Virgin Mobile has sent texting to a completely new level with the announcement last week that it is launching a service whereby users will be able to send texts “into space”. This has led to a whole host of predictable headlines hitting the press, including “It’s one small text for man” and “SMS boldly goes…”. However, if people are wondering why exactly they would want to spend ten of their earth pounds to send a message out into the vast nothingness of space, they could well be forgiven.

Perhaps this is a service designed for those of us who are already convinced that there is life out there just waiting to receive the wisdom that thousands of Virgin Mobile users have to share. Who knows what they could learn from us?

The more cynical amongst us may just believe that it is a publicity-seeking stunt (by Virgin? Surely not!) that is sure to rack up the company’s sales as Christmas approaches.

The service has been organised through SentForever.com, and Virgin has claimed that when a text is sent it will live up to this name and “live on eternally”.

As proof that your text has not just been stored in some giant database but is actually heading out into the far regions of the cosmos, users are provided with the option of buying a certificate of transmission for £9.95, as well as the chance to follow the progress of the text on the SentForever.com website.

However, if you trust that your text has been sent out into the far reaches of the galaxy, it will only cost the price of a standard text, and you will be left to imagine what advanced civilisations will be picking it up millions of years down the line.

The global financial crisis may be making every attempt it can to ruin everyone’s Christmas, but it seems that there is still a bit of magic in the air at this time of year.

On Monday 8 December, Virgin sent its customers an early Christmas present by releasing a phenomenally cheap mobile internet deal, which will see people being able to get online on their mobile phones for as little as 30p a day. Even better, the deal is open for anyone with a Virgin mobile, whether Pay As You Go or contract, meaning everyone gets to join in the fun.

However, it seems that not all is quite as it seems. Although the deal quite clearly describes itself as providing ‘unlimited’ Internet usage, this is not actually the case. In fact, you will only be able to get 25MB a day, under the ‘reasonable usage’ policy introduced in the small print. Any extra MB used will incur a £2 charge, meaning things like downloading films are definite no-go areas.

Virgin claims that it is being three times more generous than all the other mobile companies with its tariff, but these hidden surprises are not going to please the customers, and it is a shame that the company couldn’t just go all the way and provide exactly what it said it would.

Virgin’s mobile Web portal is also being updated for a same-day release, to make the whole mobile Internet experience from Virgin one of the best around. However, it does not allow the phone to be used as a modem, meaning Internet access is restricted to the mobile handset, which will be a disappointment for any customers hoping for a cheap mobile broadband deal.

Even though it was only released at the end of October, the G1 has already had its price slashed by T-Mobile, who are clearly hoping to appeal to cash-strapped customers during our first Credit-Crunch Christmas period.

The price has been quite significantly altered on the contract. Whereas customers initially had to take out a £40 contract to get the phone for free, this figure has now been reduced to just £30 a month, making quite a significant difference.

However, if you were one of the first to buy the phone and are now feeling a bit hard done by, T-Mobile has been quick to point out that customers can claim back some compensation by getting in touch with the company, so it should not be too hard to enjoy the same deal.

Why the company decided to cut the price so drastically at such an early stage is not entirely clear, but it surely has something to do with the other exciting phones that have been released over recent weeks, including the INQ1 Facebook phone and the Blackberry Storm, not to mention the established iPhone 3G currently being sold through O2.

All of these high-profile launches have certainly made the phone market more competitive, and with good deals to be found all over the place as companies attempt to bring in tentative customers, it is a great time to pick up a good bargain.

T-Mobile has emphasised the fact that they are not reacting to poor sales of the G1, but are in fact just making it more competitive in the current market. Frankly, as consumers, we don’t care why they are doing it. We’re just happy to make use of this seasonal generosity on their part.

Young people living in Middlesbrough have been offered some sound advice by local police. The Middlesbrough police force has teamed up with the Safer Middlesbrough Partnership, as well as Safe in Tees Valley, to provide young people with information about helping to keep their mobile phones safe. Youngsters have been specifically targeted by the police, who have urged them to register their mobile phone with the website, www.immobilise.com. This innovative website allows users to register their mobile phone details, all of which will be stored safely.

It is not just young people living in Middlesbrough who should take heed of this advice. Everyone who receives a mobile phone for Christmas or currently has a model which has not been registered should log on to the website and fill in the appropriate details. Becoming the victim of a mobile phone theft can not only be devastating financially but can also have a nasty emotional impact. Losing a Christmas gift during the first few weeks of the New Year is not a nice fate to suffer and knowing that your phone, which undoubtedly contains personal details and private information, is in the hands of somebody else is a horrible thought.

