Red Bull Racing’s David Coulthard and ex-Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine will lead two teams of celebrities in a motor sport battle of the sexes to be broadcast on Sky One next month.

‘The Race‘ will involve the celebrities going head-to-head every day for a week at Silverstone, and even living in a purpose built compound at the circuit. Think of it as a racing version of Big Brother.

Former Big Breakfast star and motor racing fan, Denise Van Outen will be the main presenter for ‘The Race’.

The programme will run from November 6th, with the grand final – a Formula Ford race - on Sunday November 12th.

Coulthard and Irvine will captain a girls team and a boys team respectively.

Both will oversee, mentor, and ultimately judge two teams of five girls and five boys competing in a series of daily challenges over a week.

Before any of the celebrities can take part, they will first need to earn their race licence like anyone else by passing an Association of Racing Drivers Schools (ARDS) test.

‘The Race’ will be shown live at 10pm every night on Sky One during the week of competition.

The Girls Team

Captain: David Coulthard
Ms Dynamite (Urban music singer)
Tamara Ecclestone (Presenter and daughter of Bernie)
Jenny Frost (Pop star – ex-member of Atomic Kitten)
Melissa Joan Hart (Actress a.k.a. Sabrina the Teenage Witch)
Ingrid Tarrant (TV personality and travel writer)

Boys Team

Captain: Eddie Irvine
Nigel Benn (Former boxing world champion)
Les Ferdinand (Former England footballer)
Brian Johnson (AC/DC lead singer)
Nick Moran (Actor)
Gary Numan (Electro-pop artist known famously for performing ‘Cars’)

Jack Bauer was last seen, bound and tortured, on a ship headed for China. His life is now the tipping point for US international relations.

So what’s in store for Jack? As the clock ticks closer to the season six premiere in January, the official 24 website is proud to show a special, extended season preview.

Click here to see the trailer

Apple Computers have finally updated their MacBook Pro laptop with the new Merom processor (Intel’s Core 2 Duo).

Two models are available with the standard 15-inch laptop and the larger 17-inch version. Both feature a FireWire 800 port offering faster data transfer. In addition the new MacBook Pros has an improved graphics card from ATI Mobility Radeon X1600.

Prices start around £1,350 or USD $1,900.

More info can be seen on the Apple site

On Saturday the 27th the team behind next-year’s police action/comedy Hot Fuzz will be hosting a stand at the London MCM Expo. The team will sign autographs and host a Q&A with exclusive footage.

Due for release in Feb 2007, Hot Fuzz will be the centre piece attraction at London MCM Expo with 1000’s of giveaways and anincredible display area.

Universal will host a presentation with very special guests. This will truly be a fantastic opportunity for movie fans to get an exclusive look at HOT FUZZ.

eMagi will be there to cover the event on the day. See http://www.londonexpo.com for more details.

Sad news regarding one of our favourite online video game import store. Official press release taken from the site:

Lik-Sang.com, the popular gaming retailer from Hong Kong, has today announced that it is forced to close down due to multiple legal actions brought against it by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sony claimed that Lik-Sang infringed its trade marks, copyright and registered design rights by selling Sony PSP consoles from Asia to European customers, and have recently obtained a judgment in the High Court of London (England) rendering Lik-Sang’s sales of PSP consoles unlawful.



As of today (October 24), Lik-Sang.com will not be in the position to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal. 



A Sony spokesperson declined to comment directly on the lawsuit against Lik-Sang, but recently went on to tell Gamesindustry.biz that “ultimately, we’re trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards, due to voltage supply differences et cetera; is not - in PS3’s case - backwards compatible with either PS1 or PS2 software; will not play European Blu-Ray movies or DVDs; and will not be covered by warranty”.

Lik Sang strongly disagrees with Sony’s opinion that their customers need this kind of protection and pointed out that PSP consoles shipped from Lik-Sang contained genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters that carry CE and other safety marks and are compatible worldwide. All PSP consoles were in conformity with all EU and UK consumer safety regulations.

Furthermore, Sony have failed to disclose to the London High Court that not only the world wide gaming community in more than 100 countries relied on Lik-Sang for their gaming needs, but also Sony Europe’s very own top directors repeatedly got their Sony PSP hard or software imports in nicely packed Lik-Sang parcels with free Lik-Sang Mugs or Lik-Sang Badge Holders, starting just two days after Japan’s official release, as early as 14th of December 2004 (more than nine months earlier than the legal action). The list of PSP related Sony Europe orders reads like the who’s who of the videogames industry, and includes Ray Maguire (Managing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Alan Duncan (UK Marketing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Chris Sorrell (Creative Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Rob Parkin (Development Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited), just to name a few. 



