Well, Bluray have got their first, by ensuring their press conference is the day before HD-DVDs, and therefore they're first to declare that they are winning the format war. But don't worry, no doubt you'll hear something to the contrary tomorrow.

This conference is a chance for spokespeople from the major studios involved to have their say about the format, as well as some other industry figures. First up: David Walstra from Sony Home Entertainment.

He's got some impressive figures. Apparently, in 2011 it's expected that whilst 60% of homes will have an HD- ready TV, only 20% will receive HD broadcasts. So, in order for that missing 40% to take advantage, they're going to have to invest in some discs. But which ones?

Last week we had virtual reality helping burn victims - this week it's helping soldiers cope with post-traumatic stress.

Very dull business blog The New York Times is reporting on a VR system that's designed to recreate war situations in incredibly realistic detail, which, they say, helps sufferers of post-traumatic stress confront their problems and work out solutions.

The resulting desensitisation of the patients and their confrontation of the war issues that are giving them nightmares, helps them work through their problems and calm their PTS symptoms.

Now, enough of the serious applications - get SEGA to put Daytona USA on one these puppies and we'll have a deal.

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You can’t buy style, although dozens of paunchy millionaires bulging out of their catwalk slacks would disagree (as would all the people they pay to agree with them).

But high-class notebooks are the exceptions that prove the rule. Processing grunt is one thing, but if you want to be proud opening your laptop on the train, design is just as important.

Sony’s VAIO TZ12MN/N notebook fulfills both requirements. It’s got plenty of processing power, with up to 1.20 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor technology, 2GB of RAM and a 100GB hard drive nestling inside.

But it also looks super-stylish, available in a luxurious choice of Platinum Sand or Black Carbon-Fibre colour, with an 11.1-inch widescreen display that serves up natural-looking pictures.

You’ll have plenty of time to show off to your fellow commuters too, thanks to the TZ12’s up to seven hours of battery life. Starting from £1,749 including VAT, it’s a laptop fit for the most style-conscious – at a price that won’t hurt your (designer) wallet.

Sony VAIO TZ12

Samsung have gone to town at IFA, unveiling a sleek matte black projector capable of showing 1080p images. The SP-1800B contains a Texas Instruments DLP chip, which will give users a perfect 24fps alongside a 10,000:1 contrast ratio. Resolution is 1920x1080, and inputs include two HDMIs, an Analog PC port, two components, an S-Video, Video and RS-232C. We didn't get wind of pricing or availability, but rest assured, home cinema geeks, we'll deliver as soon as Samsung spill.

Samsung

That amazingly clever headline refers to new tech start-up NVousPC, a laptop design company that'll make your five stone, £299 Acer into something actually desirable by putting pretty colours on it.

Started up by former Alienware engineer Oscar Zapata, NVous also sells custom-spec laptops built from scratch and will apply custom designs to the outside of them too. The site has a web-based design tool that lets users upload their own images, pick colours, then have it made up.

If you want to send in your own piece of junk for a Pimp My Ride style makeover, prices start at around $190. So it probably helps if you live in America.

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At the IFA Phillips press conference that we reported on earlier today, the organisers decided that the best way to get the crowd in a pro-Aurea mood was a catchy dance number. Enjoy...

In short, I know very little about Milosh. I know even less about Walter Robot. What I do know is that this Walter Robot directed video of Milosh's 'The City' is brilliant. Great tune, super video. Enjoy.

Philips has a new Blu-ray player on the market - the BDP7100.

Features include 1080P picture resolution and audio support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD High Resolution Audio. There's also support for native 24fps cinematic resolution input via HDMI and HDMI CEC, which allows the control of other devices with a single remote. Expect it in the coming weeks.

