Amazon’s list of top selling Blue Rays this year.

1)     The Dark Knight -  no surprise here with this one. With untimely deaths and post-humous Oscar buzz the Blu Ray and DVD sales were expected to be high. Eerily dark with hypnotising performances from the main characters The Dark Knight is very much deserved of its success.

2)     Band of Brothers - the critically acclaimed war drama has made a welcome return to high definition.  It’s received  countless plaudits since it first appeared almost ten years ago.

3)     Iron Man -  Billionaire industrialist and inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is kidnapped. After being forced to use his intelligence for noble means he builds a tech suit of armour to escape and fight for the good of man kind as Iron Man. A surprising hit but we loved it.

4)     Wall-E, Three Disc special edition. After hundreds of lonely years on a desolate, rubbish-strewn earth, Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) finds a new purpose in life, besides picking up rubbish when he meets sleek fem bot EVE. Eve discovers Wall-E has the key to the future of the Earth in the shape of the last living plant.

5)     Planet Earth - The complete BBC series. It’s the titanic of television documentaries. With a budget of millions and a total run time of 530 minutes, Planet Earth was an undertaking so epic in scope that it could easily have been compared to the grandest of Hollywood blockbusters. It’s been a couple of years since it was showcased on our TV screens but the high definition colour and picture quality incumbent with Blu Ray is its perfect medium.

The latest title in the Grand Theft Auto Series is Grand Theft Auto China Town Wars. The DS is technically weaker than the PSP so there are definitely compromises in terms of game play and graphics. Gone are the 3D animated cut scenes and the 3D rendered environments. The DS’ GTA offering is much closer to the original with the action seen from above. However the camera is slightly tipped and angled which gives some perspective and allows players to see further down the screen. As well as the perspective, the camera is not fixed and rotates dynamically to stay over the shoulder of the character or the vehicle as he’s driving.

And unlike the older games in the series where the view never really rotated out of its fixed overhead view, the camera in the Nintendo DS Version is much more dynamic and stays “over the shoulder” of you character or the vehicle he’s driving.

Like the PS3, Xbox and PC versions the city is still massive and sprawling. The limitations of the DS do not stop you from fully exploring the city. You can walk through buildings and get on higher ground through steps and fire escapes. Like the previous versions you can jack any vehicles you want from cars, trucks, lorries and motorbikes. Each vehicle has their own special characteristics as in the previous versions of the game.

There is a slight innovation when it comes to game play. As in previous versions of the game, the more stars you earn the more aggressively the cops will pursue you. In order to lose a star instead of hiding you have to take out a cop car. The amount of cops you have to dispatch is displayed in a car symbol underneath the star rating. This switches the ethos of the game making it much more frenetic and offensive. Other innovations include a speed-boost which is a reward for performing donuts. In combat mode there is a lock on system for your firearms, making it easier to dispatch your enemies .

The most exciting thing about the DS offering is that it explores a whole new aspect of the GTA world. By choosing China Town as the main focus of the action they can bring a whole new element to the game with new characters and fresh new plots.

IGN’s feedback on some of the missions is really positive. In one mission, One Shot One Kill you have to assemble a sniper rifle with your stylus then seek out your target in a crowd. You have one chance to take down your mark, if you miss, you fail the mission.

Although it is developed by Rock Star Games a Scottish games publisher it is unlikely it will be released in the UK on March 17th, the US release date. Whenever it is finally released it is sure to be a best seller.

IGN GTA China Town Wars Review

How cool is this?

A wireless charging mat that lets you charge a load of gadgets at once, wirelessly.

You don’t have to put up with a load of different chargers, loads of wires sticking out all over the shop and stacks of different plugs. You just place them all on the mat and they get their batteries charged up.

It all works by induction. According to the Powermat website it’s done with a virtual “handshake”. The  mat is synchronized with any of mobile receiving devices (phones or otherwise) that are placed on top of it. It’s so clever that it monitors the power in each of the devices and disconnects each of them when they’re fully charged.

The mat is portable, to some extent and can be used in cars. It’s not limited to mobile phones either; it’s compatible with laptops, iPods, digital cameras, handheld games consoles and Sat Navs.

In a similar vein to Powermat, Callpod are another company who are doing great things with portable recharging technology.

Although not completely wireless, their Chargepod lets you charge up to 6 devices at once, with a single power cord. It still looks pretty impressive but lacks the wow factor of the totally-wireless mat.

The Chargepod uses voltage regulator technology and interchangeable power adapters to safely charge a whole host of mobile devices, regardless of whether they’re different models or from different manufacturers.

The future is wireless!

Iamhuman have turned their hand to mac book covers.

The laptop covers are the first product offerings from the small, Seattle based, design company.

