Nike are reportedly beginning development on a brand-new Nike+ FuelBand fitness tracker, and are popping in a few new metrics to follow for fitness fanatics.

GearLive are reporting that the new FuelBand will pack in a heart-rate and pulse monitor alongside the standard pedometer and motion trackers currently found in the FuelBand. New controls will be added too, such a pinch of the band to trigger pulse monitoring. Bluetooth 4.0 will also be used to improve battery life and offer more reliable stat syncing between the wristband and connected devices.

Nike are also said to be expanding the Nike+ API, letting developers tap into the stat tracking data. This follows an announcment back in March that Nike had selected ten companies for its Accelerator FuelBand Nike+ API program.

The report also has some good news for Android owners, so often left hanging by Nike. It states that the next FuelBand will come with its own Android app, a feature sorely missed from the current wristband.

With the wristband said to be already out in the wild being tested, it seems it won't be long until we get a clearer look at Nike's plans.

TomTom are looking to get a head start over the inevitable smartwatch influx later this year, launching two GPS equipped smart watches.

The first of the two, the TomTom Runner, is aimed at joggers with fitness and distance goals, while (as its name suggests) the TomTom Multi-Sport also caters to swimmers and cyclists with waterproofing and cycle-run measurements too.

Both watches have built-in GPS and a large high-resolution display, but stay fairly compact at 50g and only 11.5mm at their thickest point.

A ground-up interface that aims to clearly illustrate your sporting performance is also onboard, while there's a new MySports platform developed by TomTom that lets you plug your phone into a PC and upload your stats to a fitness tracking portal.

It's an interesting move from TomTom; with the in-car sat-nav market being cannibalised by smartphones, they're having to branch out a bit, and GPS sports watches and wearable gadgets are hot markets right now. They're also busy ones, with Nike, FitBit and Jawbone all offering similar products. That's before you start to consider the potential Apple, Android and Windows-based watches on the horizon. TomTom have the advantage of being a well-known GPS brand, but don't quite have the same brand value in sporting circles. It'll be interesting to see how this launch plays out.

This weekend's two FA Cup semi-final clashes between Wigan and Millwall, and Manchester City and Chelsea will be documented by a pair of pitchside smartphone snappers.

Chosen by cup sponsors Budweiser, two "Phoneographers" that have built a strong following on social networking sites through arty snaps taken with a simple smartphone camera, will join the professional sports photographers at Wembley stadium.

"We're thrilled to be bringing these avid football and photography fans closer to the game they love in a way they can share with other fans in stadium and at home," said Iain Newell, Budweiser's UK Marketing Director.

"It reflects the changing way people get their football updates and our desire to bring the magic of The FA Cup even closer to the fans, which social media certainly has the potential to do. We hope the Phoneographer's shots will help celebrate the great moments from this season's Semi-Finals and capture the optimism of fans hoping to see their team reach the Final in May."

The Phoneographers will be tweeting the resulting shots with the hashtag #tothedream, and Budweiser are encouraging footy fans to share photos of their match day experience the same way.

While smartphone snaps seem welcome on the terraces, they're increasingly causing angst at live music concerts. Indie rockers the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have sparked a debate on the matter by asking that smartphones be banned from gigs.

Nike have revealed the companies that will gain access to the Nike+ fitness app API, giving the selected developers the opportunity to tap into the data collected by the Nike+ app and from devices like the Fuelband and Sportswatch in order to make new app experiences for the platform.

Of the hundreds of companies that applied to be part of Nike's Accelerator startup program, only ten have made the cut. They (and what they plan to do with the API access) are as follows:

• FitDeck: Digital decks of exercise playing cards that deliver ever-changing workouts for fitness and sports.
• GoRecess: Helps users find, book and review fitness activities.
• Chroma.io: An indie game studio that creates virtual worlds tied to real-world activity.
• CoachBase: Provides a digital sports coaching platform.
• GoFitCause: Leverages fitness data as a means of raising money for charities.
• HighFive: Ad network for health and fitness apps that helps people achieve their goals by rewarding them along their journey.
• Sprout At Work: Provider of corporate wellness solutions leveraging social and gamification tools to inspire employees and empower employers.
• GeoPalz: An interactive gaming and rewards platform for kids and families.
• Incomparable Things: Creates activity-driven fantasy sports leagues.
• RecBob: Offers a platform that makes recreational sports easy by organizing play.

