Technology business and former mobile pioneer Nokia says it’s planning to acquire digital health company Withings S.A this autumn.

It’s put a value of €170 million on Withings, saying the move will help accelerate its entry into the digital health sector.

Research firm Berg Insight has calculated that shipments of connected wearable devices reached 19 million this year, more than three times last year’s total of 5.9 million devices.

This includes smartwatches, smart glasses, fitness and activity trackers, individual safety/monitoring devices and wearable medical devices.

New research from Samsung Electronics predicts that people in the UK will spend £104.7 million on wearable technology this Christmas, putting them ahead of consumers in Germany, Spain and The Netherlands.

That’s a 181% increase in revenue from Christmas 2013, with unit sales up 120.8% on 2013.

Microsoft has launched a wearable fitness-monitoring device. It’s called the Microsoft Band and is currently available in the USA for $199 (around £124).

The device can link via an iOS, Android or Windows Phone app to the new cloud-based Microsoft Health service.

SMS Audio, the audio brand co-founded by Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson, is working with Intel Corporation on a headphone system that’ll incorporate biometric sensors.

Its forthcoming 'SMS Audio BioSport In-Ear Headphones powered by Intel' will include an optical heart rate monitor to collect fitness data.

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

A review of the Nokia 7373 and Sony Ericsson K810i, all the news plus "Are we all swapping Pink for Prada?". There's also a look at Lyric EMI and Ascendo Photos for Blackberry.

The team discuss the changes taking place on the UK high street with 02 pulling out of Phones 4U. Has the Market matured? We also review the Samsung F700 and the HP iPAQ 514, plus Ghost Rider + VolumeCare Pro software for your mobile.

The team look at the cash back crisis impacting the mobile industry, plus review the BlackBerry 8800 and Nokia E90 Communicator. 2 new pieces of software with Andy McNab's Enigma Force and Quickoffice Premier v4.

This week the team look at all the latest news from GSM world, review 2 new phones from Nokia and Sony Ericsson the 8800 and W880i. We also look at smart2go and The Bird - Evil has Wings.

The week the team take a look at the D840 from Samsung and the V3xx from Motorola. They also debate the evolution of VoIP for mobile over the past 6 months, as well as review the latest news from the past 7 days. This weeks software review includes Sonic the Hedgehog and amaZe advertising support GPS navigation software.