Archive for: uk
SeeSaw hits the deadpool! SeeSaw will be closing down on Monday the 2oth of June and its sad to see that the TV VOD aggregation service hasn’t taken off.
Arqiva the owner of SeeSaw explains: “Following a strategic review of its business activities… Arqiva is no longer able to support the service.”
SeeSaw aggregates TV VODs from BBC, Channel 4 and other UK Broadcasters. However, now that each channel has their own SeeSaw equivalent it seems as though users are heading to the individual sites instead of the aggregator.
It seems as though SeeSaw’s technology was greatly below that of the equivalent service in the USA, Hulu. Hulu has been growing very nicely in the USA and its a shame that SeeSaw could copy their success in the UK.
Derwent Capital Markets has just opened their doors and is stating that they are the first social media based hedge fund. Derwent has a £25 million hedge fund and they are looking primarily for social media investments.
StockTwits and Chart.ly seem like the ideal startups for Derwent, so it will be interesting to see if they are able to close any significant deals.
Here in the UK it seems quite difficult to get a technology startup off the ground if you’re not based in London. However, there is a new startup accelerator that is aiming to help the tech startups in the Midlands (Birmingham). The Oxygen Accelerator a UK-based investment programme designed to intensively mentor super-early stage startups.
Oxygen will be running a 13 week program that will provide a £20,000 loan in return for 6% equity stake in your company. It seems like a good deal on the surface, but a loan in exchange for equity isn’t really the best way to start off your company. This loan doesn’t need to be repaid until your startup raises more investment. 
It’s also unusual in that the £200,000 fund covering 10 teams is coming from one individual businessman with no previous history in the tech industry.
It will be interesting to see if this kind of accelerator will work here in the UK. It seems like this idea is a very interesting one, and even possibly something the Government should look at to accelerate technology startups.
The Dell Streak 7 tablet is available to buy in the UK as of today. The Dell Streak 7 tablet has been available in the USA for a while now and has produced some decent sales numbers.
The Dell Streak 7 launching in the UK will run Android 2.2, but updates will be available once Android 2.3 is released to the general public.
The Dell Streak 7 tablet features:
- 1.3 megapixel camera on the front
- 5 megapixel camera on the back
- Runs Adobe Flash 10.1
- NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
Its available for £299 and more information can be found on the Dell site.
Lovefilm owners will be rejoicing as the company has just signed a streaming deal with Disney. The deal covers both the subscription service and the pay-per-view rentals service.
The deal will now offer more than fifty films to Lovefilm subscribers. While on the pay-per-view side, recently released Disney titles, such as TRON: Legacy, Tangled and I Am Number Four, will be available.
All of these films will now be able to be viewed in the browser based player, on TV sets and even via Playstation 3.
Expect a lot more deals from Lovefilm as they now have a bit more clout from being owned by Amazon.
The HTC Flyer is ready for pre-ordering in the UK via the Carphone Warehouse. The HTC Flyer will be SIM free and it will be able to work on any network. Pre-orders are starting at around £599.99, while stocks last.
HTC Flyer features:
- 1.5 GHz processor
- Android 3.0
- Seems to be between a smartphone and a traditioal tablet device
The pre-order page can be found over here.
Samsung has just announced that the Samsung Galaxy S2 will be launching in the UK on the 1st of May. The Samsung Galaxy S2 will be available on all UK networks and its expected to sell a great deal of units.
The Galaxy S2 has a Super AMOLED screen with Android 2.3. Currently, it is run by a 1.2 GHz dual core processor, which is more powerful than previous versions.
No prices are yet available, but expected to hear about this very soon.
Dell has just launched the Dell Venue Pro Windows Phone 7 device. The Dell Venue Pro will be available in the next few days with a price tag of £439.99, contract free with free shipping included. The Dell Venue Pro is the first mobile phone powered by Microsoft’s strong operating system as well as featuring a portrait sliding form factor.
Dell Venue Pro Features and Specs:
1. Qualcomm 8250 1Ghz SnapDragon Processor
2. 1400 mAh Battery; Standby Time 336hrs, Talk Time 5hrs
3. 4.1-inch Touch Sensitive AMOLED Display; 800 x 480 pixels
4. 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, digital zoom, LED Flash, Touch Focus, Geo Tagging
5. 512MB RAM – 8GB internal memory
6. 2G: 850/900/1800/1900 Mhz (Quadband) - 3G: 900/2100 (Dual-band) - WiFi (802.11 b/g) - HSDPA (7.2Mbps) - HSUPA (5.76 Mbps) - Bluetooth (2.1) - microUSB - 3.5mm Audio Connector
7. Accelerometer Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Light Sensor
8. Windows Phone 7 Operating System
Since 3D filming was created the only way to marvel at the spectacle was to go to the cinema and pay extra for the pleasure. At the moment, Ice Age 3D is about as close as you’ll get to the 3D experience. However, recently huge advancements have been made such as Fujifilm announcing the world first consumer 3D digital camera. Now, Sky TV in the UK say that they will be offering Europe’s first ever 3D TV service by next year.
“In the next step in the Sky+HD journey, Sky today announced that it will launch the UK’s first 3D channel next year,” said Sky in a press release
“The service will be broadcast across Sky’s existing HD infrastructure and be available via the current generation of Sky+HD set-top boxes.” This is good news as the UK has just undergone a massive nationwide digital switchover and people having to change their set-top boxes all over again would anger some.
However, those wanting to enjoy 3D films, entertainment and sport will have to change their TV for a 3D ready TV. These are expected from large companies such as Panasonic and will be on sale in 2010 to coincide with the launch of the 3D service.
“3D is a genuinely ‘seeing is believing’ experience, making TV come to life as never before. Just like the launch of digital, Sky+ and HD, this is latest step in our commitment to innovating for customers.” said Sky.
