Diana Ser, 36, director of public relations firm
Uses: Laptop, 3G modem, mobile broadband line, DVD recorder, Skype
Tech moment: Skyping with husband James Lye when he is travelling so he can speak with their 18-month-old boy

IT'S all about access.

And Diana Ser wants it all the time

In case you're mistaken, she is not a diva who insists on being given access to clubs and parties just because of her celebrity status.

Instead, it is Internet access that the former news reader and TV personality is interested in.

Now the director of a PR firm she co-owns, Diana heads a media training team that coaches top-level executives on speaking confidently and projecting the right body language in front of the camera.

And being able to go online wherever and whenever is important.

'It's not just e-mail, because I can just check that on my phone,' said Diana. 'I do a lot of research. If I need to train executives from a bank or a manufacturing company, I need to know about their business. So I need to go online a lot.'

For that, the 36-year-old always has her Apple Macbook and Vodaphone 3G modem with her so she can work anywhere, any time.

After all, the road warrior is usually not in her office during office hours.

She's usually at a client's office, hotel training room or meeting room.

Or she's at home with her 18-month-old boy, Jake, watching TV non-stop, all in the name of work

'I watch news bulletins a lot more than I used to and a lot more closely now,' said the former newsreader with a sense of irony.

She looks out for relevant clips that she can use in her training sessions - examples of what executives should and shouldn't do - then records and edits them on her DVD recorder before burning them onto DVDs to use for training later.

Because of her job, she has now become more 'techie', said Diana.

The first time she recorded a DVD to use in training, she forgot to 'finalise' it. And she only found out when she was already at her client's office, halfway through training.

'I learnt a lesson - that with all machines, check, check and check again,' she said.

In her personal life, Diana is decidedly less techie.

She has her husband James Lye to thank for learning how to use Skype.

The former actor travels often for work, at least once a month, so the family makes many long-distance calls.

'He wants to talk to our son every day, so I learnt to use Skype. I call from the computer, and I'm still struggling with it, but my husband says it's very cheap so I have to learn,' she joked.

Diana, who is expecting her second child, said the phone is, in fact, the most important gadget to her. And she's not even talking about mobile phones.

For the trendy Mum, the old-fashioned fixed line telephone will do, because it's the voice that matters.

'The most important technology between me and my son is the phone. When I was pregnant with him, I talked to him a lot, so he's very sensitive to my voice,' she said. 'Even over the phone, he knows when it's mama or dada. So my husband and I take turns to call him throughout the day.'

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