Wire-free stereo

Motorola's Bluetooth HT820 is unusual among BT headsets in that it can deliver rich stereo sounds from your phone, wirelessly of course. But there's a caveat: few phones have the necessary on-board software to enable the function.

Find out more in today's review in the paper.

In games, LocoRoco (PSP) should be prescribed by Mary Harney on the health service as a cure for depression. A cutesy mix of Katamari and Super Monkey Ball, the killer ingredient is a bunch of hilarious tunes guaranteed to raise a smile. An instant classic.

Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends (PC) edges away from the historical accuracy of the original towards inspired fantasy: three races battling it out in standard real-time strategy style. Well worth a look.

Megapixels to the power of ten

Camera makers are locked in an arms race to deliver more megapixels for your money but Casio has trumped them all by offering 10MP in a compact camera. That's three or four megapixels more than similar rivals at the same price point from Sony or Canon. Of course, the headline figure of 10 megapixels doesn't tell the full story, as the review of the Exilim Z1000 in today's paper shows.

In games, Brain Training is threatening to become a media sensation on this side of the planet after taking Japan by storm. A simple collection of quickfire arithmetic games for the DS, it's aimed specifically at people normally intimidated by games and it works surprisingly well. Sin Episodes: Emergence uses the Half-Life 2 visual engine but none of its storytelling smarts to rev up a generic shooter.

Also reviewed is FIFA World Cup 2006 for PSP, whose flaws remain uncorrected from the last version just six months ago.

Three is the magic number

Three-inch LCDs seem to be the feature-du-jour in ultra-compact cameras and two newcomers from Sony and Canon sport fine examples of these luscious large viewfinders. Sony's T30 and Canon's Ixus 65 are very alike and cost the same but there is a winner on points: read the full comparison in today's paper.

In games, Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (PC) takes up right where the stonking finale of HL2 left off and though it's more like an expansion pack than an entirely new game (as seems it was intended), the brilliance of the original shines through. Me and My Katamari brings the ball-rolling, object-collecting lunacy of the cult PS2 hits to PSP - the usual control/camera PSP issues apply. TalkMan is no game and aspires to be a translator with built-in voice recognition for the PSP. But its success is hit and miss, yet it's an interesting learning tool for picking up languages.

Settle down with a good Book

Following hot on the heels of the release of Apple's first Intel-based laptop, the MacBook Pro, last month comes its second, simply and logically named the MacBook. What's most remarkable about the MacBook is that though this is the low/mid-range option versus the high-end of the MacBook Pro, it has been hobbled in very few ways. Read the full review in today's paper.

In games, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (Xbox 360) is a long-winded title for a straightforward though highly playable game of ping-pong, at a bargain price. Tourist Trophy comes from the people who brought us Gran Turismo - truth be told, it is GT but with motorbikes and minus any sense of excitement.