I had an emergency set of these from Wilkinsons, and they are some the worst headphones I have eaver heard. Dull, flat, muffled sound. Not sure if I have a duff pair, but they are absolutely awful. I will be taking them straght back. They are not worth the risk, Exspect make some that are excellent for only £5.

Most reviewers seem disappointed by the lack of Pratchett in this novel, but it's certainly there in both the characters (one of the main players is pure Pratchett humour), and the premise. Any readers of the Science of the Discworld novels will recognise here Pratchett's fascination with both human evolution (physical and social), and with the "many worlds" theory. Having said that, there are no places where the seams between the writer's work can be noticed, so you're left with a flavour of Pratchett all the way through the cool, clear and evocative writing style. The Long Earth is a Tardis of a book, leaving a great impression of space and fresh air in the mind of the reader. This is perfect for the subject matter, millions of parallel earths bereft of the touch of humanity. It does feel a little like the wide, dull prairies described within, however; as there're quite a lot of places in the story where the pace slackens and the book becomes a little bland. The characters, in particular, never seem to be in any meaningful danger despite their pioneering journey. Character interaction could have also used a little more depth, although the tensions and struggles of groups of people are well fleshed out.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. The book is a credit to the collaboration, and pleasantly full of potential. It's a book very proud of its amazing setting, which is thrust to the forefront at all opportunities. As this is the set-up for a series (potentially), the characters inevitably have to take a backseat to the masterful construction of the sets and backdrops of a multiverse primed for infinite exploration. Hopefully in future books we can delve further into the deeps of both the Long Earth itself, and the burgeoning rifts in human society.

I very much enjoyed reading this book, for all of it's massive length it didn't feel drawn out or flat in any places. This book is a slight change to the usual format of the Culture novels, favouring a more expansive ensemble cast then usual, which some of the other reviewers here seem to feel was spread a little too thin. In the end though, I didn't care that a couple of the characters were a little lightly sketched, because the core characters were truly excellent. Some deserve special mention, including the ship Falling Outside The Usual Moral Constraints (for all that this is an irritating mental mouthful to read), by far my favourite ship since the Grey Area, and the Space Martial Vatueil (in all of his incarnations).

The plot is also a stunner, I really liked the concept of another (possibly even larger than the Real) Universe being present in the virtual afterlife. It does suffer slightly from being as twisty as a four-dimensional corkscrew, and at no point are you allowed to relax into the story. I also found the introduction of other Culture-Equivalent civilisations to be a great enhancement to the book, as they were my favourite bit of Matter by far. This book far exceeds Matter in terms of quality, storyline and characters, and I would rate it almost as highly as Excession and Look to Windward (my two favourite Culture books so far).

I was prompted to get this camera after taking dark and blurry shots at my friend's wedding (with an old Sony Cybershot). I was enticed by the low-light performance reputation of this camera, and it hasn't disappointed. In EXR mode, the camera can adjust night and evening shots to capture background details and natural light. While this inevitably means upping the ISO setting and increasing noise, the compensation is a picture which is true to life. In auto mode, the flash can light up a low light scene as bright as day, and so give bright colours and sharp faces, if the more true-colour EXR is too noisy for your tastes.

For outside shots with better lighting, the camera produces very sharp pictures, with an excellent colour range. In cloudy conditions, an impressive degree of detail and contrast is retained in the clouds, and scenes are still captured sharply. Compared to my old camera, skin tones are truer and pictures much less soft.

I would recommend this camera for those who like to fiddle with settings, because although the EXR mode will take a great picture 9 times out of 10, it helps to have a programmed AUTO mode that you know is a good alternative. All of the settings you need are there, but menus can sometimes be confusing or poorly explained. I found I could set a limit on the ISO setting without help, but needed instruction to set manual shot times for tripod use. All in all, the camera is a great all-rounder.

These boots are excellent value for the price, they fit very nicely and are comfortable. The elasticated panel on the back is very good, as it allows me to get a pair of thin jeans on underneath. I was also impressed by the grippy and flexible sole, which seems very well made.

The only issues you may have with these boots are the fact that they're quite tapered at the toe (so not great for very wide feet), and don't have a lot of shock absorbance. I got myself a pair of Boots gel insoles, and now I feel I could wear them every day, so that's easily resolved.