1300 - Everyone files into a huge auditorium to see what Sharp has to offer for this year's IFA.
1306 - Big graphics are projected onto huge white sheets on the stage, move over Bourne Ultimatum, this show looks incredible. Words flashing up on the screen include, as you'd expect, 'Sharp', 'Aquos' and 'LCD TVs'.
1308 - The white sheets drop to reveal an uber-thin LCD TV encased in a massive sheet of glass, stuck on a revolving wheel. The crowd actually gasps - I know! - and some even clap. I must admit, it's an impressive sight, this TV must be one of the thinnest LCDs ever.
1310 - The speaker, Mikio Katayama, announces the new TV which is just a prototype, at 20mm thin on the main display section, 29mm at the thickest part, and weighing less than a bimbo trying to break into Hollywood, at only 25kilos. It has a contrast ratio of 100,000:1, and allegedly has an annual power consumption of just 140kWh, which is 1/2 of the average LCD TV.

If your idea of recreation is racing round the country on two wheels, you might want to check out the Edge 705 and Edge 605 from Garmin.

Both of these waterproof devices feature a 2.2-inch colour display that offers you mapping and directions (via the built-in GPS and pre-loaded data cards), as well as stats about your riding - climb/descent, speed, distance and time. In addition, the 705 can also monitor heart rate, speed, cadence, altitude and gradient on the same display, as well as offering wireless connectivity with other users, so you can share your courses and training schedules.

The Edge 705 will be available in December for around £329, with the 605 likely to sell for £269.99.

Garmin website

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TomTom has unveiled its latest flagship GPS unit, the TomTom 920 T.

Features include a 4.3-inch screen, pre-installed maps of Europe, USA and Canada on the 4GB memory, Enhanced Positioning Technology (which probably means more reliable mapping), TMC traffic updates, Bluetooth remote, MapShare software, speech recognition address input, a built-in FM transmitter and handsfree software for mobile phone use.

No price, but it should be available before the end of the year.

TomTom website

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All eyes were on Nokia yesterday for its Go Play launch event. One thing mentioned was a range of third-party accessories for Nokia's music phones. Well, the first of those has now been launched - the Altec Lansing Nobi portable speaker.

A comical name, but a serious use - delivering stereo sound from the new Nokia XpressMusic series of MP3-enabled mobile phones. Small enough to fit in a pocket, bag or backpack, the Nobi portable speaker system weighs just 10oz. Connect to a Nokia XpressMusic phone (or other device) via its 2.5mm connector and you get what's promised to be a 'rich, clear 360-degree sound'.

Powered by 2x AAA batteries (which offer 24 hours of sound), it should be available in October. Price to be confirmed.

Altec Lansing website

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I love Philips press conferences. Already, we've been treated to women dancing in red dresses which have swirled up round their heads. There's been chiffon, seduction music and lots of atmospheric lighting.

We already know a fair amount about Aurea. It's based on Ambilight, but takes it further with colour emitting from all four sides and round the frame. It's 1080p, featuring Philips Perfect Pixel technology, and also has class leading sound.

What they're keen to emphasise is their fashion credentials - they're name dropping more than Charley from Big Brother. Lanvin, Vogue, Wun Kai Wai... all names I'd be more familiar with if I was a fashion journalist rather than technology.

Their point of sale movie, to be used to demonstrate the TV in your local Curry's is not traditional advertising apparently, but a work of art. Ooh err. We're about to get a world premiere.

For those of you into your pause and play TV, LG also had new 160GB DVRs with dual digital tuners on display. Each will naturally allow you to watch one program while recording another. They've got Freeview Playback Certification from the UK's Digital TV group, so you can record subtitles and closed captions, in addition to video and audio, as well as intelligently schedule recording times in case a TV programme over-runs.

The PC users amongst you might want to check these more computer-orientated products- the first being a dual format external optical drive, featuring a 6x Blu-Ray disc rewriter and 3x HD-DVD reading, as well as lightscribe technology for labelling compatible discs. Also of interest to PC users were the new 20-inch and 22-inch LCD models, dubbed the L206WU and L227WT respectively both featuring a contrast of 5000:1 and a new Digital Fine Contrast ratio to improve response times.

