Washington  - Anyone who buys technology knows that the equipment will be soon obsolete and - superseded by something newer, faster or with more features. You can somewhat slow down the pace of obsolescence by purchasing new equipment shortly after new products are introduced. Different types of technology tend to be introduced at different times of the year. New iPods tend to come out in September, while digital cameras are often introduced in February and October. New computer chips tend to come out in the autumn, while price reductions on older chips often occur in February or March.

Washington  - Pressing the Send key on most cell phones will bring up a list of your most recent calls. You can use the list to quickly re-dial a number that you called previously. This is much faster than the frequently used way of retrieving dialled calls, which often involves at least two button clicks rather than one. Pressing Send again after highlighting one of the recently-called numbers will dial the number.

Washington  - Buying a new digital camera? Remember that the number of mega pixels does not necessarily translate into the best picture quality. Many studies have shown that it's the size of the light-gathering photo sites on a camera's sensor that have a greater effect on the quality of the image. That can actually mean that new models which pack more photo sites onto the same sized sensor can gain in resolution but lose in other areas, such as noise, or "digital grain." Read comprehensive reviews of any digital camera that you intend to purchase.

Washington  - Want to enlarge or reduce the size of the size of a web page? Hold down the Control key and scroll your mouse wheel forward or backward. All of the elements of a web page including text and graphics will be reduced or increased in size. This tip is great for those web pages that contain print that's too small to read comfortably.

Washington  - Beware of any e-mail message that tells you there's a problem with one of your online accounts. Whether the e-mail supposedly comes from eBay, PayPal, your bank or another site with which you have an account, don't click any links. These e-mail messages are often phishing attacks, and they are really intent on stealing important personal information. If you have a question about the legitimacy of a message, call the institution in question, or open a browser window separately, log onto the site, and see whether any account-related messages appear. (dpa)