My eldest lad has just got one of the new Nokia 3300 phones. Its an MP3 player, a FM radio and a telephone, with plenty of features like calendar, alarm and phonebook. The MP3 player is really good, and you can replace the memory card with 256mb version, giving 2 hours of MP3 music storage.

Because the phone comes with a cable to connect it to a PC, it is encouraging him to play around more with the music on the PC side, transferring it to his phone and mixing tracks.

Although the FM radio is a little disappointing, this is a great phone and will be a hit with the younger element - although I'm tempted too!

I've been trying out the latest IPAQ - the brilliant M5550 with built in Wireless and Bluetooth. One of the best features of this version is it has a removable battery, as well as a back up battery built in. Top marks for simplicity, although one wonders why that wasn't incorporated into earlier versions.

My old IPAQ 3850 came without bluetooth or wireless, and was much heavier. This device can be carried easily in a jacket pocket, without one leaning 25 degrees to the right!

MSN have recently announced that they are to close down their free chat rooms. Cynics say that the only reason for doing this is to introduce charges, although I'm not so sure.

Microsoft could be worried about future litigation from people affected by what has happened whilst in the Microsoft chat rooms years ago. Something along the lines of actions taken against schools that failed in their duty of care to prevent child abuse.

Either way it is a worrying development whenever technology is withdrawn because to me it implies failure to govern effectively that technology. My old hobby horse of humans always being the masters of the technology.