You might want to take a seat for this: YouView is about to leave the realms of the imaginary and enter the actual as public trials begin this week.

The long-awaited internet-based TV service is set to hit 350 UK homes, each of which will receive a web-connected set top box.

These lucky 350 will be able to watch catch-up services like iPlayer via the box, as well as a few subscription apps including Lovefilm. Well, that's assuming it actually works.

YouHoo

A YouView spokesperson told the Financial Times that if this initial trial is a success, a wider test could be on its way within four weeks, involving thousands of homes. As plenty have noted, this means YouView will be unlikely to get a proper launch until after the Olympics.

Not much more has been revealed about the boxes, other than that they will cost around £200 once they finally hit the UK's shop shelves.

YouView started life as Project Canvas and was intended to launch in 2010. Problem after problem led to delay after delay, prompting fears that the project would be abandoned altogether.

But now that Alan Sugar has taken hold of the reins, things do seem to be zipping along a little bit more quickly (although that didn't stop him putting the breaks on when he wasn't happy with the interface earlier this month).

E.T. in HD – In alternate universe somewhere, George Lucas has just announced the HD DVD release of E.T., a movie that's been tinkered with so much all that remains is a fuzzy CGI version of the titular alien trying to phone home by stabbing his glowing finger on to the touchscreen of a Galaxy S3.

Thankfully in our world, it's Spielberg at the helm and he's reinstated all the bits of E.T. that were missing from the DVD version of the movie. This includes the change he made to the police holding guns, which were replaced by walkie talkies a few years back when the stupid PC brigade got involved. Great stuff.

Any old Iron – The man behind the HUD (heads up display) of Iron Man's suit, 3D video effects designer Jayse Hansen, has revealed his thinking behind the display. The result is a barrage of behind-the-scenes images and a glimpse into the mind of one of Hollywood's hottest talents.

Warning: one look and you will be laughing in the face of anyone who ever buys Google Glasses, because they are not a patch on what Iron Man uses. And also because they look really stupid. [CargoCollective and The Verge]

Doing a Runner – Remember those future-focused magazines in the background shots of some scenes in Blade Runner? No, neither do we but someone who has watched the film very closely – and not just the Sean Young scenes – has and has recreated the magazine covers for fans to peruse. Amazing stuff, even if it is so geeky you will feel a little weird clicking on them. [Kotaku]

Google sued for being a verb – Google is being sued by a man who believes that the company's name is so engrained in the public consciousness that it should no longer be a trademark. According to David Elliott, the trademarks surrounding Google should disappear and he has taken Google to court to prove this.

In what should be an interesting case, the reasons for the court order are a little more suspect as Elliot currently holds 750 domain names with the word Google in them. Will Google go the way of Hoover? Probably not but we can't wait to see what the courts make of the matter. [Cnet]

Graphic nature – an archive of computer graphics from the '90s has been set up by, er, computer graphics student Werner Randelshofer, charting what computer effects used to look like on an Amiga, Atari ST and other old-school computers. The 16-bit graphics may look dated by today's standards but it's a great little look at how animation has changed in recent years. [The Verge]

Nuclear family – Robots in Japan are nothing new but one of the latest to be created has possibly the most useful and scariest job ever. The robot, named Rosemary, has been used to check out what is happening in the damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima. Using an on-board video, Rosemary can feed back in real time just what is going on with the plant. Sorry Wall-E, but when it comes to saving planets Rosemary may well have pipped you. [SlashGear]

It's the iPhone 5!!!!??!! – It's not the iPhone 5, it's a compact air conditioner that's been mocked up to look like an iPhone but is actually a USB fan thing. We don't think that even a sweaty Jobs would have approved. [Gizmodo]

Face-off – Facebook has decided that it's got far too much cash to throw around and has started to purchase services that include bits of its name in their name. First up may well be Face.com, a facial recognition site that is rumoured to be worth around $100 million.

There's no word as to whether Facebook will buy up book.com which seems to be owned by Barnes & Noble. We are hoping it snaps up ace.com, though, as it's an eBay bookmarking site that looks like it was made in 1988. Surely this is the website Zuckerberg has always wanted to own? [Slashgear]

Olympic effort – Not happy with showing all 24 HD streams of Olympic coverage, Sky has also announced that it will be offering up three new Sky channels for the Paralympics. These will showcasing Channel 4's live coverage of the games. [PR]

Another bite of the Apple – Steve Wozniak spoke to BYTE way back in 1977 about the Apple II and the article has been lovignly republished by Information Week. Even 35 years down the line, Woz speaks a lot of sense about what a PC should be – except the line about them being inexpensive may have gotten lost in translation with Apple's newer, much pricier efforts. [Information Week]

A malicious new programme affecting computers in several countries has been detected by Kaspersky Lab, known as Worm.Win32.Flame (Flame, for short).

