eep abreast of technology and perhaps you won?t have any problem parallel parking, at least according to Toyota?s new drive to help clueless drivers.

Toyota?s has put its Intelligent Parking Assist system into cars for sale in Japan on its Prius model. The car comes with a computer screen in its console. The driver goes near a tight parking spot, programmes the system and the computer sizes up the situation. It then manoeuvres the car into the spot, hands free.

The system uses a rear-mounted camera and software to calculate the best path into the spot. The optional system costs $2,000 to install in Japan.It ?s part of the latest round of gadgets being placed in cars to help drivers drive better (supposedly).

Some cars currently have devices that warn drivers of nearby objects or other vehicles while changing lanes or backing up. It?s certainly seems better than the French system, which consists of moving a small car into an even smaller parking spot by first bumping the car behind and then the one in front until sufficient space has been created to wedge yourself in.

That?s what bumpers are for! Another new product that could hit the market soon is a new cell phone Nokia is developing that will double as a portable radio. Nokia said it is teaming up with O2, a British wireless phone carrier, to develop what it calls a ?visual radio?.

The cellphone will have a built-in FM radio transmitter linked to a mobile network. Once the ?phone? is tuned to a participating radio station, it will display information about the current song being played and other music-related information.

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If you are a Wi-Fi user then beware about what you buy as the use of this ?new? technology is growing ever wider.

In its testing of products on the market the Wi-Fi Alliance says that at least one in every four products examined so far had failed its certification test. The organisation has certified about 1,000 products from 120 manufacturers since the testing programme began in March 2000.

The aim is to ensure such products work with a wide range of other certified devices (such as routers, access points and cards) that can be used to connect to a Wi-Fi network.

The alliance noted that products specially prepared for Wi-Fi certification testing failed 25% to 30% of the time. ?Recent test data released by the Wi-Fi Alliance indicates that wireless LAN interoperability and performance continue to be an issue for products without Wi-Fi certification,? the organisation said.

So check for the certification before dashing out to get your plug into Wi-Fi connectivity. A product that fails Wi-Fi certification can still be launched and a manufacturer could still label its wireless products as ?802.11b compatible?, so watch out or you may find yourself in a dead zone for a long time.

The list of products certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance can be seen at its Web site at www.wi-fi.org. OK, what do all the acronyms mean and why should you care about Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi (short for ?wireless fidelity?) refers to a high-frequency wireless local area network (WLAN) that allows users to connect their portable computers to the Internet or company system.

Instead of getting out a cord and connecting your laptop (or other device) to a socket in the wall, users just make sure they are in a ?hot spot? where their laptop can get signals from a Wi-Fi connection. No plugs mean you can sit anywhere to connect.

This system is great for the frequent traveller as it is being installed in many airports, including Heathrow. Wi-Fi operates on what is defined as the 802.11b standard, which offers data speeds up to 11 megabits per second (two other standards (802.11a and 802.11g) offer faster speeds).

For more information on the Wi-Fi phenomena try www.jiwire.com, which lists the thousands of connection spots wordwide (about 14,000 in the US).

The ?airports? section gives a detailed guide, and sometimes a map, of where to find the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot and the price of a connection. Very handy. In Bermuda, North Rock offers its Connecthome service, which allows you to connect through the airwaves to the Internet if you are near a signal.

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Businesses worldwide lost an estimated $55 billion due to computer worms in 2003, according to Trend Micro. This is a huge jump from 2002, when losses were estimated at between $20 and $30 billion.