"We are excited by the response to the Nike+ Accelerator and the high caliber of applicants to the program," said Stefan Olander, Nike VP of Digital Sport.

"We recently celebrated the first year of NikeFuel and the Accelerator program is a natural next step to broaden and enhance the Nike+ ecosystem - allowing Nike to offer richer experiences to athletes of all levels."

As a reward for being selected for the program, the ten groups of developers will each receive $20,000, as well as three month retreat to Portland, Oregon, where they'll work alongside Nike-selected mentors to bring the ideas above to life. Each company will then have the opportunity to pitch their ideas to angel investors.

Click here for more info.

Sky have today announced that they will be offering their full suite of Sky Sports programming through their Now TV online streaming service, allowing sports fans to watch key fixtures without the need for a Sky sports subscription or installation of a satellite dish.

Costing £9.99 for 24 hours access to all six Sky Sports channels, it's priced a bit on the steep side (particularly considering a month's worth of Sky Sports through Sky TV's regular subscriptions costs £21), though it's a nice option if you only want to watch the odd sporting event with a few mates around once in a blue moon.

It's pretty simple to get on with too, seeing as you don't even have to sign up for the standard £15 a month Now TV movie pass that the service usually requires. Add to that the fact that Now TV works across laptop and desktop computers, iOS and Android devices and the Xbox 360 gaming console and it's quite a flexible offering. Still no PS3 app though.

Plenty of top-notch sporting events coming to Sky Sports over the next few months too, with the Now TV offering giving access to all live Premier League and Champions League football matches broadcast on Sky Sports, as well as all 19 F1 Grand Prix, all 10 Ashes Test matches, three of the four major golfing tournaments and exclusive coverage of the ATP Tennis tournament.

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Want to be the fastest jogger down the park? Then you'll be looking to pick up a pair of the new Adidas Boost trainers when the go on sale on 27 February 2013, priced £119.99.

Using a brand new energy absorbing material created by Adidas partners BASF in the sole, the Adidas Boost trainers give the wearer a bouncy feel while out running by storing energy exerted during a stride and propelling it back into the wearer's next movement. It's a technique not dissimilar to that of a memory foam mattress, and means that the wearer can run faster, further and for longer.

We've had hands-on time with the new trainers, and >have shared our thoughts in our hands-on review here. But if you just want to have a gander at the new footwear, you can scroll down to check out our exclusive pictures.

Tech and fitness - two worlds becoming ever-more closely entwined. From the apps in our phones to the materials on our feet, there's just as much innovation being wrapped around your toes as there is in your shiny new tablet. Making sure they stay ahead of the curve in this increasingly competitive market are Adidas, who today revealed Adidas Boost, a brand new range that they consider to be the ultimate in running trainers.

The Adidas Boost trainers get their name from a new material used in the sole, created by Adidas partners BASF. Each Boost sole is made of TPU, a granular material blasted in to thousands of tiny separate pieces before being moulded back together, giving the range a unique bouncy feeling with every stride. Like a memory foam, the sole can compress and push back into its original form with every step, storing far more energy used in each downward push of your foot than a standard EVA sole and projecting it back up as you release. It means that wearer can run faster, further and for longer."Boost is a revolutionary material which combines the usually conflicting performance benefits of soft and comfortable, on the one hand, and firm and responsive cushioning, on the other, for the most comfortable run ever," said Bernd Wahler, Head of Innovation.

"It almost makes the shoe come to life, and you will feel it from the first moment you put it on."

Wahler's comments are undeniably true; we've been wearing a pair of Adidas Boost for the past few hours now, and there is a noticeable bounce added to your stride as you walk about in the shoes. Though we've yet to test them on a full-blown run, they're light and bouncy, but not so much as to feel unnatural. Indeed, we ran for a bus on the way home in them and didn't miss it, so not a bad start!Away from the Boost sole itself, the upper part of the shoe hugs the foot nicely too, using a durable but flexible elastic polyurethane that can accommodate unique feet shapes in a form-fitting way, as well as supporting the feet with a breathable mesh.