The malware is, in Kaspersky Labs' words, "designed to carry out cyber espionage" and is capable of accessing and stealing computer display contents, information about systems, stored files, data and audio conversations.

It looks as though Flame has been around "in the wild" since March 2010 but it managed to elude all security programmes due to its complexity.

In fact, Kaspersky Labs describes it thusly: "The complexity and functionality of the newly discovered malicious program exceeds those of all other cyber menaces known to date."

Not much is known about Flame at the moment. Because of its size (about 20 times larger than Stuxnet), Kaspersky needs a large team of experts with specific experience to work on finding out more.

Weasley worm

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) requested Kaspersky's investigation after another worm, Wiper, was detected deleting data on a number of computers in Western Asia.

While investigating this still-mysterious Wiper, Kaspersky came across the equally worrying Flame malware, which Kaspersky Labs co-founder and CEO Eugene Kaspersky describes as "another phase" in the war begun by the previous Stuxnet and Duqu viruses.

"It's important to understand that such cyber weapons can easily be used against any country," he added.

"Unlike with conventional warfare, the more developed countries are actually the most vulnerable in this case."

Chief security expert at Kaspesky Lab Alexander Gostev added that, "One of the most alarming facts is that the Flame cyber-attack campaign is currently in its active phase, and its operator is consistently surveying infected systems, collecting information and targeting new systems to accomplish its unknown goals."

So there's a vicious cyber weapon on the loose and someone somewhere is controlling it. So what's the plan? Not much can be done until we know more, so the ITU is activating the ITU-Impact network which sees 142 countries and a number of companies working together to alert governments to the threat and speed up the technical analysis phase.

Kaspersky Labs is going to be keeping a close eye on this process so we should find out more in the coming weeks.

The Information Commissioners Office has released updated advice on the guidance on changes to the EU cookie law, and it's a little less restricting than the guidance everyone has been working to over the last 12 months.

The last minute update to the cookie law – it was announced on the ICO blog on the 25 May, the day before the law was due to be enforced - has some clarifications around implied consent:

• Implied consent is a valid form of consent and can be used in the context of compliance with the revised rules on cookies.
• If you are relying on implied consent you need to be satisfied that your users understand that their actions will result in cookies being set. Without this understanding you do not have their informed consent.
• You should not rely on the fact that users might have read a privacy policy that is perhaps hard to find or difficult to understand.
• In some circumstances, for example where you are collecting sensitive personal data such as health information, you might feel that explicit consent is more appropriate.

The ICO uses a patient visiting a doctor as a description of implied consent

"if a patient visits a doctor this act alone would not be taken as indication that the patient consents to examination, treatment or the recording of health information. The patient and doctor would hold a conversation during which the doctor might offer an invitation to the patient to lie down on an examination couch. In the context of this exchange the doctor might now be able to infer consent from the patient's actions based on the fact that there is a shared understanding of what is happening."

Confused?

The full ICO cookie guidance – including the last-minute update – can be found on the ICO site as a PDF and there's a new video that answers some frequently asked questions such as .

1. How can UK organisations comply with the new cookies changes?
2. Is the ICO concerned that many websites aren't yet compliant?
3. What approach will the ICO be adopting to enforcing the amended cookies laws?
4. What are the benefits of complying with the new cookies regulations?
5. What should members of the public do if they are concerned about cookies being placed on their device?
6. How is the ICO working with web browsers and third party advertisers to ensure they comply with the changes?

The ICO caveats the video link with "NB: playing YouTube video sets a cookie – more info" Is this really what they intend every website to explain before they have a link to a new site, or on an embedded video? Let us know what you think of the law and the changes.

Hear that? That's the sound of a thousand netbooks gently weeping into their tiny, tiny keyboards as reports that Toshiba will cease selling the diminutive laptops in the US surface.

A Toshiba executive apparently confirmed that there are no plans to offer any new netbooks in the US to Liliputing, but Toshiba tells us that there's no such roll back in the UK.

The first netbook not to make it to the US is the Intel Cedar Trail-toting Toshiba NB510 but it is definitely still headed to the UK's shelves, according to a Toshiba spokesperson.

Safe haven

State-side, Toshiba is focusing more on the Ultrabook line-up like the Toshiba Portege Z830 - but although Ultrabooks have the portability tied up, the price tag is much, much higher than the netbooks'.

