I have ignored the Twitter fad for some time now. I just do not have the time to send text messages to provide details of my life.

Yet Twitter seems to be popular among the younger journalists just starting in the profession, as I can see from the regular blog posts I get from sites such as journalism.co.uk. Then I find out that Stephen Fry, the British actor and man about town, has achieved 100,000 followers on Twitter.

His is the most second most popular Twitter for sign-ups. Barack Obama is first. CNN's placement in third place indicates that regular news outlets are attempting to get in on the action. They are anxious to regain their place, anywhere, even if they are not making money. The New York Times is in the top 10 as well.

About four months ago I created my own Twitter, just out of curiosity, to see how it worked. I only posted one test message, long forgotten, until this week when I was surprised to see that a person I do not know had requested to sign up to receive my Twitter. I thought: This is easy if you can text like mad.

So what is Twitter? The social networking service is called a micro-blog by Wikipedia. You can only write posts of up to 140 characters in length from a cell phone. The posts are sent to other users you allow on your Twitter, and also online. The length restriction means you get a lot of dribble. Here is what Fry's followers received over the past two days.

"So, thought I'd mosey over and catch The International. New Clive Owen thriller. Shall report back in a coupla hours x "

"Anyhow: good thriller, The International. Clive Owen on top form. Naomi Watts excellent. The villain was a bank - hard to object to that"

"Well: punished myself for being too cissy to walk in the rain. Rain stopped. Walked hard for 90 minutes. All shagged out now. x"

"Just bumped into Paul Guilfoyle - what a charming man. And how superb he is in CSI."

To be fair, Fry told the BBC recently that he uses the service to keep fans updated on his travels and latest television projects, his thoughts and views on world events, and the "more mundane aspects of daily life".

OK, I guess the motivation for him is marketing his brand of celebrity. Those following his Twitter must get the thrill when receiving regular text messages from a celebrity. Look dear, another Fry Twitter. So cool. Or not.

Still, Twitter has demonstrated its further usefulness, by beating the mainstream media to the punch. News just got faster. This phenomenon is labelled "user-generated" content, and it is getting the news out to the public faster than the professionals during emergencies. Eyewitnesses to some were considered the first to report what was happening on their Twitter blogs, most recently the Mumbai attacks and the plane crash in New York's Hudson River.

Going back to last December, one of the most famous posts was made by Mike Wilson, who sent an expletive-laden Twitter right after the 737 Continental plane he was in, skidded off the runway in Denver.

He kept the Twitter going, all the way of to complaints about the way Continental was handling passengers, and demonstrates how expressive one can be with 140 characters or less: "You have your wits scared out of you, drag your butt out of a flaming ball of wreckage and you can't even get a vodka-tonic."

I do not believe Continental was hip enough to post a response.

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How many mobile phone chargers do you have in a plastic bag tucked away in some corner of your home? I bet many of you do have a couple at least. How many times has a colleague of yours asked if you happen to have a charger that fits his mobile? I think it happens once a week where I work. The recent announcement by some of the world's largest phone makers and network operators that they are backing plans for a universal charger makes one wonder why didn't they think of this before. Sometimes it takes the bullying of the European Commission to get industry moving.

The creation of a universal re-charger will have an added significance, other than saving consumers some anguish over their silent phones.

The new charger will use 50 percent less stand-by energy than today's cables and result in the potential elimination of up to 51,000 tonnes of duplicates, according to the GSM Association (GSMA), an umbrella group for the industry in the EU.

The fact that manufacturers each created their own power cables for their brands is an example of a disfunction that can occur in a competitive market. This one was not so bad when one compares the slight annoyance of having to finding a plug to other dysfunctions that can occur. The recent digital video format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray is one example. Pity the brave early adopters of HD DVD!

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