Richard Branson has launched his mothership, a craft that will soon launch the first space tourists into the atmosphere. The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft which is named after Branson's mother is capable of reaching a height of 50,000ft. The first passengers are likely to be launched into space in around 18 months time but there is currently no set launch date as safety tests still need to be carried out. More than 250 customers have already paid a $200,000 deposit to be among the first space tourists.

Britain's first eco nightclub has opened in London. The night club offers free entry to cyclists and walkers. It also has its own wind turbines and solar energy systems. The venue has air flush waterless urinals and low flush toilets. It sells all of its drinks in polycarbon cups and has a high tech dance floor that generates its own electricity when people dance on it.

I was looking around for some gift ideas and found this website that sells silver jewellery. They are based in the UK but can ship items all over the world. The interesting thing about their range of jewellery is that the items are not available on the high street. They are sourced directly from the jewellery makers in Thailand and sold through the keysilver website. As they are not available at any larger retailers and are not produced in large quantities  you can you can find something a little more unusual and exclusive.

Their range includes silver bracelets and bangles, silver necklaces and silver pendants. All of their items are stamped with a quality mark of 925 to indicate the purity of the silver and most items are available for shipping within 24 hours. I particularly liked their range of silver bracelets especially the silver star bracelet (pictured) which costs £15.00. Many of the items also have matching necklaces and all items are sent packaged in an organza jewel bag so are great to send as gifts. They currently offer free shipping within the UK on orders of £10.00 or more and they offer a 14 day money back guarantee. Its certainly worth bookmarking this website for future use especially as they are adding new products all the time.

Asda have launched a mobile phone that costs just £5 making it Britain's cheapest pay as you go mobile phone. The available models including the Nokia 1112, Sagem My212x, Sagem My220x and Sagem My150x on a number of tariffs from Virgin, T Mobile and Orange. Over 50,000 handsets went on sale last Friday at Asda stores across the UK.

This is an interesting idea, a suit that can be worn and washed in the shower. It is made from fast drying Australian merino wool and is designed for the Asian market. It is aimed primarily at businessmen who are required to wear a suit in the humidity of an Asian summer. At the end of the day all you need to do is hose the suit down in the shower and hang it up to dry. It regains its shape and is ready to wear again the next morning without the need for dry cleaning.

Without our Dyson vacuum cleaner our house would just be completely covered in pet hair all the time. It’s great for cleaning all the fur off the sofas, and an invaluable piece of kit to have around the house if you, like us have four cats. It can, however, be a little bulky for carrying up the stairs and cleaning the car so I was interested to see that Dyson now do a compact version called the Dyson DC16. It is designed to be handheld and easily portable and is also bagless and like the bigger version is well suited to picking up pet hair. The advantage with this smaller version, however is that it can easily fit into all the gaps that its bigger brother can’t quite reach and is also great for cleaning the car as you don’t need to worry about trailing wires outside.

The Sat Nav trolley could soon be coming to Britain. The device will help shoppers by guiding them around the store to the items they want to buy. It will also suggest recipe ideas based on the food that you put into them. The trolley is made by Media Cart in conjunction with Microsoft and could be in UK supermarkets by 2009. It will also be able to download your shopping list and plot the quickest route around the store, depending on what you want to purchase. The trolleys are fitted with a location device so they know where in the store, they can they work out what the best route is from the current location to the product the customer requires. It seems like an interesting idea, I wonder how well they work in practice.

PC2Paper have just launched their virtual printer. The product has launched initially at a beta version but if early indications are anything to go by, it should make sending a letter from your computer much easier. Previously you had to log in and go through the process of uploading your letter or writing it online. The virtual printer, however, acts just like a desktop printer. Once you have installed it you simply select the PC2Paper printer option from your list of printers, add the address you want the letter to go to and choose your print options from the different types of paper and formats available. Then just enter your user name and password and the letter is automatically transferred to PC2Paper who take care of the printing and posting for you. What a great idea.

Weather balloons could be used to provide mobile phone and broadband services to rural Britain. An American company called Space Data has already used small phone masts attached to balloons to provide wireless internet access to remote areas. The group has supplied military and commercial clients for four years but is now preparing to link with broadband companies to offer services to residential customers. Space Data has patented the service in 41 countries and is now considering the US as a potential market. The service uses a small transceiver attached to a balloon which then rises to an altitude of 30,500m after it has been released. The company says that one balloon can beam a signal to an area equivalent to 80 mobile phone towers. The service does have one drawback, the balloons only last for 24 hours before bursting which means a constant supply has to be released to maintain the connection and the radio equipment on the burst balloon has to be retrieved by a team using location devices.

