Most of the outstanding features of this car are the gadgets. In-car technology has been taking to new heights. Bluetooth enables you to make phone calls through the sound system, your iPod has its own USB port, and an information display in the dash above your steering wheel tells you what song you’re playing. Like they say – good things come in small packages.

The first thing I did was pair my iPhone. I was reading around that people were having issues with this, but for me, it was a piece of cake! Push the windows button, then say ‘Settings,’ then ‘Pair’. How simple is that! It displays your bluetooth pin on the dash. Insert that into your phone, and Bob’s your Uncle! From there, you can upload your entire phone book onto your phone. And from then on, whenever you activate your Bluetooth, you can make a call without your hands even leaving the steering wheel. Simply push the windows button, tell the car who you want to call (“Call John Smith on mobile”), and the car will dial you through. The sound quality is generally excellent and clear. The volume for phone calls can be set up and saved, allowing the car to adjust from media player to phone call settings. But as with all things beautiful, there are well-proportioned flaws.

Considering the car puts you on loud speaker during phone calls, you have to consider the noises around you. So if you’re on the motorway, the sound may not be quite as clear for those on the other end than if you were trotting around town.

OK, so that’s the only flaw I can think of for the sound system. Proportionate, like I said – small car, tiny flaw. It just takes a little tweaking to get your volume settings how you like it. But then, that’s what you expect from an award-winning system.

One thing that I don’t completely relish about the in-car toys is the EcoDrive facility. This monitors your driving habits, and the effect that has on the environment. Hence, ECODrive. It teaches you how to drive sensibly, fuel-efficiently and how to best look after your vehicle. Once EcoDrive has been downloaded from Fiat 500, you install it onto a USB stick or iPod. Then insert that same device into the Microsoft Blue&Me slot by the hand brake, and take off. After your first five days of driving, you can then plug the device into your PC and open up EcoDrive. It will give you statistics of how you drive and check your carbon emissions. You can even visit other Eco-Friendlies in EcoVille. Very cute. At first, a fabulous opportunity to improve my driving and take pristine care of my new car. But give it a month. Just one month. Unless you are a ‘Sunday driver’ (if you know what I mean) then it gets a little tedious trying to change gears before you reach two revs and moving back down your gears when a red light is up ahead. Great in theory, not always convenient when you’re out on the road. The concept is plausible, but not necessarily sustainable throughout each journey. So when you get back to EcoVille, your never quite as pleased with yourself if you hope to be.

We added a lot of new enhancements and features along the way. We created a new Games Hub page which will also be added to the History site at a later stage. And, needless to say, made it all that much prettier.

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This new little beauty has some nifty new features.
Here is 10 of the best:

1. It’s faster

Apple launched the iPhone 3G S by announcing it has a faster processor, more memory and “snappier performance”. Although the iPhone3G is no slouch, it can be a little sluggish when opening and closing applications. If Apple‘s demo videos are anything to go by, the iPhone 3G S will be a much zippier smartphone.

2. It has more memory

Apple will sell two models of the iPhone 3G S: 16GB and 32GB. There original iPhone came with 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of storage.

3. Video recording

Wow! A smartphone in 2009 that can record video? No way! Apple critics will point to the fact that the iPhone 3G can’t record video as an example of a phone that lacks some basic features, but for potential iPhone owners the addition of video recording is a real plus.

4. Improved camera

The iPhone 3G S has a 3-megapixel camera with autofocus, compared with the iPhone 3G’s 2-megapixel, non-autofocus camera. It still lacks a flash, but the increased megapixel count should slightly improve photos and tapping an area on the screen to focus on is a cool feature that should make mobile photography easier.

5. You can talk to it

The iPhone 3G S introduces what Apple calls Voice Control, a voice recognition feature that allows you to make a call and play music by speaking. Voice Control can find any entry in your contacts list, and users simply have to say a name or phone number to make a call. For music, you can ask what song is playing and hear the iPhone 3G S answer, tell it to play your favourite album, or play similar tracks to the current one.

6. It has a built-in compass

A built-in digital compass is another new feature of the iPhone 3G S. We aren’t sure exactly how often anyone would use this as a standalone app, but when combined with Google Maps, the compass will rotate maps to always match the direction you’re facing. Now that is pretty cool.

7. Internet tethering

The iPhone 3G S can now be used as a modem, connecting to a Mac or PC via USB or Bluetooth. Although AT&T in the US won’t be supporting this feature, Optus is one Australian telco that has confirmed it will be. Telstra and Vodafone are yet to announce whether they will offer tethering capability, and o2 in the UK will be charging a whopping £15 for 3GB of data.

8. Accessibility features

Apple has included a number of features that help people with disabilities use the iPhone 3G S. These include Apple’s VoiceOver function, which reads aloud what is on the screen, a zoom function that magnifies up to five times, and a white on black display option that provides increased contrast.

9. Nike+ iPod integration

Previously only available for selected iPod nano models, Apple‘s Nike + iPod is a fitness system that involves a Nike shoe communicating wirelessly with an iPod. The iPhone 3G S will be compatible with the system, which displays real time walking or running statistics.

10. New headphones

The iPhone 3G S will include Apple‘s remote headphones in the sales package. The new headphones have a multi-button remote and volume control keys, as well as a microphone to handle voice calls.

For the latest on the iPhone 3G S check out Apple iPhone.

