We generally frown on using the phrase “Web 2.0″ around here but if we must pick out our favorite Web 2.0 app it wouldn’t be flickr, twitter or myspace (least favorite). The winner, hands down, is Nike+. In typical Web 2.0 fashion the users supply the content and interact in a type of social network where people are there for a specific reason: to track their running, or walking, and monitor their progress towards specific or open ended goals. Users can participate in challenges where they compete in competitions for the most miles or the fastest specified distance.

To find out details of Nike+ visit Wikipedia. In a nutshell you need an iPod Nano, a pair of Nike+ shoes and the Nike+ iPod Sports kit. It is a powerful combination that has the traditional Apple ease of use and slick presentation layer coupled with Nike’s seemingly ubiquitous athletic wear. The front end is completely flash based and easily allows you to navigate between your daily runs and any challenges you are involved in. It is so popular around here that it is used by almost everybody at SitesNow. Here are a couple of screenshots of the Nike+ website for one of our employees:

This first image tracks your overall progress since you have been using Nike+:

This second image details out a daily run including your time, total distance and overall pace.

A hot button item in web development the past couple of years has been security. Vendors seem to be implementing the network stack in a fairly secure manner these days, so the popular attack vector has been applications. If developers aren’t taught how to develop securely then it doesn’t matter how well they do the rest of their job.

If you don’t want your web site to involuntarily become an ad for <insert pharmaceutical here> then you want to make sure your web developers know how to code in a secure manner. If you think we are just being overly paranoid then check out this link that we found in a story over at the ISC (Internet Storm Center) . Remember, it’s only funny until it happens to you.

Use this Google Search for a list of vulnerable sites.