Stories by: C.G. Lynch

Facebook, since its mistakes with the Beacon advertising incident, has rolled out one of the most robust security systems for any social network, which allows users to control who sees what information about them with great specificity. Take a look at Facebook's privacy features and how to set yours.

Twitter, the microblogging service that allows users to post short status messages about themselves for people "following" them, has found its way onto the Web browsers and mobile phones of tech geeks all around the world. While I'm a fan and user of the service, I've come to believe there is very little chance it will catch on with a mainstream audience as a standalone application.

Mozilla has touted Firefox 3 as faster and more secure than earlier versions of the open-source web browser. But there's another reason to look at the browser upgrade: it is highly customizable for individual users by utilizing the massive library of Add-ons - additional features that users can choose to install on top of the browser.

When Google launched its web-based e-mail service (Gmail) on April 1, 2004, many people thought it was an April Fool's Day joke, and perhaps with good reason. That same day, the company had posted plans to open a research facility on the moon.

A report released by MessageLabs, a UK-based security vendor, found that nearly 20 percent of organizations blocked social networking and dating sites in February due to concerns about employee productivity and malware. In addition, the number of websites blocked by filters was nearly 47 percent, which, according to MessageLabs, should spur IT departments to update their electronic use policies to reflect newer Web 2.0 technologies.