Second hand retailer Pass the Baton , a new store in Tokyo, uses provenance as a way to market their goods (and distinguish themselves). Pass the Baton profiles the owners of the goods they sell. While common in the high end traditional auction market - i.e. when I buy expensive wine at auction, I want to know where it came from so I am assured it was stored properly - this appears to be a first at the retail level. It will be interesting to see its implications if it integrates with online social networking media.

Today Futureshop was released in a nifty new paperback edition. The hardcover version of the book received significant consumer attention and as such, Penguin opted to go with a more consumer oriented cover and subtitle seen here.

The paperback edition has been updated to include more current data related to eBay and other sites.

Futureshop has just gone international. Germany is the first of many countries that will be publishing Futureshop in a foreign language. Here is the link to the German version which has an updated cover and is available in bookstores this month.