Driving down Kensington high street in a car emitting the sound of a retro scifi spaceship is a rather odd experience.

The remote control in my hand lets me adjust the volume and even the sound of my car, a modified Toyota Prius.

With a button press I can change from an around town family car to an American Muscle car, or even a howling F1 machine.

While at first it seems little more of a gimmick (and a great way to confuse pedestrians and cyclists), its makers say the Halosonic system could actually help save lives in the capital.

Developed by car firm Lotus and speaker firm Harman Kardon, it is designed to protect pedestrians and cyclists by letting them know an electric car is nearby.

“Safety is a real problem with electric cars,” said Tony Harberman of Harman International, the speaker firm's parent company. “Pedestrians and other road users simply can’t hear them coming, especially at slow speeds.”

The solution is to put hidden speakers at the front and rear of the car. A remote control then allows the driver to adjust the sound, and even the volume the car is making. It also unleashes the potential for downloading new sounds to your car.

“We can effectively let manufacturers and customers customise the vehicles as much as they want,” said Mr Harberman.

It is hoped the kit will be made available to electric car owners early next year for around £500, and will begin appearing in production vehicles late next year.

The noises are created using a computer, and exactly mimic the sound of a real car. “The sounds change depending on the pressure you apply, and even appear to be changing gear - effectively just like a real car would sound. However, this is synthesis rather that simply playing a file, so you couldn’t just have an an MP3 file, for instance.”

Despite this, the firm expects manufacturers to allow unusual sounds. Our demonstration car has two spaceship sounds, and they get a real reaction from people as you drive by.

The system also has speakers inside the car, which give drivers feedback on the car. “It can be quite off putting when you are driving not to hear anything, or to hear the engine cutting out at lights to save power. "With speakers in the cabin, we can easily mask that,” said Mr Harberman.

Gadget site Firebox has responded quickly to the postal crisis, setting up a network of couriers to deliver parcels.

However, they've also been busy developing a game showing the problems they face, and the highly addictive Royal Fail game has been going down a storm online.

It asks players to throw mail over the picket lines and into courier vans, and thanks to facebook and twitter has been hugely popular within hours of its launch.

You can play the game at: http://www.theroyalfail.com/

Amazon’s electronic book was launched internationally last week amid huge fanfare, and the first units have finally arrived in the UK.

It’s surprisingly small, and not quite as ugly as the pictures would have you believe - and definitely thinner than you’d expect at 0.36inches.

However, what the Kindle lacks in bulk it makes up for with buttons.  As well as a keyboard under the screen, there are six navigation buttons, as well as a mini joystick. This can be rather confusing at times, although most of the menus are clear and thankfully small. The six inch screen is very clear, and text is simple to read.

In reality, it seems Amazon has rather rushed the release, so what you are actually buying is a US Kindle - it doesn’t even come with a UK plug, and you have to pay import duties, bringing the overall price to around £200. You are also only able to buy US books, although there are a few UK newspapers and magazines available.

The killer feature of the Kindle is its 3G connection, which lets you download books directly to the device. It’s superb, and navigating around Amazon’s store is easy.

However, as this is a US device, Amazon has disabled one of the Kindle’s most interesting features, the ability to browse the web. It’s a huge shame (although oddly, on our device we were able to access wikipedia, but no other site), and a big reason to wait for the dedicated UK Kindle Amazon has promised.

Overall, its an interesting device, and if you read a lot, it is worth a look. However, for most of us, this just isn’t quite the future of reading we were promised. That said, it is a big step in the right direction for the embryonic electronic book market - its just a shame Amazon couldn't release a 'real' UK Kindle with all of its features enabled.

Google has unveiled the first designer web browser.

It has signed up Dolce & Gabbana, Vivienne Westwood and Matthew Williamson to design themes for its Chrome web browser.

The free downloads give the browser a new look and feel. For instance, Dolce & Gabbana’s version has a lepoard print background, while Matthew Williamson has opted for peacock feathers.

Over 100 designs are available, with artists such as Jeff Koons and even film director Wes Craven have created their own themes.

“A bit like painting your nails to match your outfit, or changing your make-up to reflect the occasion, we’ve found that people like to customise their technology too,” said Kate Hammond, Product Marketing Manager at Google. “With people spending ever more time on the web, these designer themes bring a little more style to your internet experience”

Google launched its web browser, Chrome, in September 2009. The firm hopes the browser will take on Microsoft, and is also expected to form the basis of Google’s rival to the Windows computer software, which is expected to launch next year.

You can download the free designer themes here.

The Beatles may have opted for a more realistic approach for their first foray into the digital world, but David Bowie has decided to reinvent himself once more - this time in Lego.

Bowie is one of the icons set to feature in the Lego Rock Band game, which is released in November on all the major consoles.

Players will be able to play, drum or sing along to ‘Let’s Dance’. Other stars set to be reinvented in the game include Iggy Pop.

Showing England's world cup qualifier against Ukraine exclusively online is a bold move, but one big question remains - just how good will it look?

While the people behind the broadcast claim it will look great even when viewed on a TV, anyone who has ever watched online video will beg to differ.

In an age where high definition is quickly becoming the norm, most broadband connections just simply aren't fast or reliable enough. For comedy youtube videos it is great, and for most dramas and comedy shows it is fine (Although the BBC must be applauded here for its HD streams on iPlayer, which are simply stunning - if you have a fast enough connection).

But as an advert for online video, the England game could fail horribly, and seriously dent the future of internet TV. For users on anything but the fastest net connections, it is almost inevitable it will turn into 90 minutes of spot the ball, for which you will be forced to pay upto £12. Given most people won't have superfast connections, they are likely to see choppy video, where it is virtually impossible to see the ball - is this really the brave new world for football fans?