The Boost sole is also three times more temperature-resistant than standard EVA material, meaning it won't stiffen or soften as much in harsh weather, giving a more consistent run, even at temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius.

Looking at the design, the range will initially launch with a black trainer with white sole and yellow highlights, complete with the iconic Adidas three stripes on the sides, here used as added support. In an interesting move, the shoes are surprisingly stripped back of paints and flash; the design teams are said to have been so proud of the Boost sole that they did not want to cover it up or divert attention from it, leaving the sole exposed along with its polystyrene-like finish. Adidas miCoach users will also find a recess under the insole of the left shoe to house their stat-tracking units too.The celebrity endorsements for the range are already rolling in, and there's few better placed to judge their capabilities than last year's London Marathon winner Wilson Kipsang. He'll be wearing a customised Boost-packing pair of trainers during this year's race. A number of Premiership football teams with Adidas behind their kit are also using them during training sessions.

Adidas also revealed today a new design called SpringBlade, using much of the same technology, but with the sole cut in to blades, not unlike the prosthetics worn by Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorious. Touching down in August, they're designed to give you increased launching abilities, further pushing your best times and best likely best leaps too.

Though August is a little way off yet, you won't have to wait that long to get your hands on a pair of Adidas Boost. They'll be launching worldwide from 27 February 2013, priced £119.99, initially in black from Adidas Sport Performance stores, online and at high street retailers including JD Sports.

Scroll down for a closer look at the Adidas Boost trainers in our gallery.

"This will change running forever."

That's the claim Adidas are levelling at their latest running shoes, the Adidas Boost trainers, set to launch on February 13.

Little is known about the shoes at present ahead of next week's launch, but the teaser video above gives a few suggestions as to what to expect. In it, three metal balls hit three different types of materials - concrete, EVA and the new material called Boost.

The ball that hits the Boost material is the bounciest of all, and the suggestion is that whatever innovation Adidas have got planned for your feet will put a bit more bound in your stride. Not unlike John Carter, we hope (there's a reference for the four people who saw that film). A reference to "Endless Energy" also suggests that the shoe could help users run for longer, perhaps burning less energy as there is more bounce in their stride helping them cover more ground more quickly? So far, all we can picture in our heads is something a bit like this:
At present, the link to the Adidas/boost page at the end of the clip only redirects back to the Adidas running site.

Any ideas what it could be then? Adidas are no strangers to putting high-tech ideas into sporting wear - just look back at the heated trousers they produced for Team GB ahead of the Olympic games, allowing their muscles to stay warm for longer after a warm up.

We'll be heading down to the Adidas launch event on February 13, when all will be revealed. Check back then for all the details.

Oregon Scientific has announced a range of smart sports watches designed specifically for those who want to monitor and share their sporting performances via social media more easily. Two models are currently available: the sSmart SE900 (£129.99) and the sSmart RA900 Adventurer (£179.00)

Both feature a wireless connection for compatibility with your smart phone via a dedicated sports app enabling you to upload data from, say, your bike ride or run directly to your smart phone. They are also both water resistant up to 50 metres.

Compatible with various sports accessories, the watches can be used in conjunction with a chest belt (to monitor heart rate) and bike pod to monitor speed, distance and pedal rotations. More advanced is the sSmart Adventurer which also comes with built in motion sensors and a dedicated weather forecast profile using a built in barometer. Whatever next?

The records keep coming for Jamaican track athlete Usain Bolt. Hot on the heels of his sprint gold medal double at the London 2012 Olympic games, Bolt's broken a record over on social network Twitter too.

The micro-blogging social network saw an unprecedented 80,000 tweets per minute about the Bolt following the speedy Olympian's 200m win last night, the most ever seen n relation to the Olympics.

Bolt's already quite the celebrity on Twitter (as if he isn't already a star anywhere he graces wit his presence), with over 1.3 million followers that he regularly chats to personally. Following his win, Bolt tweeted:

"Thanks to all my real fans and people who believe in me. I am now a living legend that's for sure."

This tweet alone was retweeted more than 8,000 times and favourited by almost 2,000 people, showing Bolt's growing influence on the Twitterverse.

