A new report from KPMG says consumers around the world are embracing new technology - and consumers in the UK are adopting many of these new technologies faster than the rest of the world.

The KPMG report, entitled ‘The Converged Lifestyle’, also says UK consumers appear to be more concerned about privacy and security than other countries.

Location-based social network Gowalla is to close at the end of January, having been acquired by Facebook.

User data isn’t being transferred; Gowalla says it intends to provide an easy way for users to export this information.

Mark Bridge writes:

The really big news last week wasn’t good: 17,000 jobs worldwide are being lost at Nokia Siemens Networks (which, incidentally, is a separate company from both Nokia and Siemens). That’s not far short of a quarter of the total workforce. The company is going to focus on mobile network infrastructure and services, with a particular emphasis on mobile broadband, and is likely to sell off other parts of the business.

Retrieva, the UK-based company that produces dog tracking collars with built-in GPS tracking, has announced a deal with specialist virtual mobile network Podsystem.

It’ll allow Retrieva to use Podsystem’s MultiNet Europe SIM cards for a premium roaming service that’ll simplify costs and will allow European owners to track their dogs across national borders.

Juniper Research predicts that the total redemption value of mobile coupons will exceed $43 billion globally by 2016, eight times more than this year’s anticipated m-coupon total of $5.4 billion.

Its new report says mobile coupons are increasingly delivered by mobile apps. It notes that innovative targeting techniques are being used to deliver mobile coupons to users based on more than just their location, with lifestyle, work patterns, social networking and gaming opportunities all becoming factors.