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britain posts

British NHS lauds Wii Fit Plus for flabby bum-busting potential

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 27th 2009 at 2:57PM

You know, we've been pretty skeptical about the whole "fit" part of the "Wii Fit" phenomenon, and for good reason: as studies have shown, the health benefits of gaming, whether you're sitting, standing, or faux-bowling, are minimal at best. Still, for a number of consumers at home and abroad, the game conjures up notions of leading an active lifestyle. So perhaps it is no surprise, as the Telegraph reports, that Britain's National Health Service is using it to promote its Change4Life initiative -- even going so far as to allow the company to append the Change4Life logo on its upcoming Wii Fit Plus release. And how about those who cry foul -- specifically, those who point out that the deal includes Nintendo shelling out money to help promote the NHS-funded program. See how one might get the idea that this is a "pay to play" affair? To the government's credit, it does stress that it's endorsing an exercise, not a video game system. "Active video games, where kids need to jump up and down or dance about as part of the game, are a great way to get kids moving," a spokesperson said. Rob Saunders, the British spokesman for Nintendo, had this to say: "If you are worried about your bingo wings or your flabby bum, the game will give you specific exercises to target those areas." Bingo wings? Flabby bums? Why didn't you say so in the first place?

[Via Yahoo]

HP's Pavilion dv3 and dm1 wash ashore on European land

by Ross Miller posted Oct 26th 2009 at 10:04PM

As one of the last two Vista holdouts on HP's online laptop store (the other being HDX16), we were wondering what was going on with the Pavilion dv3. Well, it's still not stateside, but Germany and the UK can apparently pick up the Windows 7-equipped touchscreen dv3-2200 now for £799.99 / €899 (somewhere between $1,305 and $1,350, respectively, in comparable US currency), with difference of pricing based on the separate listings. Additionally, we spotted the 11.6-inch dm1-1000 -- which was also leaked alongside the dv3 -- with a 1.2GHz Celeron processor and that hot new OS from Redmond. We're sure it'll come to the US eventually, but for now we're just gonna have to wait ever, ever so patiently.

[Thanks, Adam and everyone]

Read - Official HP dm1-1000 page
Read - Official HP dv3-2200 page
Read - PC World UK listing for dv3

Eye-Fi bringing trio of WiFi-enabled SD cards to UK

by Darren Murph posted Oct 10th 2009 at 2:12AM

If you're an US-based company, you'd be kidding yourself if you said you didn't want to take advantage of the pound-to-dollar exchange rate. We can't say for certain that the current Forex ratings on currency is why Eye-Fi is suddenly barging into the British market place, but whatever the case, UKers can look forward to slapping a WiFi-enabled SD card into their digicam starting on October 19th. The Eye-Fi Home Video, Eye-Fi Share Video and Eye-Fi Pro will all be splashing down in 4GB flavors, with prices set for £49.99, £69.99 and £199.99 in order of mention. Got it, chum?

England puts CCTVs in the homes of lousy parents

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Aug 4th 2009 at 6:52PM

We love England, especially the way they use all these adorable names for things: "lorry," for truck, or "loo" for bathroom, or "sin bin" for an Orwellian program whereby "problem families" (currently numbering 2,000, but someday as many as 20,000) are placed under 24/7 CCTV surveillance in their own homes. Chris Grayling, something called the "Shadow Home Secretary," puts it thusly: "This Government has been in power for more than a decade during which time anti-social behavior, family breakdown and problems like alcohol abuse and truancy have just got worse and worse." Meaning, of course, that cameras must be moved from the streets of England into people's homes, where they'll be used to make sure that kids go to school, go to bed at a decent hour, and eat proper meals. If only they'd had programs like this when we were kids -- maybe things would have turned out differently.

London Calling Mobile Phone makes us long to be British

by Darren Murph posted Jul 18th 2009 at 6:02PM

You know those red K6 telephone boxes that are such an iconic and unmissable part of any stay in London? Yeah, that's the inspiration for the mobile you're peering at above, just in case you couldn't guess. The so-called London Calling Mobile Phone is a fully-functional handset, packing a color LCD, SMS and MMS functionality, tri-band GSM connectivity and pre-programmed ringtones that include "Rule Britannia" and "God Save the Queen." We'd continue swooning if we had to, but we're pretty sure you're already whipping the plastic out to make this happen. Check the backside after the break, and tap the read link to get your £85.95 ($141) pre-order in.

[Via Pocket-lint]

Continue reading London Calling Mobile Phone makes us long to be British

"Bionic" goose happy to have new leg, disappointed by lack of retractable laser cannon

by Ross Miller posted Jul 11th 2009 at 9:02PM

Not wanting to let Betty the gosling goose meet an untimely fate, a UK vet outfitted the anatidae with a bionic leg, allegedly the first operation of its kind in the world (not counting Robot Chicken, of course). She's currently learning to walk again at nearby Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital at Buckinghamshire. Does she now possess super speed, the ability to make large vaults without using her wings, or a super powerful kick? All signs point to no, but a new lease on life has gotta count for something, right?

GSM Pre to launch on O2 in UK

by Nilay Patel posted Jul 1st 2009 at 3:58PM

We heard earlier this morning that the GSM Pre was set for a UK launch, and now it sounds like things are coming together: The Guardian says the Palm's baby will launch on O2. That makes perfect sense, O2 owner Telefonica reportedly secured broad global rights to the Pre back in March. Of course, this is all yet to be official, but with actual GSM handsets floating around out there and an announcement expected next week, we're guessing we don't have too much longer to wait.

