With the The FARM flat out tending to our fabulous clients in early 2010 responsibility for maintaining Suite 101 fell to yours truly - the latest agency recruit.

I soon noticed that The FARMers had been slack in reporting the OzTag season progress and set out to rectify the problem asap.

Alas, before I had the chance to join them on the paddock (intimidated as I was at first by the buff and professional looking specimens I saw circulating in the office the afternoon of game day) the season was over.

Having read about their promising first weeks here on Suite 101 I turned to The FARMers optimistically for an end of season wrap up.

There were tales of Hugo’s suave and nimble movement, Karis’ super human tagging skills and Aaron’s remarkable bravery in the face of injury (apparently he managed to finish every single game with a bleeding left knee). The highest praise however was reserved Yankee Brooke Blakslee, not for his mammoth diving tries (which were nonetheless legendary) but for his team spirit. Though sidelined with a nasty phlegmatic illness Mr Blakslee braved it to the park for the final game where he provided much needed moral support – not to mention beers at half time.   

The FARMers were more than happy to commend the skills and attitude of their fellow team members. But they were not so forthcoming when it came to the hard facts: What was the win to loss ratio? Where did they sit on the table at season’s end? 

When my initial attempts to obtain this information were thwarted I was pointed in the direction of team founder and Business Development Manager Phillip McCann.

The initial response: “Too many losses to remember”.

To which my reply was: “Well surely you remember the amount of wins then??”

The verdict - 1 official and legitimate win (which you may have read about here – explains the lack of updates after that!), 1 on paper only win (the other team forfeited), 1 embarrassing loss to a team that obviously cheated (miscellaneous – we’ll chalk that up as a win), 1 loss (to the comp leaders) which apparently would’ve been a win if not for a dodgy referee, 1 forfeit on Melbourne Cup Day (which would’ve been a win had anyone been sober enough to run in a straight line) and numerous on paper losses that might’ve been wins had the team not been penalised for a shortfall in X chromosomes.

So where did all this leave The FARMers at seasons end? As OzTag Champions of the year of course (well in their eyes anyway ). Onya FARMers!!

This month Farmers old and new alike took interest in Google's revelation it had fallen victim to “a highly sophisticated and targeted” cyber attack “originating from China” and resulting in the theft of its intellectual property. The official Googleblog went on to all but outright accuse the Chinese government of orchestrating the attacks in an attempt to access the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

As the evidence mounted that the People’s Republic was indeed behind the debacle it became clear we had an interesting power play on our hands - Superpower vs Cyberpower. It was interesting to speculate how that showdown would play out… 

The good news? It turned out the attacks (which also hit over 20 other companies) had exploited a vulnerability in IE 6 (http://praetorianprefect.com/archives/2010/01/the-aurora-ie-exploit-in-action/)  – thus putting another nail in the coffin of a browser which should have been buried long ago.

For the record: The Farm happily ceased support for IE6 from October 31 2009. In the aftermath of the cyber attack Google, better late than never, announced it would follow suit from March 1. Thanks Hu Jintao!

Google’s answer to the iPhone – the Nexus One smartphone – may be yet to hit Australian shores but it’s already got Farmers' chins wagging.

The topic – not so much the merits of one phone vs the the other – though you can read about this here http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/torn-between-two-phones-nexus-one-vs-iphone/?ref=technology – but what the competition bodes for the future of the www.

While the smartphones might work well with their own software they don’t seem to be making an effort to get along with one anothers other services. Some commentators – namely Tim O’Reily - think this bodes a bloody period of competition that could threaten the interoperable web of today. In the 80s it was Macintosh v Microsoft – in the 2010s the war looks set to take place between Apple and Google.

O’Reily may be onto something. While it’s too soon to tell if the Nexus One will emerge as a serious competitor to the iPhone, some Farmers have already taken sides.

Those who like that Google’s Android platform is more open to developers champion the Nexus One. The others, like everyone else, are so deep in iPhone love they can’t see past their touchscreens. One Farmer has even suggested we change the phrase “the best thing since sliced bread” to “the best thing since the iPhone”.

What do you think? Will you trade in your iPhone for a Nexus One? And who’s your money behind in the war for the web?