Drivers who buy certain Chevrolet cars in the USA next year will be able to use Apple’s Siri voice-controlled assistant to activate vehicle features when driving.

The option will be available on Chevrolet Spark and Sonic models that include the Chevrolet MyLink infotainment system.

Orange Vallée, the part of France Telecom-Orange responsible for innovation and development, has released a free cross-network mobile app that enables users to make free voice calls, send messages and receive voicemail messages.

It’s called Libon and is available as an iOS app in 90 countries including the UK; an Android version is planned for early next year.

Research In Motion has updated its BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging service to allow free voice calls to other BBM users via WiFi.

BBM version 7 enables customers to switch between texting and talking with their contacts.

Vodafone UK has launched a new set of ‘pay monthly’ tariffs called Vodafone Red, which offer unlimited voice calls and unlimited text messaging. There are also larger mobile data allowances than previous tariffs.

Customers can benefit from unlimited UK calls and texts plus 1GB of internet usage from £29 per month with the standard Red tariff. Alternatively, Red Data from £34 per month includes 2GB of data with unlimited calls and SMS text messaging.

The amount of voice calls from mobile phones is falling for the first time ever, according to new research published by UK telecoms regulator Ofcom.

It says the volume of voice calls from mobiles fell by 1% in 2011, while the volume of calls from fixed-line phones dropped by 10%. The average Briton now sends 50 text messages per week; a figure that’s more than doubled in the past four years.