How times change. When Palm unveiled the Pre smartphone at CES in January, it was one of those rare moments that was as impressive as it was unexpected.

News broke recently that Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia have created a technology that could lead to DVD/CD sized discs that could contain 1.6 TERABYTES of information. Please note the capitals – yes, I'm aware I was shouting.

I won't try to explain the technology, because, frankly, CD technology still amazes me and it's getting on for 30 years old – this latest stuff should only be accurately explained by someone with a beard and much too much up top.

Remember when you were a kid and you bugged mum and dad for what you wanted at Christmas or your birthday? Remember how sweet a moment it was when you got what you asked for three months before? Well, there was a time when true tech innovation was as rare and sometimes as sweet as that feeling.

Although I work with technology, I couldn’t really be called an early adopter (apart from the £350 I spent on a 6GB MP3 player before Apple decided to get going). In fact, I like to let things settle down before I shell out (OK, I’m tight and wait for the price to drop).

One of the benefits of working for a gadget magazine is that you get to try all the cool stuff out for free.

Sometimes this means the opportunity to drive a Mini Cooper back from France or to see the new MacBook before it's released. You may even get the occasional chance to drive a Ferrari around Silverstone (thanks, LG).

Twitter is good for many things, but finding accurate information about the potential swine flu pandemic probably isn't one of its strong points.

News travels quickly through Twitter, but there's no guarantee that the news is accurate. It's one thing if it's a misunderstanding about an online retailer blown ever so slightly out of proportion, it's another when people's lives are at stake.

Last Friday was a big day for Twitter. Not only did Ashton Kutcher beat CNN to a million followers, but Oprah started tweeting too. Both of these are bad things.

Not because either Kutcher or Oprah don't have interesting things to say, but the massive number of followers they're attracting is turning Twitter into a numbers race.

Follow the leader

Films are often a topic of much discussion in the iGIZMO office, normally instigated by me and ended when I get annoyed someone doesn't appreciate Logan's Run as much as they should.

We all have a fairly similar taste in movies (except Caleb, who exclusively likes Japanese school girl zombie ninja movies) but conflict can occur, especially when I read the editor's movie reviews and disagree!

This got me thinking: where do you watch your movies? Who do you watch them with? And what do you watch them on?

Quality of the experience is arguably as important as the movie itself.

The court case against the four defendants in The Pirate Bay trial went against them on Friday, but it's still far from over as they'll be appealing against the decision.

Here's a round up of what various people thought about the guilty verdict.

The defendants