The Crown Estate has shortlisted bids for part of London’s fashionable West End.

Crown Estate, the property manager of the British monarchy, has collected a shortlist of hopeful bidders for an asset stake in around 25 per cent of Regent Street, the historic shopping strip in the trendy inner-west district of the capital.

A limited number of bidders will be part of detailed discussions ahead of the partial sale of the street according to a statement released by the management group today, although the identity of the bidders has been kept a secret. The strip in question has been part of ancestral land and property holdings that were originally exchanged by the monarchy back in 1760 for annual payments.

Several pension fund and sovereign wealth funds are believed to be vying for the area in question, which marks the second time that the Crown Estate has attempted to generate income towards a redevelopment of Regent Street worth around £750 million ($1.15 billion). An attempt to create a fund to off sell units was blocked by the corporate board in 2009 after it was labelled overly complex.

The district of Regent Street, situated between Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus, is the biggest asset for the Crown Estate, recently valued at £1.6 billion. The estate owns the freehold rights to Regent Street, which was one of London’s largest ever construction projects, completed in 1825. Since then, some of the biggest global companies have made their home on the street, which separates trendy Soho from blue-chip Mayfair, including Hamleys, Burberry and Apple.

The Grooveshark music streaming application has been removed by Apple just days after it’s much anticipated release.

The app led to a major entertainment company launching a complaint, as the ink was still drying on the contract.

Launched around August 11, Grooveshark’s iPhone application had been approved by Apple according the director of marketing and business development, Vishal Agarwala. However, it was only five days later that Agarwala received a letter from the client in regards to the complaint. In the letter, Apple said that Universal Music Group UK complained, and subsequently the app would need to be withdrawn from retail stores. Grooveshark is in competition with other streaming services such as Spotify to provide digital music services.

The Grooveshark online blog said the company was totally surprised by the letter and will do everything they can to fix the problem and get the App Store restocked. Grooveshark said its biggest worry was the potential impact on the customer, who they called ‘loyal awesome users’. Luckilly, the app itself is still operational for those who managed to download during the five day period.

The exact nature of the Universal Music Group complaint has not yet been revealed, but music by artists such as Bon Jovi, 50 Cent and Amy Winehouse, all from Universal, was still available on the Grooveshark website. The provider said it would comply with any request made under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to withdraw its products.

The supposed restorative powers of a rare Swiss apple tree have to date been the exclusive preserve of the rich.

The highly prized skin creams that evolve from the little known Uttwiler Spatlauber tree usually sell at exclusive cosmetic outlets for in excess of £200 per bottle.

However, next month will see the debut of a slightly cheaper version from the leading UK discount store Superdrug. Superdrug’s new Optimum cream includes the same rare apple branch extract ingredients that are found in rival Clark’s Botanicals Cellular Lifting Serum, which costs £225. But is it any good?

Is Superdrug simply jumping on the Swiss apple phenomenon bandwagon with its latest release? Or does it offer a genuine anti-aging product that has had its lauded extract trademark hailed as the greatest product since botox? The cream is certainly light, refreshing, non-oily and unsurprisingly, apple-eqsuely fragrant. The research team in the laboratories behind Optimum has insisted that the product gives what they call ‘a promise’ of rejuvenation, although they admit that clinical trials had not be able to confirm this hinted-at benefit.

At just £9.99, it’s no doubt worth giving a go as much as the next miracle solution, and as Superdrug’s brand director Andrew Groom states, the way you look need not be dependent on the depth of your pocket. The overnight renewal serum from Optimum will go up in price on October 28, so it may be too soon to know if it truly does fight the visible signs of aging. But when all you are really paying for is an apple branch, it does seem logical to go with the cheaper brand.

Remember the good old days of fighting with your siblings over which radio station the family listened to in the car?

However, the almost worldwide takeover of the personal music collection by Apple and the ubiquitous iPod has changed the landscape of travel music forever, with barely a soul on earth now not owning one of their tiny music devices.

But has this been a real benefit to the individual or is it at the cost of personal preference? Sure, everyone has a music collection dozens of megabytes in size, but the ability to share, and thereby devalue you treasured listening, has left many lamenting the standardisation of travel music. Gone are the days of making a special mix tape for that special holiday, but has that music disappeared as well?

So what is the best, as opposed to most commonly accessible or downloadable, travel music? The traditional soft-rock, middle of the road, easy listening rock will always be popular, with its guitar-led melodies and tales of love and escape most suited to long road trips. Oldies such as The Eagles, Credence Clearwater Revival and the Doobie Brothers are all essential for touring the United States, while the British seem to favour rock bands such as Blur, Oasis, Coldplay, the Stone Roses and U2 for getting around.

Few people can think of heading into New York without imaging Frank Sinatra crooning, while Edith Piaf is synonymous with old time Parisian travel. No trip to Jamaica or any island resort in Southeast Asia is complete without the obligatory Bob Marley soundtrack, although beach bums have tuned into ambient and down-tempo dub and chill, with the likes of kiwi band Fat Freddy’s Drop and the west coast sounds of Sublime and DJ Mark Farina ideally suited for the ultimate driving cruise.

Of course, sing along artists such as Ronan Keating, Van Morrison and Elton John remain popular with female drivers, while red-blooded males still get their testosterone kicks to Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Guns and Roses and Elvis Presley.

So it seems that old, easy listening, favourites are still the most played, evoking a sense of impending escape or adventure that comes with the knowledge that you are finally heading somewhere new.