Almost 3.5 million British children under the age of eight have tablets and nearly 4 million learned to use a smartphone or tablet before they were three.

New research from price comparison and switching service uSwitch reveals a growing nation of cyber tots with 29 percent learning to use a touch screen device before the age of three and 11 percent before they were two.

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These days few of us even leave the house without our smartphones. It’s no secret we’re addicted to our mobile devices, checking them constantly, and using them for all sorts of things -- from talking, texting, emailing and taking photos and videos, to browsing websites, checking the weather, accessing maps and playing games.

A new infographic from Mophie titled "A Day in the Life of a Data Traveler" shows exactly how much we rely on our mobile devices when traveling and provides interesting stats on how we use our smartphones while away and the amount of data being consumed per action.

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I have often wondered how many Windows Phone users are relying on Google Search, instead of Bing, to look things up on the InterWebs. The percentage should not be very high seeing as Microsoft deeply integrates Bing with the dedicated search button and makes it the default choice for processing queries from Internet Explorer. I can imagine the software giant saying "This time they will all bing it, not google it" and doing an evil laugh afterwards.

To use Google instead of Bing, Windows Phone users can change the default search engine in the Internet Explorer settings and/or navigate to its web page and look things up from there. Personally, I prefer the former route as it is more convenient and faster, though I would not be surprised to learn that there are people who are not familiar with this option. However, Microsoft does not allow users to change the default search engine when using the dedicated search button. As you can see, the odds favor Bing. It should, therefore, be the users' favorite by a long shot, shouldn't it? The answer is not so clear.

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If you shop using your smartphone you are highly informed, social and seeking a superior shopping experience -- and retailers want to have your babies.

These (apart from the last bit) are the findings of the latest research by IDC which found that surveyed respondents believe the smartphone is transforming their shopping experience.

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South Korean maker Samsung is now rolling out the Android 4.4.2 KitKat update for its Galaxy Note 3 phablet. The software upgrade arrives more than two months after Google announced the latest version of its mobile operating system.

The code that Samsung is rolling out now is identical to the version that leaked earlier, and is available for the international (SM-9005) model of the Galaxy Note 3. Unsurprisingly, the first stage of the roll out commences in Poland.

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One of the most memorable presentations given at CES this year saw Samsung showing off its latest curved screen TV. Sadly for the tech giant it was Michael Bay's on-stage brain fart that most people took away from the talk (if I can just leave you with the delightful image of taking away someone's fart with you...), but Samsung would much rather we concentrated on the display technology it was showcasing. It excited a great many people, and for some it is seen as the way ahead and something we could see a lot more off. I sincerely hope we don't, particularly on the desktop.

Why? There are lots of reasons that I am opposed to the idea of curved screens, particularly when used for TVs and monitors -- smartphones are slightly different, but I'm not too keen on that either. Curved screens are not really a brand spanking new technology; there have been curved cinema screens for a number of years now, and I can see the benefit of the curve in this setting. Used in a theater the curve eliminates the problem of trying to find a seat right in the center because it matters far less where you are in relation to the screen. Everyone gets an equally good view of the action. It is a democratizing technology. So why am I down on it?

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There has been a lot of talk about 2014 being the year of wearable tech. I'm yet to try out Google glass, but I can see its appeal -- providing the price drops a little! -- yet what interests me are smart versions of existing things we already wear. (I will grant you that Glass kind of falls into this category, but not everyone wears glasses) There have been quite a lot of smart watches over the last year, but they have a tendency to be rather ugly, bulky, or require an additional, specific device in order to function correctly. Yes, Galaxy Gear, I'm pointing at you.

But things are starting to evolve quite nicely. The new Pebble Steel is a spectacular smart watch that overcomes the looks issue that has blighted other models. The three models -- black leather, stainless steel and black matte -- all look great, and don’t stand out for the wrong reasons. This is a smart watch that looks like a watch rather than a smart watch, and this is where wearable technology stands or falls. An incredible piece of technology should be capable of just blending in and getting on with its job rather than jumping up, grabbing your eyeballs and demanding LOOK AT ME!

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This was a week dominated by CES, and there were a huge number of announcements about upcoming hardware. Lenovo took the wraps off the (slightly) heavyweight ThinkPad Tablet 8, but any excess weight was countered by the ultra-light ThinkPad X1 Carbon ultrabook. HP's range of business desktops even included one device running Android, while Nvidia's new Tegra K1 promises much for the mobile market.

