman did a Lexmark commissioned study on the psychology of fonts. “Using the wrong font may give people the wrong impression about you and could affect decisions that will shape your future.” How horrible! Perhaps I can hire him as my font consultant so that my life won’t be ruined. Of course most companies already hire graphics and style consultants. And people should express their own style. But if I continue to send my email in plain text so people can read it however they want, am I truly missing out on a large expression of my personality? Hmmm. It actually reflects my personality rather well. I’m frugal about resources, bandwidth and diskspace being a few of them. Back when I had to walk barefoot to school up a hill both ways … (OK, I actually took the bus. But it did go up the hill both ways, because it had a circular route.)

I think I need a pineapple slicer! And a ticket to Maui. “The ingenious Easy Slicer will peel, core and slice a fresh pineapple in just 20-30 seconds. It works like a corkscrew, removing the flesh in perfectly formed rings.”

The original Mr. Met, Dan Reilly, entertains Shea Stadium goers on the Shea Express ferry. He was the first to wear the huge baseball head in 1964 and still booms out the old theme song on the ferry loudspeakers. He recalls celebrating with Tug McGraw after Tug outpitched Sandy Koufax in 1965. I never knew any of the big-headed Mr. Mets. The Mets one lame attempt at a mascot during my tenure as a #1 fan was a mule (or was it a donkey?) named “Metal”. Yup. That went over like a load of giant baseball heads.

From the NY Times, trade show hostesses in Japan have their own attentive fans who follow them from show to show. These obsessed men take photos and compile albums of their favorites. The scantily clad “companion girls” love the attention and most aren’t bothered by the sexism of their situations. One former hostess does say “There was something really creepy about these men and their cameras, always trying to catch you from a low angle when your legs are crossing or uncrossing.” Of course U.S. trade shows have their own share of “booth babes” and car show spokeswomen. But it’s sad reading about Japanese women putting “cuteness over competence” because it’s easier than fighting the lack of professional advancement for women. If there were other opportunities for them, would the same women still be craving the sexual attention of camera wielding fans? Some very likely still would.

Realtor-speak notes: There’s a big difference between “vaulted ceilings” and ceilings that make you feel like you’re in a vault. Also, I’m still waiting to see a home listing advertised as being in a protected outage block. If I was selling or renting my place, that’d be at the top of my listing! I have seen Santa Clara homes advertised with “lights on in Santa Clara!”, but I wouldn’t say those were outage free, necessarily. Other city run utilities have shut off the lights. But while we’re on the subject, here’s some research on Santa Clara’s cheaper utilities: “The low rates are made possible by Santa Clara’s 101-year-old Utilities Department, which has purchased all of the necessary utility transformers and grids within the city limits. Santa Clara has been generating its own electric power since 1896, when the city constructed a lighting plant.” (from a MetroActive Best of)

Mimi Sheraton, former NYT food critic, pops up briefly again in the NY Times with a short critique of the Pillsbury Toaster Bagels. This “highly evolved” treat looks more like a Pop Tart than a bagel. I can’t write it better than Ms. Sheraton who found the crust “to have the flavor and texture one might expect from a dampened, heated manila folder enclosing a crowd-pleasing, sweet and creamy filling.” She demands that the Doughboy retract the name, since it is certainly not a bagel, no matter what it tastes like.

Oh, hey, why didn’t someone tell me it’s International Pickle Week? I would’ve replenished my supply of the tart stuff. Here are some uses for the juices after you fish that last yummy pickle out. For some reason, International Pickle Week is more than a week (May 18 to May 28). If you don’t like to eat them, perhaps you’d like to make them glow.

I didn’t expect a wedding photo to pop up in the day’s top business stories. But this one did. Henry Ford’s grandson, William Clay Ford, married Harvey Firestone’s granddaughter, Martha Firestone in 1947 (1948 according to the photo correction). William Clay Ford Jr., Ford’s chairman, is the great-grandson of Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. Firestone hasn’t been family run since 1976 and is now part of Bridgestone, a Japanese company. As Firestone dissolves its 100 year business ties with Ford, one wonders if it would have been different if both families were still running their respective businesses.