The best thing about a digital camera is you don't have to worry about wasting film.

If you don't like a shot you just hit delete.

The worst thing about a digital camera is the enormous amount of photos you end up keeping. Zip disks are filling up at the rate of one every two months or so at the ElAmin household. The pictures all look so good, and I always tell myself I might need them sometime. I became a major consumer of Zip disks when I bought a Nikon Coolpix 900 last year and started snapping away. I liked the camera mainly because it was the only one in the under-$1,000 price range at the time which had add-on lenses.

As a bonus it had a split body so users could swivel the part with the lens for a difficult shot and still see the video image of the shot on the other half.

However that swivel proved to be the camera's downfall as I soon discovered.

While watching Pinetop Perkins play the blues at a club in New York I accidentally knocked the camera off a table and the two halves came apart.

I realised that the swivel feature was an inherent weakness to what was really meant to be a point and shoot camera supposedly built for everyday use. I caught a lot of abuse from my wife Za over that one but got the last laugh.

Nikon, much to company's credit, acknowledged the weakness by agreeing to fix the camera completely under warranty, no questions asked.

During that time I went shopping for an Olympus C-2000 Zoom. A salesman in Canada told me to avoid the Coolpix 900 as his store had had so many returns that they had decided not to stock the camera anymore.

Unfortunately Nikon has stuck with the same design for the updated model, the Nikon 990, a 3.34 megapixel camera, which I advise camera buffs to stay away from if they handle cameras as roughly as I do.

Instead try the CoolPix 800, which doesn't have a split body and takes 2 megapixel pictures. The Nikon 800 costs from $450 to $600 in the US.

The megapixel description refers to the maximum quality of image you can get from the camera in digital terms. I get sharp computer images at 1.2 megapixels. Higher megapixel cameras give better, sharper images as the camera is able to input more data for each picture.

I am a big fan of the Olympus C-2000 Zoom. The C-2000, selling at about $800, has recently been upgraded to two megapixels in the latest version.

It's a handy camera useful for quick snapshots.

The C-2000 is not as easy to use as the Coolpix and perhaps the image quality under low lighting conditions isn't as good. However it has a relatively quick shutter response when a picture is taken. And it can't be that difficult to use. I still figured out how to use it after I somehow managed to lose the manual during a mad throw out at my sister's house.

Other cameras worth considering according to reviewers (check out ZDNet at www.zdnet.com for starters) are the Fuji MX-2900 Zoom going at about $800 and the highly rated Kodak DC290 Zoom selling for between $800 to $1000.

Good luck in making your pick and remember to buy a good protective bag for it.

Whenever I get sick of reading about and dealing with all the technological wonders of the age, a story will come along and remind me how much good is being added to the world.

Last month the good news came from Montpellier University, just a 40 minute car drive away from where I'm living in France.

Montpellier is the site of one of Europe's top medical centres and the university is leading the research into helping paralysis victims.

Marc Merger, a Frenchman who was paralysed in a car crash 10 years ago, became the first patient to be implanted a computer chip which helps him walk.

Surgeons first implanted 15 electrodes in the nerves and muscles of his legs.

These were connected with wires to a computer chip in his abdomen.

The chip was able to stimulate his nerves and allow him to walk. He was able to stand in early March and took his first steps on March 17.

Unfortunately, a demonstration of his regained ability failed at a news conference at European Union headquarters because of a computer glitch.

When the technology works signals are sent to the chip from a computer and then transmitted to the electrodes which instigate the muscle movement.

Eventually the doctors and scientists hope he will be able to control his movements through a remote control device built into a walking stick. Great stuff.

Tech Tattle deals with topics relating to technology. Contact Ahmed at ahmedelamin yhotmail.com or (01133) 467012599.