Today sees Microsoft launch Windows Phone, not as you may think a ‘phone’ but the operating system to power and control it.

It will apparently be available on almost all of the major handsets (with the exception of Nokia) I have seen it demoed by one of the top Microsoft people in the UK. However the real test will be when handsets become available to test in the outside world.

It is all about third party applications some will be free but other will be payable, however Microsoft promise that every application will have a trial period and should that application not do what you want they guarantee that the vendor will repay your money during that trial time.

More information and handset reviews as and when available.

For those of you unfamiliar with Bletchley Park, and surely there must be less such people with each passing day, this place was arguably the birthplace of much of the technology behind many of the gizmos we review here on GadgetSpeak. During the war Bletchley housed the brains that broke the German Enigma code and did much to shorten the duration of the war.

Situated just outside Milton Keynes the Bletchley Park mansion stands proudly amongst the remnants of the former war-time huts that housed such luminaries as Alan Turing. In complete secrecy teams of highly skilled mathematicians worked here on breaking the war time coded messages flowing between elements of the German army. The codes were complicated and the need to break them urgent. As in many previous times the urgency of war fired human creativity to drive advances in electronic and mechanical engineering that would form the foundation of the modern computer. The same basic concepts you'll find now shrunk many thousands of times in your phone, media player or computer.

That was then. After the war the secrets were kept - on Churchills direct orders everything that could give away the part Bletchley played in the war was destroyed and those that worked there sworn to secrecy. It wasn't until the mid '70s that the story of Bletchley was told and the achievements of those involved became clear.

Despite plans in the early '90s to demolish the site to make way for a housing development, Bletchley survived. Just. Time has now played it's part and the mansion and the huts are crumbling. Various avenues of funding have been followed only to be denied. After a vociferous campaign including petitions to government, questions in the Lords and the support of notable celebrities the Heritage Lottery Fund today announced an initial funding of £500,000 pounds. £10m is required to restore the site and to ensure it's future as a world heritage and educational centre.

For all you Gadget fans out there Bletchley is a brilliant place to visit. The site plays host to the National Museum of Computing. For those of you that remember a time before the Apple Mac and the IBM PC you'll be able to see examples of the myriad of weird and wonderful machines that led them.There are 50 different 'personal computers' on display including iconic UK machines such as Sinclair ZX80 (I still have mine in the loft), BBC micro and the Dragon 32. From further afield you'll find a Commodore PET and a Tandy/Radio Shack TRS80.

For those that like their computers BIG you can gaze at a PDP-8 mini and and ICL 2900 along with a recently acquired and currently being rennovated Harwell Dekatron Computer - apparently the world's oldest complete computer.

Want to help?

If you're reasonably local or are visiting the area then do take the opportunity to visit and show your support. I you have any interest in technology you'll have a highly enjoyable day.

If you want to help the Bletchley Trust raise the funds it needs to keep the site going then you can make a donation on their site. They also have a great range of gift ideas from their shop that could just be perfect for someone you know!

You can follow Bletchley's progress by following them on Twitter.

The latest in Pioneers NavGate range of in-car systems, the AVIC-F310BT provides GPS navigation, entertainment and communication into a single package. To deter those with light fingers Pioneer have taken a tip from traditional in-car stereo systems by making the front fascia removable, which can then be dropped into a bag or hidden somewhere secure in the car.

The detachable screen has another advantage though. Take it indoors and attach it to your computer via a USB cable and you can analyse your journeys via a downloadable PC application available from the Pioneer site. In these days of escalating fuel prices the system will even provide you with an 'Eco Report' - where you're driving style will be taken apart for you (scary for those with a heavy right foot!).

The system comes pre-configured with maps for 44 European countries, which Pioneer claim is ten more countries than other vendors. I've definitely lost track of the number of countries in Europe, I'm pretty sure I can't think of 44 let alone 34!

The display and main control of the system is via a 4.3" WQVGA touch sensitive LCD panel. In navigation mode this will provide you with optionally 2D or 3D route information complete with directions using street names.

Given this is Pioneer as you'd expect some considerable attention has been taken with audio quality. The built in 50Wx4 amplifier should provide you with clear, crisp and powerful sound, assuming you've equipped your vehicle with suitable speakers! As well as CD playback you can also attach your iPod or iPhone via a cable. As far as I can tell no support for Bluetooth A2DP profile though for other media which would have allowed standard support for a wide range of media players and phones.

Bluetooth support is included to support phone operation giving you a hands free operation and allowing you to leave the phone in your pocket.

Pioneer offer a number of car mounting options a number allowing you to simply replace your factory fit audio system with the NavGate.

Official price for this Pioneer NavGate AVIC-F310BT is currently £649.99 although I note that it is available from Amazon for £569.45 including delivery.

You can find more details, although not full technical specs, on the Pioneer web-site:

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/navgate

Image Courtesy of Apple

Hot on the heals of yesterdays news that Orange are to ship the Apple iPhone 3Gs we have news that Vodafone are to follow suit. You'll have to wait a little longer though - Vodafone won't be shipping until after Christmas. If you are a Vodafone customer though you can register your interest on-line. Orange expect to ship before Christmas.

In both cases this leaves around a three month delay before you can lay your hand on the iPhone. What impact will this have on the mobile market? Are you likely to delay signing up for a new contract until the iPhone is available? Could these announcements keep you loyal to your current provider?

Of course this does leave T-Mobile customers looking a little out in the cold.... but then again there's always tomorrow for yet another announcement.

