The marketers often tell us that, thanks to concentrated expertise, training and buying power, national franchises are more trustworthy, and put out better quality products than locally owned operators. But after an encounter with the local outposts of national franchisor, Cartridge World, we felt both integrity and quality missing. As for training... the bit we experienced was precisely the wrong kind.

Looking for a fast, lightweight web-based form builder? Email Battles built a typical sign-up form on Wufoo, a friendly startup based out of Tampa. With the exception of a stubborn radio button that won't go away, we found the site lives up to its promise.

A powerful emarketing tool combines eyeball motion studies with heatmapping display to help sellers bump sales. Unfortunately, when the conclusions derived from email heatmaps are liberally applied, phishers and other evil-doers benefit from the camouflage required to do evil properly. Email Battles tells you how to undo the evil, whether intentional or otherwise.

Millions of vets' necks were laid on the chopping block on the third of May, when a hard disk containing their Social Security numbers was stolen from a VA employee's home. Over the next two weeks, a dozen officials of Veterans Affairs found out, yet nobody got around to telling the vets so they could start protecting their bank accounts and credit records. The reasons why are revealing.

The ink hadn't yet dried on IBM's announcement of Lotus Notes on Linux, before anti-Lotus partisans unleashed their venom. Few gave weight to the thought that desktop Linux has suddenly gained collaboration abilities acceptable to enterprise-level buyers. But like it or not, Lotus Notes just raised Linux to a breathtaking, Microsoft-defying, new level. Question is, how long will it take Redmond to do what needs to be done?