Paul Smart sat down today with Aaron Powers from Vyke to talk about their new 'FreeTxT' service. The concept behind this new service for your mobile phone is to reduce the cost of texting (SMS messages). Rather than be bound to your service providers tariff for messaging your friends, your install a little Java applet called VykePro (There is a VykeLite as well - but parts of the Vyke site suggests this does not support SMS - while other parts say it does!).

Once you've installed the applet you use that to send SMS messages instead of the usual phone application. If you are messaging another user that has the Vyke application installed and happens to be online the service is 'free' (see below). If the person is not online or doesn't have Vyke then your message is sent to the recipients usual SMS inbox, for which you will be charged 3p.

The Vyke application exchanges data with the Vyke servers via your mobiles data service. This is often not a cheap operation and there is no indication of the amount of data that will be sent - so although Vyke will be charging you a maximum of 3p per text - you need to understand how much your service provider is charging you for data. This should still represent a saving for most people on Pay-as-you-go.

Paul will of course be putting the FreeTxT service through it's paces in the coming weeks and we'll have a full report!

In the meantime you can read what Vyke have to say about FreeTxT (which is currently in Beta testing) on their web site

OK - it doesn't quite think. This new range of training shoe though does include some hi-tech enhancements you won't find in the average footwear. Much of the technology is in the right hand shoe.

To start with the sole of that shoe includes a sensor that can measure both how fast you're moving and how much weight you're pushing down through your shoe. Of course sensing that is one thing - you then have to do something with the information. This is handled by a small controller with an LCD display that's mounted on the top of the shoe (over the laces).

The controller combines the sensor information with vital stats such as your age, weight, height, gender that you enter when you configure the device. From this the system accurately calculates the number of calories you're burning during your exercise.

The manufacturers, Airun, claim that watching your calorie burn has several benefits. Firstly you can make sure you're burning enough calories to maintain, or attain your desired fitness level. Secondly you can see how your calorie burn increases as you get fitter.

If you do plateaux then the shoe has an additional trick up it's sleeve - weighted inner soles. Two are provided, a light option at 100g and a heavy one at 588g. When combined with the weight of the trainer this will give you almost 1Kg per foot. I must admit that as a runner I'm not sure about the idea of lifting that much additional weight with each step, but it would definitely increase the amount of energy you burn.

This technology does come at a price though - the recommended retail price being £125.

Do they work? I haven't tried them so right now have no idea (of course, any readers that have a pair, please leave your comments below!).The concept certainly sounds interesting for those people that enjoy minutely watching their performance, that need the additional motivation of knowing they are doing themselves a lot of good, or simply wish to know when they have successfully burnt of that cream tea!

If I'm feeling up to it and manage to lay my hands on a pair I'll report back with a full review (wish me luck!).

More details on the Airun web-site

The PSP with its outstanding screen was made with video in mind. First came video on UMD, yet another proprietary format from Sony that never really caught on. Then you had the ability to download your own video clips, originally at a crippled resolution - but with more recent firmware releases at full device resolution. For those in the know it's a fairly simple process to copy your own DVDs onto a memory stick to watch on the move.

Sky have now teamed with Sony to provide the PSP with it's first official video download service - called Go!View. It's to be launched this summer. Details are a little scant right now - but it looks interesting. From the press release it appears you'll have to download video to your PSP via your PC - which would be a pity given the PSP is perfectly capable of connecting directly to the Internet.

Go!View joins a range of Go! branded services and products to go along with your PSP. Details of some of these are available on the following site :

    http://www.gopspgo.co.uk

Not much there on Go!View right now - but you can register your email address so you're the first to get details.

We're hoping to take a closer look at what seems to be a very interesting product and we'll of course bring you a full review.

We were intrigued to see this small self-contained USB memory stick - as you can see the size of a paperclip. We've reviewed other small memory cards, but these often require inserting into an adaptor. Not quite as small as an atom - this tiny memory card is available in 1, 2, 4 and 8G byte variants.

