The trial will see the Berkshire Village offered the chance to get ultrafast broadband, as well a Virgin Media cable television – with the trial starting this month and running until September.

Virgin Media has already announced that it is looking to extend the reach of its fibre-optic network, and believes that using telegraph poles could extend the reach to another million homes.

Aerial deployment

Neil Berkett, chief executive officer of Virgin Media, said: “This unique trial will allow us to understand the possibilities of aerial deployment and may provide an exciting new way to extend next generation broadband services.

“With everything from BBC iPlayer to YouTube increasingly demanding reliable ultrafast broadband speeds, we’re keen to ensure that all communities, in towns, cities and villages right across the UK, stand to benefit.”

Virgin Media’s network is currently available to 12.6 million homes, and the company is benefiting from the broadband speed benefits of a fibre-optic infrastructure.

“Virgin Media believes that using overhead poles as well as underground ducts could, in some cases, significantly improve the viability of delivering next generation digital services to rural communities and continues to explore a range of innovative solutions that could allow it to further increase coverage,” added Virgin Media.

via Tech Radar

French firm, OpenWays has invented the new door opening method where guests can just press the mobile phone to the key button.

It works on an app that will be available on all smartphone breeds – iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia – and will work just by producing an audio signal that is “heard” by the hotel room door.

The unique, encrypted sound can’t be reproduced or copied which makes the app secure. The app will also allow users to book extra nights without having to return to the desk by updating the mobile data network.

It is in the process of being rolled out in major hotels and casinos in Europe and North America.

Rupert Murdoch, owner of the WSJ, has been telling people that the newspaper has an iPad in the building, and is already porting content to Apple’s latest baby. Meanwhile Penguin CEO John Makinson has been showing off titles as they might appear on the iPad, with interactive elements and embedded media in a style hugely reminiscent of the CD-ROM’s launch, back when that medium was going to change the world.

According to Rupert Murdoch the WSJ only has one iPad, which is locked up by Apple every night, but that’s obviously enough for the paper to have paid content available on the iPad at launch.

Penguin probably won’t make the launch, but has much bigger plans than just reformatting existing content. In a video demonstration at the FT’s Digital Media & Broadcasting Conference, recorded by PaidContent, Makinson shows how children’s characters such as Spot the dog can be multimedia enabled, while a Dorling Kindersley title can have video of a beating heart embedded and available at a touch.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that the paintbrush follows the finger when it’s not touching the screen, something the iPad can’t do, so it seems Penguin doesn’t have the same early access as the WSJ. But nitpicking aside all of this will be strikingly familiar to anyone who rushed out and bought a Multimedia PC back in the 90s so they could experience the same thing on a computer screen. Back then CD-ROM was touted as “redefining the book” and “changing the way people read”. Only it didn’t.

But there is a reason why the experiences are similar – both mediums required the reader (or user) to pay for the content, unlike a web site which must be financed through advertising or some sort of subscription. The iPad (with iTunes) opens up the opportunity to sell web sites, and that’s what has Penguin, and the WSJ, so excited.

“The iPad represents the first real opportunity to create a paid distribution model that will be attractive to consumers,” Makinson told attendees. “The .epub format … is designed to support traditional narrative text … So for the time being at least we’ll be creating a lot of our content as applications, for sale on app stores and HTML, rather than in ebooks. The definition of the book itself is up for grabs.”

The problem of how to make people pay for web content has plagued the internet since its commercialisation, resulting in a whole generation that has become used to getting everything for free. But by providing an easy-to-use payment gateway (iTunes) Apple is changing that, and if publishers can get the public to think of their content as “applications” rather than “web pages” then they might just pay for them.

That model is already working for the WSJ on the iPhone, so the iPad is an obvious extension to that, but Penguin is going a couple of steps further and betting that anyone who’d pay $2 for the sound of a fart would cough up a few quid for an interactive copy of Pride and Prejudice.

via The Register

Korean customers have access to only one other Android-based smartphone, the Motoroi from U.S.-based Motorola. That makes LG’s latest handset the first locally made Android-based smartphone. The company has named it, “Andro-1.”

What sets the phone apart, LG says, is the user interface.

“The keyboard will make it convenient for people to handle the device,” said Shin Hyeon-jun, a marketing manager at LG’s mobile phone operation, adding that it will be particularly good for those who haven’t used a smartphone before.

Unlike the Motoroi, which is keyboardless, the Andro-1 comes with a keyboard like a Blackberry. It provides easy access to Google’s search engine, e-mail and calendar services, the company said.

Affordability is another key selling point for LG. Served through the country’s second-largest mobile operator, KT, the Andro-1 will be sold for 600,000 won ($529), but the prices will be lower with a subscription. The Motoroi’s base price is 898,700 won.

