IT IKEA?

The General stumbled across this sweet piece of gadgetry....a touchscreen coffee table with integrated pc technology. It's called the 'Misto' but is not on general release as yet. It still looks very tasty and no doubt offers a glimpse of the future of....furniture.

Prodrive – Cutting edge automobile company brings Aston Martin back in to British hands.

The General is delighted to see that most iconic of British brands, Aston Martin, return to British ownership from the hands of Ford. I am a Ford fan but the AM stable always seemed an unlikely fit with the mass-production nature of the US giant. Nothing personal but we’ll take this one back for safe-keeping thanks Uncle Sam. Sir Winston would approve...

You may not have heard of the new owners but they are very famous in motoring terms – Prodrive. They will be even more famous from next year when they launch their own Formula 1 team. Led by the genius David Richards CBE, Prodrive provide absolutely cutting edge tech to the automotive industry including work on cars such as the Aston Martin DBR cars (Custom racing variants of their sports cars – lovely!), Ford Focus RS, Mazda RZ-8 PZ, numerous limited edition Subarus and their World Rally team, Ford’s world rally team, custom components, electrics etc. etc….I could go on.

For more information check their website – http://www.prodrive.com/ - you will be there for hours. They have even recently made technology for space-borne satellites such is their prowess for precision engineering!

Needless to say TDG reckons this will herald a new beginning for Britain’s coolest brand (see more) and see Aston challenging the Ferraris and Lambos of this world.

More about the innovative Prodrive soon…

Ford and Microsoft – A match made in heaven?

In a link up of two of the most famous companies and brands in the world, Ford and Microsoft have unveiled a specialised in-car operating system that will soon be installed in US Ford cars.

The OS will allow voice-controlled navigation of your I.C.E. (in car entertainment for those over 25!) so you can shout out what you need or want. Should be cool if they can pull it off but what happens if you are singing along with a song – beep – next message – damn, I was enjoying that one! It's about time that in-car pc's came as standard. They could link with your home network when you park in your driveway to enable wireless transfer of music, maps, downloads etc. - the possibilities are endless and no doubt why Microsoft are getting involved.

RIAA - Worst company in America

Nice to see the company that led the attacks on downloading being voted the worst in America recently. The RIAA beat the mighty Exxon to the title. Hopefully they will realise they are not speaking for everyone when they try to force DRM on everything whether we want it or not, especially on consumers outside the USA.

At least Apple seem to realise the impact of security on music sales and Microsoft's Zune has wi-fi for transferring files so surely DRM would restrict this as well? Is the spirit of Napster coming back?

Xbox 360 gets HDMI

After a campaign of insider information, illicit black market photography via mobiles, rumour, misinformation and flat out denial that wouldn’t look out of place in a Le Carré spy novel the Xbox 360 is getting HDMI at last to allow us HD freaks to make the most of our big screens. A bigger hard drive (120gb) is to be included in this 2nd edition of the box as well and is to be known as the ‘Elite’ edition. In a shout out to the first generation xbox, the new variant will come in all black – and looks rather tasty if you ask me.

. Many commentators have said they doubt if the HDMI connection will add any great picture improvement over the component cable currently provided but is probably more of a thinly veiled attempt to yield to HDCP. One factor against this upgrade may be the lack of available connections round the back of the new tv screens. Some only have one HDMI slot and a component option. Once HD-DVD/Blu-Ray drivers become more popular along with HD cable/satellite boxes (sorry Freeview – it ain’t happening for you) then where do we go to hook everything up? HDMI switching boxes are pricey but may become necessary if you want to avoid having to blindly fumble round the back of your tv on a daily basis.

Either way The General likes the look of this piece of kit….