They say the world is getting smaller every day. But how can that be true when we can now connect with more people in more ways than our parents could ever have believed, or our grandparents probably even imagined?

The more connections we make, the more possibilities we have. Whether with a telephone, mobile or the Internet, you can find out about everything under the sun, anytime, wherever you happen to be. The possibilities are literally infinite.

This is, as Louis Armstrong once sang, 'a wonderful world'. And we only get the one go in it - this is not, as they say, a rehearsal. So here are a few connections people are making, and some of the possibilities they're discovering.

They could help you make your world bigger, better, and more full of possibilities than ever before.

When you need to find out something obscure, no other medium even begins to compare with the Internet. But it really helps if you know how to look, so here are a few pointers.

First, find your search engine: go online, open up your browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape, probably) and go, eg, to www.google.com. Then all you have to do is type in

And click on search. Seconds later, you'll be looking at a list of links to sites which feature whatever it is you were searching for.

Sometimes you won't even have to visit any of the sites, because even the brief description will include the answer you are looking for. At the time of publishing this account, eg, the short description for one of the links suggested by Google includes:

Philtrum, -- The small indentation, or groove,
under the nose and above the lips. Mollycoddle, ...

So now you know - it's called the philtrum.

Sometimes, though, the answer will not be shown directly. But by reading the brief descriptions, it should be easy to identify likely candidates. Then all you have to do is click on the links to visit the relevant sites.

If when you get to a site it doesn't have the information you need, you can easily go back to your search engine page by simply clicking on the 'back' button on your browser (usually the one in the top left corner of your screen).

The fact is, once you're on the Internet, you can use a search engine to find out almost anything, from the name of the currency in Zaire (a Zaire, strangely enough) to the winner of the FA Cup in 1936 (Arsenal) to a recipe for steak tartar with quail's eggs - too long to list here, but easy enough to visit at www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/

To say that being a new mum is tiring is a bit like saying the Atlantic ocean is wet. But almost worse than the sheer fatigue, according to many mums, can be the feelings of isolation and, worse, the guilt of feeling inadequate through ignorance.

Why won't he eat? Why won't she sleep? Why can't she see water without trying to jump in, and how can I get him to understand that not all dogs are friendly?

Help is available. Advice is there for the asking. All you have to know is where to look.

Childline, for one example, has a website at www.childline.org.uk/, with loads of useful information and factsheets on issues like dealing with bereavement, bullying and eating problems - but you can also reach them by phoning free on 0800 1111. Or you could ring the Meet a Mum Association's Helpline on 0208 768 0123 to be given details of support groups in your area.

Many commercial sites offer information resources (try www.wellbeing.com/info_advice/baby.jsp or www.mothercare.com) and many also offer bulletin boards and chat facilities where you can post messages to get replies from other mums, or even 'chat' using your keyboard to type in messages, getting responses 'in real time' from mothers anywhere in the country - or even from around the world.

Or you can go to 'lifestyle' sites like http://home.about.com/ with more resources than you're ever likely to need, including, eg, tips on living with a 2 year old or how to prepare your child for daycare.

These kinds of resources aren't of course restricted only to parents. Whatever you're into - whether it's motoring, Mozart or Mozambique - the amount and quality of information and support that's readily available - right now, and totally free - is enough to make your life richer, easier and more fun than it could otherwise ever be.

In these days when few of us still have Granny living around the corner, to say: 'oh, don't worry about that - it's just a rash; be gone by morning', it's good to know that we can get help from someone who knows, on pretty much any subject, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Easy. Just let people who need fish know you have fish to sell.

Once you would have needed a market stall or a shop. But you could only sell to people who happened to be in your neck of the woods. Now you can set up your 'stall' in cyberspace, which means your neck of the woods is planet earth.

It's called a website, of course. And setting one up is a lot easier than you might think.

You could start by simply calling local BT business consultant. They can help you with everything from putting together a business plan that'll help raise cash to designing and building your website to promoting it to potential customers. Call 0800 400 400 for details.

Visit www.btignite.com/application-services/start .html and find out how easy it really is to set up a site with the right help, and make it right for your needs - anything from a basic presence on the web to a full-blown 5,000 product online store. A simple site can be up and running in - quite literally - a matter of hours. We can help you with getting it right for you, and then with maintaining it, promoting it and really making the most of it.

And once you're on the web, you can visit www.btclickforbusiness.com to get access to a comprehensive range of business advice, written in clear, straightforward English.

