Web will do the walking

Wouldn’t it be nice if somebody would do your holiday shopping for you? That’s the idea behind My Personal Shopper (www.personalshopper.com), a new computer program that does just that. Download and install the free software, fill out a form for each gift recipient -- name, birthday and what kind of gifts he or she likes (say, favorite authors or clothing designers). Enter your budget, and the program scours the Web and returns the best deals to your desktop.

The program, which docks on the right of your screen and works like a rotating billboard, will annoy those who don’t want consumerism invading their space, but you can always hit “minimize.” And be sure to peruse the privacy policy before installing. For the spam-phobic, the admission that “Some ... vendors are given access to

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-- Steven Barrie-Anthony