I got asked by Jim Pierson and Al-Nadaf Rafid to go to Rome to do a Grass Valley demo at RAI. Everyhting went smoothly, so after the demo what else can you do but have a wander around Rome? Although I've been to Italy many times now, it was my first trip to the capital hence the photo's next to the [[Trevi fountain]]. Jims the one in the photo with me. What was the most stunning thing I saw whilst I was there? The Vatican? The Spanish Steps? No, earlier that day, Roberto Raponi from RAI had showed us how he had managd to hook up Nokia phones directly into the TV network. RAI had missed some important News events using traditional [[ENG]] methods and after a post mortem, Roberto got the greeen light to persue this new way of making sure you are first with a story. The journalist just dials a number and the video and audio go straight through to the studio, you even get talkback through the phone. Could this be the future of news gathering? Could everybody be equiped with a phone that can provide live pictures to any broadcaster? Isn't technology wonderful.