My elderly Samsung mobile has been retired. I took a gamble on a refurbished iPhone4s, essentially the same age as the Samsung, but vastly more capable. So far it works just a like a new phone and even looks rather like one.

I am particularly taken by Siri, the electronic personal assistant who replies to my many inane questions. Last night I asked her for the age of the universe (which she got right) and was pleasantly surprised by her adding a salient quotation by Hal from 2001 A Space Odyssey.

I promise not to talk about tech again.