An Oops Button, or a Tool for Retrieving That E-Mail Note You Sent

"The speed and efficiency of e-mail can present problems for an impulsive person. A message written in haste can be dispatched instantly on a whim ('Sell 2,000 shares'; 'I resign'; 'We should see other people'), and there is no going back once one has clicked Send. At least until now. A new e-mail service means cooler heads have a chance to prevail. Subscribers to the service, called BigString, can retract statements by recalling or changing messages that may have been sent in moments of panic, rage or stupor. The service works by converting subscribers' e-mail messages to simple HTML documents, essentially no-frills Web pages. The documents are then sent to a BigString server, where each one is given a long, complicated address and then stored."