Dubbed the "social Olympics" by analysts, the London 2012 Olympics have seen social networks harnessed like never before for a sporting event. The opening ceremony led to over 9.66 million tweets about the event, while Twitter users' persistent updates caused problems with the BBC coverage of the road cycling events. Many of the athletes have also taken to Twitter and Facebook to thank fans for their support during the games, as well as sharing their thoughts on the event as a whole.

Nike have been getting into the Olympic spirit as much as anyone else over the past fortnight, and have unveiled a special edition gold-plated version of their Nike+SportWatch.

The Nike+ SportsWatch GPS special edition version has all the same functionality as the original sporting wristwatch (an LCD display, TomTom-powered GPS functionality, pace and time monitoring tools, pedometer distance tracking and heart rate monitoring info) but comes blinged out with 18 carat gold decoration and glistening white framework, all stamped with the iconic Swoosh branding.

The watch has already made it onto the London 2012 Olympic gold medal podium, when US sprinter Allyson Felix collected her 200m first place prize (though she had her tracksuit sleeves pulled down over it).

The special editions are also delivered in a box carrying Michael Johnson's famous quote: "They don't give you gold medals for beating somebody. They give you gold medals for beating everybody."

And that's what it'll take to bag yourself one too; the limited edition models are strictly for gold-medal Olympians only.There's still the standard edition for £149 though for those keen on getting the get-fit tech aid!

John Lewis have announced that sales of Dr Dre's iconic 'Beats' headphones have sky-rocketed, stating that their figures show an amazing sales increase of 116 per cent since the start of the Olympic games.

Could this be due to the campaign which saw selected sporting personalities such as Tom Daley and Michael Phelps being given pairs of the 'Beats' headphones ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games? Many athletes were wearing the easily-recognisable headphones during broadcast Games coverage before official sponsor Panasonic stepped in and banned the rival gear.

"Music often plays a big part in sports - whether you're a first time runner needing some musical motivation, or, as we've seen over the past couple of weeks, an athlete who needs to get pumped up before they compete in front of the world," said Robert Hennessy, Audio and Imaging Buyer at John Lewis.

"Sports fever has gripped the nation, and as a result there is a huge demand for headphones, in particular Beats and our sports ranges."

With sporting earphones and headphones sales on the rise by 42 per cent since the beginning of 2011 according to the NPD Group's Retail Tracking Service, there has definitely been a boom in fitness-orientated headphone sales.

Are you looking for some sporting earphones to go with your newly found fitness kick? Then follow this link for a review of the Atomic Floyd Air Jax + Remote Sport

Andy Murray has been named the most dangerous British Olympic athlete, but not perhaps for the reasons you'd first think. No, it's not his speeding-bullet tennis serve, nor the thought of his (frankly terrifying) mum flying at you in a fit of rage. Rather, Andy Murray has been named the most dangerous British athlete in cyberspace.

Of all the most searched for British athletes on the web, search results returned for "Andy Murray" proved to hold the greatest risk for web users, according to web security firm McAfee.

Simple searches like "Andy Murray videos" or "Andy Murray downloads" returned more spyware, malware and computer security threats designed to steal personal information than any other British athlete.

Football star Ryan Giggs was found to be the second most dangerous British athlete in cyber space with gymnast Louis Smith (3), platform diver Tom Daley (4) and Mark Cavendish wrapping up the top 5.

"Cyber-crooks keep their finger on the pulse and adapt their scams to appeal to whatever we're most likely to be searching for", explained Raj Samani, CTO, McAfee EMEA.

"Andy Murray has seen regular press attention in his battle to become a serious contender in his sport, so it's no surprise that the bad guys have taken advantage of his popularity to target consumers. To keep your valuable data and devices safe over this summer of sports, surf securely by ensuring the sites you visit have been verified as safe."

It'll certainly give something for Murray's formidable rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to mull over next time they're researching the Scot's tennis techniques online.

The FA Cup will hit Facebook at 12.30pm GMT on 11 August, as an extra preliminary FA Cup tie between Wembley FC and Langford FC is 'simulcast' live on both the Budweiser UK Facebook page and broadcasting live on ESPN.

