I’ve been lost in the loud, boozy, dingy world of this year’s In The City music conference for the past couple of days. It’s been fun so far, if a little damaging to the health.

This is, of course, the first ITC since the passing of its co-founder Tony Wilson, so it’s been interesting to see how it compares to previous years. Good news is that nothing much has changed - same old venues I’d never normally set foot in (Walkabout, Studio, Bar 38…), terrible teenage bands (I’ve yet to see anyone interesting), industry back-slapping and painfully late nights.

This year there’s a big corporate sponsor (Coca Cola) on board and the delegate bags (one of my main reasons for attending) certainly aren’t going to last til ITC 2008. I’ve also noticed that the seminars are less about technology and the internet this year, with management, distribution and live music coming to the forefront. The ‘360 degree model’ seems to be something of a buzz phrase too.

Elsewhere in the festival town formerly known as Manchester, we’ve got a comedy festival going on and also a science festival. I’m not particularly into either - far too participatory - and I’m suffering from festival fatigue, what with the literature and food and drink events earlier this month, so browse the websites yourselves if you’re so inclined.

But before you go, check out Virtual Manchester’s Manchester Events Guide, Manchester clubbing guide Northernights and Aidan O’Rourke’s Life on Mars location guide.

* I Love Manchester photo nabbed from Nik Fletcher, who has just left Manchester for pastures new - best of luck Nik!

With its brash motto and minimal website, Manchester 2600 seems the very model of a secretive underground society:

It is aimed at everybody with an interest in computer security, telephony, hacking, phone phreaking, cryptography, internet security/privacy issues, urban exploration and related subjects.

People from all walks of life are welcome, from both the ‘white hat’ and ‘black hat’ sides of the computer security world (you might be surprised at some of the people who have turned up in the past).

Though the Green Room on Whitworth Street used to be its venue of choice, the Bulls Head, opposite Piccadilly Station now hosts Manchester 2600’s monthly gatherings.

The Friday meetings begin at 7.30pm and continue ‘for as long as at least two participants are able to maintain an intelligent conversation’. So maybe not the uber-serious society I had them down as…

The newly renamed Northwest Vision + Media has announced the follow-up to its entertaining Digital Futures conferences and seminars, which took place earlier in the year.

Its Digital Academies will comprise two three-day residential courses at Manchester’s City Inn in July. Here’s how they’ll work:

We will support a handful of creatives and entrepreneurs to work in partnership with the region’s top production houses on real projects adapting innovative content for new formats, applications and platforms.

Successful candidates will receive professional industry advice and coaching in the application of creative thinking, idea development, pitching and selling. They must have bold ideas and new approaches to creative content.

The production houses in question are Multi Media Arts, Hat Trick North, Channel M, Centini and All Out Productions. Between them their briefs, available on the Digital Futures website, cover online, mobile, radio and - primarily - television platforms.

Thirty successful candidates will be selected for the academies - five of whom may be invited to continue their work with paid placements. Proposals should be submitted by July 4.

So I made it to the Digital Futures conference at the Museum of Science and Industry yesterday.

It was a mixed bag. Constant sound problems (yes, at a technology conference) were annoying, but the buffet lunch just about made up for them.

Content-wise, the usual problem occured: company directors decided to use their entire time (and then some) to talk about their product or service.

This kind of thing quickly becomes tedious, and even more so after 30 minutes of non-stop sales spiel. There were several guilty parties yesterday.

There was a decent panel session hosted by Mike Ryan from Manchester’s Idaho web agency, however. They invited three ‘digital natives’ (aka students) to talk about their technology habits.

Except that the three panelists weren’t particularly native. They each used Myspace and Hotmail… and very little else. It quickly became apparent that they were far from early adopters.

Particularly concerning was that they spent little or no money online. One used Amazon voucher he’d been given, while another had spent 99p on an episode of Desperate Housewives for his mother.

Pesonally, I wasn’t too concerned - the panelists just seemed a normal bunch of students, desperate to avoid paying for anything if possible.

I’m just a few years older and I’d estimate my yearly online spending at �2-3k. Mike, who is probably in his 40s, worked his own out at �8-9k.

No, stop, don’t call the men in white suits. If I did (and for your information I don’t) I’d just be one of 100,000 people in Greater Manchester:

Psychologists have launched a study to find out why some people who hear voices in their head consider it a positive experience while others find it distressing.

The University of Manchester investigation- announced on World Hearing Voices Day (Thursday, 14 September)- comes after Dutch researchers found that many healthy members of the population there regularly hear voices.

Although hearing voices has traditionally been viewed as ‘abnormal’ and a symptom of mental illness, the Dutch findings suggest it is more widespread than previously thought, estimating that about 4% of the population hear voices. That would be equivalent to 100,000 people in Greater Manchester.

I almost glossed over this news, only to be reminded of it by a performance next week at Contact Theatre: I Hear Voices.

I hear you can support the cause by purchasing a World Hearing Voices Day tshirt for �6.99.