Could it be coincidence that just when it seems Microsoft is set to pay out lots and lots of money for shares in Facebook, a massive backlash starts against the site for its failure to protect children?

See, apparently, some sting operations were set up where adults posed as children on Facebook and found that they were being sexually propositioned by other adults. This, apparently, is Facebook’s fault. Does anyone else have deja vu? Isn’t this exactly what happened with MySpace?

The difference, though, is that Facebook is a hell of a lot easier to lock down than MySpace was. It’s easy to set it up so that various people can only see specific parts of the information that you’ve chosen to share with the world in the first place, so you can tell your friends everything and strangers nothing at all. I’ve never even received a message from someone I didn’t know on Facebook.

So I’m interested to know what the profiles that received these inappropriate propositions looked like. And also to know what, exactly, the hysterical side of the media thinks Facebook should do about it. Because from where I’m standing, the site has already done plenty to keep its users safe and sound.

So, now we know when we’re going to be able to buy an iPhone in the UK, and how much we’ll have to pay for the pleasure. (9th November and £269, respectively, in case you didn’t actually know that and I’m talking nonsense.)

The new question is, then, do we still want one?

Over a million of the things have been sold in the US, and the price has already been dropped, so some of the brand newness of it has worn off a bit even though it hasn’t been out for very long. But we’ve known all about the iPhone (its shiny looks, its stunning capabilities) for months and months and months, and the hypnotism of the Jobs has had time to wear off.

Personally, although I desperately wanted an iPhone when I first saw one… I don’t think I do any more. Part of that is because I’m just quite miserly and unwilling to shell out that much money for a phone, and part of it is because I already have a perfectly serviceable phone and MP3 player. But part of it, I think, is because the novelty’s worn off. Yeah, it’s super cool, but … who’s going to use all of its features, anyway? Certainly not me. What I would probably do with it would be to drop it, and then get mugged.

Not ideal.

It doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago that I bought my laptop. At the time, I was still using my decrepit old PC, which was struggling along on its last legs, and the laptop felt altogether too new and alien to me.

Slowly but surely, though, I started to get used to the convenience of the laptop. Being able to pull it out and put it on my lap while I watched TV, or just curled up on the sofa rather than sitting at a desk, was a new and entirely welcome experience. I live in the future! I can have a computer in my hands, wirelessly connected to the Internet, streaming video… that’s just not something we’d have been thinking about a decade or so ago. But it’s awesome!

As I gradually began to use my laptop more and more, though, it replaced my old desktop as my primary computer and I had to kit it out properly - new keyboard, new mouse, new desk and chair - so I’m almost back where I was. Except with Windows Vista Home Premium, a load more RAM, and a ton more hard drive space. Excellent.

How long does it normally take before a new piece of technology starts to become almost an extension of your brain? It’s taken me a couple of months, I think.

Oh, the perils of working from home. There’s no-one here to make coffee for me, and worse still, I’ve run out of milk. On the plus side, I’m blaring music out while I write, and not having to spend 40 minutes travelling this morning (well, it would have been more like two and a half hours if I’d tried to get to work today) meant I had time to do the washing up and put the vacuum round.

I’m so decadent.

No, but seriously, the current Tube strike is letting me finally feel justified in having bought a laptop, because I’m sitting at home, wirelessly connected to the Internet, with MSN Messenger open to talk to colleagues and my mobile phone by my side. It’s curiously liberating, and I’m kind of glad that I have the opportunity to try this out… but I think if this Tube strike goes on for too long, I’m going to start pining for the office.

Pathetic, right?