We’ve all been irritated on the bus by someone having a too-loud conversation with a distant friend, or schoolchildren thinking they look cool by playing a tinny racket for several miles. But at the same time, most of us have been in the position of having to make a call ourselves at some point – and however subtle we think we’re being, there’ll be someone sharing the journey who hates it.

Those who like quiet journeys will be perturbed to learn that mobile phone calls are now permitted on board some aeroplane flights, with Virgin Atlantic allowing phone conversations, text messages, emails and web use on its London to New York route. Unlike trains, planes don’t have several carriages, so there can be no ‘quiet coach’.

However, how different are mobile phone to people who chat to their flight companions? It is a bit annoying to hear only one side of a conversation instead of the more balanced experience of both, but in terms of noise, it surely can’t make a tremendous difference.

Noise can be a cause of stress, but for business people making long flights on a regular basis, the ability to communicate is likely to improve their ability to get work done and reduce their stress – so it really depends on the mix of people on the flight, I suppose.

Maybe in the future we’ll start getting a choice of ‘quiet flights’ and ‘communicative flights’. Only time will tell.

However, for others, tax is a much more complicated issue. Many people, both employed and self-employed, need to file tax returns every year to make sure they are paying the right level of tax; and for those who run large corporations or own shares, the matter is even more pressing.

This week has seen Eduardo Saverin, one of Facebook’s founders, renounce his US citizenship before the company is offered on the stock market on Friday (18 May 2012) – meaning he’ll avoid a tax bill of approximately $600 (£373m). Giving up citizenship might seem like an extreme step, but looking at that figure, you can understand why.

On a smaller scale, many people are not entirely sure how to handle their tax, especially freelance and contract workers. Some people use an agency or umbrella company to help them manage the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) tax process – or to advise them about VAT or becoming a limited company, if they have a turnover above a certain amount.

If you have individual earnings above a particular level, you may need to pay a higher rate of tax – but you also need to make sure you’re recording your expenses and outgoings correctly.

Whatever your situation, it’s always worth doing a bit of research to find out whether your current method of paying tax is the best one for you.

My car ownership has always been very practical and dependent on my circumstances, rather than a toy to show off. However, recently I have started thinking about getting a new vehicle. I’ve had my current car for several years and it’s surely only a matter of time before it starts to cost me more money than it’s worth, due to MOT repairs, services and any emergencies that arise.

I don’t think it’s worth buying a brand new car, as they depreciate so quickly – but at the same time, it can be a risk buying a second-hand car as it might have more problems than my current one – and there’s no related protection. There is a compromise between the two, which would be to get a nearly-new car that’s still under guarantee – but it can be expensive.

Another option would be to lease a car, as then I get the convenience and peace of mind of simply paying to drive it around, while any problems are dealt with by the leasing company. I’ve seen some very attractive Peugeot leasing deals which have made me think about it very seriously, as one of my friends has tried it out and said it’s great. It’s definitely something I’m going to look into further.

For example, I need a reliable business email system and also need to have a back-up plan for when things go wrong. The latter doesn’t happen often, but when it does, if I don’t sort it out properly it can have serious implications for my day-to-day operations.

When you run a small business there are various options for email. Some people just opt for a Gmail account or similar webmail service and are happy to advertise it as part of their branding; whereas others set up a specific domain name with a full Exchange server to ensure a more professional appearance and consistent access. These options can range from no cost at all to around £15 per month, or higher for people who need multiple addresses.

IT support is a little more complicated – but it’s always best to have some kind of strategy in place. Managed IT support is good as it takes a lot of the stress out of the issue. If you pay a monthly fee it often works out very reasonably – and if ever your desktop crashes or your laptop starts running slowly, you can call someone and get the problem sorted out quickly, without having to worry about one-off fees.

According to Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive who spoke to technology publication On The Verge, there were actually three different prototypes for the gadget. One was based heavily on the iPod, featuring the MP3 player’s wheel design, while another featured a keyboard. Fadell said that discussions became ‘heated’ before the company finally settled on the iPhone which greeted the world in 2007.

I bet they’re relieved they made that decision, in hindsight. It was a risk, as touchscreen technology hasn’t always been as consistent as it is now and people could easily have been sceptical about the practicality of such a product. However, bravery in design is often to be commended and this was certainly the case with the iPhone. The lack of hardware keyboard means that the entire screen can be used for viewing material, while a typing facility only appears when needed.

