All the recent talk about the leaker and what he leaked about the Government's unfettered access to our personal lives is the stuff of spy novels and Big Brother theory. It's the new mind-reading apps that are available now that may put more fear and awe into our hearts.

The New York Times recently ran a piece called "Apps That Know What You Want, Before You Do". Glance at your phone in the morning, for instance, and see an alert that you need to leave early for your next meeting because of traffic, even though you never told your phone you had a meeting, or where it was.

How does the phone know? Because an application has read your e-mail, scanned your calendar, tracked your location, parsed traffic patterns and figured out you need an extra half-hour to drive to the meeting.

Cool or scary?