PhonepayPlus, the UK’s premium rate telephone services regulator, has taken the sting out of malicious mobile apps that sent premium rate text messages.

The malware attack, which was named RuFraud by security experts, involved fake versions of popular Android applications including Angry Birds, Assassins Creed and Cut the Rope.

New research from Berg Insight suggests that non-traditional mobile-enabled consumer devices have strong potential for growth.

The most popular of these consumer M2M devices are SIM-equipped satellite navigation units and e-book readers, although strong growth in handheld gaming consoles, personal tracking devices and personal health devices is also expected.

Everything Everywhere says AGA Rangemaster has selected its M2M Management Platform and Orange UK SIM cards for the new AGA iTotal Control oven.

The oven offers remote control via an Android or Apple iOS app, a web browser or text message.

Yahoo! has launched a new web browser called Yahoo! Axis. It’s currently available for Apple iOS devices and as a plug-in for HTML5-enabled desktop browsers such as Firefox 7, Internet Explorer 9 and Chrome.

Features include visual previews of results, a custom homepage and a ‘connected experience’ that lets consumers start their search on one device and finish it on another.

The phablet - larger than a phone, smaller than a tablet - will see global shipments increase by a factor of 10 in 2012 from last year, according to ABI Research.

The company, which defines these devices as having a touchscreen size between 4.6 and 5.5 inches, expects more than 208 million phablets to be shipped globally in 2015.