The little hoop allows you to thread it onto a lanyard or otherwise secure what would undoubtedly be a very easy to misplace peice of technology.

Do memory sticks need to be this small? What do you think?

I reviewed this product a little while ago (black version) and found it to be excellent - and at a very good price. I've just been told that Comet are offering the Silver one for a further £30 discount until the 8th November. At £149.99 for a 160Gbyte PVR - that has to be very good value for money.

Here's the link to the page on Comet - all you have to do is to remember to type HUMAX30 into the promotional code box once you've added it to your shopping basket. Be quick though - this offer ends on the 8th of November!

Now - you and I both know that youTube, FaceBook and MyPlace are all legitimate business tools for generating contacts. You and I both know that - but some of us don't have an enlightened boss that understands yet how the modern world works. Finding you searching FaceBook for potential customers he or she is quite likely to quietly take you to one side and explain how your advanced, state of the art business skills are no longer required and introduce you to the large uniformed gentleman standing nearby, who will escort you from the building.

For people in this position an ideal aid arrived on our desk this week - a special Panic Button.

Simply plug this wee device into a spare USB port on your computer, install the accompanying software and when the boss appears - press the BIG RED BUTTON. Hey-presto, up pops a very traditional and business like spreadsheet. If spreadsheets aren't suitable you can create your own work-like desktop. £9.99 for job security - must be a bargain!

There is of course a serious reason why this invaluable tool dropped through our letter box. It's made by a company called 'Bluw'. They've been distributing their products successfully through a number of traditional gadget outlets in the UK for some time - products like the Panic Button, Finger Drums, Boxing Grannies and Desktop Girlfriend.

They've now launched their own on-line retail outlet at http://www.bluw.co.uk. If you're really stuck for that perfect, light-hearted gift for your office Santa's Sack then you might want to take a look.

Nero 8 was released about a week ago. I've not used Nero for a while and the last version I used camme with a DVD writer I bought. We'll have a full product review of Nero 8 shortly, but for now, first inpressions!

First of all - this product does a lot, introducing itself as the worlds best selling 'digital multimedia suite'. The latest version builds on the success so far, adding support for both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD along with integration with several on-line video sharing services including thei own 'My Nero'.

Functions include media playback, media creation and data backup and restore. For those of you without Windows Media Center or Vista Ultimate, Nero 8 includes a Media Center equivalent called 'Nero Home'.

For anyone that's used Nero in the past and found it difficult to find their way around, it's claimed this version has put a lot of effort into ease of use. Personally I still found a number of inconsistenciee, probably the result of disparate development teams for the various elements of the suite.

Because this application does so much a front-end application is provided - called 'StartSmart' that provides a task orientated interface with the intention of driving the inexperienced or occassional user to the correct part of the application based on what they want to do.

There are a few glaring ommissions - for example I found it impossible to generate a 'Flash Video' file, which is a popular format for on-line video publication.

At £49.98 from Amazon (RRP closer to £60) you get a lot of functionality for the price!

We'll have a full review shortly!

Update : Read the full review here.

We all love our latest gadgets and gizmos, but these days the environment is always in the news and is something for which we should all try and do our bit. There are plenty of little things we can do - as we're often told - unplug products rather than leave them in standby, replace incandescent bulbs with low-energy fluorescent. How much does that save though? It's difficult to know.

A new product arrived on our mat yesterday that aims to put your efforts into perspective. It's called the OWL. Being a little different from the usual gadgets we have I was keen to have a play, so avoiding what I should be doing I took a closer look.

There are two components - a sensor and a display. The two communicate wirelessly and the display is big enough to see across the room, and reacts in real-time. You can display your usage in KW (bit abstract, but think about 100W light bulbs), Kg of CO₂ or, if you really want to know, enter your tariff and see how much money you're burning each hour. Unless you've done everything you can to reduce your consumption be prepared for a shock - we were!

This little gadget is going to have a more thorough test over the next few weeks and we'll bring you a full review! In the mean time if you'd like more information pop over to the OWL web site.