diff --git a/IPython/core/magic.py b/IPython/core/magic.py
index 4fc67be..cacd639 100644
--- a/IPython/core/magic.py
+++ b/IPython/core/magic.py
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import shutil
 import re
 import time
 import textwrap
-import types
 from cStringIO import StringIO
 from getopt import getopt,GetoptError
 from pprint import pformat
@@ -57,7 +56,7 @@ import IPython.utils.io
 from IPython.utils.path import get_py_filename
 from IPython.utils.process import arg_split, abbrev_cwd
 from IPython.utils.terminal import set_term_title
-from IPython.utils.text import LSString, SList, StringTypes, format_screen
+from IPython.utils.text import LSString, SList, format_screen
 from IPython.utils.timing import clock, clock2
 from IPython.utils.warn import warn, error
 from IPython.utils.ipstruct import Struct
@@ -848,7 +847,7 @@ Currently the magic system has the following functions:\n"""
         
           - For {},[],(): their length.
 
-          - For numpy and Numeric arrays, a summary with shape, number of
+          - For numpy arrays, a summary with shape, number of
           elements, typecode and size in memory.
 
           - Everything else: a string representation, snipping their middle if
@@ -881,7 +880,7 @@ Currently the magic system has the following functions:\n"""
         # if we have variables, move on...
 
         # for these types, show len() instead of data:
-        seq_types = [types.DictType,types.ListType,types.TupleType]
+        seq_types = ['dict', 'list', 'tuple']
 
         # for numpy/Numeric arrays, display summary info
         try:
@@ -940,7 +939,7 @@ Currently the magic system has the following functions:\n"""
         for vname,var,vtype in zip(varnames,varlist,typelist):
             print itpl(vformat),
             if vtype in seq_types:
-                print len(var)
+                print "n="+str(len(var))
             elif vtype in [array_type,ndarray_type]:
                 vshape = str(var.shape).replace(',','').replace(' ','x')[1:-1]
                 if vtype==ndarray_type:
@@ -2307,7 +2306,7 @@ Currently the magic system has the following functions:\n"""
 
                 #print '*** args',args,'type',type(args)  # dbg
                 data = eval(args,self.shell.user_ns)
-                if not type(data) in StringTypes:
+                if not isinstance(data, basestring):
                     raise DataIsObject
 
             except (NameError,SyntaxError):