The first time an Extra Preliminary FA Cup tie has been shown on live TV alongside a web stream, the match sees a host of former footballing titans (including Ray Parlour, Martin Keown, Graeme Le Saux, Claudio Caniggia and Brian McBride) returning from retirement under the guidance of ex-England boss Terry Venables.

"The FA Cup holds some very special memories for me, from my time as both a player and a manager," said Venables, now acting as Wembley FC technical advisor.

"The new boys coming in have a wealth of experience at the very highest level and people like Ray Parlour have the FA Cup winner medals to prove it. That can only help the lads here and shine a light on the importance of grassroots football here in the UK and around the world."

Jason Warner, Global Vice President, Budweiser, added: "Last season's FA Cup was one of the most nail-biting and exciting to date, and it's something we all want to see again. Broadcasting the game live on ESPN is a first for a tie at this stage of the competition, and in conjunction with the live stream online will bring the magic of the FA Cup closer to passionate football fans across the globe."

Catch the match on ESPN, www.facebook.com/budweiseruk or www.BudUnited.com from 12.30pm GMT on 11 August, with kick off at 12.45pm

When it comes to Great Britain's gold medal chances at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Victoria Pendleton is a name that springs straight to mind. At the peak of her career, she's cycling's golden girl. Winning gold at the Beijing Olympics and coming off the back of great successes at the World Championships, her rivalry with fellow cycling sprinter Anna Meares of Australia promises to deliver some of the most nail-biting action of the games.

Looking for every advantage they can get out on the velodrome, Pendleton and the rest of the Team GB cycling team (including Chris Hoy, Laura Trott and Geraint Thomas) will be using a unique training aid - Adidas "Adipower" trousers.

Dubbed the "Hotpants", the custom-fitted trousers are battery powered and are designed to be worn after an athlete's warm-up. Heated filaments in the trousers direct heat to the core muscle groups in the legs, maintaining an ideal 38C temperature, meaning that Team GB's legs should be limber before each event even if they've had a lengthy wait between their warm up session and the competitive races. There are even quick-release zips, letting the athletes get the Adipower kit on and off in seconds.
"We've had them for a couple of months now," Pendleton explained to Tech Digest.

"They're really easy to use and heat up almost instantaneously; you can really feel the temperature going up on your quads and hamstrings. For me as a sprinter, I have lots and lots of short events that are spread out over a day so it's essential my muscles maintain their temperature after warm up.

"In cycling we talk about 'marginal gains' all the time; we're training to the best of our abilities and have so many experts working with us. You want to make sure every detail is taken care of, and that we have every advantage possible. These trousers are another example of how Team GB is achieving that."

Designed over the course of four years with input from Team GB and other top cyclists from across the globe, Adidas's innovation spokesperson Udo Mueller stated that the Adipower trousers were exploring an area where few other sportswear manufacturers were venturing:

"There is a clear lack of garments being made where we do nothing illegal to push athletes to do their best. There's a marginal gain to be made by using these 'hotpants' and we have to capitalise upon it. We did the same within the new swimming regulations and created a swimsuit lighter and faster than ever before. These new innovations should encourage and inspire other countries in the long haul to take advantage of that."
And what of Pendleton's chances against Meares? Will the "hotpants" give her the edge she needs to grab the gold?

"Anna and I are both competitive, determined, tenacious individuals. People who know us say we're quite similar in character, and I'd expect that from someone of the same sport as me.

"I have huge respect for Anna Meares and I know she has a lot for me too. We're just both hugely competitive individuals, and our form has converged at the same time.

"When it's all over we'll probably have a sit down and have a good laugh over all the hoohah we've read in press about each other over the last ten years!"

But the time for friendship comes later. For the rest of these games at least, we hope Pendleton remains fired up by the rivalry that could lead to one of Great Britain's key gold medal wins.

Planning on tweeting at the London 2012 Olympic games? Perhaps you should think twice, as network overloads could jeopardise the TV coverage being broadcast from the games, including that of the BBC.

Those watching the televised road race coverage on Saturday may have experienced the effects of excessive tweeting first hand. Time and distance data, vital for TV audiences trying to make sense of the long-distance event, were not being transmitted as expected as local networks and GPS satellite data streams were overloaded.