“Today is Sony Europe victory about PSP, tomorrow is Sony Europe’s ongoing pressure about PlayStation 3. With this precedent set, next week could already be the stage for complaints from Sony America about the same thing, or from other console manufacturers about other consoles to other regions, or even from any publisher about any specific software title to any country they don’t see fit. It’s the beginning of the end… of the World as we know it”, stated Pascal Clarysse, formerly known as the Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang.com. 


“Blame it on Sony. That’s the latest dark spot in their shameful track record as gaming industry leader. The Empire finally ‘won’, few dominating retailers from the UK probably will rejoice the news, but everybody else in the gaming world lost something today.”

What a depressing sight. All because of the arrogant attitude from Sony stopping European gamers importing their products before the official release date…

Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish have created an amusing take on David Fincher’s crime thriller Se7en.

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Trust is the personal believe in correctness of something.
It is the deep conviction of truth and rightness, and can not be enforced.
If you gain someones trust, you have established an interpersonal relationship, based on communication, shared values and experiences.

TRUST always depends on mutuality.

This process has been reshaped by the computer industry. Now a microchip does that task for you. The industry calls it “Trusted Computing”…

What has trusted computing got to do with Trust ?

In a trusted computing environment the major goal is to protect as from potential threats. The original trusted computing idea is designed to let YOU decide whats to be considered a threat and whats to be considered as trustworthy.

The industrys interpretation of trusted computing idea looks quite similar aiming at the same, to fight threats and to make computing trustworthier.

The main difference is that YOU CANNOT decide by YOUR OWN, what is trustworthy and what is not. Because they already decided for you.

And they already decided for you and they already decided,
NOT TO TRUST YOU.
So if they don’t trust you, why should you trust them ?

Trusted computing sounds great is it ?

Learn more www.againsttcpa.com

The world’s most popular portable MP3 player, the Apple iPod, celebrates its fifth birthday today.

This particular milestone for the iPod has revolutionized the way we buy and listen to music.

When Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod on October 23rd, 2001, he said: “With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again.”

Indeed, the iPod and Apple’s iTunes Music Store have transformed the music business, sparking a new way for users to legally download music

And with a worldwide sale over 68 million units, it’s amazing to see the popularity of this music player over the last five years.

Japanese electronics manufacturer Sony has said it will use the “full scope of the law” to block the importing of PlayStation 3s into Europe before its official release.

The much-anticipated games console goes on sale in America and Japan next month but is not out in Europe until 2007.

Last week a British judge ruled that Hong Kong import/export firm Lik-Sang could not sell the Japanese version of Sony’s handheld PSP in Europe.

The case sets a precedent for would-be importers of PlayStation 3 consoles.

A spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) said: “The law is clear, and grey importing PS2, PSP or PS3 into the EU, without the express permission of SCEE is illegal.

“Therefore, we will utilise the full scope of the law to put a stop to any retailers who chose to do this.”

Bad news for European gamers who originally planned to import the next generation console this year…

Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has revealed he was “close to death” after he crashed in a jet-powered car.

The 36-year-old had been driving a 300 mph jet-powered dragster when it veered off course at Elvington airfield, near York, in September.

Hammond was then taken to hospital for a treatment at Leeds General Infirmary.

The father-of-two has described in the Daily Mirror newspaper how he was “utterly terrified” and had a “50/50″ chance of surviving the accident.

He said: “Doctors use a points system. Fifteen is normal, three is a flatline. I was a three. I was that close to being dead.”

“It was 50/50 what was going to happen. I may have been dead, I may not have woken up.”

The accident happened as Hammond was attempting a land speed record as he was being filmed.

Hammond told the newspaper he still did not know “what went wrong”.

At one point, the surgeons had considered drilling a “bore hole” into his head to drain the blood from his brain to relieve the swelling, but the operation was not deemed necessary.

His severe injury reduced him to a “child-like state” in which he became obsessed with Lego, which he said helped him recover.

He suffered short-term memory loss, became disorientated and also endured “excruciating” pain, for which he was prescribed morphine.

Hammond, nicknamed “Hamster”, went on to describe his wife Mindy, also 36, as “a rock” who had kept calm throughout his ordeal.

However, he spoke of his heartache at witnessing his eldest daughter Izzy, six, cry as she and her sister Willow, three, left the hospital after visiting him.

The BBC has confirmed that Hammond had signed a two-year contract before his accident.

A spokeswoman said: “The contract pre-dates the accident.”

She said the corporation could not confirm the return of Top Gear or any other future projects until it had received an update on Hammond’s progress.

Read Hammond’s exclusive interview here