Jürgen Hase writes:

Machine-to-machine communication (M2M) and the Internet of Things (IoT) run through all areas of life and work. Cars, cargo containers, parking spaces or even wristwatches and coffee cups – everything around us is on the verge of being connected.

Juniper Research has published its predictions for technology industries next year.

At the top of the list is a prediction that cities will ‘get smarter’ during the next 12 months, anticipating that the high-profile smart technology testbeds of Singapore, Barcelona and Nice will be joined by many other cities next year.

UK virtual network Ovivo has revised its tariffs for smartphones and tablets. The ad-funded MVNO now offers 200 minutes of UK calls, 300 text messages and 500MB of mobile data every month for no charge on its ‘Freedom 0’ tariff.

Instead of paying a monthly fee, customers are shown online advertisements and will also receive some text message ads.

Mobile content and commerce group MEF has published its third annual mobile consumer survey, which involved 10,000 respondents from 13 countries.

It notes that the number of purchases via mobile devices has fallen for the first time, from 54% of mobile media users last year to 42% in 2013, but the value of individual purchases is going up.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has announced a number of updates that form part of the new Bluetooth version 4.1.

This new version will offer a reduced risk of interference with 4G LTE transmissions, more control over automatic reconnections, bulk data transfer, more flexibility when defining devices as ‘hub’ or ‘peripheral’ and more potential for use with the ‘Internet of Things’.