This is my first Nokia phone, but not my first touchscreen, and it has really impressed me. Firstly, a lot of the negatives in the first few reviews seem to be about touch phones in general - there are things to get used to with the transition to touch. One thing I can say, compared with my old LG Viewty, this is a vast improvement in technology. One thing to note is that many of the reviews online are of the phone with it's original firmware - further updates have improved the functionality and responsiveness of the touchscreen. When I installed it, I couldn't believe the difference.

UPDATE -
6 months after getting the phone, I've decided to update the review. It's still a great phone, but the touch screen has gradually lost some of it's responsiveness. This is due to it being a resistive touchscreeen (rather than capacitive, like the iPhone), and leaves it more susceptable to wear and tear. The main areas affected are the two button areas at the bottom of the screen, and the direct middle. The cause of it is most likely a combo of me not keeping it in a case and using fingernail taps that are maybe a bit too hard. I would reccommend treating the screen with care. That said, it responds perfectly fine to fingernail taps rather than full finger presses. (all other points of the review still stand, battery life still excellent etc.)

HARDWARE -
The phone is a very well built object, but the back casing and stylus do seem a bit flimsy when removed. The screen is very nice, responsive and sharp, although I find myself using fingernail taps for texting rather than full finger presses. I have never used the stylus, or felt the need, but I have small fingers. The camera is a bit rubbish, but then so was the one on my old LG (with all it's 5MP) compared with my dedicated camera. The phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is great. For a touch phone, I have to say the battery life is amazing, so thumbs up there.

SOFTWARE -
The phone software is an updated Symbian smartphone OS, which looks a little dull to begin with. However, the beauty of Symbian is that it can be updated and changed to look however you want - my favourite is the iPhone theme by Pizero - which suits the fun loving music demographic that this phone is aimed at. The music player is very good, automatically finding any music you drag and drop onto the card supplied. Several touchscreen features are worthy of note: the accelerometer that switches the screen landscape to portrait, the scrollbar (much easier than the weird scrolling on the LG), and the nice big full-screen QWERTY keyboard. It's worth noting that some actions require 2 taps, specifically selecting items from the menus, whereas all other actions only require on press.

FEATURES -
The camera, as I said, is a bit pants - but that isn't why you would buy this phone. The supplied games are also a bit rubbish, but there are free downloadable ones on Nokia's website. The internet browser is great, very sharp and fast, but beware of double-tapping, this only zooms the page in. GPS seems to work well too - but requires an internet connection for some reason, so make sure you have a contract including browsing. And although it comes with NokiaMaps, this is only a demo - go and download Googlemaps for free. The music player is top notch - but doesn't feature Nokia's "Comes with Music" software. Video playback is awesome on the big screen, and BBC iPlayer plays very well bar its usual pixellation issues. All in all, a great package of features.

COMES WITH... -
The phone comes with a great package of extra bits, a stand for viewing video, a TV-out cable to watch iPlayer and self-shot video over the TV, headphones, in-line remote, charger, spare stylus and a weird plectrum stylus. Bizarrely, although 2 of these items have an attaching cord, there seems to be no hole to thread them through anywhere on the phone. The included 8gb card is very generous, and can be expanded to 16gb is Nokia is to be believed, and 32gb if Wikipedia is to be believed.

CONCLUSION -
I like this phone, the touch controls work well (once the multiple presses have been adjusted for), and it's very easy to use. Some more customisation on the home screen would have been nice, but it does the job. The review that lamented the lack of a "Back" button should note that there is always an "Options" and "Back" button at the bottom of the screen, not sure how they missed that. Anyway, after a week, I'm very happy with this phone. It's not an iPhone, but it was less than half the price on a better contract.

The PSP is a lovely device, and the Slim and Light version has made some great improvements, including battery life and screen brightness. I love my old chunky model to bits, so this is more a review of the console in general.

The battery life on this model is better than the old, but still not in the same league as the DS, a machine I hardly notice having to charge. For charge the PSP you will, the huge bright screen is a big drain on power, not to mention the lovely graphics. Really, with battery issues aside, and it's excellent media capabilities (8GB card + Flight of the Conchords DVD + Handbrake software = most fun you can legally have on a train) the PSP should be the true choice for gaming on the move.

BUT...poor PSP has been somewhat abandoned by the developers in recent years. It has a good back catalogue to keep new owners busy, but there are unlikely to be more than 10-15 games that you'll be particularly excited about. Which is a shame, because a lot of it's exclusives are stellar, and in my opinion much better than all but a few DS games. Lumines, Patapon, LocoRoco and Crisis Core all deserved to be touted and paraded as LittleBigPlanet was, but recieved barely any attention.

