This week saw news that Chelsea vs Man Utd would kick off Sky's 3D channel, while Vodafone claimed that O2 is still suffering network problems.
We also brought you the 10 best gadgets and apps from the recent DEMO emerging tech conference as well as 6 handy tools to tune up your PC.
Popular reviews this week included the Samsung Genio Slide, the Canon EOS 550D and the Humax HD-FOX T2.
Top five news stories
Chelsea vs Man Utd to launch Sky 3D in the UK
Sky 3D is coming to homes and pubs in the UK on 3 April, with Chelsea vs Man Utd the first game to be available to the public shown in 3D. The day also marks the launch of the Sky 3D channel in homes, but this will not be showing the match – merely a showreel of selected 3D footage. After the Chelsea vs Man Utd game, Sky has vowed to show five more games in 3D and only in pubs before the end of the season – although these are to be confirmed.
Vodafone: O2 still a problem network
Vodafone has once again criticised O2's data network following a recent interview with O2 CTO Derek McManus. The CTO told Mobile Today that the problem with creating robust networks to carry all the date generated by smartphones is an ongoing issue: "'The capacity problem isn't going to go away. It's a positive challenge. How do you ensure you have coverage?"
Project Natal needs 13 feet of free space
Microsoft has revealed that you will need 13 feet of free space in your lounge to properly play Project Natal games. That's four metres. Of space in your lounge. Not taking into account sofas and coffee tables and bookcases and chairs and other encumberants that might get in the way of you pretending to play a virtual game of tennis on your TV.
New tech promises DSLR quality pics from iPhone
A new cameraphone image sensing technology from Californian-based company InVisage increases sensor performance by over four times, promising DSLR-quality pics from your mobile phone camera. InVisage Technologies' image sensor uses quantum dots instead of silicon. If widely adopted then we could well be taking professional quality pics from our fifth-gen iPhones in a few years' time!
Virgin's VSS Enterprise takes to the skies
Virgin Galactic saw the inaugural "captive carry" test flight of space tourism aircraft the VSS Enterprise (formerly known as SpaceShipTwo) this week. The space cruiser spent just under three hours attached to the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft flying around the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California. The VSS Enterprise has been developed by Ansari X prize-winners, Scaled Composites.
Top five in-depth articles
10 really cool new apps and gadgets you've never heard of
Some companies come to the DEMO conference looking for investors so they can get their idea to market; others are on sale the day they go on stage. Some products sink without trace, others go on to be household names (Palm launched at DEMO). Not everything is brand new –last year Gwabbit won the coveted Demo God award, this year the Gwab-o-sphere service that works with it won again. Some of the neatest DEMO launches may never make it, but these are the ones we most want to use ourselves.
Are you addicted to your iPhone and is it screwing up your life?
Do you reach for your iPhone first thing before giving your wife a good morning kiss? Do you spend more time looking at your shiny new 3GS in bed than reading one of the growing pile of great books next to you? Do you get more excited about new apps than you do about new albums?
6 handy tools to tune up your PC
Each time you add a new game, or delete a file, your PC gets clogged with irrelevant and orphaned files. And then there's the registry, from which Windows loads up all manner of driver links and other gubbins. But many of the entries in the Registry aren't used by Windows, and loading them up slows down your PC.
How to detect and remove rootkits
A rootkit is a program that allows a hacker to come and go as he pleases, unhindered by your computer's defences. No firewall will stop him and no antivirus program will detect his activities. Rootkits subvert the way the operating system works to make it lie about the processes, files, Registry entries and kernel modules that might give away the rootkit's presence to humans and antivirus software.
What Silverlight 4 means for you
Microsoft launched a release candidate of Silverlight 4 at the MIX conference and while you won't want to upgrade just yet (the RC is aimed at developers, the final version will be here next month and some apps built for Silverlight 3 don't yet run in the RC), when you do you'll get apps with lots more features.
Top five reviews
Samsung has fused elements of both the Genio Touch and the Genio QWERTY to come up with a hybrid device – the Genio Slide.
The EOS 550D sits just below the EOS 50D and the more professionally orientated EOS 7D in Canon's rather cluttered product line-up, but in some ways it trumps these higher-spec'd cameras.
With a colourful chassis, full QWERTY keyboard and seriously budget price tag, the Samsung Genio QWERTY is squarely aimed at the younger social networker.
The HD-Fox T2 is the first Freeview HD set-top box to launch in the UK. Freeview HD is now launching across the UK and between April and June, 50 per cent of us will get access to Freeview HD signals.
The Sony Bravia KDL-40EX503 is Sony's very first TV to come packing a built-in Freeview HD tuner. Just in time for the launch of the Freeview HD launch!
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