The next version of the iPhone is expected to be the much-anticipated iPhone 5 – and new rumours about it keep appearing on a regular basis. The latest is that the iPhone 5 will have a redesigned Home button, either round or a square with rounded edges. There has also been speculation that it will be thinner than previous models – and that it will go on sale in October 2012.

As for whether any of them are real… well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Mining businessman Clive Palmer hopes that his clone ship will sail to New York from England in 2016… and, this time, hopes the voyage will be completed instead of landing on the bottom of the North Atlantic.

“It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic, but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st-century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems,” he said at a press conference.

When asked by a reporter about the possibility of history repeating itself, he answered: “Of course it will sink if you put a hole in it. Of course, if you are superstitious… you never know what could happen.”

A Chinese company is set to build the ship – the shell of which alone will require a huge supply of materials and an army of well-equipped, highly-skilled workers. I imagine engineering tools such as the hydraulic torque wrench will come in very handy for making sure joints are secure.

The original ship took only two years to construct, using a 228-foot-high gantry for the hull and a fitting-out berth for mechanical details such as the engines and funnels. All details, including the ship’s intricate and extravagant interior, were completed on 30 March 1912 – just two days before Titanic’s sea trials and 10 before its ill-fated maiden voyage.

I’m sure Titanic II will be very carefully tested, but let’s also hope it takes a more fortunate route that doesn’t lead it into iceberg-filled waters – and also that it steers clear of large coastal rocks, unlike the recently-capsized Costa Concordia.

This will also mean I’ll be making some regular trips over to Manchester. That’ll be quite nice – I’ve mentioned before my brother studies at Manchester University so I’ll get to meet up with him a little more. You’ve probably gathered I’m not much into going out – bars and such, but Manchester has a great China Town, and I do love my Chinese food. I‘ve had a look online and the Little Yang Sing is supposed to be great, and very authentic to boot, so I’ll definitely have to get myself there.

I’m also quite excited to scope out a few Manchester charities. I’ve mentioned previously about looking into starting an online charity project. It’ll be a great opportunity for me to have a scout around some of the ones based there that my brother knows of (he’s studying medicine, so has a good idea), and hopefully I can decide on one or two to start an online fundraising platform for.

The companies that employ the cloud computing Manchester has to offer have in fact risen in the past couple of years dramatically. I’ve been doing my research, and it’s pretty amazing actually. I’m impressed that it’s caught on so well. Go back a few years and you’ll see the very idea of cloud computing was not something people were ready to entertain. That’s what I love about the era we live in – our technological advancement is so fast, and everyone is so quick to catch on to things.

Anyway, I’m going to meet with this guy tomorrow. He’s going to introduce to me to his company and its ideals. I’m not sure exactly what it is he wants me to do yet, but from what I can gather he just wants to employ me on a freelance basis to utilise my technological computing knowledge. It makes sense. If you want to succeed in any field, it always helps to have someone on board, particularly in the early days, to help get things afloat. A few mates of mine did this after university. Instead of employing someone they simply couldn’t afford, they’d draft someone in for their advice on a consultancy basis. So there you go, I’m going up in the world – I’m a bona fide freelance computer consultant this week.

So I’m there, at the counter, waiting to loan Kinect Star Wars and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings: Enchanted Edition. Butterkist Popcorn in hand (a man needs snacks), and a Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream tub tucked under my arm (this stuff melts…MELTS!). There are two girls in front of me who are clearly all of seventeen years old, and the cocky, full of himself staff member with his eyebrow ring and perfectly groomed quiff was clearly trying to keep them there for as long as humanly possible. He kept giving them some nonsense story about not being able to find their No Strings Attached DVD. They were giggling themselves senseless, and the whole thing ended up in me being forgotten about for nine minutes. Yes, nine minutes. I timed it, so sue me.

I am now writing this, because upon returning home, I found my Ben And Jerry’s Phish Food has in fact melted to the consistency of fish habitat, and I’m now waiting for it to refreeze. Rant over. That is all.

So the last week has been spent in conversation with these guys, altering the computer programming work I’ve done for them to meet their specifications (which, had they been more clear about in the first place, would have been no problem at all). They’re a telecoms firm in Derby, and starting having a go that they’d been recommended to me specifically because I had the right knowledge to deal with telecoms programming. It was all I could do to bite my lip and apologise. I know I’m good at my job. I was good at this job practically before I was even doing this job. In other words, it’s not so much a career as it is technical knowledge that I’ve developed into a career.

Anyway, it goes without saying I shan’t be working with these guys again. Not only did I end up under quoting on the work, I ended up spending nearly triple the expected time on the job. Nice one.