Angie Wong, 32, tech support specialist
Uses: 3G mobile phone, Blackberry, two iPods, Sony PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Archos media player
Tech moment: When seven-year-old son recorded 'I love you too' with phone's sound recorder and sent it as an MMS to her

AT THE headhunting firm where she works, Angie Wong provides technical support to the whole office.

When database systems get buggy, it is the pint-sized technical specialist they depend on.

But when she needs help balancing work and family, she turns to her own technical support team - her Blackberry and her Sony Ericsson W880i mobile phone.

She records important family dates in her Blackberry calendar and makes video calls to her seven-year-old son while at work.

'I've always been intrigued by computers and gadgets,' said Angie. 'So after six years as a personal assistant, I decided to make the switch even though I didn't have a technical background,' she added.

Challenges have never daunted the 32-year-old.

After all, the single Mum has juggled career and parenthood for seven years, and doesn't look worse for the wear.

'I really love my son. He is the most important person to me, so I will do anything for him,' said the energetic Mum.

Which is why keeping track of his daily life is her top priority.

Her son Shane, who just started Primary One, takes home announcement slips from school very often.

These are reminders about events like Sports Day, when the school will be closed for a day or when the students will be going on excursions.

'Being a working single mother, I have only myself to depend on to handle so many schedules, and I'm very forgetful,' she said.

'So I set reminders for myself on my Blackberry and even sync it with Microsoft Outlook on my computer, so the alerts can remind me when to pack an extra pair of shorts or a T-shirt. I set the alerts to start days before the event because I sometimes need a few reminders before I get things done,' she added.

When these still don't work, she can always depend on the personal reminders that Shane records and sends to her.

Surrounded by gadgets from young, he learnt to send his first SMS at the age of five and has now moved on to sending multimedia messages (MMS).

He records the messages with the voice-recording function of his mobile phone and sends them to Angie.

One of his recent: 'I love you too'.

These are the most important alerts, she said, as they are reminders of her son's love.

Besides MMS, her mobile phone is also good for making video calls.

Work takes her out of Singapore once every two months and video calls are the only way the doting Mum gets to 'see' her son every day.

'I got my son a 3G phone so that I can make video calls to him whenever I miss him,' she said.

The gadget lover also has a coterie of other gizmos - an Archos media player and two iPods - in which she loads pictures and videos of her son.

They are in her bag for entertainment purposes, as are her Sony PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS game handhelds.

'I have many gadgets and I always bring them with me when I travel. In case I get bored, there's something to do,' said the serial phone-changer who buys a new mobile phone every six months.

This article was first published in Digital Life, The Straits Times on Apr 29, 2008.