One downside is the operating system. The Andro-1 uses Android OS 1.5, while the Motoroi comes with version 2.0. That might limit the types of applications that will run on the Andro-1.

Jung Do-hyun, chief financial officer at LG, said in January that the company will put forth concerted efforts in the smartphone business this year, and that it has confidence in the design of its upcoming devices.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics, LG’s larger rival and the world’s No. 2 maker of mobile phones, also plans to introduce its first Android-based smartphone within this month.

via Joong Ang Daily

O2 is offering the first 8,000 customers a free 12-month magazine subscription from iSUBSCRIBE and a copy of the ultimate fashion story, ‘The September Issue’ on DVD.

The Carphone Warehouse is offering cream-to-powder finish foundation and portable kits of mini concealers from Benefit.

The Samsung Diva comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera, 2.8-inch touchscreen display and other features like Fake call, Etiquette mode and Beauty Mode or Lomo effect for taking fantastic pictures.

The Elite Model Look 2010 competition, now in its 27th year, is touring the UK to find a British girl to represent the UK at the global final in the Autumn. Castings will be held around the UK from March.

SEE THE SAMSUNG DIVA ON O2 – JUST £100 PAYG FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY

via What Mobile

But if you’re happy to pony up an unsubsidised £369.99, you can now buy a SIM-free, unlocked version to use on the network of your choice. Eurodroid has spotted the Legend on a pre-order page at Play.com, which is also offering free delivery on the device.

The Legend is due to launch on April 12, which would mean it could land in your grasp by the middle of the month. However, if you just don’t have the upfront quid to spare, Vodafone offers the Legend for £2 on a £25/month, 24-month contract.

SEE HTC LEGEND ON PLAY.COM

Via Mobile Choice

The HTC Desire looks like being one of HTC’s best Android handsets yet, running Android 2.1, and a fast 1GHz Snapdragon processor. You’ll also find a large AMOLED screen and more features than you can shake a stick at.

According to Electric Pig, the HTC Desire will be sold here from next month, and although not a network exclusive, it’s currently listing T-Mobile tariffs to go alongside the HTC Desire.

Unfortunately, if you opt for the £25 per month tariff, you’ll also have to pay a hefty £179.99 to get the HTC Desire. The HTC Desire is also available for £35 a month on a 24-month contract, but you’ll still have to pay £49.99 up front.

The prices certainly seem to match the desirability of this handset then, but with other network providers also expected to sell the HTC Desire, we’d be more tempted to wait for prices to go down.

Will you be getting a HTC Desire, or is it simply too much to spend on a phone? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

GO TO CARPHONE WAREHOUSE

via The Link

To emphasis the fact, Palm has now launched an offer that will appeal to all mobile gamers. The company has declared that it will be giving away three, free 3D mobile games. To qualify for this new offer, you must buy a new Pre mobile phone from O2 and opt for a contract from the same. The Pre is available on a two year contract from £35 per month.

The offer, which is limited and will cease at the end of March, will be supplied by the long-standing games software giant, Electronic Arts.

The three games on offer for the Pre include: The Sims 3, Need For Speed Undercover and Monopoly. To download them, all you have to do is visit the Palm App Catalogue on your Palm Pre.

via Mobile Choice

The trial uses a Google search engine inside a set-top box, which helps users to find show on the web.

According to the WSJ, testing has taken place since last year and has been limited to people within Google.

Although unknown in the UK, the Dish Network has 14 million subscribers in the US. It hasn’t commented on the trials and neither has Google but set-top box search would certainly be a viable option for Google – considering a similar technology has been employed in new TiVo boxes in the US.

Internet on the big screen

Web-enabled set-top boxes and TVs are becoming more and more present in homes and it with Project Canvas in the UK set to bring IPTV to the masses, some sort of organised search for programmes via a set-top box, which broaches satellite, terrestrial and internet would be more than welcomed.

You only have to look at the primitive search options of Sky’s HD boxes to know that this is one are that could be greatly enhanced.

Couple this with Google’s close ties with YouTube – which already houses a number of TV shows – and the potential for decent programme search is definitely there.

via Tech Radar

The Milestone, Europe’s first Android 2.0 smartphone, sold out in a matter of hours when it was released SIM-free through online retailer Expansys, and Carphone Warehouse must be hoping the success will continue now that is available on the high street.

The phone is still available from Expansys.com for £379.99 SIM-free, or £49.99 on a T-Mobile £35 18-month contract.

The Milestone has recently received an update to Android 2.0.1, with an update to 2.1 expected in Q2. In addition, the Milestone is also Flash 10 ready – with an upgrade of the web browser expected at around the same time.