The Next Web UK: Weekly Re-Cap

Welcome to the latest and last weekly re-cap of 2009 from the UK team here at The Next Web.

One of the biggest stories to come out of UK tech this week for me was Project Canvas, converging the application environment with TV, Internet and on demand content.

Peter Evers, a fellow writer at The Next Web posted a fantastic demo of the project which was officially backed by the BBC Trust a day later.  Other partners of the project include fellow broadcasters Channel 4, 5 and British Telecom which is a positive indicator of how serious a proposition this platform maybe in the coming years, in particularly if Sky were to get involved.  (Full Article)

On a more light hearted level, Rage Against The Machine clinched the number 1 spot in last week’s top 40 chart in a bid to dislodgeSimon Cowells dominance of the Christmas number 1 in recent years. With a collection of well supported Facebook Fan Pages and Groups, coupled with staggering digital sales, RATM beat Joe McElderry with the single they originally released over 15 years ago. (Full Article)

The UK Governments public services released a 2nd iPhone app in just over a week with the DirectGov Travel application which followed the NHS’s alcohol tracker.  The free app enables users to let their phone select their current location to discover local travel problems, or use a selector-wheel to choose their region, transport type and delay type to help them plan their journeys.Results are displayed in the form of coloured pins on Google maps, each of which can be selected individually for detailed information about the type of delay, incident description and severity.  (Full Review)

Nysght Re-launches.  The London based social search engine was re-launched at the recent ChristmasCrunch event and I gave it a in-depth review last week. spurred by a round of VC funding to the tune of $200k, has been re-invigorated by founder Geoffrey McCaleb after the project was shelved in 2008. (Full Review)

BT are promising UK broadband users access to up to 100mbps connectivity by the start of the London Olympics in 2012. Though only a small percentage of the UK will have access, centered around London, as well as the requirement to have fibre optic cabling up to your house leaving consumers with a continued battle to obtain the kind of broadband speeds promised by providers each day. (Full Article)

If your not already aware, he excellent The Next Web podcast has been running for the last month or so, taking in and discussing the top stories of the week.  Head over to the international site for this weeks edition as well as the .com weekly re-cap too.

From myself and the rest of the UK team, we hope you had/will a fantastic Xmas and New Year and we will be back in the thick of it for what we hope will be a fantastic year for tech and start ups in the UK.