Design was the key emphasis of LG’s press conference at IFA this year, with the Korean company following up on the success of the Chocolate Phone with the new Design Art series. On show during the conference were the new Design Art LCD TV series. The LF75 model on display packed in some genuinely pretty design aesthetics, as well as 1080/60p, meaning that you get a smooth 60 frames a second on progressive scan. These Full HD TVs incorporate 100mhz tech to cut down on motion blur, as well as reducing the flicker on LCD sets. The sets were complemented the new Design Art Home Cinema System, a home theatre system that features HDMI 1080p up-scaling, with the curving speakers apparently modelled after champagne glasses.

LG also showed off the HS101, a 100 ANSI Lumines new projector, which they claim to be the world’s brightest ultra mobile projector. Measuring in at 154 by 177 by 50mm, and weighing 750g, the projector manages an impressive 2000:1 contrast ratio at resolution of 800 by 600. If you’re a fan of the Chocolate phone’s unique buttons, you’ll be pleased to see a chocolate-style soft-touch keypad adorning the top of this model. It’s due to make an appearance in Europe, the US, Central and South America, the Middle East and Africa for 799 Euros.

Two new Blu-ray models announced at IFA by Sony - the BDP-S300 and the high-end BDP-S500. And if you buy either, Sony will throw in a copy of the Spider-Man High Definition Trilogy.

Both models can output HD1080p via HDMI interface, with audio via 7.1 channel Linear PCM and Dolby Digital Plus Surround Sound. The BDP-S500 also adds Dolby TrueHD decoding and Bit Stream Output for DTS-HD1, Dolby TrueHD audio signals via HDMI ver 1.3.

Kodak has a number of new products on display at IFA, notably the Easyshare V1233, V1253 and Z812 IS models and the Easyshare HDTV dock for displaying HD images on a HDTV screen.

The 12 megapixel V1253 and V1233 Zoom cameras capture HD still images (16:9 aspect ratio) and video (720p at 30fps), as well as featuring a 3X optical zoom lens, Face Detection Technology, Digital Image Stabilisation for reduced blur and shake and a 16:9 aspect ratio screen - 3.1-inch LCD screen on the V1253 and 2.5-inch LCD screen on the V1233.

In the midst of telling us about their plans to turn the world HD (stay tuned for video of this for soon!), Sony also found time to launch a colourful new array of WALKMAN Video MP3 players that now include WMA as a supported format and bear the "PlaysForSure" Windows certification logo.

There are eight palm-sized models altogether; that's three A series WALKMAN video players (pictured left), and five S series MP3 and video MP3 players. Full specs for each model after the jump, but, in brief, the new players are Sony's response to consumer demand for more freedom over content. DRM-free formats are now supported, meaning you can download and listen to WMA, MP3 and AAC, and they've opted for MPEG-4 and AVC Baseline video codecs on the grounds that these represent the most popular formats and should mean little to no conversion required. WMP 11 is bundled with the new players with its simple drag and drop interface, and full connectivity with the PS3 and Sony Giga Juke is a given.

Susi, Alex, Chris, Ashley and I have all stormed Berlin, Germany, en masse for three days full of convention centre-trudging, otherwise known as IFA. Of which I'm not quite sure what it stands for, but rest assured the 'I' is International. Or Internationale, as we say here in steiner and weiner-ville.

You would've noticed a few posts already up on Tech Digest and Shiny Shiny covering important announcements made today so far, keep pressing 'refresh' on your web browser for the next three days on these two sites, as we bring you all the latest news concerning consumer electronics.

Auf wiedersehen!

IFA 2007

Another new launch from Parrot, this time the DS1120 wireless stereo speakers, which can be paired with your mobile phone or MP3 player.

If your player offers A2DP Bluetooth streaming, Parrot promises playback with 'great hi-fi quality'. Though you might want to check that out before purchasing. Sound is via a Class-D digital amplifier in each speaker with a total power output of 30W RMS and a bass system is hidden in the speaker stands.

And even if your portable device doesn't support A2DP, all is not lost - a Bluetooth 2.0. USB Parrot dongle is included with the Parrot DS1120 or you can connect with wires via an RCA auxiliary line (also included). The Parrot DS1120 will be available from October 2007 onwards for £139.99.

Find out more

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