Windows XP users will have to upgrade by next yearHard-drive changesEven die hard Windows XP users will have to upgrade next year because their favourite operating system can't handle the new generation of harddrives.By early 2011 all hard drives that come onto the market will use an "advanced format" that changes how they go about saving the data people store on them. It will mean that hard drive makers can produce bigger drives that use less power and are more reliable. But it will not run on Windows XP which has a hard-drive formatted into blocks 512 bytes in size.The 512 byte format dates from the days of the floppy and is now hopelessly out of date. David Burks, a product marketing manager for storage firm Seagate said that the fine resolution on hard drives is causing a problem, he said,...

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Rocket man flies on jet-powered wingsMartin Aircraft Company, in Christchurch, New Zealand, aims to make 500 packs a year which will sell for around £50,000.The 200 horsepower dual-propeller packs are the brainchild of inventor Glenn Martin who unveiled his machine for the first time in July last year. Because it weighs less than 254 pounds (115kg) the jet pack does not require a pilot's licence. It is capable of travelling 30 miles in 30 minutes on a full tank of fuel.And recent tests have seen the newest model reach heights of up to 2,400 metres and top speeds of 60mph.But only now has sufficient investment been found for the company to begin...

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