Growing up near a seaside holiday resort meant I spent some of my formative years trawling around various slot machine arcades spending my meagre pocket money.  I have a clear memory of one particular machine where you could direct a coin to avoid pins and obstacles so that it fell into a column containing other coins that, once filled, would reward you with its content.

Digital content, whether still images, video or audio based, continues to grow and take over our hard disks.  While you could opt to delete less popular items to ease the storage pressure and release space for newer content, there is another alternative that could be considered.  This would involve transferring data to optical media using software such as that available with MediaNow CD & DVD Burning Suite.

The Internet is a veritable cornucopia of information and source material whatever your interests.  However it can also be an extremely dangerous place to venture unprotected, as well as being the portal through which attacks can be launched against your computer and the personal data it holds.  System Shield 3 Internet Security is a product from iolo technologies that is designed to help protect the user from such dangers.

Sometimes it feels like I have walked into a menagerie or perhaps pet shop would be a better description.  Recently my attention has been grabbed by a guinea pig (Gupi by name), a white cat and parrot (both belonging to the FurReal Friends family) plus, last but not least, a dragonfly of prehistoric proportions.  Now it is the turn of the recently deposed " 's favourite pet" to take centre stage.

Although it is not the first Nokia phone to be released with GPS facilities, the 6110 model is the first unit to have bestowed the category of "Navigator" as part of its title.   The Nokia 6110 comes with Route 66 software in conjunction with Assisted GPS (A-GPS) for determining location faster.  I will return to the GPS feature a little later. This black and silver slider phone measures 102 x 49 x 21mm (H x W x D) when in a closed state.

Normally when a large company, especially one in the highly competitive IT industry, puts on a show for the media and business partners, the focus of attention is aimed at a specific product or products already rolling off the production lines or those in a well-advanced state with an imminent arrival expected.

High in the Clouds While wandering around a cloud kingdom, I came across a game of Mahjong that including a points total and the chance to collect artefacts. Originally developed in as a game for four players involving 144 tiles, Mahjong is usually presented as a solitaire type game when appearing in the computer environment.

Like many, magic has always held a fascination for me.  The combination of the overall illusionary effect and the challenge of trying to work out how it was achieved makes a mixture that I find very hard to resist.  As a result I was keen to dip into the box labelled Marvin's Magic Freaky Body Illusions.

Over the last few months we have covered a number of memory card offerings and USB flash devices.  Now it is the turn of a product that combines a memory card with a USB stick device that takes over the functionality normally provided by a card reader.  As the world's largest independent manufacturer of memory products, it is not too surprising to know that this new approach to memory cards and USB connectivity should come from Kingston Technology.

Described by Steve Walker (Head of Product Marketing at Sony Ericsson) as "an affordable music phone that compliments your existing MP3 player", the W200i phone is a candy bar unit aimed at the budget-conscious area of the marketplace.

System Suite 7 has now been replaced by version 8, for about the same price. . Update : Click here to read our review of System Suite 8 Keeping your personal computer running smoothly, let alone at optimum capacity, can be a time consuming task.  In some cases you could spend so much time carrying out maintenance that you leave little time for more productive and entertaining past-times.

Well known for its mosaics, churches, the , canals and gondolas, is now the chosen location for a new game developed by Retro64 and available from Popcap.  Venice Deluxe is described as a puzzle-powered retro action game set among the water thoroughfares of 's famed city. of Bridge Sighs Venice Italy Your task is to save from sinking into a watery grave.  The job is achieved by taking part in four different game modes.

Children often have a fascination for insects of all varieties.  I have a clear recollection of one of my younger sisters often carrying worms around in her pocket but that's another story.  Along with the overwhelming desire to get to grips with the insect world, the aspect of flight - a vital ability for many insects - can quickly arouse and captivate a child's attention.

Talking heads have been around for quite a while.  Whether representing celebrity faces, animals or any types of inanimate objects you care to think of, these computer generated animated images have infiltrated the fields of entertainment and marketing with the ability to amuse and grab the attention of consumers.

While we take precautions with anti-virus software, pop-up blockers, spam filters and various security devices (well at least I hope you do), how many consider the danger of having our personal data falling into the hands of others through our own fault.  This can easily happen when we sell, donate or otherwise dispose of computer equipment that is no longer wanted.  Relying of the delete command to remove data from a hard disk is asking for trouble.