Dell recently said it was stopping production of netbooks in favour of Ultrabooks, saying that "thin and powerful is where it's at for us".

Other companies are also having a think about bidding the netbook a quiet farewell – last year a Samsung email leaked to that effect, while Acer has been rumoured to be ditching the little laptops too and even Intel doesn't reckon netbooks are long for this earth.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has finally come to an agreement about the future of TV.

According to a new report, UHDTV (Ultra High Definition Television) will be the name for both 4K and 8K transmissions when they eventually arrive, despite the megapixel count of the formats varying so widely.

Currently, 4K is the format that many filmmakers are choosing to shoot in. James Cameron and Peter Jackson have both adopted the format and are currently tinkering with frame rates to make their shots look even more realistic.

In megapixel terms, 4K equates to an 8MP resolution ((3,840 x 2,160 pixels) while 8K dwarves this number. An 8K image is the equivalent to 32MP or 7,680 x 4,320 pixels.

Hi-de hi-def

This is a whopping difference so it is a little strange that both will be called UHDTV.

As this is a 'recommendation' at the moment, the fine print hasn't been set, so we may well see this category broken down much like what happened with high definition – which is at 720p and 1080p. There's no word on this in the original standard, however.

"This is the dawn of a new age for television that will bring unprecedented levels of realism and viewer enjoyment. It's a historic moment," said David Wood, Chairman of ITU-R Working Party 6C.

"Some years will pass before we see these systems in our homes, but come they will. The die is now cast, thanks to the untiring efforts of the international experts participating in WP6C."

Currently, Toshiba is the first to offer a 4K consumer TV. The Toshiba 55ZL2 also offer glasses-free 3D and comes at a penny under £6,999.

Sony also has a 4K projector, the VW1000ES, but 8K technology is very much in its infancy. Sharp has showcased an 8K prototype screen - as has NHK, at numerous conventions – under the guise of Super Hi-Vision, a name that looks to disappear if this UHDTV standard is introduced.

It's important that Raspberry Pi has a low price so enthusiasts can afford it, founder Eben Upton told TechRadar at Maker Faire.

It's a gathering of thousands of hardware hackers and 'maker' enthusiasts building everything from ride-on robot giraffes to milk bottles that can tell you if the milk has gone off, where Raspberry Pi was getting an enthusiastic reception), but it has to be profitable as well as cheap.

Upton wants Raspberry Pi to be more than a tool for tinkering; he wants it to enable the next generation of hardware developers and system designers. "It's all about how to look at a problem and say how can I solve this in the cheapest and easiest way. There's a smooth curve from 'PRINT HELLO WORLD' to chief architect. If everyone had a PC we could get them started in a day. It's all about the cost and a lot of effort went into that."

Keeping costs down

That focus on keeping costs down continues as Raspberry Pi adds new features, like the camera board with 1080p encoding that's due in Q3. If the full 14 megapixel resolution of the camera chip they're currently testing proves too expensive, they'll pick a lower resolution. And it's why when we asked what's next for Raspberry Pi, Upton said the next goals were adding touchscreen support and selling enough units to make it an attractive ecosystem.

Upton has his eye on some Toshiba interface chips that will give Raspberry Pi a Display Serial Interface connector and support touch as well, which he says will "round out the platform for input and output". Once the connector is ready, he already knows of people planning to build Raspberry Pi tablets.

Those are the kind of products that need lots of companies building on top of Raspberry Pi and that's why it's important to sell plenty of hardware – and to make money.

"[We want to] get volume into the market. There's a big difference in having ten thousand or a hundred thousand units out there and having a million. We have no full time employees. If we try to do it all ourselves we are doomed. We hope a lot of people make a lot of money. We hope they figure out how to make boards, how to make money. Just because we are open doesn't mean we're allergic to money. We're not from that end of the open hardware spectrum."

He was inspired by the glory days of the 1980s when it felt like anyone who learned to program could have a hit game on their hands and he hopes Raspberry Pi can evoke that same sense of potential and possibilities.

"There were kids with Porsches sitting in their drive waiting until they were old enough to drive them," he reminisced - which helped stop his mother telling him "don't waste your time playing with computers". There's a touch of the homegrown success in Raspberry Pi. "Even this bits that aren't done by Broadcom are ARM," he points out. So a British computing ecosystem? "Why not!" he enthuses.

And so far, Raspberry Pi is a commercial success. "It's not a loss making product. Everyone involved is making money. People say 'Broadcom is giving you the chips for free'; no! If someone was giving stuff away for free it would be unsustainable."

