Further to my last blog, I've literally just read about the social networking exploits of Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC's Technology Correspondent. He seems to have given up on the social networking sites.

I've been mulling over Web 2.0 technologies for some time now and, in particular, the rise of the so called social networking sites such as MySpace and FaceBook.

The recent caution of a man in Redditch by West Mercia Police for "dishonestly obtaining electronic communications services with intent to avoid payment" raises some interesting questions.

MessageLabs have recently published research into IT security that highlights that small firms are being increasingly targeted by hackers. Their research was based on the insights of close on 1,000 US and UK IT decision makers. I find this worrying since many of our clients fall into the small-to-medium enterprise (SME) sector and my own experience as a consultant shows that the managers of such firms often believe they are unlikely to be targeted.

I understand from Tom Hollander's Blog that Microsoft's Pattern & Practices team have just released Enterprise Library 3.0.

Just a quick announcement that Revell Research Systems has just launched a new web site to promote the undergraduate prize that it established at the University of Plymouth last year.

The prize is awarded annually to the best final-year student on the BSc(Hons) Computing programme, which is delivered by the university's School of Computing, Communications and Electronics.

The new web site is at http://prize.rrs.co.uk.

 

I read recently that laptops are becoming more popular than ever and, based on sales, are likely to overtake the humble desktop in the nearing future in terms of units shipped. Other than the fact the laptops tend to be much more expensive to run, I am increasingly concerned about how they really are often the "security backdoor" into the corporate network.

I was surprised that for the first time in ages Microsoft won't be issuing any critical security patches as part of their monthly "Second Tuesday" patching cycle (although I understand some non-security upgrades may be offered through Microsoft Update, etc).