During this year’s Golden Globe awards ceremony, America’s technology giant and sponsor of the Golden Globe event Microsoft introduced new series of commercials under a new tagline: ‘Be What’s Next’. As a long-time sponsor of the event, Microsoft had ability to bring its ads to the viewers during the broadcast. But what’s special about this year’s ad series is that the newly-unveiled spots directly reference the context of the Globes by showcasing future actors who talk about their commitment to their dream of pursuing the career of an actor.

Using the cutting-edge 3d slow motion technology, MINI, the European elite car manufacturer, has produced a two-minute video ad that will debut in US movie theatres with the world rollout following soon.

The video is dubbed ‘MINI vs Monster’ and sees a huge monster truck jumping as long as 15.52 meters over the Mini car family standing motionless on the stadium: MINI Cooper Convertible, MINI Cooper Clubman, MINI Cooper S and MINI Cooper S Countryman.

Electrolux is announcing a new round of its annual global competition, which is created to find and support the emerging talents in the area of the home appliances design. Electrolux Design Lab 2011 is encouraging industrial design students and recent graduates in this area to submit their works for a chance to a six-month paid internship plus prize money and have their developments on the avant garde of the global technical progress. This year, the contestants that have not started working in the field are asked to present solutions revolving around the ‘intelligent mobility’ theme and reflecting the company’s commitment to ecological technologies coupled with perfect design.

On January 6, Apple® opened the Mac® App Store℠ with more than 1,000 free and paid apps. The Mac App Store brings the revolutionary App Store experience to the Mac, so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes® account, download and install them in just one step. The Mac App Store is available for Snow Leopard® users through Software Update as part of Mac OS® X v10.6.6.

Nike and TomTom have collaborated to create the Nike+ SportWatch GPS. The new running watch, unveiled on January 5 at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show, will provide athletes with the most dynamic and motivational running experience in the world thanks to its unique functionality, beautiful design, and direct connection to www.nikeplus.com, the world’s leading running community with almost 4 million members.

To demonstrate the performance capabilities of its new the 2nd Generation Intel Core i5 processor presented to public at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, Intel has created an engaging action-adventure video ‘The Chase,’ which is more like an action movie. The 2-minute long spot features a lady, who is trying to escape from two bandits in the virtual space of a computer. The heroine is changes programs like a cars, jumps from one window into another, leaving her chasers no chance of catching her with the much-desired envelope.

Polaroid and its creative director, Lady Gaga, unveiled Polaroid Grey Label, an original line of products co-designed with the music celebrity. This collaboration between two cultural icons reflects Polaroid’s long standing tradition of innovation tracing back to founder Dr. Edwin Land and Lady Gaga’s mission to deliver products that enable creativity for all, celebrate artistry and make sharing instantaneous across the physical and digital.

New year should start with good news. LG committed to spreading only positive information to prove that problems are not the only things that are happening in the world today. On December 14, 2010, the company installed a huge 81 feet around the corner by 47 feet tall billboard on Times Square, NYC, above the corner of 45thStreet and 7th Avenue, to share good information with others with the help of LG’s first-ever animated Good News Ambassador. The digital character is encouraging people to send their own inspiring messages via SMS and tweets, giving them the chance to see their name and news in lights high above Times Square.

“Excellent music for excellent smartphones”—that might come as one of the New Year resolutions LG made in the end of 2010. On December 22, one of the leaders in the technology area announced its collaboration with 82-year old legendary movie composer Ennio Morricone (Once Upon a Time in America, The Untouchables and many more), who is writing ringtones for a new range of LG’s smartphones.