After years of not taking technology particularly seriously, it seems car manufacturers have finally woken up to the potential of the hi-tech automobile. And while the Google self-driving car has grabbed all the headlines the truth is virtually every new car has some level of automation to make our lives easier – and potentially safer.

Last week I test drove the latest Audi A4 which has both safety features to avoid obstacles in the road – including pedestrians and obstacles – as well as state of the art information and entertainment features. Smart phone integration is becoming particularly important it seems so that our text messages can be read out to us as we drive and so we can access music from Spotify and from our devices too.

This week I will also pay a visit to Renningen in Germany to check out Bosch’s R&D facilities. Here some of the latest connected car technologies will be revealed to international press for the very first time. Full report to follow on Tech Digest later this week.

In this piece for FIPP I talk to the digital newsstands about how they work with publishers to monetise their content online through their digital editions.

Among the questions I ask are should publishers be adding more enhanced pages or should they stick with ‘replica editions’?

Also I look at why digital editions often fail to capture people’s imaginations and why people are generally less interested in the brand online.

http://www.fipp.com/news/features/how-to-win-with-digital-editions

I’m currently researching my latest big piece on the future of personal transport – an area that seems to be moving incredibly quickly. Quite literally. Earlier this week, Ford announced at Mobile World Congress, it was getting in on the electric bike market with two new prototype foldable models. However, it’s one of a number of companies in this space, many of which are lighter on their feet and producing much more exciting vehicles already.

Particularly interesting is Jivr bike who my company, Sutro Digital, has started working with. They are currently getting a project together to raise further funds to mass produce a foldable electric bike that really looks the business. What’s particularly interesting is that it will incorporate some of the latest ‘connected vehicle’ features so it can communicate with your smartphone via an app, even provide you with discount vouchers for shops you pass en route to your destination. Nor is this the only solution around. In Europe it seems there are also some exciting projects, including personal electric scooters such as this folding electric scooter from Stigo which really looks fun – see YouTube video below.

I only hope I get to try out some of these products around town over the coming weeks!

Must admit I wasn’t sure about this one when I accepted the commission. Thought audio was a bit geeky and that no one is interested in digital quality sound are they? Turned out I was wrong. I interviewed some very interesting, passionate people about digital streaming services and I think they have a point. We should be getting much better quality sound than we are – given that digital audio quality has actually fallen in the last five years while picture quality continues to improve.

http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2015/02/digital-audio-revolution.html

Work has been quite busy recently with The Telegraph having commissioned me to write a load of online articles on behalf of EE. I really can’t complain.

Hopefully people will find these practical articles useful. There’s one on how to make your smartphone battery last longer,  one on what to do if your company’s website has been hacked (with the somewhat scary picture above) and one on the latest gadgets you need for business travel. Bon Voyage!

Many people have reported that Google Glass is dead and buried. In fact it’s still very much alive and kicking in the medical industry and is one of a number of smart glasses solutions that many companies are look at. Nor is it just in the medical industry either. Smartglasses are also gaining popularity in warehouses where they can be used for checking stock etc. You can read my feature on wearable tech in the workplace here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/technology/4g-mobile/machine-to-machine/11390690/google-glass-enterprise.html

Uber’s Pritesh Chandarana (above) talks about the company’s 4G partnership with EE and the importance of reliability. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/technology/4g-mobile/engaging-customers/11366554/digital-technology-uber.html