An International Olympic Committee spokesman speaking to Reuters said, "Of course, if you want to send something we are not going to say 'Don't, you can't do it', and we would certainly never prevent people.

"It's just - if it's not an urgent, urgent one, please kind of take it easy."

The official conceded that his request "may not have an awful lot of effect", stating that "it's a network issue that we are working on."

Looking for the most useful Twitter feeds to follow during the games? Click here for Shiny Shiny's run-down.

TODAY IS THE DAY! After years of moaning, groaning, hype and hope, the London 2012 Olympic Games will kick off in spectacular fashion with Danny Boyle's £27 million opening ceremony. Though a few preliminary events like the football and archery have already kicked off, tonight marks the official start of the games.

We turn our attention today to those who will be visiting London during the games. The capital is set to be even more manic than it usually is, and this guide should hopefully get your trip off on the right foot with some tech-savvy suggestions to make your trip a little easier.

APPS

If you've got a smartphone and you're heading into London for the games, BRING IT WITH YOU. There are plenty of excellent apps dedicated to getting the most out of a trip to London.

For starters, iPhone users will want to pick up the London Transport, London Bus live Countdown and London Tube Map And Guide apps, which combined give you all the information you could possibly need about using London's public transport system. For a similar selection for Android users, grab London Tube Status, London Travel and London Underground Free from the Google Play store. With that lot downloaded you'll be able to confidently travel around the capital.

In terms of keeping track of what's happening at the games themselves, check out our round up from a few days ago. You'll definitely be wanting the Official London 2012 Results aps to keep track of medals and schedules, and Curly's Pocket Guide To Sports which offers all the event rules at the very least.

Looking for things to do in London? You can't go wrong with the Time Out apps for iPhone and iPad, while anyone with a decent mobile web browser can check out www.timista.com for personalised recommendations based on time, location and size of your party. Struggling to get where you need to be? Try the Get Taxi app for booking a cheap ride, available on iPhone and Android.

If you're looking for a good read about some of London's hidden gems, check out The London Project, which some of the Tech Digest team had a hand in helping to write. It's available for free through Apple's iBooks app, and costs £2.05 on Kindle.
CAMERAS

Right, we're assuming above that you've already brought your smartphone with you. So check that off the check-list you're making (you have been marking all those apps down on a checklist, right?). So let's move onto another essential then: cameras. Again, we're going to assume you've already got a camera too, but are you aware of the restrictions in place on what sorts of camera you can bring to the stadiums? The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) state that:

"You are allowed to take camera phones, compact cameras and DSLRs into Olympic and Paralympic venues, as long as the equipment fits into a bag no bigger than 30 x 20 x 20cm. Anything above this may be confiscated and not necessarily returned to you."

In other words, leave your crazy-expensive DSLR zoom lenses at home, unless you want to potentially leave them forever. The same goes for tripods and massive boom mics (though why you'd bring a boom mic with you is beyond us. A few popular DSLR cameras that fit into the guidelines include the Nikon D4, Nikon D800, Canon 1DX and Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Compact cameras and bridge cameras should be fine, as well as camera phones obviously.
TRAVEL GADGETS

Some of you may have come a long way, and lengthy trips in planes, trains and automobiles aren't always the most comfy of journeys. Grab an official London 2012 Neck Pillow (yes, an officially branded Olympic neck pillow, we kid you not) for £12.99 from John Lewis, while the Yondi Kids Travel Pillow (£11.19) from Firebox will give you five minutes peace while the kids grab 40 winks.

If you're worried about keeping you gadgets pumped full of charge, the £119.99 PowerMoney Extreme backup battery pulls in solar power keeping your tech energised even when away from a charging socket. If you don't trust Britain's ability to deliver the sunshine (and that's a totally reasonable worry), a Mophie Juice Pack Air will wrap around your iPhone for an added power boost. If you're an international visitor, grab a USB wall charger too; this £14.99 one from WH Smiths lets you power three USB powered gadgets at once.
WHERE TO STAY, WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO EAT

If you're reading Tech Digest (which you must be currently, right?) you must be a bit of a tech geek. The Zetter Hotel is THE place to stay in London offering all guests a giant video and music on demand catalogue, free room Wi-Fi, DVD and CD players, flatscreen TVs, iPod docks and digital radios. It's situated in the Clerkenwell area and rooms start at £180 a night. Alternatively check out Rafayel on the Left Bank in Battersea, where rooms come with a media hub for hooking up laptops, cameras, tablets and more, with the option of renting a games console for your room too. Rooms there start at £120 a night.

