Thank you to Richard who sent me a note asking me to check out MifiClub, a service that will send you a MiFi next-day in the United Kingdom.

Rumors that Apple is cooperating with TiVo on the next generation of its Apple TV device caused TiVo’s shares to spike earlier this week, going up as high as $9.24, only to fall back down to $8.51 in after-hours trading today. The rumors were prominently picked up by the Barron’s blog Tech Trader Daily, but short on details, and there’s a lot to be skeptical about:

3-D TV may be the most-hyped consumer electronics trend of 2010, but it’s not actually where the money is: That’s the gist of a new report from iSuppli, which estimates that only around 4.2 million 3-D TV sets will ship worldwide this year. Internet-enabled TV sets, on the other hand, will ship at a rate of 27.7 million this year, representing 124.9 percent growth.

Dominic Rushe from the Daily Mail has suggested today that TV as we know it won’t be the same after Google and Microsoft are done with it.

Cable giant Virgin Media UK has reported its latest second quarter 2010 results, revealing that its broadband ISP subscriber base has grown from 4,179,700 in Q1 to 4,207,800 in Q2 of this year. The figure suggest that VM has had a poor quarter with consumer additions of only +28,100; significantly down on Q1's +76,200.

A recently announced Google’s Android-based TV platform is a few months away from releasing. Google TV blends television with Internet capabilities and will be supported not only in the already announced Logitech Revue. Antik Technology plans to bring the features of Google TV to the owners of its Juice set-top boxes.

Of all DTT standards in the world, the European DVB is the cheapest for the users, according to the former president of Spain's Impulsa TDT, Eladio Gutiérrez.

It seems that the government has turned its attention to the folks who have taken to watching TV on their computer to avoid paying for a TV licence.

Middleware and conditional access specialist Latens is turning its attention to the concept of TV Everywhere. Its new ECO UI 5 Middleware comes pre-integrated with conditional access for multiple devices including the Apple iPad, where Latens’ software-based CA comes into its own.

Pace widens US reach into telco market through proposed acquisition of 2Wire, Inc.

No. British satellite broadcaster Sky will be launching a full 3D TV service this autumn – but existing subscribers to its Sky HD service won't need to replace their Sky HD boxes to take advantage of the new broadcasts.

So it seems that founding and operating a broadcast mobile TV business is no mean feat: as mocoNews points out, there is spectrum to be purchased and transmission towers to be networked — all before you can sell electronics manufacturers on carrying your chipset in their devices.

Earlier today I reported on the unlikelihood that the next Batman movie will be in 3D. But is that a fluke or part of a trend? If box office numbers are any indication, it's definitely the latter.

OK, we know that HP is working on a tablet computer running the Palm WebOS operating system. So what’s up with that HP Slate 500 tablet that was spotted on the HP web site yesterday? You know, the one running Windows 7? Didn’t HP kill off its Windows 7 tablet plans months ago?

MSI has launched a new version of its Wind U230 thin and light notebook. The original U230 had a 12.1 inch display, but the new MSI Wind U230 Light has a slightly smaller 11.6 inch display.

The Strong Group has licensed the Thomson brand for its range of high-end free-to-air set-top boxes sold in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Project Canvas has confirmed the appointment of Kip Meek as the internet-connected TV project’s non-executive chairman.

ST’s net revenues for the second quarter of 2010 totaled $2,531 million and included sales recorded by ST-Ericsson as consolidated by ST. Net revenues increased 8.9% sequentially, mainly reflecting ACCI and IMS product segments registering better than seasonal sequential revenue growth trends while the Company’s Wireless segment decreased by 10.5%.

DK-Technologies is using the IBC 2010 platform (Stand 8:E60) to introduce a number of new innovations to its range of audio and video metering and monitoring products.

And lo, it came to pass. Sky has announced it will sell Easynet to private equity house Lloyds Development Capital, which will back its current management.

The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, a consortium of 60 video content, distribution and DRM companies including Sony, Time Warner, News Corporation, NBC Universal, Paramount, Comcast and Cox, has announced Ultraviolet, the new brand name for DECE's initiative. Today, consumers have to deal with a thicket of different DRM schemes; content that works on one device might not work on another one, and their rights for using the same content on multiple devices can differ dramatically. Ultraviolet's goal is to smooth over the differences, so that consumers have uniform rules for how they can access and use content on multiple devices.

For the past three years, our little guide to eating out in Amsterdam has proved to be a very popular feature of the Broadband TV News IBC Special. So this year it is time for an encore appearance. Be sure to come back again, as we will add a few more reviews in the days leading up to IBC 2010.

Humax is to unveil a new range of portal services for its range of internet-enabled set-top boxes.

Updated: Major road works are still taking place at the Amsterdam RAI during IBC due to the construction of a new subway line. Just before summer, work on the line was resumed after being halted due to some serious problems with buildings in the old city.

Boxee, which last month announced a delay in bringing its set-top box-the Boxee Box–to market until the fourth quarter (hopefully November in time for the holiday shopping season), has done a turnaround and now says the box is going to land a little sooner than that. It originally was set for a June rollout.

Boxee, the firm that uses its own media centre to provide internet users with free downloadable software which allows them to view TV and video on the internet, is preparing to launch its own branded set-top box.

S3 Group (formerly Silicon & Software Systems) today announced that it has collaborated with BSkyB (Sky) [LSE:BSY] on the development of its latest high-definition (HD), low-power set-top boxes (STBs), the DRX890 and the DRX895. These boxes include highly integrated and advanced STB technology from Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM). Both boxes boast enhanced features, increased storage capacity and energy saving capabilities. And as with Sky’s existing Sky+HD STBs, the boxes have also been designed to support future services launching in 2010 such as broadband-enabled video-on-demand and 3DTV.

The global set top box market grew to over two hundred million units last year.

It looks like Freesat have re-opened the debate on offering a Pay-TV option on the ‘free’ satellite platform, following high level discussions to consider allowing access to premium channels such as Sky Sports 1 and 2.