Your fish could be flying around the world within the week!

The difference between the right and the wrong diagnosis can be a matter of life and death. But what do you do when the patient's in one place and the specialist's in another? Let the BT Radworks bring them together.

As Alan Fisher, Head of Medical Engineering at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby explains it:

"The essence of what BT Radworks does for us here at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby is link our radiology department with the one at the General Hospital in Scunthorpe. That means the two hospitals can share their consultant radiologists – doctors who look at X-rays and work out what the pictures tell you about a patient’s illness – and so increase the availability of expertise."

By sending the images 'down the line', consultants can share their expertise right now, wherever they happen to be, based on images that are as sharp and clear at the receiving end as they are where the patient happens to be. This doesn't just mean faster, easier and better diagnosis; it can also save consultants a lot of time, hospitals a lot of money and patients a lot of discomfort:

"In the past we had to decide whether a patient needed to be transferred to Hull to get specialist treatment. We also had to assess the problems transporting them might entail. But we can now get detailed clinical advice from Hull as and when we need it, sometimes avoiding unnecessarily transporting patients."

By enabling connections between medical experts in this way, BT helps ensure that your chances of a better, speedier diagnosis don't depend on where you just happen to be when you need treatment. As Alan Fisher puts it:

"What it means for the patients is that they get the best treatment possible, irrespective of where or when the help is needed."

"How can we get the right people in the right places right now?"

When Police walkie-talkies first appeared in television cop shows, the images were in black and white. Not a great deal has really changed since. But now mobile communications among the emergency services are undergoing a revolution, with the introduction of a service called Airwave. For Chief Superintendent Bernard Lawson of Lancashire Constabulary, "It's like having a clapped out 15 year old car replaced by a brand new Jaguar!"

As with many other areas of new technology, digitalisation is at the root of many of the basic improvements:

"Airwave provides excellent coverage - especially inside buildings. Voice transmissions are much clearer than before, and Airwave also removes the background noise which has traditionally caused us problems at football matches and demonstrations. We now have sixteen channels, so officers can talk in groups without fighting for airspace; the system has an emergency button, which enables officers to take priority over other callers; and it's an encrypted system, so criminals will no longer be able to eavesdrop."

But perhaps the most important advantages of the system lie in the way it will enable genuinely seamless communication between all the emergency services - important in everyday situations, potentially life-saving at major events. Whereas currently each police force runs its own analogue radio service, with another 50 systems run by the Fire Service and a further 45 covering the nation's ambulances, Airwave means that 'one system fits all'. In the event of a disaster, this could be key to coordinating resources, getting the right people to the right places in the shortest possible time.

In due course, the digital nature of the service lends itself to a much wider and more comprehensive range of communications capabilities.

"We're looking forward to using the enhanced BT system in the future, which will enable police officers to send text messages, run car registration or location checks, and to update the Communications Room directly on their availability."

The bottom line is clear:

"For us, this is not just a radio, but an opportunity to provide a better policing service to the public."

BT is committed to extending possibilities to everyone. That's why we do things like producing bills in large print or braille for people who would find normal bills hard or impossible to read, put inductive couplers in all public payphones to help people with hearing aids hear more clearly, and maintain 140,000 payphones, even in remote areas where the coins that go in the slot don't come close to covering costs.

Remember when there was no such thing as 1471? When you just knew that however quickly you got out of the bath, wrapped in a towel and down the stairs, the phone would stop ringing just a split-second before you picked up? Well of course that doesn't matter anymore, since BT introduced 1471 - now one of the best-recognised numbers in the country - hardly surprising, since it gets used 11 million times every day.

We've come up with special deals like BT Talk & Surf Together, which lets your teens do all the surfing and local chatting they want (in the evenings and at weekends) for a flat fee of £19.99 a month*. And special services like BT Answer so you don't miss calls while they hog the line: anyone who calls you while the line's engaged can leave a message. What's more, BT Answer's free to set up and free to use.

Some people hardly ever want to use the phone, so the line rental could be a bit of a burden, but they still want to have a line for now and then or 'just in case'. Our Light User Scheme can help, offering special rebates to keep the cost to a bare minimum, while still enabling you to keep in touch.

To find out more about the connections we're helping people make, visit www.bt.com or call 0800 xxx xxx.

*Includes line rental. Access to the Internet requires a participating ISP who may charge an additional fee. Terms and conditions apply. Freephone 0800 xxx xxx for more details