Then for some reason we started talking about computers. How, at a recent exhibition at London's Barbican I was horrified to find just about every gaming machine I've ever owned (starting with the ZX81), behind glass with a little information label describing its quaint silly ways.
The cybersecurity industry seems to be heading toward dire straits as data breaches grow in size and number every year, while in tandem, monitoring networks is becoming ever more challenging with internet traffic increasing at an accelerating pace.
We try out a wide variety of robotic toys in our family which vary greatly in both cost and performance. Over the last few years we've enjoyed products like the Sphero remote controlled robot ball at one end of the price spectrum and simple wind up robots at the other.
This is potentially valuable data, especially when aggregated with that gathered from millions of other players. The question it raises is not whether a game should be free to use, as this is, but whether users should actually be paid to play them.
I like to endorse a less conventional method, one that deserves greater attention all together. Video games. As the audience gasps at the medium supposedly causing millennial violence and promoting poor health - hear me out. I genuinely believe the entertainment supposedly damaging our minds is a vessel for clearing them.
Gamification is based on the use of game mechanics, mainly online, to engage people more in the tasks they do and help them and their organization to achieve a higher performance and at the same time satisfaction and enjoyment.
Though not without their own growing pains, the digital evolution has been kinder to films, TV, music and, naturally, video games. It is the book industry today that is looking to evolve its very offline habits and compete effectively for consumers' attention.
As parents it's difficult to know how much screen time is too much, but if you're constantly asking yourself 'how do I persuade my teenager to turn off Snapchat and have a conversation?', then it's probably time to moderate their usage.
For instance, Kate needs to find William and Peeta needs to find Katniss - this will get strangers mingling and talking to one another, and serves as a perfect icebreaker if you're throwing a blind date party or are trying to fix up single friends!
It's such a familiar narrative that I barely need to go over it again but here is the news - it's July 2016 and children everywhere are obsessed with technology to an extent that we fear for the future. How will civilisation ever function when this generation of socially-deprived, couch-potato tech-heads are in charge?
When I read about J K Rowling, one of the many things that comes over as impressive about her is her social conscience. There is a deep, deep humanity in the magical world she created - a magic that has gone missing from the cynical world of politics.
Whilst there are several custom made games and gaming systems specifically targeted towards rehabilitation out there, their availability to the general public is currently pretty limited as they are typically limited to specialist rehabilitation centres; the majority of people after stroke or head injury will not have access to these.
But as we have seen over the last few weeks, a surge in popularity can leave a company more likely to be exposed to vulnerabilities. Here, we take a look at some of the challenges faced by Niantic Labs and Nintendo and what we can learn from them
A Pokémon Go gamer may feel the urge to visit unknown and dangerous places aiming to catch Pokémon. Technically we can detect that easily, but would the game send a warning? Would the place put a warning? Would the party governing a place be able to communicate messages to players in its physical area?
Pokémon Go shows the frightening ease for technology to hijack reality. The game eliminates the boundary between real and virtual, where people put themselves in harms way for the benefit of their online exploits. Smartphones have a monopoly over our time and this game sets a precedent
As accusations of guilt and protestations of innocence flew about under the star filled night sky it felt like we'd been teleported back 400 years to the Salem Witch Trials. It was staggering how a simple card game can provide such a fascinating looking glass into the human soul - evasion, persuasion, suspicion, suggestion you'll see it all here.