Share your thoughts on the how this is likely to shake up the mobile market in the coming months by leaving a comment below!

Image Courtesy of Apple

O2's strangle hold on the supply of the much sought after Apple iPhone appears to be nearing an end with the announcement that Orange are to also ship the product iPhone 3Gs. No date has thus far been announced but interested Orange customers can register their interest now.

So... what does this mean to the average Joe? For a start Orange customers can stop looking enviously at every iPhone being flaunted by O2 customers walking down the street. They will also no longer need to make excuses like "Well - I prefer the [add your own phone] over the iPhone - it's just a gimmick".

There's also a chance the price might come down. The minimum contract for a free iPhone on O2 at the moment is £44 per month. As cool as the iPhone is, it doesn't actually do anything many other phones haven't done for a good while, and often done better (I'll be reviewing my new and rather cool Sony Ericsson W995 shortly :-).

What do you think? Are all you Orange customers going to be beating down the door at your local shop to join the cool brigade - or are you going to snub the Apple product because they snubbed your favourite mobile operator? Comments below!

Of course our MP3 players can be used for much more than music. Here's a great CD for those who want 25 minutes of relaxation at the end of a busy day. On your journey home, or relaxing in bed, listen to the soothing voice off hypnotherapist Georgia Foster on her CD Ultimate Unwind. Designed to induce a hypnotic state, this CD can help you to feel more positive, to release tension and to enter a deep relaxation.

You can download (£9.99) or buy the CD (£13.99) from www.spacetobe.co.uk.

Remember Bubbly Bubble Gum? Barley Sugar (my great-grandmas favourite)? Fruit Salads chews? Mint Humbugs? Aniseed Balls? I could go on... and on!

This isn't quite the same as your youth where you'd stare wide eyed at the rows of sweet jars at the local newsagent. Not quite the same as finally watching the nice shop keeper weigh out 2oz of your favourite sugary treat. Not quite the same as handing over the remnants of your pocket money in ½p, 1p and 2p coins.

The prices might have gone up and the personal touch a little lacking but for those unfortunate souls that no longer have a proper local sweet shop "A Quarter Of" can still bring back memories!

Right now they have have some of the last remaining stocks of paper-tube Sherbet Fountains - you know the environmentally friendly decomposable tubes that would often start to decompose as you made your way through the contents! They have a form where you can register your protest against this monstrous change to this valued institution!

Of course if you still have a local sweet shop - keep using it!

Vodafone have put together the first real-time music top 40 using Twitter to cast votes.

If you hear something you like all you have to do is tweet the hash-tag #RealTimeTop40 (if you don't tweet then that will mean nothing to you!) with the name of the artist and the track. Your vote will be automatically counted.

Of course voting is only half the story - you need to see what's currently popular. Vodafone have a special web-site for this : http://www.realtimetop40.com/

The results change as you watch. Looking at it now Patrick Swayze is number one with "She's Like the Wind". You can also vote your favourites up the list by clicking the Vote for This button which takes you to twitter with the tweet already filled in for you.

If you take a look at the GadgetSpeak twitter feed you'll see my vote for Pink - Please Don't Leave Me :-)

Naturally you can buy the tracks from Vodafone's on-line music store!

Obviously there are still a few people out there that don't use Twitter.... aren't there?

Microsoft has announced that the much heralded new operating system, Windows 7, will be available for pre-order by UK university students for a special reduced price of £30 from 30 September.

To coincide with the start of the new academic year, cash-strapped university students will be able to pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit and 64-bit) or the further enhanced Windows 7 Professional (32-bit and 64-bit) from a special website at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/studentoffer  ahead of the official launch on 22 October this year. This offer is ideal for students who are not planning to buy a new PC but want to experience Windows 7 on their existing Windows XP or Windows Vista PC.

Offer available to any student with a .EDU email address, offer valid till January 3 2010.

There's been plenty of rumours around a new Internet table computer from Apple - described possibly as a larger form factor iPod Touch. Archos have just announced their own product in this space - the Archos 5 Internet Tablet, and being from Archos it supports just about every media option you could want: audio, video, photos, FM radio and games to name a few.

Advances in technology allow more to be packed in less, and this is the case with the new Archos product. There are two variants, one providing hard disk storage between 160 and 500GB, the other flash based with between 8 and 32GB - the hard-disk version being slightly thicker and at 286g slightly heavier. Front dimensions are about 14x8cm about the same size as my Casio scientific calculator and so easily held in one hand. The display is a 4.8" touch sensitive 800x480 pixel TFT LCD panel that takes most of the front space.

Behind the scenes this device is one of a growing number of products now powered by Googles Android software, which in turn is a derivative of the open source Unix lineage - much as Apples OSX. A flexible, efficient full feature operating system which can be seen from the wealth of software shipped with the product.

802.11 b/g/n provides Internet access where available and Bluetooth will connect you with wireless headphones or other suitable devices. A built in FM transmitter will allow this product to play-back through your cars stereo system.  For those situations where you don't have wireless access or want to provide bulk transfer you can connect via USB 2.0.

The system includes GPS and with the large display there's a good chance this could be an all-in-one solution for media and navigation in the car.

This Archos certainly looks impressive on paper - we'll bring you a full review when we manage to lay our hands on a sample!

Pricing from Amazon has a 30GB flash version for £244.77 and the 250GB hard-drive variant at £252.30, both including VAT and delivery. You can see other options here.

Full details are available on the Archos web-site.