It might be a great advert for broadband providers desperate to flog their fastest and most expensive packages, but for the average fan it seems likely to end in disappointment.

Science Minister Lord Drayson has been at the forefront of twitter usage within government, and on sunday proved just how powerful the medium can be.

The internet was awash with talk that the UK was planning to pull out of CERN, the scientific body behind the invention of the web and the Large Hadron Collider. The story, which appeared in The Sunday Times, sparked outrage among twitter users, with an instant campaign being set up to lobby Lord Drayson, Minister For Science and Innovation, on the matter.

However, little did the protesters expect what happened next - an amazing display of openness from the government.

First, Lord Drayson pointed out that the sheer number of tweets he'd received on the subject were effectively cutting him off from twitter, but pledged to investigate. "I'd appreciate a break from the twitter blizzard I'm getting re CERN rumour. Message recv'd I assure you all," he told the microblogging service.

Just hours later, he issued an outright denial of the story.

"I have got 2 the bottom of CERN rumour. It is complete rubbish. STFC have no plans 2 exit CERN. Period." he told followers.

While much has been written about twitter coming of age, this is one of the most impressive displays I've seen of twitter being used to engage with the public - let's hope @lorddrayson can convince some of his colleagues to do the same in future.

If you've ever worried how much information there is about you online, it's probably best you stay away from the latest project from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Called Personas, it asks you to enter your name, then scours the web looking for information about you.
By analysing this, it builds up a graphical representation of your online life and personality, showing how much time you've spent on various categories, such as music, education, and intriguingly, a category called 'illegal'. It also gives you an estimation of your online fame.
The inventors, who claim it is an art project rather than a serious tool, say it can show how your internet history can be scoured to create an online personality for you. "It uses language processing and the Internet to create a data portrait of one's aggregated online identity," its developers say. "In short, Personas shows you how the Internet sees you."
The results are interesting, although a little vague - the biography it created for me, for instance, put me in a job I left over six years ago. However, in other areas it really does reflect what you do online - my slight music obsession shone through, for instance, and apparently the odd search for Cardiff City results and elusive Wales six nations tickets also qualifies me as an online sports fan.
It may be worryingly close to the celebrity cult of googling yourself at every opportunity, but MIT has succeeded in its aim to show that, whether we like it or not, what we do online really does leave a permanent mark.

You can try personas here

Palm's Pre, widely touted as the first handset capable of taking on the iPhone, is a hugely impressive gadget.

With its slick interface and slide out keyboard, it has managed to outdo the iPhone on many fronts (not least by having a decent camera). However, when it finally arrives, its success it likely to depend on one thing - how good the extra software you can download to it is.

Apple has done an amazing job of creating hundreds of bedroom firms knocking out interesting and innovative iPhone applications users can download to their phone. For instance, iPhone now controls my hifi (through the Sonos app), helps me round the tube network (with the London Tube app) and even lets me programme my Sky TV box.

For Palm to compete, it has to have something similar. Yet it is remaining worryingly tight lipped about the details.

Palm bosses says they are working on an app store, but at a briefing this morning refused to give any more details. As developers have not yet received the software kits they need to start writing, it seems like a decent, well stocked store could still be several months away.

Of course, for the UK where we aren't getting the handset until (probably) November anyway, this might not matter. By the time Palm and O2 launch the Pre here, there could be a whole stack of amazing apps available to download.

One thing is clear - for the Pre to take on the iPhone, it absolutely has to have a raft of innovative and interesting third party applications available. Otherwise, the iPhone's dominance will trundle on unhindered.

Taking to the stage as one of the Fab Four is every music fan's dream, and a new computer game, the first to be endorsed by The Beatles themselves, promises to allow that.
However, waiting to take the stage in Los Angeles with Paul McCartney's bass slung over my shoulder, the reality is a little different.
First, rather than the Hofner bass played by McCartney, my version is made of plastic, and has buttons rather than strings. And rather than playing to a packed club, I'm actually playing to a gaggle of a few dozen nerds in a tent in the middle of a massive conference hall in LA.
Harmonix, the game's makers, have built a replica of Abbey Road here for the game's launch at
E3, a huge computer games conference.
My backing band, made up of the game's programmers, are also rather more accomplished than me. The four of us all have plastic replicas of the 'real' instruments, which are solidly built and look great. Even the drum kit features the iconic Beatles logo on the front.
As the opening bars of I am the Walrus ring out, a screen in front of me shows which buttons on the bass guitar's neck I need to press to trigger the notes, and also what the words are. As with the real band, upto three people can sing harmonies together. Miss enough notes, and you can be virtually booed off stage - something I thankfully managed to avoid.
It does take a few attempts to get the hang of which buttons to press, but you quickly get upto speed, and thankfully the easy mode is very straightforward. While you play, videos of 'virtual' beatles are on screen, or in some cases, specially commissioned high resolution video animations.
The attention to detail is incredible - between songs, you hear actual chatter from the studio, and you can choose to play in on screen representations of several venues, including Abbey Road, the Cavern club,
and the roof of the Apple Corps building.
For fans of the fab four, its an incredible game, and you really do get a sense of accomplishment when a song goes well. There is an initial embarrassment factor, but as the game makers say. Experts will also find it challenging, as the higher levels demand you play every note the real Beatles would have - and it certainly dispels the myth that Ringo isn't a good drummer.
Overall, this is a worthy game for the Beatles first foray into the digital world. It's a huge amount of fun to play, and Harmonix promises that eventually, every album with be made available to play along to, although only 44 songs will be available at launch.
As a party game for those of us over 30, it's hard to beat.