When deciding on a new mobile phone for your personal use, it is no longer enough to look at elements covering cost, features and appearance but also the availability of add-ons and accessories.  Take, for example, an accessory that turns your mobile phone into one that is hands-free for most eventualities.  Although most mobile phones come with an ear bud style of headset, this is one popular area that is often considered for upgrading.

When checking out this next product I was reminded of a Yellow Pages advertisement of a few years ago which advised customers "to let your fingers do the walking".  However, in this case, instead of walking, your fingers would be required to do the drumming with Finger Beats.  This product, distributed in the by Re:creation, could well be described as a portable drum kit for the emerging percussionist.

Continuing the process of integrated the recently acquired Ulead titles into its portfolio of products, Corel has released VideoStudio 11 Plus.  This product brings video editing and DVD authoring capabilities to the Corel family.

Continuing with its policy of supplying software in flip-top boxes, Nero's latest edition of its flagship product, namely Nero 8, is now with us.  Arriving with the promise to "Create and Manage Your Digital Life", Nero 8 has upped its demands with regards to required system specifications to handle the various applications that make up this suite of software.

When it comes to selecting from a candy bar, slider or clamshell with regards to my preferred choice of mobile phone style, my vote always seems to go to the clamshell.  I mention this purely as a lead to this review of the Sony Ericsson Z610i phone which is of the clamshell variety.

Squawkers McCaw As the most talkative of our feathered friends, a parrot can make an excellent pet especially if it does not need cleaning or feeding. Joining the FurReal Friends family is the new addition of Squawkers McCaw.  This talkative, trainable parrot comes with its own perch, toy cracker (the biscuit rather than the Christmas variety), and a remote control. It is being aimed at the 5 - 105 age groups which just about includes this reviewer.

Digital cameras, mobile phones and PDAs have overlapping areas of functionality.  They also all rely on memory cards as the means of increasing their storage capacity and, in some cases, enhancing their functionality with applications and data.  Generally the most popular format of memory card used by such devices, unless the Sony family of products is involved, is that of Secure Digital (SD).

It is becoming increasingly common for homes to contain more than one computer.  Often these system boxes, along with various peripherals, are linked together via a network whether that is of the wired or wireless type.  However not everybody needs the functionality offered by a network.  In some cases all you really need is a quick and easy method of transferring data from one computer to another that is in reasonable proximity.

Magic is the name of the game and the game is Dawn of Magic.  This title is described as a "new era of hack 'n' slash".  In this game you are cast in the role of a character who takes on the task of defeating a rather nasty immortal named Modo who has been banished from the realm of afterlife known as Absolute.

Originally appearing in the late 1960s, the Stylophone was launched on to the marketplace as "The Electronic Organ in your Pocket".  For those young enough not to have come under the influence of the initial advertising campaign, whether television, newspaper or other media, the Stylophone campaign was headed by Rolf Harris, a popular entertainer of the time, who was capable of playing some rather unusual musical instruments, many Aboriginal based.

Some members of my family have the distinct impression that I am a hoarder who never disposes of anything.  I can hardly blame them for thinking thus as I have learned from bitter experience that whenever I do get rid of something, it isn't long before I discover that I need that very item to complete an important task.  Fortunately when that item is a file, there is a possibility that it could be resurrected.

It was not all that long ago, when buying various items of computer equipment, that your purchases would be restricted to the single colour of computer grey.  Whether it was a desktop or tower system, monitor, printer or whatever, the one constant was the ubiquitous grey.  Nowadays there has been a sea-change.

When a product offers to test your system for its graphics capabilities in order to gauge its suitability for a particular title, you begin to wonder just what you might be letting yourself in for when running the software.  With , it was an excursion into the field of avatar generation and accessible 3D animation produced in real time.

Putting a dragon and a bear in close proximity might be considered a recipe for disaster.  Fur and scales could fly in every direction while the cacophony of battle could easily freeze the blood of a casual observer.  However this was not the case when this particular bear ventured into the Dragon's Den.  Instead the bear was made welcome before being launched on to the consumer toy market in its guise of iTeddy.

Once upon a time major applications, and even some minor ones, came with full printed documentation that included training exercises to help get you up to speed.  Nowadays the more popular option, as least with the software developers and marketing departments, is to provide documentation in the form of PDF (Portable Document File) and limit any training to opening tips and pointers towards the Help feature.