Tourism in a digital age is all about information technology. But is it wise to bin the books? Francisca Kellett powers up her gizmos for a virtual tour of the real Paris and, overleaf, introduces cutting-edge updates to our website.

Satellite Navigation
Heading out from the hotel with my bag of gadgets, I took out the latest gizmo on the market, the Digi-Guide. This is another PDA system, rented out by the day and using a satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) to tell users exactly where they are. You choose one of a number of tours and a little red dot flashes up and tells you in which direction to walk.
You have to get there first, though. I had decided on a classic tour from the Eiffel Tower. The Digi-Guide told me xhere to start, but gave no instructions on how to get there. At the Trocadero, I stopped amid surging tourists to set up the Digi-Guide. The PDA dangled on a ribbon from my neck. The GPS - the size and shape of a smoooth chicken nugget - slipped in a pocket, and I plugged in some earphones, feeling both smug (I was surounded by tour groups plodding behind shrill-voiced guides) and ridiculous (I looked like the guy from Quantum Leap). But then a red dot flashed up on the map - it was me! - and an arrow told me to turn left.
Off I went, and so engrossed was I in the shuttering progress of the red dot that I missed my first view of the Eiffel Tower.
This was brillant fun, though. Trotting down the steps from the Palais de Chaillot, I tapped on a little symbol on the screen and a soothing English voice told me about the history of the tower. As I wandered on, other symbols flashed up, linking through to photos and reviews of nearby restaurants (although these did feature some odd English translations). The GPS got it wrong once when I thought I was swimming across the Seine (Was I? Why would it lie?), but then I was sent confidently through les Invalides, along the Champs Elysées and back to the National Assembly.
Rating 9/10