Now this may seems like an overambitious claim but the Blu-ray Association which includes high flying companies from the world of business such as Sony, Dell, Apple and Warner Bros. to name a few, today told worldwide media that they were aiming to replace the DVD storage format within three years. Frank Simonis, the Blu-ray Disc Association's European chairman, said "within three years it will just be Blu-ray," doubting the credibility of the BRA's arch-rival: HD-DVD.

Of course, Blu-ray is currently in the lead when you count the amount of players that have been sold as Sony's PS3 comes fully-equipped with a Blu-ray player, whereas HD-DVD doesn't have the advantage of console support, although an attachment can be purchased for Microsoft's Xbox 360. Sony Computer Entertainment said it had sold over 1.84 million PS3s in Japan and North America and that one million PS3s are ready for launch next week in Europe, giving Blu-ray a bit head start.

Here's where it gets interesting: the big guns behind HD-DVD claim Blu-ray is outselling HD-DVD by five to one because the technology is being sold in the PS3, and that movie sales are still level; however 20th Century Fox claim that weekly Blu-ray film sales are three times higher than that of the HD-DVD format.

At the CeBIT technology trade show Sony reiterated its target to have sold six million PS3 game consoles by the end of the year which will once again add to the Blu-ray sales figure, but to get rid of standard DVDs in just three years is a very big claim. Can they do it? Tell us your view in the comments!

We had some interesting comments on our last article, which covered Sony's good feelings about Blu-ray. One comment by Mr. Common Sense stood out: "It's going to be years before there is a clear winner. It's pretty stupid to say there is one at this point." (Who said we don't read the comments?)

This comment made a lot of sense (excuse the pun). After all, it isn't over till the fat lady sings, right? Well, Sony might want to claim an early victory with the recently-released Nielsen VideoScan results coming in and showing that Blu-ray discs are outselling HD-DVDs by over 2:1.

The actual figures say that for the week ending January 7, for every 47.14 HD-DVDs movies sold, there are 100 Blu-Ray movies sold. But the gap is getting bigger, with the week ending January 14 providing statistics to show that the amount of HD-DVDs sold is more like 38.36 for every 100 Blu-Rays sold. These figures include only video sales and no games.

There's no clue as to whether this relates to the launch of the PS3, but with almost 2 million PS3s now circulating worldwide, Sony's next-gen console has to be influencing sales in some way. And with the European launch not far off, will the gap between HD-DVD and Blu-ray sales increase even more?

Traditional robots have been (and still are) controlled by remote control, a set of pre-programmed movements, or a set of algorithms to create a so-called "intelligent" robot with it's own personality.

However, scientists at the University of Washington have been working on a new way to control a gadget fan's best friend - not through technology but using the immense power of human thought. The technology is proving to be a huge success with an alleged 94% accuracy between the thought commands and the robot's movements. Of course, this isn't an episode of "Star Trek" - the commands the robot can accept are currently limited to moving forward and taking an object from one place to another.

Rajesh Rao, the leading researcher on the project at the University of Washington, said, "It suggests that one day we might be able to use semi-autonomous robots for such jobs as helping disabled people or performing routine tasks in a person's home."

This is certainly one robot that would make a real change in the home for the better, and not in the style of the film "I, Robot." Hopefully this technology will advance further. Rao sees a bright future for this technology and is looking forward to the robot accepting more complex commands and tasks.

Watch the video here.

We've seen USB pen drives going up to and above 32GB for quite some time now but with the demands of modern gadgets for more storage space escalating, we need more space than ever. For this reason, Sony and SanDisk have teamed up to offer the 32GB Pro-HG memory stick format.

This is based on the memory stick Pro which is a larger version of the Pro Duo you can find in your PSP (and commonly used in digital cameras). The Pro-HG technology though will extend as far as the memory stick Pro Duo, giving us the option of yes - you guessed it - allowing 32GB storage on a PSP!

Not only does the new format offer a huge storage increase, it also uses an enhanced, 8-bit parallel interface in addition to a conventional serial and 4-bit parallel interface with the interface clock frequency also on the increase to 60MHz from 40MHz.

In plain English, this means that maximum data transfer speed increases up to 480Mbps, or 60MB/s - three times as fast as that of Memory Stick PRO media. This makes it much quicker to transfer GBs of data to your memory stick from a PC or memory card slot and then effectively make it more of a portable hard drive, storing your videos, photos, and music. The Memory Stick PRO-HG format media can be used on conventional Memory Stick PRO compliant devices as well as Memory Stick PRO-HG compliant host devices, so it'll work fine in your PSP.

This all sounds good, but I'm afraid we've led you on a little bit here. The Sony press release stated that the "development of Memory Stick PRO-HG compliant host devices is scheduled to commence in January 2007", with the recording media available in 2007 which basically means you won't be able to utilize the full benefits of this on your PSP. You should be able to get the increased storage on a PSP, possibly through a firmware update, but the transfer speeds will most likely not apply.

However, on a slightly more optimistic note, there has been much speculation that a "PSP2" device, or maybe just a different model of PSP with uprated hardware could be in the works. Who knows, we could be seeing a PSP with memory stick Pro-HG Duo support in 2007.