Competitor Qualcomm revealed two processors designed for entertainment while Pure's Connect platform opens up the possibility of using any streaming music service with its wireless speakers. Smart TVs are set to benefit from the addition of Roku software, but it seems that the technology du jour is 4K, with a new 4K laptop from Toshiba joining the streams of 4K TVs and monitors.

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With the rise in popularity of Windows Phone, the Store has reached an important milestone as more than 200,000 apps are now available. That is good news and certainly impressive for the third-most popular smartphone platform, considering its track record. However, such numbers are actually meaningless as users do not install, or need, every available title. It is the quality, and not the quantity, that matters.

And, of all available Windows Phone apps, only a small part can be considered essential, or the best for most people. Those are the titles that can enrich the user experience, and add great value atop of what the tiled smartphone operating system offers. So without further ado, here are the must-have apps for your Windows Phone.

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We’re a week into the New Year, a time to look to the future, and all the news flooding out of CES has us excited for what’s coming up. But that’s not to say we can’t still take some time to look back on 2013 -- a year that brought us some great (and not so great) tech.

FinancesOnline.com has created a new infographic summing up 2013 in tech launches and featuring the best smartphones, tablets and other gadgets. Each of the included devices has been sorted into the following categories:

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Windows Phone may have managed to overtake Apple's iPhone in a small number of markets, based on sales, and become the third most popular smartphone operating system, but it -- and the devices that run it -- do not get much love from US consumers who are still buying Android smartphones and iPhones in droves.

Based on a new report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, in the US Windows Phone continues to struggle to gain considerable traction as the OS only had a paltry 4.7 percent market share, in the three months ending November 2013. This may represent a whopping 80.76 percent increase compared to the same period from 2012, but it is not large enough to even remotely threaten the local dominance of either Android or iOS. The results of the report are based on smartphone sales.

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I would dump DSL tomorrow and switch the family to cellular data, if not for cost. Downstream wireless is faster than my home Internet and would always be there -- wherever the phone goes; use it as personal hotspot for PC or tablet. But pesky, expensive data caps hold me back.

So I'm intrigued by one of the oddest and most provocative announcements coming on Consumer Electronics Show 2014 Day 0: AT&T "Sponsored Data". The carrier turns around the Net Neutrality debate by encouraging data gluttons to pay up so that cellular customers can consume more while paying less. It's a novel concept, and I like it. Netflix, this is for you, baby. You might resist, but I'll love you forever if you sponsor me. Surely, I'm not alone.

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Corning Gorilla Glass is well known for its ability to fend off scratches, but the latest version has a new trick up its sleeve as well -- germ-fighting capabilities. Hypochondriacs and neurotics around the world rejoice! Touching your phone need not be the disgusting, bacteria ridden vomit-fest it has been up until now! Getting touchy feely with phones is something we have become used to over the years, and while it's probably easy to pull up some statistics to prove the notion that your toilet is more sanitary than your phone, it's safe to assume that your handset is a swarming mess of unpleasantness just waiting to transfer all manner of disease, infection and other unthinkable things.

All this could be a thing of the past thanks to Corning’s Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass. Made with ionic silver, an antibacterial agent, Antimicrobial Corning Gorilla Glass retains the toughness its predecessors became famous for. Think of what your phone goes through. Everything your hands come into contact with end up touching your phone. It's put down on all manner of surfaces, shoved into pockets with unmentionable disgustingness lurking in the depths. It's not hard to imagine a Petri dish-like bacterial colony building up and wreaking havoc.

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Google may have just announced the closure of Flock and Bump, but it's not all about closures -- there are also acquisitions taking place as well. The latest addition to the Google fold is Bitspin. The name of the company may not be immediately familiar, but this is the company behind the Android alarm clock app Timely. At this stage it is not clear whether the company has been bought outright by Google or if there is a partnership in the cards, but there is certainly something afoot.

An announcement on the Bitspin website says:

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As mobile operators across the globe continue to roll out 4G LTE networks, more consumers will be able to take advantage of faster data speeds. By 2017, market research firm Strategy Analytics predicts that the technology will reach 1 billion connections. The main requirement, on the user side, is a compatible, 4G LTE device.

Nowadays, 4G LTE smartphones are increasing in number and availability, but without mobile operator subsidies consumers may still be put off by the cost. Luckily for price-conscious buyers, more vendors are lowering the admission bar by offering even more affordable 4G LTE phones. French consumer electronics company Archos just revealed that one of its latest such devices can be had under the magical €200 mark.

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