Micro-blogging site Twitter has launched its own mobile video sharing service.

It’s called Vine and is currently only available as an app for the iPhone and iPod touch, although versions for other platforms are in the pipeline.

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s the week before Christmas, which can only mean one thing for the mobile industry: plenty of research news. Yes, when there isn’t anything new to talk about, a survey or forecast is the perfect way to fill the silence.

Mind you, things haven’t been entirely quiet when it comes to mobile products and services.

Twitter has added the option of eight special-effect photo filters to its iPhone and Android applications.

The announcement comes shortly after photo sharing service Instagram removed a feature that enabled users’ photographs to automatically preview within a ‘Tweet’.

New analysis of the UK’s communication habits has found that people can be categorised into five different groups of communicators, ranging from the ‘always on’ to the ‘detached’.

Earlier this year, Ofcom’s Communication Market Report revealed that the UK is now texting more that talking. Further analysis of the research, published today, looks at the methods and frequency of communication, as well people’s attitudes towards it.

Apple has been named as the UK’s coolest brand, according to the 2012 CoolBrands survey. The annual survey combines votes from an independent ‘expert council’ with the opinions of around 3,000 members of the public.

Approximately 1,250 brands were shortlisted for the survey, which considers factors including style, innovation, originality, authenticity, desirability and uniqueness.