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Pre-ordering for the HP TouchPad tablet has gone live on the Carphone Warehouse website.

Those who are keen to get their hands on its 9.7 inch touchscreen can pre-order the 16GB model for £399, and the 32GB version for £479.

That’s for the wi-fi only variant, and it’s exactly the same level that the iPad 2 is priced at. So what does the TouchPad offer that Apple’s tablet doesn’t?

The major difference with HP’s offering is that it uses not Android, unlike most iPad rivals, but the company’s own webOS 3.0 platform. Those with a webOS phone will be able to touch them together to share data between the devices.

Other technical specs include a Snapdragon dual-core 1.2GHz processor, along with a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera.

A quality pair of stereo speakers – quality for a slate, that is – are also promised. However, there’s one thing missing here that the iPad 2 and comparable tablets have, and that’s a full-strength rear-facing camera.

HP is perhaps counting on the fact that video calling is more important to tablet owners than holding up a 10 inch slate to take photos.

Carphone Warehouse hasn’t yet announced a release date for the HP TouchPad, but it’s expected to arrive in early July, so there should only be a couple of weeks to wait now.

The story about the arrested nineteen-year-old alleged hacker from Essex we’ve just written about has just been commented on by LulzSec on the group’s Twitter feed.

Some sources have reported that the chap in question was a “mastermind” or key figure in the LulzSec group, but the organisation has denied this.

They tweeted: “Seems the glorious leader of LulzSec got arrested, it’s all over now… wait… we’re all still here! Which poor bastard did they take down?”

Police have said the arrest is in connection with the DDoS attacks on the SOCA website last night, which took the site down, and LulzSec claimed responsibility for.

No doubt more details in the bigger picture will emerge in due course. LulzSec hasn’t yet commented on the other big story which hit the headlines today, namely that they’ve managed to steal 2011 census data from the UK government.

This revelation was made on Pastebin, but hasn’t yet been officially confirmed or denied by the hacking organisation.

UPDATE: LulzSec has just now denied that it hacked the UK census data on its official Twitter feed: “Just saw the pastebin of the UK census hack. That wasn’t us – don’t believe fake LulzSec releases unless we put out a tweet first.”

Although the group did add: “But hey, if someone out there hacked the UK government in the name of #AntiSec, well done sirs!”

Mozilla has released a test build of Firefox 5 into its beta channel.

The Firefox 5 beta isn’t a full overhaul and new release of the browser, however, just an update with a number of tweaks being made.

As well as a number of bugs and glitches being addressed, this version adds support for CSS animations and improved HTML5 standards, along with enhanced JavaScript and memory performance.

The “Do-Not-Track” header preference has also been shifted to make it easier for users to find, and this can be switched on to stop cookies tracking your browsing habits.

Desktop environment integration has been worked on for Linux users, and spell checking has also been improved for some regions.

Confirming what we’ve been saying on this site ever since 3DTV sets first emerged in the living room, a new report from Informa Telecoms & Media reckons that 3DTV won’t be a mainstream success in the UK.

The analysts estimate that come 2016 there will be 11 million 3DTV equipped homes in the UK – so the technology will certainly spread, that being one in three households (in 2016). However, the key point is that less than half of these owners will actually regularly watch 3D content, the report theorises.

Of the early-adopters who bought a 3DTV last year, 90% are classified as active users, because they’re obviously very keen on the technology.

Those buying a set over the coming years, however, will likely get a 3DTV by default as the technology becomes more widespread, and they’ll have no particular inclination to watch 3D or pay extra for three-dimensional content.

3D is now viewed by manufacturers not as a selling point, but as part of a bundle of features that must be included to make a set seem future-proof, such as net TV capabilities.

Major broadcasters such as Sky and the Beeb are pushing 3D technology, too, but this isn’t going to make much impact.

Adam Thomas, Senior Analyst, commented: “3DTV has the backing of the major UK broadcasters like Sky and Virgin, and most recently the BBC announced its plans to show the Wimbledon final in 3D for the first time.”

“However, despite this, public reaction has been mixed – due to both a lack of content and a simple failure of the public to engage with what is, essentially, a new type of viewing experience.”

The report’s conclusion is that while 3DTV will achieve considerable household penetration in this country, by and large it will only be used for one-off special events or films, not as a whole new way of viewing.

Which is possibly just as well, as we certainly wonder what the long-term effects of prolonged and constant 3D viewing might be on some folks’ eye health.

Nokia has revealed the next in line N-series smartphone, the N9.

The Nokia N9 is billed as a “pure touch” phone, as it features a one-piece unibody design with a 3.9 inch WVGA AMOLED gorilla glass display completely covering the front. There are no buttons present, for a simple and neat appearance.

To unlock this swipe-centric handset you simply double tap the display. Apparently fashioned via “best in polycarbonate material engineering”, the N9 supposedly guarantees superior antenna performance and reception.

Other specs include a 1GHz Arm Cortex-A8 processor, 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, super-wide lens and HD video support, A-GPS, NFC and 16GB or 64GB of storage on board depending on which model you select.

The processor seems rather slow compared to cutting edge phones these days, which tend to hit 1.2GHz or even go dual-core, but the rest of the spec sounds pretty enticing.

Perhaps the biggest surprise, however, is the OS which will be MeeGo, a platform we thought Nokia had pretty much given up on with the incoming Windows Phone 7 deal.

Maybe this isn’t the case after all, and perhaps Nokia is planning on building MeeGo up alongside WP7 handsets, even though the Finnish company has admitted WP7 will become its primary smartphone platform later this year.

It should be interesting to see how MeeGo 1.2 (Harmattan) performs on the N9, and what buyers make of it.