This approach of having a software agent negotiate trust with the web site for you requires some new technical innovations.

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Imagine having a software agent that could automatically do scheduling on your behalf, surveying your calendar and fitting a session with the personal trainer into each week, followed by a massage, with enough time afterward to get dressed and hotfoot it to your next meeting.

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From their homes, consumers can open Verizon's In-home Agent software on their computers.

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The malicious software "agent.btz, " though aptly-named for a narrative about international espionage, is likely one of many flavors of a particular category of malware that automatically (and silently) executes when removable media is inserted into a Windows machine.

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Unilever, for instance, is using agent-based modeling software to analyze the purchasing and social patterns of 150, 000 customers who use Swiss online grocer LeShop.ch.

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Both firms had one project coordinator overseeing a calling agent selling customer-relations software to medium-size businesses.

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Software is coming, too, including a buying agent called E-speak that can search the Web, inventory other programs and broker deals.

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It has deals with companies such as Dell and HP to embed its tracking agent into their computers' boot-up software, where it is more difficult for a thief to remove than from the hard drive.

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In seconds, its Internet-browser-based agent negotiates deals that match your calendar (no morning flights, the software sees an early meeting that day in your Outlook calendar) and your likes (outdoor pool, bandwidth, that cool restaurant you booked before).

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