All self-confessed geeks owe themselves a pilgrimage style trip to the London Science Museum, jammed full of incredible scientific and technological innovations from across the ages. We'd recommend the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park usually too, but that's being closed for the duration of the games while the equestrian events take place there. Bummer, but stargazers should keep it in mind for their next trip!

For tech shopping, head to Tottenham Court Road, specifically the end near northern Oxford Street. It's shop after shop of gadget bargains from branded retail outlets to resellers. Highlights include YoYoTech which is great for PC builders, and CEX, the world's best shop for picking up second hand games and gadgetry. Forbidden Planet, just off of Shaftesbury Avenue, is comic-book and fantasy geek Valhalla too, with floor to ceiling graphic novels and cult movie memorabilia.

If it's architectural and engineering feats that float your boat, we'd suggest visits to The London Eye (for birds eye views of the capital), The Shard (to stand below it and look up at Europe's tallest building, enough to give you both vertigo and a glimpse at a Bladerunner-like future , The Thames Barrier (for an engineering marvel that keeps the capital safe from annual flooding), The Emirates Air Line Cable Car (for a slightly scary sky-high journey across the Thames) and The O2 Arena (AKA The Millennium Dome, which now offers walks across its tall curved roof).

When it comes to grabbing some grub, we've got just two words for you: MEAT LIQOUR. Just off of Regent's Street, it's exactly what it sounds like, a place where meat is piled high and alcohol flows free, with a whole mad hillbilly nightclub vibe going on. You can't book ahead, so expect to have to queue. It's worth it though. If that sounds a bit too full-on for your taste, head over to Inamo in Soho, which has serves oriental food and uses futuristic touchscreen table-top menus to order your food on.

BAE Systems, best known for their work in the security and defence technology fields, have offered a helping hand to the British Modern Pentathlon team by providing them with laser pistols to use at the London 2012 Olympic games.

Rather than using traditional, mechanical, bullet-firing pistols, the athletes will be kitted out with an ULTeMo pistol, which employs laser systems originally used to protect aircraft from hostile attack.

Sadly, these wont be the sort of laser pistols familiar to fans of Star Wars. Rather, they'll fire a harmless laser blast at targets during the pentathlon event, and offer greater reliability and accuracy over traditional pistols previously used in the event.

"With experts in laser technology and optics and a suite of laboratory facilities, we have been able to help to verify the correct operation of the laser equipment," said Kelvin Davies, BAE Systems Project Leader of the UK Sport Technology Partnership.

"This kind of technology has never been available to the sport before. It allows the pentathletes to test their equipment in the minutes leading up to a competition, helping to eliminate any last minute concerns which could affect their performance - and potentially make the difference between winning and losing.

The challenge in building this system lies in the fact that the laser pulse is very short. High speed electronics are needed to perform the analysis and provide the athlete with the result. The ULTeMo system offers a high degree of usability, portability and provides instantaneous results."

Keep an eye on the games on August 11th to catch the pistols in action at the Modern Pentathlon event.

Today sees the penultimate instalment in the Tech Digest Tech Pentathlon series. As we're gearing up for the Olympics, we've already highlighted five of the best Olympic apps, some of the best Olympic gadgets hitting stores and also how to best work from home while the London 2012 games are taking place.

This will be one of, if not THE first Olympics where there are almost as many platforms to watch the games on as there are events. With streaming now a leading way in which we watch our video content, today's Tech Pentathlon feature will look at some of the best ways to stream the London 2012 games.
The BBC are filming 2,500 hours worth of Olympic content over the next couple of weeks, and there simply aren't enough hours in the day to squeeze it onto all of their TV channels. In order to deliver all this coverage, and give you the choice to watch some of the more obscure events as they happen, they've put together a number of different ways you can watch the games over the web.

First up is the impressive bbc.co.uk/sport website. It's offering live streaming of the games, with 24 events at full HD resolutions. As well as pulling in standard website fare including schedules, results, news and opinions, playback controls let you pause and rewind events as they're happening.

