thread re what you should give a man for his 30th birthday. I stand by my advice, even 10 years after. Penelope Cruz. And no, life still doesn't work like that. Damn.

I don't see a problem. If you were buying a pack of cards, scrabble, chess or backgammon set, no one would bat an eye. Go for it.

We worship at the Church of the XBOX 360, but I can offer a few nuggets of advice. The PS3 isn't multi-region for bluray discs. Up until very recently, getting a MR bluray player wasn't easy, but Aldi came up with a £120 Tevion job that played anything you could throw at it. All the talk of the hifi-porn mags, apparently. Some players can be made multi-region for DVD with a bit of handset jiggery-pokery. Perception is that Sony haven't quite hit the bullseye yet with the PS3 - undoubtedly a great bit of kit, but the triple-A games titles have been few and far between. For all its flakey hardware issues, Microsoft have stolen a bit of a march on Sony with the 360, particularly with their exclusive titles like Halo and Gears of War. Funnily enough, I think I was about 40 when I got a 360 from Santa; sadly hijacked by the kids these days.

I have a PS3 and think it is a great bit of kit for Blu Ray, DVDs and games as well as linking it to the internet wirelessly and being able to watch the BBC iPlayer through it.

..earlier on this year, (in McDonalds promo I'm ashamed to say - the kids love it there and I occasionally cave in and take them along). At first I toyed with the idea of sticking it on Ebay but my curiosity got the better of me and I duly plumbed it into the TV. Three weeks later I stuck it on Ebay and was delighted to see the back of it - it's the most voracious Time Vampire I've ever been plagued by. I stopped reading, watching films and getting pretty much anything useful done and spent many an evening falling into bed only to watch endless scenes from Call of Duty 4 play on the insides of my eyelids. Ask for record tokens instead.

Mrs. T gave me a dobro (square neck, lap, for any curious pickers out there) I'd played in Oxford months earlier, which involved secret squirrel meetings and the complicity of several of my mates and borther, all without me having an inkling, which leaves open questions about other clandestine activity I am clearly unable to spot...

..that the kids are 2 and 3 years old and so they didn't miss it at all. It was the 41 year old kid who learned his lesson.

For my 40th, my Mum organised scanning old family photos and getting them laminated in 3 big sheets so I had the joy of seeing again all the photos of me as a baby, a wee boy, a slightly bigger boy etc up to graduation. Much hilarity from my friends at my birthday party, and a very special item.

Good games machine but so noisy (you can hear the fan in the next room). PS3 seems to have taken to media hub idea further - if you are a games nut then the Xbox has better titles. If you'll play a few games but also use the blu ray and media streaming stuff then the PS3 seems to win hands down.

This seems to summarise all salient points well -> http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show/bestbuys/gaming/games-consoles

I know this may be blatantly obvious but my wife bought me an Ipod last march for my 48th. I have used it everyday since mostly for podcasts and sounds while I'm driving during the day and it is wonderful. It was also really great on holiday to pick up the odd email etc. I haven't got a phone version but I'm sure they must be good too as long as the charges aren't too bad. You probably already have one but I thought it might be worth mentioning.
PS get as many GB as you can afford.

I bought one last year, primarily as a Blu Ray player, but I've found myself using it just as much for games. I don't hold much truck with the idea that the XBox 360 is particularly superior as a gaming machine, there's very little worthwhile on there that isn't on the PS3, as far as I can see. Certainly as a Blu Ray player, it's excellent.

It's not multi-region, but you may not necessarily need that for Blu Ray - a surprising number of overseas discs are all region / region free, though obviously there are still some titles that are locked to one region or another.

If you feel that you'd like to play two-handed tapping, but that Chapman Stick instruments exceed your budget, are you aware of upstart competitor Mobius Megatar?

Many guitar-players, bass-players, and those who build guitars say that the tone and sound is better on the Megatar. The Megatar comes with the Buzz Feiten Intonation System, so your playing sounds more 'in-tune' than normal guitars (or Stick instruments).

Megatars can be built to your order in weeks, not a year.

And .. how about cutting 30% off the price?

Better? For less money? In your hands faster?

Many say yes. Now I'm biased, because I'm the guy who makes them, but we set out to deliver more sound for less money, and I think we've succeeded, and hundreds of players around the world agree:

Learn more on our site at Two-Handed Tapping Central: Mobius Megatar

Or check out this little video: Sound courtesy Mobius Megatar ...

-- Traktor Topaz

PS: One more thing. With our three method books, included free, you can learn to play two-handed tapping (like bass and guitar at the same time) faster and easier than learning piano or guitar. Really.

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When I ticked over the big 4-0 three years ago, I had a picture commissioned by a local marine artist called Colin M. Baxter. A picture of HMS Warspite entering Portsmouth harbour at dawn in about 1942. It's great and I look at it every day and love it. Cost a few bob, though. But not as much as a Chapman Stick. By a significant margin. And it's easier to restring. Sound isn't so great, though.

Seriously, though. Think of something great you'd never see and get someone to paint it. Could even involve Penelope Cruz..