iGnome

Mr Gnome raises resounding hurrahs for the superbly useful phenomenon that is the iPhone.

Ownership of this gnome-sized and coolly elegant design miracle is akin to having a tireless Jeeves at one's constant beck and call.

Apart from housing calendar, diary, internet browser, address book, birthday reminders and to-do lists, the iPhone uses a 'global positioning system' so that it knows its exact location at any time.

So what? So plenty.

At a touch of the screen, the phone instnatly offers lists of the nearest restaurants, cinemas, taxi firms - and so on.

Ditto with train times, plane departures - and much more. All bypassing expensive inquiry phone calls.

One could jabber on....

Nano domini

Poor Mr Gnome, lofty of thought, virtuous of conduct, pure of heart - and yet, when it comes to certain products, a total retail-recidivist.

Egged on by the Human Being, he poses beside this luscious i-Pod Nano, which is not in the least bit borrowed.

Pause and listen.

Yes, those unattractively sibilant cries of 'My preciousss, my preciouss....' are indeed emanating from the shameless lips of the product-sated Human Being.

But what's not to love about this small-but-exquisite masterpiece of modern engineering?

Elegant, easy to use, intuitive, simple, beautiful.

Yikes, we're getting carried away.

It's a jolly good toy and we like it very much. We promise to play with it nicely and not to break it.

Hurrah!

Apple of his i

The Gnome can't help it: he's overcome with pleasure at his proximity to the new i-Phone.

Ownership? Far from it. A kind friend graciously permitted the impromptu pose.

Mr Gnome isn't a massive materialist. Flashy cars, for instance, do nothing to warm his heart.

But, no surprise, he weakens when he encounters small-scale elegance and fitness-for-use.

The i-Phone has these in abundance.

It's only a matter of time before Mr Gnome is blogging from one of these beautiful implements.

Er, and of money....

Apple of his eye

Ever thoughtful, Mr G likes to give a boost to up-and-coming businesses.

Hence this pose outside the stylish Apple Mac store in Birmingham's Bullring shopping mall.

Apple (or is it Mac?) produce a wide variety of easy-to-use computery, musical, communicative equipment.

Mr G has been a fan for some time, even going so far as to refer to the two phases of his life: pre- and post-Mac.

Whatever. Watch out for this company and for the logo. They could be going places.