Whenever Steve Jobs is on stage, he can’t help himself. “We’ve activated another 20 trillion iPhones,” he spits from above his polo-neck. “iPhone is the most popular smart phone in the galaxy. IN ANY GALAXY.” We’re sure he’s right, but once in a while it’s refreshing to see a different view. This video shows the …

From 28 February it will be legal for the producers of UK-made TV shows to accept money in return for placing a specific product on screen during a programme. This is different to normal advertising in two important ways. Firstly, the products will be essentially promoted by their proximity to big-name celebrities such as Simon Cowell and that lot in …

While recording TV has never been more popular, there are now so many different ways to do it. Sony wants you to use Freeview HD, which makes sense, because it sells Freeview HD PVRs. To this end, the company offers up two new models, the HDT500 and the HDT1000. The two machines have the ability to record one channel while …

YouView, the on-demand TV service from the major broadcasters and broadband providers has once again been delayed, the company has announced, this time until “early 2012”. And that’s probably the last thing you’ll ever hear about the service, because by the time it does get around to launching, no one will care. Even if the service could magically arrive tomorrow, …

When the BBC announced an iPad application for iPlayer yesterday, we choked back a lump of rage — another bit of Apple favouritism to make our blood boil. “Why?” we screamed at a disinterested wall, “WHY?!” The Beeb anticipated our hard-to-swallow rage — or heard our yelling — and says an Android app will be coming this week for accessing …

Keyboard replacement app SwiftKey will get a version designed specifically for tablets running the new version of Android, Honeycomb. A complete redesign gives users a way to type with two hands in landscape mode. SwiftKey is essentially a modern version of predictive text. As you type, the software predicts the most likely word, letter by letter. You can then select …

3D might be the latest sensation in town, but sometimes humanity does things without thinking of their potential impact on our future selves. That GM goat they mixed with spider DNA, for example — eugh. So are all we all risking blindness by gawping at 3D displays and movies through those dangerously uncool glasses? If you’ve ever spent time watching …

While watching some freesat recently, we noticed that the quality was terrible. On closer investigation, we discovered that people using freesat for standard definition are being short changed, and it’s all down to the bit rate of certain freesat channels.  We’ve always said, good standard-definition TV can look really good, even on HD televisions. So why, you might ask, why …

freesat HD viewers will have access to one more HD channel from April, with the launch of Channel 4’s superb HD simulcast channel.  We’re glad, because people often ask us which is the best free platform for digital TV. Until now, we’ve recommended Freeview HD for its slightly better HD channel selection. But with Channel 4 HD joining the freesat …

Since the launch of HD DVD and Blu-ray there have been two ways to watch HD video on your TV: HDMI, and the lower-quality but much-loved component. Starting this year, Hollywood wants to phase out the latter and force consumers to use HDMI — to the extent that it will prevent component outputs on the Blu-ray player you’ve already paid for …