For those who really want to keep track of their socks, the app also produces a range of data - checking how black they are, offering to replace worn-out socks and even finding a close match for socks whose partners have gone astray.

BBC: Who wants hi-tech socks for Christmas?

Yet, since the press has spent decades reprinting such data unquestioningly, cross-checking facts and figures is a relatively new practice: one bank robbery was recently reported in five different papers with five different figures for the amount stolen.

ECONOMIST: Mexico

The difference is between actively sharing information -- uploading an image with location data, checking into a restaurant or other business -- and passively sharing it (what the tech companies like to call "frictionless" sharing).

CNN: Facebook Home, privacy and you

The Scalar i6000 HD provides high performance and availability with active-active dual robotics for fast data access times, its Active Vault technology (that includes policy-based integrity checking) and providing big data archives on tape.

FORBES: Adventures in Archiving

Police were able to locate the suspect by cross-checking various administrative data bases, included the state-run job agency, he said.

WSJ: French Police Detain Man in Probe of Attack on Soldier

Workers there are checking every piece of equipment to see which have embedded, data-dependent computer chips.

CNN: Year 2000 bug could be dangerous for hospitals, experts warn