Palm to disclose UK Pre launch details next week?

by Darren Murph posted Jul 1st 2009 at 9:06AM

We heard way back at CES that a GSM Pre was in the works, but not until now have we heard who exactly in the world would be using it. According to confirmation received by T3, Palm is gearing up to disclose the whos, whats and wheres behind the UK launch next week, meaning that we've got seven days (give or take) to twiddle our thumbs until we know which carrier (O2 or Vodafone, most likely), how much and when it'll be available for purchase. We know it's agonizing, but at least you've a time frame to circle in your Trapper Keeper now, right?

UK ATMs set to offer WiFi access, free for BT and iPhone users

by Vladislav Savov posted Jun 27th 2009 at 4:13PM

BT Broadband customers and O2 iPhone owners, rejoice -- some 2,500 ATM machines near you will soon be converted to serve as free WiFi hotspots, courtesy of BT Openzone and Cashbox, perhaps the most mismatched pair of commercial metaphors ever put together. The initial rollout starts with 10 machines this week and numbers are expected to steadily increase. Non-BT users and iPhone heretics wanting to join in the fun will have to shell out £5.88 ($10) for 90 minutes or a more reasonable £9.79 ($16) for 24 hours.

[Via Tech Digest]

Lack of PSPgo pre-orders bemoaned by UK retailers

by Ross Miller posted Jun 26th 2009 at 8:24PM

So that "certain premium" for the UMD-less PSPgo? We may gripe about the $230 price tag here, but our friends across the pond might actually have it worse. Right now, while UK gamers are shelling out on average £100 (about $165 US) for a new PSP, the "guide price" for Go is currently set at around £230 ($370 US). Egregious? We think so, and it looks like British consumers might agree, as two independent retailers have reported zero pre-orders so far. Ouch. Of course, it's not indicative of the entire region, especially given there's no data here from the big chains, but as a "canary in a cage" indicator, it still doesn't sound good -- but hey, there's still plenty of time before its October 1 launch, and anything can happen.

[Via Joystiq]

Asus Eee PC T91 reviewed in the UK: "genuinely moves things forwards" for netbook market

by Ross Miller posted May 18th 2009 at 10:34PM

Asus' Eee PC T91 has gotten its first review ahead of the reported late May / early June UK launch, and those cats at TechRadar seem quite smitten with the swivel-proficient touchscreen netbook. Battery life is said to be solid, though points are deducted for not being replaceable. Some issues with the resistive touchscreen also plagued the pre-production model, and while the company assures those kinks are being worked out, we can't help but worry they'll invariably still find their way into the finished product, and that glossy display will no doubt keep the memories of fingerprints long after you want it to. Despite these concerns, the review gives much love for the overall performance, video playback, build quality, and keyboard. At £449 ($688), it ain't the cheapest option on the market, but we do appreciate Asus straying a bit from its tried and true netbook formula. Now how about news on a stateside release, eh?

Plain English Campaign wants to bring down walls of technobabble, rule the world

by Darren Murph posted Apr 28th 2009 at 10:55AM

So look, we fully understand that not everyone "gets" technology-related lingo -- we've had to walk our mums and dads through setting up a WLAN router with a WPA2 password and 1337 encryption many, many times. But this... this is just comical. Peter Griffiths, who we can only imagine looks and speaks exactly like Peter Griffin (pictured), is hoping that his Plain English Campaign can knock down the "walls of techobabble" by "pulling our heads out of the digital clouds and using plain English." Ironic, really, given that most of the technologically illiterate wouldn't know that a digital cloud actually refers to an off-site storage hub where information is exchanged. At any rate, it seems the campaign is pushing to have flummoxing terms such as digital TV, phone jack, desktop and dongle (yes, seriously) changed, or at worse, have them defined clearly in a dictionary that precisely no one would ever read.

Video: UK Home Secretary delays 1984 by a few years

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Apr 27th 2009 at 10:06PM

The UK Home Secretary (whatever that is) has put the kibosh on plans for a giant government database that would track all of the country's emails, phone calls and internet activity. But not so fast, civil libertarians! According to the Telegraph, the onus will merely shift to the private sector -- with telecoms and Internet providers being required to retain the data, at a cost of around £2 billion (over $2.9 billion US). According to the plan, every Internet user will be given a unique ID code that the government can use to access the data in the event of a threat -- whether terrorist, criminal, or extraterrestrial. It just goes to show you how lucky Britons are to have a government that cares so much about their well being. Video after the break.

Continue reading Video: UK Home Secretary delays 1984 by a few years

LG previews two new UK-bound LCDs

by Richard Lawler posted Jan 5th 2009 at 4:47AM

Stuff.tv has the heads up on two more members of LG's 2009 lineup, the LH5000 and LF7700. The LF7700 LCD should fit the bill for anyone needing an alternative to Panasonic's TX-37LZD81, with integrated FreeSat support, while a plasma version will follow later in the year. If 100Hz isn't enough and 480Hz is too much, the LH5000 drops 200Hz TruMotion tech on European heads later this year. No price or size info for either, but hopefully all this new kit will slightly make up for a Netflix-less existence suffered by our people across the Atlantic.

Wii blamed for ridiculous increase in British hospital visits

by Darren Murph posted Dec 23rd 2008 at 11:35AM

Nintendo's Wii has been maiming careless gamers since the day it was launched, but an inexplicable uptick in Britain has professionals scratching their heads. According to Dr. Dev Mukerjee of Broomfield Hospital: "There has been a 100 percent increase in patients complaining of Wii-itis." Turns out, Wii-itis is their word for playing so much Wii that you injure yourself. Astonishingly, up to ten people per week are being "hospitalized with injuries caused by playing Nintendo Wii games," which has forced medical personnel to "issue warnings of the dangers associated with the video game system." Some of the most common injuries are Wii-knee (seriously) and tendon stretching / tearing, both of which could likely be avoided if gamers would bother to stretch before breaking a sweat. Sheesh -- what do folks even learn in Physical Education these days?