Google Maps & more: For the first time, developers will be able to create software with maps embedded into it with relative ease. This API will provide the tools, but developers will have to supply their own maps; they won’t be able to use the proprietary ones that are part of Google Maps.

In addition, Apple will start allowing developers to access the iPhone‘s location information to create navigation software with turn-by-turn directions. Bring on TomTom, or Garmin.

Peer-to-Peer Connectivity: This will allow two iPhone‘s or iPod touches to connect to each other over Bluetooth to play head-to-head games. Thanks to this upcoming feature, two devices that are near each other and are both running the same game will automatically seek each other out. While gaming is the most obvious use for this, Apple promised there would be others.

In-App-Purchase: This will allow companies to sell items from within applications. On-device e-book stores is one example, but developers will also be able to sell additional levels for their games. Naturally, this will still be tied to the iTunes App Store, and Apple will get 30% of the revenue.

Cut, Copy & Paste (Finally): Confirming the earlier rumors, iPhone 3.0 will – finally – allow iPhone users to cut & paste and copy & paste. Naturally, the process for selecting text will take advantage of this device’s multi-touch screen. This feature will be available in Apple‘s own software and third-party apps.
And it extends to more than just text. Users will be able to copy images and paste them into an email. You can also Cut, Copy & Paste between different apps, so from Safari to Mail for instance.

MMS, A2DP & more: iPhone 3.0 will also mark the arrival of other features long available in the iPhone‘s competitors, including MMS messaging, Stereo Bluetooth, device search, and voice memos. This should mean you can use already created hands free kits, or bluetooth music devices.
In addition, landscape support is being added to more of the bundled applications.
Apple is also going to release a new SDK (software developer kit) for handling streaming audio and video, including HDTV streaming.

A few other features that speak for themselves:

Forwarding of SMS
Search functionality in all applications like mail and even on an Exchange Server
Spotlight home screen with search
Notes Sync
Whole new set of API’s
New api for streaming video and audio
Use your iPhone to remotely control accessories
CalDAV Support
Updated Stocks app (Streaming news headlines, highs, lows, and PEs. Also a landscape mode)
Shake to Shuffle (iPod Nano feature)
Wifi Auto login
LDAP
iTunes account creation
YouTube ratings
Anti-Phishing
Call Log
Parental Controls
Media Scrubber
OTA Profiles
VPD on Demand
Languages
YouTube Subscriptions
YouTube Accounts
Encrypted Profiles
Tethering
Send/Receive files between devices

You can watch the Apple presentations of the new iPhone 3.o release here.

Thanks to Brighthand.com for some of the information.

I have never walked passed a TV in the shops, and had to step back and take another look, till now that is. This Sony not only looks good on the outside, but the picture quality is amazingly sharp. Watching Blu-Ray on this puppy you can see every flaw, every strand of hair, and every colour. The blacks are deep, and whites are really white and bright. The build quality feels solid too, like it was built to last.

I have hooked up my PS3 to the KDL-40W4500, and might I say the clarity is amazing. Playing games even at 720p looks perfect and at 1080p its unbelievable, colours are vibrant and bright, you can even see the tiniest details. Even normal TV or Sky looks really decent for a big panel. Granted its not HD but it upscales really well.

Sound is great too, not the best I have ever heard but its good none the less.

The MotionFlow 100Hz is a nice option, but one that I will rarely use. I have tried movies on High or 100Hz and it makes them look unreal, and just not right at all. It almost adds in frames that weren’t there in the first place, so lip sync looks a bit off, when its not. The only good thing about using MotionFlow at High would be for sports. Watching normal TV or Movies on Standard MotionFlow looks great. So being able to up the Hz a little bit is a good thing, but going full 100Hz or even the new 200Hz is pointless.

Only downside I have to say,  when your in a dark room and have used the KDL-40W4500 for awhile I noticed there are some light corners. Its noticeable but not off putting. You can also remedy this problem by turning down the Backlight, altho this does not vanish altogether. Another thing some people have been experiencing slight clouding issues, altho I have not, Sony has released this fix for it:

To achieve a high level of performance and picture clarity, Sony utilises a very bright backlight setting. This helps deliver the brightest picture possible, as well as exceptional picture clarity even with the darkest image sources.

However, under certain dark viewing conditions, the setting may cause the screens on some of these televisions to exhibit a slight uneven uniformity, especially for a blank screen with no video source.

This condition is not normally visible under typical viewing situations, such as watching movies or television programmes, and should not affect viewing experience.

Should customers find that this condition affects their viewing enjoyment, we suggest adjusting the following settings to minimise this condition:

1) Setup Menu – select – Light Sensor: ON
2) Setup Menu – select – Power Saving: Low or High
3) Picture Menu — Reduce the Backlight Level eg ‘Standard’ or ‘Cinema
mode’ (Factory Setting = ‘MAX’)

The Sony KDL-40W4500 features:

• BRAVIA ENGINE 2
• DLNA home networking
• USB Photo Viewer
• Picture Frame Mode
• Easy-to-navigate XrossMediaBar to browse TV Functions (Like that on the PS3)
• 24p True Cinema
• Full HD 1080p
• BRAVIA Sync
• 3x HDMI inputs, 1 on the side, 2 at the back
• 2x Scart inputs
• Digital Media Port
• S-Force Front Surround Technology
• Digital Terrestrial Tuner
• Cable Tuner
• MotionFlow 100Hz
• 50,000:1 Contrast