I am one of those people who constantly make lists of things to do and buy.

But instead of doing or buying I just end up with pieces of paper that pile up one on top of the other as I remember new actions I have to – or rather should – take sometime in the future. Months later I will come across these pieces of paper, and rather belatedly cross some of the items off, or if I have forgotten them, hit myself upside the head. Doh!

Now everyone who has the same careless ways as me is proclaiming the wonders of Remember the Milk, one of a number of online task managers. While I am still not convinced that any such method, whether manual or digital, will help me sort my life out, I am gamely testing the site out.

Remember the Milk offers to integrate one list with your nomadic lifestyle. Thus you can of course access your personal list online, whether it is from your home or work computer. You can also integrate the list with your smart phone or your Gmail calendar, which is what I am doing.

However, I am not finding it as useful as the reviewers at PC World seem to have found the application.

An icon sits there as a reminder on my Gmail calendar. Final integration is on the list of tasks I need to do. Now, where the hell did I put that list?

If the scientists who run the Large Hadron Collider at CERN cannot even protect their computers from hackers then they should all disappear into a large black hole of their own making.

The scientists reported that hackers broke into the system soon after they sent the first batch of protons around the Collider last Wednesday.

The hackers, identified as Group 2600 of the Greek Security Team, got into the computers connected to the Compact Muon Solenoid detector, one of four key sub-systems responsible for monitoring the Collider near Geneva, Switzerland.

The hackers apparently did not do any major damage, although they managed to get one step away from a control computer, The Telegraph newspaper reported. Check out what the physicists are up to at http://lhc.web.cern.ch

Right now the scientists do not seem to be too bothered about the hack. The site has an item under its "News Articles" entitled "Molecular helpers wanted...Call for volunteers!" Thinking I might in some way contribute to the discovery of the origins of our Universe, I clicked on the link.

"The Task Force in charge of the organisation of the LHC Inauguration is looking for 40 volunteers to support the team of molecular cooks directed by international chef Ettore Bocchia, "the new item states". The 'molecular' volunteers will help in the preparation of liquid nitrogen ice-cream."

Since I have already tasted liquid nitrogen ice-cream at the El Bulli restaurant in Spain I will not be going to CERN to help satiate their appetites.

Now I know where all my tax money is going, not into the discovery of the beginnings of time, but into expensive desserts for the elite!

The latest buzz word to hit our overstressed brains in a constantly evolving technology is "cloud computing". Here is a quick primer. In fact, the term itself has become somewhat of a cloud, a haze of confusion.

According to InfoWorld, the term in its narrow sense means the creation of virtual servers available over the Internet. In the broad sense cloud computing refers to anything users consume outside the firewall of their own networks, including conventional outsourcing.

However the best explanation is based on the end results: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software.

"Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT's existing capabilities," InfoWorld states.

You are going to hear more about the term over the next few months. With the advent of Google's Chrome browser, many in the IT world are hailing it as taking the new monolith into the heart of cloud computing, an era in which Web services will be available off the shelf on desktops, notebooks and mobile devices.

"Is Google a monopoly?" some IT magazines are asking. If so it commands a space that is compelling and useful for now. We in the media and you at home must watch the giant carefully to ensure it and the competition evolves in a manner that does not harm the freedoms that the technologies have brought to our personal lives.

For more information on cloud computing try this site: http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com