In last night’s BBC4 offering, Upgrade Me, poet Simon Armitage – who, just as an aside, is my daughter’s favourite poet – waxed lyrical and rhapsodically about how technology, and its rapid and ever changing pace, is shaping all our lives.

This show was part of Aunty Beeb’s Electronic Revolution season and it wore two hats; it was a trip down memory lane for those of us old enough to have one, and it was also a look into the future of gadgetry. And I have to say, despite thinking I’d find it all a bit of a yawnfest, it was actually pretty interesting.

For instance, during a trip to Seoul, Simon met with a bunch of people who make up Samsung’s “ringtone team”, so in case you’ve been looking for a target when the sound of someone’s exceptionally annoying ringtone keeps going off – as I have been, ever since that chuffin’ frog tone was the ‘in’ thing – these are the people you want to aim for, or at. Read more & comment »