If you think that law enforcement in the US is solid enough on the roads, then you should try to outrun the police on the European highways. On the famous Autobahn in Germany, certain parts of the highway are unrestricted so you can do any speed you want, but the German traffic police are not the ones you should worry about when travelling on European highways. The Italian police force have a new weapon, and it sure is one speedy car - the Lamborghini Gallardo.

Donated to the force by Lamborghini, it costs $ 218,000 and has a top speed of 309 Km/h, which the Italian police claim to have never done. It has 500 NHP and can do 0 - 100 km/h in 4 seconds. "Designed for emergency situations where speed is essential," - Yeah right, just make sure you stick to the speed limit in Italy to keep this car from appearing in your rear view mirror.

If you fancy a change from your tired old Golf cart then you may be inclined to try out the new Segway x2. A Segway you say? Yes! You may think that these amazing devices have no space for your Golf clubs, but you are wrong as of today with Segway launching the Segway x2 Golf edition with added club-space. The Segway x2 Golf still has a top speed of a blisteringly fast 12.5 MPH, weighs just 120lbs standalone and has a battery that will last for up to 14 miles (36 average holes), but also has an added Golf Bag Carrier Attachment amongst other features.

The Golf Bag Carrier Attachment secures your golf bag to the Segway x2 Golf and allows for easy dismount and club access while playing, whilst easily removable for storage and transport. If that isn't enough, it even features a scorecard Holder that keeps your scorecard, golf balls, and tees readily accessible. The Segway is powered by two brushless, DC servomotors and will carry 260 lbs of weight on its small wheel base. It's now up to you to decide - Segway or Caddy? It'll be coming to a Segway dealer near you this fall, and even if you think a Segway is a little too expensive for your golfing habits, you have to admit it does look at home on the fairway.

It may look like the future of the Limousine market, but this crazy design is in fact a 155MPH 'superbus'. The superbus comes hot out of the Netherlands from researchers at the Delft University of Technology and runs on electricity. Yes, thats a 155MPH bus that runs on electricity. Of course, this is a low riding bus so you cannot stand up on it, but it does seat 30 people and the passengers do have their own door.

The Superbus is the same length and width of a standard city bus, but it's only as high as an SUV. How do you catch this bus then? For potential riders to catch the bus, they have to text message the dispatcher, and are picked up anywhere they want along special speedways constructed for the bus system.

Think this is just another one of those concept ideas that will never be used in a practical situation. The researchers have plans to build a fully functional prototype for the Beijing Olympics in two years' time. Watch this space, blink and you'll miss it.

Scientists from the British Military are currently developing a new breed of spy: an entire swarm of tiny mechanical robot flies. Although this may sound just like science fiction, and may be a little scary, military scientists have assured the public that these fly spies will help Britain and its allies dramatically by spying out enemy positions.

Project leader Dr. Rafal Zbikowski believes that the first fly spies could even be buzzing around his lab within seven to 10 years. The small winged drones would be able to operate in confined and cluttered spaces within buildings, stairwells, tunnels or caves, unlike current military robots. The fly spies could also be used in rescue missions tiny spaces, unlike current rescue or robot spies.

They would be great for rooting out hidden terrorists in the ongoing war against terrorism or for more peaceful duties such as helping to locate victims of natural disasters like earthquakes. Technology like this has no limit to how much help it could provide in a disaster situation - just think how much impact a swarm of robotic flies could have had in the attempt to locate survivors of the Twin Towers disaster in the 9/11 incident. The US military are supporting the research through funding and have expressed an interest to use the robots in a variety of applications including the possibility of delivering small explosive charges.

Today, OCZ have announced their latest Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X compatible credit card-sized flash drive with USB 2.0 support. The thing that makes this Flash Drive, nicknamed Mega-Kart, stand out from other credit card-sized portable Flash drives, this one houses 8 GB worth of storage in it's tiny casing. The OCZ Mega-Kart's storage is ideal for anyone who wants to take large media files on the move in a small, secure fashion.

The OCZ Mega-Kart measures in at a tiny 85mm x 54mm x 3.5mm and features a fold-out USB attachment to give you the ultimate in portable storage. If you value your Flash drives, then OCZ also offers to cover the drive with a one year warranty and integrates a LED to show read and write access visually so you don't unplug it whilst in use and corrupt your data. The release date has not yet been announced, so stay tuned to QJ gadgets for information on the price and release date.

The makeshift currency that is the Microsoft point seems to be spreading. The well-established online currency dubbed "Microsoft's PayPal" will allow users to purchase music tracks for their Zune for just 79 Microsoft points or $ 0.99 per track, much like Apple's iTunes service. Xbox 360 users shouldn't get too excited just yet, as Microsoft has not released any details on whether the MS points between the Xbox Live and Zune download services will have interconnectivity.

The Zune is a hot accessory for Xbox 360 owners already, with the device being able to connect to the Xbox 360 and play media streaming video and music content to the console. The addition of Microsoft points to the Zune's feature list is just another reason to get one, especially if you'll be able to purchase songs for your Zune through your Xbox 360. The Zune goes on sale in North America on November 14th for US$ 249.99.