Their mac book covers come in a range of materials to let you mix things up a bit. You can choose from cork, wooden veneers or wool covers and a host of bright prints; from camouflage to cherry blossoms. They’re also customised to fit mac books of any size and model.

They’re all backed with quality pro grade 3M adhesive so they won’t leave any marks when they’re removed. They can be repositioned if you don’t stick them down quite straight enough on that first attempt.

They currently retail for about $30 - $45 (US).

Elonex, the netbook manufacturer will be selling £99 netbooks in branches of M&S and Next from February. The plan is target the female market by promoting these handbag sized computers that come in a range of colours in shops primarily frequented by women. It seems a bit patronising to target women by pushing the fact that they fit in a handbag but at least they didn’t make them all pink with pictures of kittens on them.

Even though these netbooks are relatively cheap they include all the basic functions you would expect from a computer with email, internet, word processing and photo storage. They are perfect for people who want to have access to a computer but don’t need advanced features that come with higher spec, more expensive models. Netbooks have become incredibly popular in the last year, with brands like Asus above garnering huge sale figures.

The screen is 7 inches. BAD JOKE ALERT! But most women wont realize what 7 inches looks like considering all men tell them 6 inches looks like this (insert image of man measuring out 4 inches between finger and thumb). Ho hum (Joke works better as a visual one, sorry).

The netbooks are already available over the internet but if you can’t be bothered with internet shopping just find your nearest Next or M&S if they’re still around. It might have been better if they struck a deal with Tesco instead.

“It doesn’t really matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore.”

The words of the stellar Steve Jobs at Mac World 2008.

But he got it wrong. People are just changing how they do it. Paper is dead.

On Monday Amazon rated the Kindle as their best selling electronic device of the year. It was also the most “wished for” item on the site for 2008.

When the Amazon Kindle came onto the market in November 2007 it sold out in a record 5.5 hours. Oprah recommended it on her show, gave out coupons and told the masses that it may be expensive but it would pay for itself because the downloads were so cheap. Predictably, it flew off the shelves.

Being able to download a whole library into something you can carry around in your bag is truly amazing. And it was the fist truly practical e-book reader with e-ink technology that made it readable even in sunlight. It has a good enough reading experience, it’s easy to browse and purchase content which goes some way in explaining its massive take up rates.

But on the other hand it’s a bit of a closed garden experience as it doesn’t support standard e-book formats like e-pub. It uses a lot of power on standby. If you don’t shut it down the battery runs out in a day or so – even though text displays aren’t supposed to use power when the pages aren’t being turned. An e-ink display manufacturer like PVI lasts a lot longer.

For backpackers and travelers downloading reading material for a long trip over a few weeks or months is absolutely brilliant. You don’t have to carry a library on your back but its benefit is also its downfall. For the frequent flyer or business customer, Kindle is just another bulky piece of technology you have to take with you, along with everything else.

The Sony Reader is the main competitor to the Kindle. It has a dedicated music player and a JPEG viewer; Amazon havn’t quite nailed either with the Kindle. It does have one thing that the Sony doesn’t though and that’s a speaker. Very good for audio books.

It’s the e-books themselves, more than anything, that are the real money spinner for the reader manufacturers and things look like they’ll get even better in the e-book market. A survey from Pricewaterhouse Coopers estimates that the sales of e-books by 2012 will be around $9.6 billion annually and by 2018 will bypass the sales of paper books.

The TextonPhone application launched last August. Since then uptake has been steady and today there are around 50,000 registered users. It gives the iPhone user access to over 20,000 books, magazines and journals. The application is also in the pipeline to be expanded to other smart phones too.

As I see it, smart phones are the next logical step in the Kindle/e-reader debacle about who’ll come out on top.

Smart phones are small, light and you already have them on you; a distinct bonus in the e-reader market. Publishers, Random House recently made some of their best sellers available through the iPhone and iPod touch. A month earlier, publishers Pan Macmillan and Simon & Schuster did the same through the free application Stanza.

Initially, for some customers it’s technically daunting but they’re not the typical smart phone user.

There is one thing, though. If you leave your e-reader on the bus or the tube, terrible I know but it does happen, some weird and wonderful things have been left on public transport, you loose a library of books. If the same unfortunate thing happens with your smart phone you loose your library, your music back catalogue and a whole bunch of contacts.

That’s the risk we take with being constantly on the go.

I’d still use the my iPhone every time.

You can never be too thin, right?

It’s the way with people. It’s the way of technology too. Tech’s gone micro and cameras are at it as well.

Over at Fujifilm they’ve introduced their thinnest camera yet, the FujiFilm Fine Pix z100fd . It packs a nifty aesthetic punch and comes in four delicious colours - shell pink, silver, cappuccino brown and tuxedo black and with the illuminated Z logo along the side and the two tone paint job, it packs an aesthetic punch.