The Broadcom chip (which he enthusiastically calls "a lot of fun for the money") is cheap to start with. "We've got an SoC that is not costing us thirty or forty bucks; there are There are SoCs out there that cost as much as [the whole] Raspberry Pi."

Update: BSkyB has said it has no plans to offer a Sky-branded mobile network in the UK after rumours surfaced this weekend.

In a statement first sent to Reuters, a company spokesperson explained away the company's meet with Everything Everywhere: "As you might expect we regularly meet with a wide range of companies to explore and understand potential opportunities.

"While we continue to extend our leadership in mobile content, we currently have no plans to offer mobile access beyond our existing public Wi-Fi network."

BSkyB had been reported to be in talks with Everything Everywhere about a possible Virgin Media style Sky-branded mobile network in the UK.

The Sunday Times had a chat with some banking sources who claimed that BSkyB was in talks with the eponymous mobile network and may buy a block of radio spectrum from Everything Everywhere (or Ev Ev, as the kids are calling it) in the upcoming 4G spectrum auction.

To the Skymobile!

Original story continues: But that's not the only possibility on Sky's books: it could potentially build its own network using the spectrum bought from Everything Everywhere, or even buy a ready-made network like, say, Three.

But it seems more likely that Sky will opt for creating a virtual network and become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) much like Virgin Media which simply white-labels T-Mobile's network.

We can't help but wonder if there'll be an issue for Everything Everywhere to be providing both Virgin and Sky with a virtual network. Seems to be a bit of a conflict of interest there – but since this is all rumour and speculation at present then we won't worry too much about it.

Still, we won't be surprised if the rumours turn out to be true. Given that Sky already has fingers in the broadband, phone and TV pies, it actually seems a little odd that the company doesn't already have a mobile phone network to its name.

Google Play is introducing both monthly or annual subscription options. Both are offered on an auto-renewing basis, businesses can set the price and billing interval, and Google Play manages all purchase transactions on their behalf, just as it does other in-app products and purchases.

Speaking on the Google Android Developers blog, Ibrahim Elbouchikhi, Product Manager on the Google Play team said "Developers can use them to monetize premium dynamic content such as journals and magazines, but they can also use them to sell access to bundled products, game levels, music and video content, value-added services, or any other digital content."

It's a year since Google first launched in-app Billing in Google Play and the feature has proved incredibly popular with developers and consumers. According to Elbouchikhi, "23 of the 24 top-grossing apps in Google Play use In-app Billing, and the total revenue generated from in-app purchases exceeds revenue from traditional app purchases."

An additional feature of the subscription service is the ability to use the subscription across different platforms. Business developers can now validate or cancel subscriptions via a web link, allowing developers to extend access from their Android apps to their web properties, based on subscriptions that are purchased on Google Play.

In the coming days, several developers will be launching apps with Google Play subscriptions. Glu Mobile will be the first to launch with updated versions of its top Android titles, including Frontline Commando, offering subscriptions through custom VIP currency packages. "We're using Google Play subscriptions to offer consumers a compelling value and a single currency which they can use across Glu's most popular titles" says Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu.

Websites in the UK have to change the way they track users from now on, with sites having to receive 'implied consent' from visitors that they don't mind the site keeping tabs on their online movements.

The law has been mooted for some time and originally required 'explicit consent' from site visitors before certain pop-ups and the like are revealed.

But there was a last minute change to the legislation, which means sites have to obtain just 'implied consent' – this is friendlier for businesses but knocks the UK out of whack from the rest of the EU when it comes to the transparency of cookies.

Although it is thought many UK-based sites will not be ready for the law, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is looking to report back on sites that are not obeying the directive and there's the slight possibility of a £500,000 fine for those who flout the law.

Implications of a click

As with any new law put into place, confusion reigns over proceedings. According to Rob Rachwald, director of security strategy at Imperva, the law is a good way of teaching consumers about how websites track them but is too vague to have much effect.

"Websites and internet technology have become so complex that it is impossible for a typical consumer to understand the implications of a simple click," said Rachwald.

"This law will hopefully help people understand that cookies are the keys to personal information and present a threat if exploited, stolen, altered, harvested or hijacked."

Rachwald continued: "The legislative thinking is that ambiguity forces the private sector to experiment with different approaches until somewhere, somehow someone finds the right way."

Speaking to the BBC about the cookie law, Dave Evans, group manager for the ICO, believed that businesses have had long enough to prepare themselves for the new legislation: "Given that everyone has had a year [to comply], we're going to shift from that kind of approach to one which will be very much more focused on those people who don't appear to have done anything and asking them 'why not?''

So, if you run a site you better swot up on what you need to do before the cookie monster is unleashed.