T-Mobile and Orange are to launch a new service that will give customers a live TV service on their mobile phone. They aim to start a trial service in west London in the summer. They plan to broadcast 24 TV channels and 10 digital radio stations although have not yet said what sort of tariff customers would pay for the service. The service will offer both conventional TV channels and some premium channels.

A new car has been unveiled by the Indian buyers of Jaguar that costs only £1,250 making it the world’s cheapest car. It has no air conditioning, no power steering, no passenger side mirror and only one windscreen wiper but it big enough to carry four people. Called the Nano its makers hope that it will make motoring accessible to millions of Indians who can’t currently afford a car. The car measures ten foot long and five foot high and is powered by a two cylinder petrol engine. It has a top speed of 65mph and does 50 miles to the gallon.

Nintendo have launched two new DS Lite bundle packs in time for Christmas. They come in a choice of gold or metallic pink. The gold console comes with The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass whilst the pink console comes with Nintendogs. They will be launched in the US on the 23 November with a UK release date to be confirmed later.

I found this website the other day that specialises in natural skincare. They specialise in skincare and beauty products that are usually found in spas, department stores and doctors offices. As well as offering well know brands they also offer their own product line which includes their exclusive skin dimensions products. The products include acne care, anti aging products and moisturisers. They also have a range of gift ideas including a great coffeeberry antioxidant kit which would be great for that post Christmas detox programme. They offer free ground shipping within the US and you also get free samples with every order. 

Sony is going to launch a third generation model of its PS2. The new model will be a lighter version of the current design. It will be the same size but will weigh only 720g compared to the current model which weighs 850g. The new version will also include the AC power brick. The launch appears to be part of Sony’s plan to sell 12 million PS2 consoles by March 2008. The new version will come in a choice of white, silver or black and will cost the same as the current model.

There are lots of ways that you can cut your energy bills. Small things like loft insulation and insulated glass windows can amount to real savings over the course of the year. I was reading about double pane glass the other day called Heat Mirror Insulating glass. What it does is combine two air spaces to help block heat flow and provide higher insulation than ordinary glass. This helps cut down on emissions and helps reduce heating and cooling loads, saving energy. It also helps to block around 99% of the suns UV radiation so can help prevent furniture from fading and sun damage.

If you are looking around for an unusual gift you might want to have a look at this site that sells Funny Vanity Plates. They have a large range of plates to suit almost anyone. You can choose a design from some of their more popular plates and customise it with your own text or alternatively you can use the novelty and picture builder to create your own design. You can also add badges, slogans, surrounds and backgrounds to the plate.

If you want to customise your own plate then you can do that do. You can choose which background you want from a number of popular designs including popular football clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and less popular football clubs like West Ham, or if you prefer you can simply leave the background blank. You can also customise the font by selecting a typeface, colour and size and entering your own text. If after you have customised the plate you can’t get it quite how you want it then you can also upload an image of your design with your order and describe which parts of your design you want to appear on the plate. They guarantee to dispatch your order within 1 working day and delivery is either next working day by courier or Royal Mail Recorded Delivery.

I read this article about a computerised pillow designed to stop snoring. The pillow is attached to a computer which analyses snoring noises, it then reduces or enlarges compartments within the pillow to help nasal airflow and minimise snoring. I wonder what it does with a really bad case of snoring that it can’t stop; maybe it gives up and suffocates the user…Job done.

Sony is going to launch a new add-on to the Playstation 3 which will allow people to watch digital channels and record TV. The service is similar to the current Sky + service and is called PlayTV. It is due to go on sale early next year. It will include the current freeview channels and well as the high definition channels when they become available. Users will be able to store programmes on the hard drive and watch them via Sony’s PSP portable games console. It is not yet known how much the service will cost, but Sony have said there will not be a monthly fee.

I remember seeing the Trunki on Dragons Den a while ago. The idea is that is a kind of ride on suitcase for children. At the time the Dragons described the idea as worthless but the inventor has gone on to make his product a success without their help. He has now sold 85,000 of his suitcases. It is marketed in 22 countries and is a top seller at John Lewis, Mothercare, Fenwick and Debenhams. It is nice to see that that sometimes the small business man can make it even without the Dragon's help.

Japanese researchers have developed a table and chairs set that can change colour. The furniture has sensors embedded in and can work out the colour of items that are placed on it. They work by bouncing red, green and blue off of objects and recording which hues are reflected. An Apple Mac inside the table then sends wireless messages to the stool which project light to match the colour of the object on top.