I am pleased to announce that Darren Rees has been awarded the 2007 Revell Research Systems Prize at the University of Plymouth for being the top final year student in BSc(Hons) Computing.

Darren, who is from South Wales, is obviously a very talented graduate. I was at the Plymouth Awards Ceremony this afternoon and his tutor, Dr Nigel Barlow, spoke of his ability in glowing terms.

The Revell Research Systems Prize at the University of Plymouth was established to mark the consultancy's twenty-first year in business, which actually finishes at the end of this month. So, by a quirk of the timing of Plymouth award ceremonies, we have actually awarded the prize twice during our twenty-first year!

Anyone interested in more details about the prize can visit its web site at http://prize.rrs.co.uk.

I'm pleased to announce that we've just launched the new South West Mediation web site.

South West Mediation is a regional family mediation practice, with offices in Exeter, Plymouth, Torquay and Taunton. Family mediation helps couples (whether married or not) to discuss and resolve any issues connected with the separation or divorce in a thoughtful and co-operative way. Mediation aims to improve communication and reduce bitterness - and consequently benefit any children involved. Most of the mediators working for South West Mediation are not only highly experienced as mediators, but also have practiced for many years as solicitors in family law.

The web site has all the characteristics of a Revell Research Systems web site. Its design is crisp and the site is extremely easy to navigate. It has also been optimised so that search engines rank the site higher than many of the firm's competitors.

John Loram, a director and founder of South West Mediation remarked at the site's launch: "I am really pleased with its design and quality. It is both eye-catching and informative."

The photography for the site was done by Revell Research Systems in-house, which allowed us to present exactly the right "feel" for the site. Some of the images are very poignant and help to convey the important aspects of mediation in a non-verbal way.

Revell Research Systems is committed to designing and producing high quality sites, which comply with the relevant web standards. The South West Mediation web site is compliant with the XHTML 1.0 (Transitional) and CSS 2.0 standards. It has also been designed with people with disabilities in mind and passes the majority of automatable tests for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0). (We believe that in some circumstances, some elements of the guidelines that were published in 1999 are no longer appropriate.)

Perhaps equally important, the web site also complies with the United Kingdom's Companies Act 2006, which so many web sites simply do not comply with.

The picture below shows myself with John Loram, a director of South West Mediation.

I understand that HM The Queen has awarded Sir Tim Berners-Lee the Order of Merit, which is restricted to 24 living members and is in her personal gift, being awarded without ministerial advice. It is indeed a most prestigious honour.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee invention of the World Wide Web is, without doubt, one of the greatest contributions to modern society made in recent years and I believe he heartily deserves his place in this elite and select group.

Microsoft has just unveiled their new table computing device: "Surface".

I suspect that it may well become one of the must have corporate gadgets for many firms and I doubt it will be too long before they start appearing in receptions up and down the country!!

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.