And AgigA Tech makes so-called non-volatile Random Access Memory (RAM) that helps people store and retrieve rapidly changing data far more quickly than the slow-poke disk drive technology that keeps data centers humming.

FORBES: AgigA Tech's Fast, Battery-Free Data Retrieval

Dale Vince said he had built the car to "smash the stereotype of electric cars as something Noddy would drive - slow, boring, not cool".

BBC: Nemesis

That marathon battery life is made possible in part by the slow-spinning 4, 200 rpm 30GB hard drive and low-power (in more ways than one) Core Solo U1300 processor, running at a sprightly 1.06GHz.

ENGADGET: Toshiba updates Dynabooks with new SS S30 and SS M36

But sales in those two countries are likely to be slow until Smart starts making a right-hand-drive version, next year at the earliest.

ECONOMIST: DaimlerChrysler

On the plus side, the services can accept reservations at any time, track their customers' behavior to provide personalized services such as identifying regular customers and their preferences for seating, and use direct-marketing techniques to drive business on slow nights, fill cancellations or offer premium seating.

CNN: Online restaurant reservations really do work

Some of the changes involved in the transformation include exiting its PC and hard disk drive businesses in time for the dramatic slow-down that would take place in those industries.

FORBES: Why Warren Buffett Keeps Buying IBM

Only thing is, data stored on that relatively slow disk drive (instead of flash memory) resulted in "sluggish" screen-to-screen transitions.

ENGADGET: Navman iCN 750 GPS navigator with NavPix reviewed

Even though the new teams are slow, at least he will get to drive and he is a brilliant points-scorer when they are available.

BBC: Behind the scenes at the German GP

Progress, Reuters news agency notes, has been slow on two trademarks of Mr Medvedev's modernisation drive: efforts to create a high-tech innovation incubator at Skolkovo, outside Moscow, and to turn the capital into a global financial centre.

BBC: Profile: Dmitry Medvedev