Wayne Williams

There’s been plenty of speculation over the past few weeks as to which mobile provider British Telecom was sweetest on -- EE or O2 (its ex) -- but today we learn the object of BT’s affection is definitely the Deutsche Telekom and Orange S.A  joint-venture, as the telecoms giant confirms that it has entered into "exclusive negotiations" to buy EE for £12.5 billion.

There’s a long, long way to go before the companies tie the knot, but if things go ahead, part of the purchase price will be paid in BT shares. Upon successful completion of the proposed transaction Deutsche Telekom stands to own a 12 percent stake in the company, and Orange would gain 4 percent.

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Microsoft plans to launch the next build of Windows 10 in January, and we’ll start to see some focus on the consumer side of things. The company is holding an event at its Redmond campus on January 21 to talk about the "next chapter" of the OS.

But while the tech giant isn’t releasing any new builds for a few weeks at least, there have been several leaks on the internet that reveal what we can expect to see when it does. Here’s what coming to a PC near you soon.

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UK-based anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label has published its annual study into how people aged 13-25 are currently engaging with (and abusing) smartphone technology. The Wireless Report (2014) reveals worrying details on the increase in the number of cyberbullying cases which includes death and physical assault threats, and exposure of information, including sharing of naked photos without the subject’s permission.

The report, which was compiled from the results of a survey advertised as being about smartphone apps (without mention of bullying, abuse or sexting) reveals some striking statistics.

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Since Microsoft and Sony’s next generation consoles launched in late 2013, PlayStation 4 has been outselling the Xbox One very, very comfortably. In fact, just a month ago I reported that the PS4 had sold double that of its rival in the first year.

However, in November Microsoft’s console finally managed to claim the top spot, helped in no small part by a price cut and some decent software launches coming into the holiday season.

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Windows 10 is very much a work in progress. While certain elements of the forthcoming OS appear close to how they will be in the finished release, much of what’s in the Technical Preview is early and very buggy. There’s been talk of the new operating system coming out in Spring 2015, but the latest rumors, based on what Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer at Redmond, told the Nikkei news service, a September release is looking a far more realistic prospect. That’s a smart move, as the last thing Microsoft should be doing is rushing out an unfinished OS -- as it did with Windows 8.

You won’t have to wait too long for your next big batch of Windows 10 goodness though, as Microsoft will be holding an event at its Redmond campus on January 21 to talk about the "next chapter" of the OS.

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When Fitbit launched its free, native app for Windows Phone 8.1 four months ago, it was a huge win for Microsoft which has in the past struggled to entice big names to its platform. The Fitbit app includes pretty much everything an owner of one of the firm’s activity trackers could want, including real-time and historical stats, automatic wireless syncing, activity and food logging, and the ability to pin the Fitbit Live Tile to your Start screen.

But where some companies simply port Android or iOS versions of their apps to Windows Phone and then forget about them, Fitbit shows just how committed it is to Microsoft's mobile platform by updating its app to introduce Cortana integration for easy voice-activated food & activity logging, as well as various other features.

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I use headphones to listen to music and games on my iPhone a lot. As a result, I often have headphones with me, either wrapped around my phone or just shoved in a pocket. Sometimes though I’ll forget to take them when I go out, which can be a pain.

The successfully Kickstarter-backed Mous Musicase aims to solve this problem by integrating Apple EarPods into your iPhone so they’re always at hand and you don’t have to worry about them getting tangled or lost.

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3D movies might not be as popular (or ubiquitous) as they were a few years ago, but people still enjoy viewing media with a degree of depth. The massive success of the Nintendo 3DS is testament to this.

If you own an Apple iPhone, and want to view images or video in 3D (without having to wear special glasses), you now can thanks to EyeFly3D Nanoglass. This is a screen protector that you attach to your iPhone and which delivers a convincing 3D effect.

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Designed to make it easy to charge up to seven devices at once, regardless of what those devices actually are, Hub It is a clever piece of kit that uses hot switchable cartridges so you can choose which connectors it offers.

By default you get three USB 3.0 ports and connectors for Micro USB, Mini USB, Apple 30 pin and Apple Lightning, but you can opt for any configuration and there are additional cartridges available for other devices, with more choices coming soon. I reviewed it here, and loved it.

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Two weeks ago Mozilla announced that it would be jettisoning Google as the default search option in Firefox, opting instead to go for Yahoo, the search engine that most right-thinking people stopped using, and caring about, years ago (at least Mozilla didn’t select Ask.com).

Firefox 34 launched at the start of the month, with Yahoo as the default choice for US users, and instantly the newly selected search engine saw a massive increase in usage.

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The CAPTCHA is a truly annoying creation. It prevents robots and scripts from pulling content from websites, or spamming them, which is great for website owners and hosts, but irritating for site visitors because it forces them to "prove they are human" by solving a challenge. This usually involves reading and entering some distorted text into a box, although there are other variations.

I personally find them hugely irksome as sometimes they fail to recognize when you get the words right, and sometimes they let you through when you get the words wrong. More importantly, they waste your time. Thankfully, the days of the CAPTCHA are numbered, as Google has come up a human-friendly solution.

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20 years ago today, Sony’s beloved PlayStation console was released in Japan. Launched into a gaming world utterly dominated by Sega and Nintendo, the PlayStation quickly became the must-have console. I got my initial first-hand experience of it at E3, and remember it being pretty much the only thing people there were talking about. I was (and still am) a dedicated PC gamer, and the PlayStation was the first games console I ever bought.

Sony’s PlayStation was an essential purchase for gaming fans -- especially those into driving and fighting games, which the console excelled at -- and it’s fair to say the PlayStation quickly had a massive impact on the gaming world, leaving a legacy that is still very much in evidence today.

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Many of us own multiple devices that charge or are powered via USB. Even though many PCs come with at least two or four USB ports these days, and USB charging adapters that plug into wall sockets are commonplace, that may not be enough. In other words, you may occasionally find yourself needing to charge something, without a spare USB port, or a cable for the task -- especially if you live in a house with teenagers. If all devices used Micro USB life would be simpler, but sadly, they do not.

This is where Hub It comes in. It's a powered sync and charging station that can power/charge up to seven items simultaneously, and includes connectors for all of your devices, including smartphones, tablets, iPhones and iPads, and digital cameras.

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It still has plenty of haters, but Windows 8.1 is finally finding an audience. It may not be anywhere near as sizable as the audience Windows 7 commands, but after losing usage share earlier in the year, the tiled OS is finally headed in the right direction, and at speed.

Earlier today I reported on NetMarketShare’s figures which show Windows 8.1 as having 12.10 percent of the desktop OS market, but now StatCounter has released its own figures which show Windows 8.1 as having just hit a pretty special milestone -- overtaking Windows XP for the first time.

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As 2015 draws ever closer, we’ll begin seeing retrospectives highlighting the most memorable moments of the past year.

With a month of 2014 still to go, Bing has jumped in first with its look back at the people, moments and events that have shaped the year. There are some interesting highlights but some even more curious omissions.

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