The cookie is created when users read an unsolicited e-mail with graphics in it, such as a banner advertisement off the Web, Smith said in a conference call.

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Although Gordian had only purchased a single Web program from eDoc4u, Smith designed a customized program with wider capabilities for Blue Cross Blue Shield, anticipating that the larger company could afford and would need more services.

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"We see the value and immense potential in free to play services on mobile web, " said Colin Lynch Smith, founder and vice president of Freeverse, in a press release.

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Bhatia had been working for Apple as a hardware engineer after graduating from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, when he and Apple colleague Jack Smith hit upon the concept of web-based email out of frustration at being unable to check their company email away from the office.

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Instead of relying on electronic distributors, Smith approaches second- and third-tier Web sites that offer free games and gimmicks, paying them a fee (depending on the number of different visitors).

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Burck Smith likens it to the challenge newspapers faced when they first launched web sites.

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That could mean websites will be required to include spoken descriptions of photos and text boxes for the blind, as well as captions and transcriptions of multimedia features for the deaf, said Jared Smith, associate director of WebAIM, a nonprofit group that trains and evaluates companies on Web accessibility.

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Smith said that for many people in emerging markets, mobile phones are the primary point of web access.

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"When you go to a Web site they will not only know your cookie, but also your e-mail address, " Smith said.

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Senior advisers dispatched ground-game gurus such as Michael Whouley and Ace Smith on missions to unexpectedly threatened or newly critical states -- only to discover grass-roots, Web-driven Obama efforts firmly established.

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