Head over to Facebook and you can also add the BBC Sport app to Farmville and Mafia Wars on your apps section. It's offering pretty much the same streaming options as the BBC website is.

If you're a mobile user, this all gets carried over to a new mobile version of the website too, letting you stream HD video over both Wi-Fi and 3G.

Sticking with mobile for a moment, there are a handful of apps that offer similar streaming options too. The BBC Olympic app is available for iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry, and has the same HD content and live TV playback functionality as offered by the website.

Eurosport are also offering mobile streaming of their live content, but it'll cost you. The Eurosport Player app is available to Android and iOS device owners, with a £2.99 a month charge. You will, of course, get access to all Eurosport's other sporting coverage as well as the games though.

Live streamed content is also available through select smart TVs, set top boxes and games consoles. Using a HTML5 app powered by Adobe's Primetime technology, owners of Samsung's Smart TVs, the PlayStation 3 and Virgin's TiVo box will be able to use the BBC Sport App to watch events in real-time.

If you're not too fussed about watching the games live, the BBC iPlayer video-on-demand catch up service will offer all the Beeb's televised content. As well as a browser based version for Macs and PCs, iPlayer is available as an app for countless mobile handsets and web connected devices including games consoles, tablets, set-top boxes and PMPs. To name just a few compatible devices, iPlayer is available through the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Virgin Media TiVo, BT Vision, Roku streaming boxes, smart TVs from Sony, LG, Panasonic, Toshiba and Samsung, and set-top boxes from Grundig, Humax, TVonics and Echostar. That's hardly an extensive list, but rest assured; if your device can access the internet and has a screen or can be hooked up to one, chances are the BBC have it covered with iPlayer support.

We're just days away now from the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, so it's time for part 2 of our five part Tech Pentathlon series. Today we're looking at Olympic themed gadgets. With seemingly every man and his dog an Olympic sponsor this year, there are plenty of official (and some not so official) gadgets available to help you celebrate the summer of sport.

Acer Iconia A510 Olympic Edition Android tablet

A key Olympic partner, pretty much all of Acer's summer range of tablets and laptops has some form of Olympic branding attached. Our favourite is the Iconia A510 Olympic Edition tablet, which throws in a premium Eurosport streaming app for the duration of the games, letting you catch-up on any events that you may have missed on-the-go.

Other than that, it's business as usual for the Iconia A510, which runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich, has a 1.3GHz Quad-core processor, a 10.1-inch WXGA display and 32GB of storage.

Available now from Carphone Warehouse, it'll set you back £349.
Samsung Galaxy Note Olympic Edition

Samsung are another major sponsor, and have pushed out an Olympic themed Galaxy Note to celebrate.

To be honest, there's not a lot different here against the standard Galaxy Note with it's 5.3 inch Super AMOLED display and stylus input, except for a distressed-look Union Jack back plate. On the positive side, Samsung will be donating £1 to charity for every Olympic Note sold. But even that seems a little stingy.

Samsung also have an Olympic-themed Galaxy S3 doing the rounds at the moment, but we've left it off the list as it's only being offered to athletes at the games. Expect them to sell for a pretty penny on eBay a little down the line.

Scalextric Team GB Velodrome 2012: Track Cycling

Now this is more like it! A mini Velodrome by the Scalextric race track makers, two racers can test their lightning fast reflexes on the Olympic circuit, even if they need stabilisers when they get out on their real BMXs.
UK Themed Xbox 360 Kinect Bundle

It's not an official Olympic product, but Microsoft are cashing in on the goodwill heading the UK's way this summer with a Union Jack themed Xbox 360 bundle which includes a flag-bearing console with matching controller and Kinect sensor. It also includes two Kinect games and 3 months worth of Xbox Live, making it not a bad package if you're new to the console.

Nikon Sportstar EX 10x25 DCF binoculars

If you've been lucky enough to get hold of some Olympic tickets, you'll be wanting to get as close to the action as possible. That may not be physically possible, but these Nikon binoculars will let you get up close and personal to all the fun of the games. Just don't bring these along to the Beach Volleyball event at Horse Guards Parade, unless you want to be branded a right old perv.

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