Death and taxes are said to be unavoidable and, I’m sure, many retailers would add upwards-only rent reviews to the damning list.

Whenever the cycle comes round for renewal, the only constant seems to be the rising trajectory of rents. No matter the economic climate, it always arrives with an Arctic blast. For many it is difficult; for some ruinous.

British business has got shaving margins and rationalising costs down to an Olympic discipline but a rent review can derail a hard-worked strategy and jeopardise future profitability.

It matters not if you are a single-store trader in a promising niche, an expanding business challenging market models or an established concern with collective buying and bargaining power. The review will hit you.

But a radical change needs to sweep down our High Streets to free businesses from the dead-weight of crippling rents.

Many retailers are separated from their landlords by screens of bureaucracy or intermediaries. Six degrees of separation can only be bad.

Landlords, who often own a diverse property portfolio and therefore have little connection with their multiple tenants, need to develop a greater awareness of the impact of rising reviews.

It is now time for landlords to start listening to their tenants.

Failure to do so will only lead to more stores closing and, unlike better trade times, there will not be another client along in a minute. That empty shop will likely remain abandoned and then they will be feeling the pain.

Research has shown that 50 per cent of rents are over-priced because they are long-term deals that have not allowed for the changing economic climate.

The answer is for retailers is to look closely at their fixed property costs and open a dialogue with their landlords and the best route to do that is via third party help.

No-one likes extra costs but a small investment in opening channels will pay great dividends. They will move.

The evidence is clear from recent negotiations that have allowed companies to continue trading when they would have gone bust if nailed with anticipated rent increases. One businessman got a £2 million reduction on his rent roll covering 27 food outlets; another saved three restaurants and 60 jobs via a re-geared contract. A smaller firm got a year rent- free to help it ride the economic waves. It can be done at all points on the business scale.

GAME’s problems came with a £21 million rent liability for its 200 stores. Its store closures may have been inevitable because of its trading make- up but softening that huge rent bill could have given a glimmer of hope.

My advice is to resist running up the white flag when the rent review lands from a distant landlord. Engage with them. Make them understand your business and use someone to negotiate a better deal.

Smart businesses are switching onto this and giving themselves a chance to survive and prosper.

“The Ultrabook is quickly becoming the must-have solution for anyone who wants performance, responsiveness and a secure computing experience in a thin, elegant form factor,” said HP POC client group boss Kirk Skaugen.

At the top end of HP’s new range is the all-metal 13.3-inch Envy Spectre XT, looking like a deadringer for Apple’s MacBook Air (so much so their design chief was pressed on the issue). Less than 15mm thick and armed with Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors, 128GB SSD drive and 4GB of RAM, the Spectre XT is set to deliver up eight hours of battery life.

The HP Envy ultrabook aims at the more substantial end of the market with larger 14 and 15.6-inch screen sizes. The Envy range can be configured with either Sandy Bridge processors or Ivy Bridge, to fit the customer’s budget.

The company also went to the unusual lengths of launching non-ultrabook designs based on AND Fusion APUs, dubbing those devices as HP Envy Sleekbooks. These are also available in the larger screen sizes from 14 to 15.6-inch. Interestingly there’s also Intel-powered versions of those SKUs, offering optional discreet graphics.

As you’d expect, HP is outfitting all the notebook with Beats Audio. The Envy Sleekbooks and ultrabook systems also include a subwoofer so that movies and music can “look and sound their best,” HP said.

The HP Envy Spectre XT will cost US$1,000 when it launches in the US on the 8th of June. The Envy ultrabooks launched immediately priced at US$750 and US$800 for the 14 and 15-inch versions. The 15-inch version of the HP Envy Sleekbook will go for US$600 and launch towards the end of June.

The company didn’t say when they’d arrive in Europe.

The launch effectively means that individuals and companies alike can set themselves up as virtual TV stations using Google’s hefty internet server infrastructure to back them up.

“Today we’re excited to launch Hangouts On Air to Google+ users worldwide. So if you have something to say—as an aspiring artist, a global celebrity, or a concerned citizen—you can now go live in front of a global audience,” said Google engineering director Chee Chew on the official Google blog.

Google users have the capability to live from Google+ hangouts or from YouTube channels. The number of viewers will be displays and Google will automatically upload a recording of the video to YouTube and a relevant Google+ post.

“This way it’s easy to share and discuss your broadcast after it’s over,” said Chew.

Google is also hosting a number of upcoming Hangs On Air such as celebrity chef Jamie Oliver on Food Revolution Day. The Global Poverty Project and US chat show host Conan O’Brien.

Even confectionary maker Cadbury will be running a Hangout On Air from the British Olympic team fundraising party “Our Greatest Team Rises” to kick off at the Royal Albert Hall this Friday.

Google also highlighted some of the recordings of past Hangouts including musician, how-to experts such as chefs and photographers, sporting celebrities and even politicians such as US President +Barack Obama, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

“We can’t wait to see what you’ll share with the world,” Chew concluded.

Among the bugs fixed, iOS 5.1.1 is said to “improves reliability of using HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut.” Also resolved are bugs that stop the third-generation 3G-equipped iPad from switching between 2G and 3G networks.

Apple has also fixed another bug that where users would be greeted with at least one instance of Apple’s trademark infuriatingly uninformative error messages. Apparently now “unable to purchase” will no long appear after a buying something successfully via iTunes.

While none of these might sound sexy enough to prompt Apple gear owners to update, the security fixes are more serious. One of the fixes involves a cross-site scripting vulnerability in the WebKit rendering engine that’s part of the Safari web browser. That flaw came to light in Google’s Pwnium hacker contest earlier this year.