So beware, potential owner, check the Gamespot back-catalogue to make sure your new purchase won't be gathering dust after 6 months. And don't hold your breath for anything new any time soon.

These are nice boots, a lovely colour, and very well made. The sole is very flexible and has Dr. Martens Airwair technology to make it more comfortable than the average heeled boot. It also has a pretty wide shaft, fitting easily around my calves (which at 14" are often too big for some boots). My only criticism is that the toes are quite narrow and the leather there will take time to stretch and become more comfortable. Recommended for those with narrow feet, or who don't mind stretching them slightly. That said, the rounded toe gives a very feminine look.

This remote is a very well designed piece of kit, with a nice tactile rubbery underside and an ergonomic thumbrest keypad. It fits right into the palm of your hand very comfortably. The dongle that tucks away in the bottom of the handset is also very clever, ensuring it doesn't get lost or drain battery. I haven't had a chance to push the recieving range yet, but other reviewers seem to have had no problems.

Interestingly, this remote would seem to not just be for Powerpoint, or even Windows. The box lists Mac and Windows, but it also works just fine on my boyfriend's dinky Linux Eeepc. Given the varied distributions of Linux, I can't guarentee it will work with any other common distributions such as Ubuntu however. It also works happily with the free presentation software OpenOffice Impress, on my Windows Vista laptop. Gold star for compatability.

I recently purchased this model of Xbox 360, and in the light of the New Xbox Experience (NXE) that has just been released, I thought I'd do a review. I'm very happy with the Xbox, and I have to say I haven't touched the Wii since I bought it (or for about 4 months previous to buying it). Here's my opinion of the good and bad aspects, and some stuff you may not know you can do with your Xbox!

GOOD:

Graphics:
Excellent. They look superb on my HDTV (even though it's only 22in), and this new model supports HDMI. It's worth noting that it's not compatible with the NXE right now, however. Eurogamer have also comparing cross platform PS3 and Xbox games since the beginning, and the Xbox usually comes out on top due to keeping its frame rates higher.

Gameplay:
Controller is great (bar the dodgy d-pad), and there are lots of excellent exclusives for Xbox 360 (Mass Effect, Gears of War, Viva Piñata, Banjo Kazooie to note a few). Most other games are cross platform too.

Price:
Amazing, cheaper than Wii or PS3. You can't really argue with that, and the value really is incredible. Games can also be picked up at silly prices second hand.

Online:
Online offers a slew of features I'll go over here
- Online play, works great provided your broadband is fast enough.
- Chat, via MSN messenger. Works just like a phone, but free. And you can play games at the same time. And leave annoying voice messages.
- Buy things! this is shoved in your face a little, but you can download excellent games like Braid and Geometry Wars from the Live Arcade.
- Download free demos and videos.
- Party up with your friends and chat/play together.
- Spy on what your friends are up to (as if Facebook wasn't enough) and compare skills with Achievements.

Other Features:
The NXE offers a lot of new stuff, most of which is an oppertunity to Buy! Buy! Buy! stuff from Microsoft, but also some really cool things:

- Play media files and music from portable hard drives. All compatibility issues seem to have been sorted, as mine wouldn't work on a friend's Xbox before and now it does. Also, it'll play .avi files :)
- Customise your Avatar (like a grown up nintendo Mii, but less creepily unchanging) to make yourself look cool. All blokes look a bit girly though.

BAD:

- No internet browser: why, when even PSP and DSi have one?
- Disk tray is loud: although not when playing DVDs. I've found I'm used to this now.
- Consumerist Home screen: Buy things, now! There are about 3 tabs of stuff to buy on the Dashboard now.
- Microsoft points are quite expensive: but then so are Wii points.
- Red Ring of Death: small chance that your console might decide to die at some point. Microsoft insures them for 2 years free of charge.
- Xbox Live is Expensive: £39 - 49.99 a year for Gold (online game playing) membership.
- Lag in online gaming if broadband connections are slow.
- Miss out on other platform exclusives: No amount of Banjo Kazooie will console you if you wish it were Little Big Planet.

All in all, this is the cheapest and probably most fun way to join the next generation of gaming, and to bring all of your friends along. The most pressing problem for me is a lack of good games on a console, or them being very expensive, and the Xbox is concern free in this area. Enjoy!