Looks like Sony are going to miss yet another Christmas with their PlayStation 3 console - in Europe at least. This time it appears to be unable to source sufficient components to meet world-wide demand and so is going to concentrate on the key markets of America and it's home region - Europe misses out again, but then if Europe were to pull it's finger out maybe we'd make some of our own products!

Not only is Sonys position in the gaming market under threat from continued delays but also their hope of getting BluRay established as the next defacto standard high density (HD-DVD) format. Having been on the receiving end of Sony Betamax and numerous attempts by Sony to 'go their own way' (I have a Sony MP3 player that only plays the proprietary ATRAC format) I personally think that's a good thing! I love Sony products, but they win not because of proprietary formats but despite them, which can only work for so long.

What's your view on this? Are you going to hang in there or opt for the XBox 360, or maybe even the Nintindo Wii console?

July has been a great month here at GadgetSpeak. As well as a record number of visitors we also managed to get out a newsletter to all our members. This was the first for a while, but we're hoping to make the newsletter a monthly regular from now on! If you'd like to recieve the newsletter then all you have to do is join - it's completely free and we'd love to have you joining in the fun!

Over the next couple of weeks we're also going to be turning on a weekly 'GadgetSpeak Digest' email. This will be sent automatically to anyone that wants it (members can decide whether they want to get this update independently of getting the newsletter!). The new digest email will include a summary of all the articles that have been published since the previous message was sent, along with a summary of any other new site content like blogs of forum messages.

As you can see from the front-page, the most popular review of July was for the Dell Inspiron 6400, but it looks like mferedays review of the Sony Ericsson K510i could give it a run for it's money this month!

If you're not a member then we'd love to have you sign-up. We want to make GadgetSpeak the place to come and discuss or learn about the world of Gadgets. We can only do that with you.

On a final note - we're always trying to improve GadgetSpeak and find ways of encouraging more of your to come back again and again. We would really like to hear your thoughts on the site, member or not. If there is something we could add that would encourage you to join - what is it?

There are a number of ways you can give feedback:

• If you're a member then you can use our 'feedback' discussion forum
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Even if it's just to say hi, we'd love to hear from you!

Various reports today suggest Tesco is 'reacting to customer demand' and offering VoIP alongside it's traditional fixed line and mobile telecoms products. I've searched through the Tesco site, but haven't found anything either in terms of product or even a news release.

As a very happy Skype customer it'll be interesting to see how Tesco manage to compete and what protocols they are using (hopefully sticking to standards, although I know Skype doesn't!)

Rumour has it that Tesco will be charging more for calls to UK landlines than Skype (2p/min v. 1.2p/min for Skype), but a good deal less for calls to mobiles. Hopefully this will drive Skype to reduce it's rates on mobiles as well. A little competition never did anyone any harm, although I do worry about Tesco dominating yet another market.

All you have to do is pop down to your local Tescos and pick up a 'pack' that includes some credit and a USB phone.

My experience of using 'standard' VoIP products revealed real problems with getting calls through pretty standard retail ADSL routers so it will be interesting to see how Tesco cope with this and how good they are at dealing with the issues. I doubt they are doing this themselves, so it'll be interesting to see who they have partnered with - does anyone know?

Never done a Blog but lets continue my problems with Curry's. I have no doubt that their 'terms and conditions' would cover them for anything or if they don't I would expect others would have found a way of getting them to admit their failings.

In a way I may even have gained from their refusal to deliver my order, albeit at a cost of £30 to me. I purchased a Bosch fridge freezer from a local shop at £30 more but they delivered it for nothing and even put it in place in my kitchen and took all the plastic and foam it was wrapped in away. Best of all I ordered on Thursday and they delivered on Friday.

This was good service the delivery men were polite and all in all I am quite happy.

For anyone wondering what I am on about read the Orders Not Always Accepted in the Discussion Forum on 2/1/06.

Other than the occassional newsletter this is the first chance I've had to write something down and to thank all the members, contributors and readers that make this site.

If you're not a member then please think about joining. With your help we can make this the best community site talking about gadgets!. The techies here are continually improving the site to make it easier for you to have your say. These 'blog' things are the latest innovation. They give any member the opportunity to write down their own views and insights into this genre. Hot gadget gossip is always most welcome of course!

Blogs are only one of the tools we have for members though and are ideal for informal ramblings.

The core information available from the site are our article. Any member can write as many as they want. Most are reviews, although they can be about wider issues facing the gadget industry, such as where the game station market is going. As a guideline, if what you want to write would be suitable for a printed magazine, then make it an article. Think about what you want to say and structure your content. To keep the quality of the site up to the high level it's at right now we review all articles and we ask you to make improvements before publishing.

Finally - we have 'discussion forums'. All topic based. These are most useful where you want to ask a question, or want to start a debate.

Well - I guess almost finally. Finally are our newsletters, which we occassionally write, and which we really hope to write a little more often (the last was back in early 2005!).

So, what does all this cost? Well, very simply nothing in money terms. There is a cost of course - it's a little of your time to join in the debate and keep the community moving forward. Without a good core of active members community sites can't exist, so we need you :-)

If you're already a member then thank you!!! If you're not a member then why not sign up?

Looking forward to your continued support of GadgetSpeak! As I say - any questions, then get in touch!