Google also found another WebKit related flaw that also could result in executing malicious code right off a web page, never a good thing. Another URL spoofing security flaw has also been fixed in the update which could be used to make convincing phishing attacks on unsuspecting users.

As usual the iOS update will appear in iTunes and will be offered for download and installation automatically. Settings -> General -> Software Update will also get the update without connecting the device to a host PC or Mac.

The system depends on the Doppler effect, producing inaudible tones between 18 to 22KHz. The microphone picks up the shifted frequencies to sense movement of objects in front of the speakers in a  sonar-like system Microsoft is calling SoundWave.

In a video on Microsoft’s Research website, the researchers showed how it was possible to sense gestures including two-handed gestures. A demonstration even shows one researcher playing a game of Tetris simply by making gestures in front of the laptop.

Another simple but obvious application is turning on a laptop display when a user approaches the device. Microsoft also demonstrated SoundWave and hand gestures working in a noisy environment, showing that the system still worked on a laptop in a coffee shop.

Microsoft presented SoundWave at the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems that took place in Austin, Texas over the last few days. A short paper with more technical details is availablehere (pdf).

Apple has released the iOS 4.3 OS update for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices, adding AirPlay support for third-party applications and a new personal Wi-Fi hotspot feature.

Among the updates is a new Nitro JavaScript engine for the Safari browser which promises much faster performance for web applications. Sunspider benchmarks have since appeared showing a greater than two fold speed boost.

iOS 4.3 gives the iPhone 4 the ability to act as a personal Wi-Fi access point for tethering other Wi-Fi capable devices. The feature counts as tethering so it’s subject to the feature being available per operator and is generally a chargable service.

Other features include AirPlay enabling the transmission of videos from the camera of iPhones and iPhone Touches to Apple TV devices. The enhanced AirPlay support also adds the ability of third party applications to stream content to Apple TV, a feature expected to be greeted with widespread support in iOS media apps.

The update also enables iOS devices to share iTunes collections, with streaming over Wi-Fi from a host PC or Mac negating the need to copy songs to the device.

Owners of older generation iPods and iPhones will sadly lose out with iOS 4.3 being limited to third-generation iPhone Touches and later as well as the iPhone 3GS and later.

The update is now available on iTunes for Apple device owners. Apple has more on the iOS site.

Major notebook manufacturers may delay the launch of tablet devices based on the competetive $499 price of the Apple iPad 2, claims a report.

Apple’s aggressive pricing has apparently left PC notebook vendors with “no room for survival” faced with the prospect of launching higher priced devices, according to a DigiTimes report.

Citing sources within the “notebook players”, the DigiTimes said that expected “tablet PC war” due in April may result in the faster, thinner and lighter iPad 2 having the market to itself.

Apple’s move to discount the first generation iPad to $399 has proved to be particularly problematic with the notebook manufacturers not yet having a product on the drawing board tht can meet the specifications at the same price.

Manufacturers headed back to the drawing board to redesign products, alter specifications and reduce manufacturing costs would result in a delay of up to two months before tablet PCs arrive.

Previously announced models may fail to arrive at all and the delays may mean that the entire non-Apple market struggles to reach 20 per cent market share, according to the report.

Apple is preparing to unveil a second generation iPad at an event next week according to multiple online reports.

The 2nd of March event was initially reported on by AllThingsDigital, claiming ‘several sources’ for the San Francisco unveiling of the iPad 2.

The sequel to Apple’s 15 million selling tablet is widely tipped to be lighter, based on a more powerful system-on-chip, sport a front facing camera and boast some form of improved display, although not as high resolution as initial rumours.

Speculation has mounted on whether Apple CEO Steve Jobs will appear.

Jobs is currently on medical leave while the US tabloid media published photos purporting to show a skeletal Jobs emerging from a Californian cancer treatment center, leading to ghoulish speculation that the Apple chief has just weeks to live.

Following a £30m investment, almost 90 per cent of broadband users in Northern Ireland are set to obtain super fast broadband by next year.

Speeds up to 40mb/s will be available as the firm invests in more than 2,400 fibre broadband cabinets, creating up to 60 jobs in the process the telco said.

The roll out will mean that Northern Ireland will be one of the ‘best connected places in the world’, BT said. 88 per cent of lines to homes and businesses will be linked to the new fibre broadband cabinets.

“This is a great moment in Northern Ireland’s broadband story,” said BT Northern Ireland boss Graham Sutherland.

“High-speed fibre broadband is transformational, it changes how we live, how we educate, how our businesses send their products and ideas around the world.”

The network will be available for any ISP to resell and BT said that thirteen had already signed up to offer access to the fibre network.

A new mystery data connection, rumoured to be included on the iPad 2 and an unannounced new  MacBook Pro, will be capable of ultra fast transfers exceeding 10Gbps.

Named ‘Light Peak’ and developed in co-operatively between Apple and Intel, the new tech will transfer data at twice the speed of the fledgling USB3 connection, which tops out at 4.8Gbps

Although the touted speeds seem excessive, it would reduce the lengthy time required to sync iPods and iPhones with home computers. With syncing a key element in Apple’s mobile devices strategy, such a high-speed port would be a worthwhile investment.

A new MacBook Pro carrying Light Peak is rumoured to be shipping this week. Apple have halted all current orders for the laptop until new models arrive this Thursday, Geek.com reports.

Apple has made no announcement regarding either Light Peak or potential new products.