Mobile billing specialist MACH is launching direct mobile operator billing for online payments and app purchases in the UK. The service, which uses the MACH Direct Billing Gateway and includes support for the Payforit scheme, will be available via all the UK’s major mobile phone networks.

Direct mobile operator billing enables mobile subscribers to pay for apps and other online goods by charging them to their mobile phone account.

WHSmith is the latest UK company to arrange free WiFi for its customers. The high-street newsagent, bookshop and stationery retailer has signed a deal with The Cloud to install free WiFi in 603 of its stores across the UK.

As well as providing customers who use the service with a WHSmith ‘landing page’ offering store information and special offers, the new WiFi service will also allow easier demonstrations of the Kobo eBook readers sold in-store.

From cooking pots to cars and aeroplanes, the products of the future will be increasingly intelligent - able to communicate and cooperate with humans, other devices and their environment. EU-funded research is assisting this smart products trend that promises to make everyday life easier, more comfortable and productive.

Anyone who has ever tried to install a new entertainment system in their home, fit a child seat in their car correctly or learn how to use a new hi-tech kitchen appliance knows just how complicated and frustrating some products can be. Paper instruction manuals are often hard to follow and getting two or more devices or components to work together can be a nightmare. But what if the products themselves could tell users and each other what to do?

Mobile payment provider Bango says its integration with Facebook is now live, enabling the social network to bill customers via their mobile networks in the UK, Germany and the USA.

The partnership was first announced in February and will be expanded to work in other countries later this year.

The vast majority of tablet computing devices - including the Apple iPad and the Amazon Kindle Fire - are not made by the company whose name appears on the device. Instead they’re made by contract or outsourced manufacturers based in Asia, according to a new report from IHS iSuppli.

It’s calculated that around nine out of every 10 media tablets will be outsourced this year.