Making a difference with warm words and a whiteboard

"One person can make a difference, and everyone should try." John F. Kennedy

They're a class act: everyone's a winner

TRADITIONAL roles were reversed when girls topped the sciences and boys were placed first in English in the Higher School Certificate this year.

WORDPLAY

A FEW Mondays ago, ABC viewers were treated to a spelling lesson. Our teacher was Jonathon Holmes, host of Media Watch, who stared down the barrel of camera 1 and said: "That's P-W-N-E-D. And I didn't know the word either, until I started using Twitter. I rather like it. If you want to know what it means, visit our website."

Cover notes

HARDBALL Sara Paretsky Hodder, $32.99 WONDERS OF A GODLESS WORLD Andrew McGahan A&U, $32.99 PERFECTING SOUND FOREVER: THE STORY OF RECORDED MUSIC Greg Milner Granta, $9.95

Dark side of a sunny city

A Not So Perfect Crime By Teresa Solana Bitter Lemon, $24.99

Amped up for desk jockeys

Finally, a way to hear music through your PC without the tinny sound of computer speakers, writes Rod Easdown.

Altec Lansing T612 Ipod Speakers

Altec Lansing T612 iPod speakers $399 alteclansing.com 3/5.5