Rumours abounded last week as to Lucent and Motorola`s financial situations, while the de-listing of M-Web made local headlines.

Learning to look beyond a problem can often provide a potent insight into the solution, or it can get us through a situation to which is there is no solution but in which survival is paramount.

Although most of ITWeb`s readers seem to think it is doomed to fail, Absa`s free Internet model could be leveraged into a grand e-commerce vision.

This week: Skip the security guarded malls and head online for a one in three chance of hitting a security hole, and the growth in virus incidences is far outpacing the growth of e-mail usage.

As most companies realise the benefit of hosting numerous communication and trade channels, it`s becoming more evident to traditional businesses that electronic commerce is not just about online shopping.

Last week saw further job loss announcements and profit warnings internationally, while locally there was a flurry of financial results.

The city of the new century will be self-contained, diverse and wired. This is a brave new model for a brave new world - a world of MAN.

This week: A litany of security woes, including a tech-savvy criminal targeting the richest people in America, more Web sites defaced than ever before, and another new virus in the wild.

Red-M and AvantGo have entered into an agreement to enable mobile access to information and content and applications provided over Bluetooth networks.

The Internet and related services and technologies have experienced mediocre success in changing online consumer behaviour - and what change there has been is limited by the scope and affordability of access.

The local and international slump in stock prices dominated IT news last week, as did the continued job loss announcements and profit warnings.

The new economy of information technology fails to feed mankind, fails to protect him, fails to ensure the survival of the human species. It survives on a need it created.

As most people spend 33 1/2 years of their life working, career choice is one of the most important decisions, making the difference between a life of contentment and daily trudgery.