So, it looks nice but is it up to the job? Are all those sleek lines just well sleek lines?

The spec’s top notch and it pretty much convinced me to invest my cash in a new camera.  With a meagre weight of 138g it’s one of the lightest digi cameras around and despite its paltry dimensions - 92.0 (W), 55.7 (H) and 19.8 (D) - it packs in a TARDIS-like X5 optical zoom, a CCD shift for image stabilisation, face detection and red eye removal.

It’s the face detection system that really sets this camera apart from others on the market. It finds and corrects red eye from any face in the frame so that when you snap away, your chances of getting a picture perfect portrait are increased ten fold.

On the camera itself there are few external controls, just 8 in total. This is a point and shoot camera so what more do you need. All 8 of the external controls are clearly labeled with industry-standard symbols. You can directly access the various flash, macro self-timer and image stabilisation options by clicking on the four sides of the navigation pad. As with most other FujiFilm digital cameras, the FinePix Z100fd has a Menu button on the rear that gives you access to the software menu system.

The FujiFilm Fine PixZ100fd will wow the most ardent of camera geeks, just as much as the fashion heads. Sure, the high quality finish sets a luxurious standard but there’s no denying the tech spec that’ll give you a great picture, shot after shot after shot.

Since it was released last December J K Rowling faced criticism over her decision to make her “goodbye to Harry Potter”, The Tales of the Beedle The Bard, only available to the rich few.

For those of you unaware of the hand written, collectors item of wizardry tales, bound in leather looked more like an antique than something you’d read on the bus.

The book itself played a key role in the conclusion of the Deathly Hallows, the last Potter tale. Professor Dumbledore bequeathed this collection of fairy tales compiled by a 15th-century bard– the wizard world equivalent of the Grimm brothers – to Hermoine, with the hope that she would find it “entertaining and instructive”.

In addition to 7 hand written copies, penned by Rowling herself, six were given away by as gifts, and one was put up for auction. Sotheby’s, where the book went on sale in December 2007, predicted it would go for between £30,000 and £50,000 but it ended up being bought for almost $4 million (£1.6 million) by Amazon.

Since then, pressure’s been mounting, from Harry Potter fans, who’ve been calling for the book to be made available at a more affordable price. Rowling spoke herself about how she finally came to realise that she should put her book up for a more general release.

At a party in Edinburgh to officially mark the book’s relaunch, she told of the part her fans played in her decision: “There was quite a lot of high feeling from Harry Potter fans that only someone who had two million pounds could afford to read the book. I thought ‘fair point’, so I thought ‘I’ll publish it and then the charity can have that money too.”

This time around, the book is being published by J.K. Rowling’s children’s charity The Children’s High Level Group in conjunction with Bloomsbury, Scholastic, with the support of Amazon and the blessing of the other six people who have the other original six copies which were given away as gifts.

Founded in 2005 by the author, The Children’s High Level Group (CHLG) aims to help children across Eastern Europe, Romania, Czech Republic, Georgia and Amernia living in residential homes. This time with a print run of over 7.5 million, the profits from Beedle the Bard will likely topple the amount Amazon trumped up for it the first time around.

And if the launch figures from the last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and The Deathly Gallows are anything to go by, sales this time will be huge again. It broke sales records on both sides of the Atlantic, selling 11 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release and turned out to be the most successful book launch ever.

With The Tales of Beedle the Bard, we get the usual traditional fairy tales spun on their head that Rowling does so effortlessly. There are witty characters, magical situations and an other worldliness that makes all the Potter books such a monstrous success.

As I pointed out earlier, Britney’s performance on X-Factor was somewhat lacklustre. However this doesn’t seem to be the general trend. Have a look at her on France’s Star Academy. It’s amazing, she’s even got one of those balls they had on Gladiators and a top hat! The dancing’s better, the miming’s better, hell the whole performance is better. Star Academy really puts the X-Factor in the shade when it comes to production values.

What this video shows is the levels of promotion that Britney has done for her new album Circus: prime time performances in both the UK and France and probably in a 100 other countries. Understandably the album’s tipped for the number 1 spot this week in the UK and the US.

Little Boots is a dance DJ and synth-pop artist. Although she is most famous for playing keyboards here’s a video of her playing the Tenori-On. The  Tenori-On is the thing that looks like an etch-a-sketch from the future.

The Tenori-On is a digital music instrument that you play by running your fingers over  the 256 LED grid. With just one Tenori-On, Little Boots is able to replicate (pretty effectively) Hot Chip’s Ready For the Floor. Not only do they work pretty well, they look soooooo cool.