So you couldn't live without me huh? All kidding aside, I am still amazed at the impact that this column has had on people here in Bermuda, quite humbling, actually, and I am very pleased to say that we're back!

We're refreshed, too, with some great ideas and some suggestions about items and elements of technology you wanted to cover...

Let's do a quick recap. We started out in the summer of 2005 by dissecting your computer, starting with the very core elements — processor, memory, hard-drive etc, and moving slowly outward to include CD-RW, monitors and keyboards etc.

Then we moved into looking at some basic software related items such as Outlook Express, Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer, which led us to look at the internet and try to understand how it hung together. That as about as far as we got, though we started to dabble with items such as multimedia — music, video and photos on your computer, we really didn't get chance to investigate these properly — you will be pleased to hear we are going to get a chance this time.

Many of you wanted to know what had happened? Well, changes at my workplace — more responsibility, increased focus and other items edged out my free-time which meant I was not able to focus on providing the level of research and time required to make this column worthwhile to all earthlings, and as such I wasn't really prepared to do a half-ass job of it. I find I have some personal time again, so its time to resume this for everyone's benefit.

I will also be embarking upon some interesting projects that I hope you'll find fascinating — I will be looking at how your PC manufacturer tries to build a computer that fits with your daily life, what elements they consider in terms of how you use it, the ergonomics of it, how you store it, where in your house you use it, how its transported to you (and by you, if it's a portable); I will be spending some time to look at some of the more fascinating uses of computers here in Bermuda — in point-of-sale, marine navigation, hospitality booking/reservation, etc. All fascinating projects, from which I hope you will all get some valuable information from this fortnightly column.

But first, starting from our next instalment, I want to focus on something that can be an awkward subject for a lot of people: Young people's use of technology — the dangers, the benefits, the pitfalls, the perils, and I will look closely at e-mail, internet, chat-rooms, instant-messaging, cellphone usage and games consoles.

I am not going to be particularly prescriptive, but I do hope to provide some food for thought, some guidance on where to be focused and some general basic ground rules.

I imagine this subject will be of interest to many of you, so I feel its important that I establish my credentials in this area: Though I am not a parent myself, I have been involved in youth development (at least until I came to Bermuda, anyway) since 1988.

As a Cub Scout Leader, Scout Leader and Explorer SCOUT Leader throughout the 1990s, as the chairman of a youth amateur dramatic association, a primary school governor, Young Enterprise Mentor, and godparent, I have significant understanding of the needs of youth.

Throughout my time as a Scout Leader and Primary School Governor, I repeatedly got asked about children's and young people's use of the internet and cellphones — as an IT person, with a long career in IT, and as someone with a general interest in technology, I was seen as someone to ask questions of.

It soon became apparent that I needed to be able to offer sound advice, and so, in mid-1999 I began conducting a free of charge seminar called "Digital Kids", which focused on just such topics of interest and concern.

The project took me two years to complete, and, updated, the following few weeks of writing, will generally follow the path carved out by the successful seminars I ran throughout the end of the 90s and the first few years of this century. I hope you find the journey interesting and useful.

Starting next time then, with what I call "Digital Kids: The echo of the boom".

Bob Mellor is a senior business technologist with over twenty years experience in the IT industry. He is accredited by the British Computer Society as a Chartered IT Professional, and currently Technology Consulting Manager at Bermuda Microsystems Group. He can be contacted on bob@bmg.bm