LG is today proudly boasting that it has sealed the biggest sale of 3D television sets so far, thanks to its partnership with UK broadcaster BSkyB . Following a surprisingly successful trial run of broadcasting the Arsenal versus Man United match in 3D this January , Sky clearly sees its future through polarizing glasses and has ordered up the big batch of tubes so that it can provide weekly 3D broadcasts of Premier League games. The plan is for a rapid rollout this spring — which is right about now — meaning that your local pub should be getting all glitzed up just in time for the end of season excitement. It remains to be seen whether Brits will swarm to the new tech or lose interest once the novelty wears off, but judging from the size of this investment, it would seem the bigwigs in charge of our entertainment are already convinced that 3D will be a win. Sky TV buys 15,000 3DTVs from LG for live sports broadcasts in public venues originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:24:00 EST

Many are still on waiting lists at the various IMAX and 3D-capable cinemas across the country, but already Avatar’s been given a release date for the UK Blu-ray and DVD release—April 26th. The 3D Blu-ray release was originally slated for November, but it sounds as though that’s fallen through. More

If passed, something called the Digital Economy Bill over in the U.K. could do the unthinkable in this, the digital age: Ban open wifi spots. The ban comes as part of a bill that seeks to limit copyright infringement, or something. In summary, schools, small businesses and even libraries would have to effectively become their own ISP and manage the wifi hotspot—or face hefty fines.

Firsthand impressions outside the CES crucible are flowing in following the worldwide launch of Samsung’s new LCD 3DTVs . UK publications have gotten up close with production versions of the new HDTVs, TechRadar observed the Monsters vs. Aliens Blu-ray disc packed in with the new displays over there plus the 2D-to-3D conversion feature , reporting the latter worked better on sports footage of ice skaters but caused “disconcerting” effect on news broadcasts. A video preview from Which? (embedded after the break) gives a good look at the new remote and managed to clear up one of the early worries about new display by confirming the 3D effect continued to work even from a wide viewing angle.

Wired recently reported that the UK Home Office is preparing a national fleet of unmanned aircraft, but the surveillance-loving island nation has had a keen interest in drones for quite a while. Now, Merseyside police (who’ve had a drone of their own for about six months) are bragging about their first ever catch with the new toy. When coppers heard that a suspected car thief was hiding in the bushes, they wasted no time launching their Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with on-board thermal imaging — which led them to the sixteen year old. In addition to the (alleged) perp, a twenty year old man was arrested in connection with the crime — but his apprehension was done without aid of the UAV and, as such, not nearly as bad-ass.

When Humax introduced the UK’s first Freeview HD set-top box last week , quite a few of you were understandably disappointed that it didn’t come with PVR functionality. Well, you can now strike that off your list of worries, as Toshiba has just gone official with its own Freeview+ HD PVR box that packs a healthy 500GB of internal storage alongside two HDMI inputs and one output, a duo of USB ports and Ethernet connectivity. Equipped with dual tuners, it’ll allow you to record a pair of simultaneous broadcasts, while the internal hard drive — good for storing 120 hours of video — should be augmentable with external variants. Toshiba makes sure to include DivX and MP3 playback support in the HDR5010, so it should also make for a decent media streamer when it makes its admittedly distant debut in June for

We don’t have pricing, we don’t have specific dates, we just thought we’d let you know that Sony Ericsson’s already outdated Android phone is arriving in the UK in April. This agrees with the release schedules for Japan and Germany , making the fourth month of the year seem like a certainty for the global launch of what is still a hotly anticipated device. Just why the X10 engenders such fervor, we’re not really sure, but it still marks Sony Ericsson’s most aggressive plunge into the smartphone shark pool yet. We’ll just have to wait another couple of months to find out how well that Donut -based OS swims. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Xperia X10 lands on Vodafone UK in April originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:28:00 EST

We’re generally reluctant to cover purely promotional stunts like these , but when you decide to jack up a house-sized arrow on a crane and hang it next to London’s Thames river, well, exceptions can be made . Nokia’s big push to inform the world that Ovi Maps is free — now and forever — has culminated in the above sign, whose most appealing feature must be that it allows commoners like you and us to control it. People can send in a missive and coordinates via text or email, and then watch as the giant pointer rotates to the given direction and displays their wisdom to the world. See it in action after the break. Continue reading Nokia mounts huge Ovi Maps signpost on a crane in London (video) Nokia mounts huge Ovi Maps signpost on a crane in London (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

While U.S. audiences suffered through yet another anaglyph 3D broadcast as the Grammys presented Earth Song in traditional red/blue format courtesy of Target-distributed glasses, Sky kicked off its first true 3DTV broadcast across the pond during a Man. U/Arsenal match. Distributed to a few select pubs ahead of a wide rollout due in April, patrons slipped on passive 3D glasses and caught the entire match live from Emirates stadium. Luckily this experiment went over far better than the Dallas Cowboys disaster , though several criticized the need to remain more directly in front of the monitor to see the action and that the effect was less pronounced on long shots. However the new tech excelled the most during close ups and slow motion, as Pocket-Lint quoted viewer Kate Cobley “It’s brilliant, the corner and back of the goal views are just amazing.

While we have yet to see the Acer Liquid popping up for real on American soil, the lucky Brits have just been treated to a second color option — black — for this underclocked Snapdragon Android phone. Still no sign of the red option that Acer promised, though. Price remains steady at around