Social networking sites have proven to be incredibly popular, but they also are proving to be less than secure.

By Chris Smith

You have to be agile to keep up with teenagers if you're well into middle age, but you should give credit to those of us who are making an effort. For instance, having Twitter and Facebook accounts is one way to stay in the groove with the Web 2.0 crowd. But you have to be a little careful when you're out there mingling with the hoi polloi.

Effective use of broad-based, inexpensive social networking tools to generate political and financial support helped put President Obama in office, say the authors of a new book.

By Chris Smith

Whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or another persuasion altogether, you're probably still wondering how the heck Barack Obama made it into the White House. The answer, according to the authors of a new book on social networking, is expert use of Web 2.0 technology.

Gmail users soon will be able to launch a video session as easily as they send an instant message.

By Chris Smith

Back in the early '90s, I used to work for Verizon when it was known as GTE. The company was in the process of computerizing a lot of its operations, and many people were bemoaning the fact that it was laying off most of its operators. Company executives foresaw a competitive landscape in the future, and they were desperately trying to figure out a way to get into broadband communications. The problem was that much of the telephone infrastructure was based on twisted-pair, and it didn't offer enough bandwidth to carry video, being designed a century earlier to handle only telephone calls.

Easy federal money prompted many states to move to electronic voting, a decision they are now trying to reverse.

By Chris Smith

Imagine you're on the Titanic. The captain has set a course across the North Atlantic that is heading straight for an iceberg. He has ramped up the speed in order to impress the passengers with his spiffy new ship. You're from the future. You know what is about to happen. What to do?

As in real life, you may not find what you seek in this virtual world, but you probably will emerge with a smile and desire to return.

By Chris Smith

The big news this week is that there's hope--hope that I may soon have a social life. You see, I joined Second Life this week. The virtual world is one that I had read about in news magazines but had never considered actually spending any time exploring because, well, it sounded too kinky and weird--avatars forming attractions to each other and then consummating their need for intimacy? Get me out of here!