Detective Chief Inspector Shane Sellers, who works for the police force in Middlesbrough, believes that if everyone registered their device, mobile phone crime figures would decrease significantly. If a phone is stolen and has been registered with the website, it can be blocked very quickly, which makes it useless for the thief. If this becomes a trend, thieves will simply not bother stealing phones.

An innovative chip has been launched by Omega Pharma, the health products distributor from Belgium. The company claims that this chip can balance the effects of radiation which emanates from mobile phones and could be dangerous for mobile phone users. Omega Pharma is famous for selling medical products including pregnancy tests and wart treatments and officials at the company believe that the chip could lessen symptoms which mobile phone users may be suffering from.

These symptoms include headaches and an inability to concentrate and, whilst links between these symptoms and mobile phone use have never been officially proved, a connection is certainly possible. Scientific opinion remains divided over the health risks of mobile phones and critics of Omega Pharma’s chip believes that this will put consumers off making a purchase.

Electromagnetic signals from mobile phones can also cause a heating effect to occur within the human body and the chip apparently neutralises this heat. The chip alleviates the effects of radiation by offsetting electromagnetic radiation which is emitted from the mobile phone device and the company revealed that it has been thoroughly tested.

Omega Pharma is currently testing the waters by seeing whether or not mobile phone users would be interested in purchasing the chip. It costs just under forty euros to purchase and, whilst there are relatively few chips available at the moment, the company officials believe that they can easily and rapidly increase production if necessary. The Chief Executive of the company, Marc Coucke, revealed that if ten million chips need to be made, then this will be done quickly and efficiently.

If you have recently been debating whether or not to buy an iPod Touch or an iPhone and have decided to go for the Touch, you can now give yourself a pat on the back for making the right decision. This is because a new application has just been released which magically transforms the iPod Touch into a fully-functional phone without the hassle of an expensive contract to go with it.

Admittedly it is not quite magic which lies behind the innovation. However, it certainly seems like magic for the thousands of iPod Touch owners who are now preparing to download the new application, which was released last week by Truphone.

The idea is that you download the application directly to your iPod. It will then make use of its WiFi connection capabilities to make calls across the Internet in much the same way as would be done using VoIP services such as Skype.

Clearly, this is not going to be as easy to use as a standard phone, but with WiFi hotspots springing up all over the place, it is becoming much easier to get connected wherever you are in the country.

The application is completely free to download and calls to other users and Google Talk users are free of charge. The company has also said that in a matter of “weeks, not months”, users will be able to call landlines for about 3p per minute.

So, if you have WiFi access and are thinking about getting an iPhone, it may just be worth holding on a little bit longer before signing up to that extremely expensive contract.

With social networking sites proving to be the standout phenomenon of the Web in recent years, it was only a matter of time before the mobile phone market would start to cash in on them. So behold the launch of the INQ¹, out on Three Mobile from December 5, and billed as 'the world’s most advanced social networking phone' according to INQ.

Although phones have been able to offer good Internet access for a while with all the perks that this entails, including navigation to social networking sites, the INQ¹ is different because it is built specifically with social networking in mind.

With a single press of a button, owners of the new phone can find their way onto Facebook, Windows Live Messenger or Skype to network their day away. It is widely predicted that the phone will prove a hit with the youth market, and with a number of excellent features built in, such as the 3.2MP camera which is designed so that users can instantly upload their pics to the sites, it could well prove a Christmas favourite.

The low prices being offered will also be very appealing to the youth market. For £15 a month you can get the handset free of charge, along with unlimited access to networking sites, 75 minutes of calls and unlimited texts and emails. For an extra £5 a month you get the same but with 200 minutes. And if you want to go for the Pay As You Go option, then the INQ¹ will only set you back a very reasonable £79.99.

The sliding phone has also got the looks to go with the features, and despite the harsh economic climate I would not be surprised if INQ have a very merry Christmas indeed amidst the retail gloom covering the rest of the country.

In this time of financial uncertainty, you may have thought that it is not the best moment to launch a new company. However, two businessmen from Chester have decided to take a stand against the global feeling of negativity by doing just that and have launched their new company, Lightningcards.co.uk. Through this website, mobile phone users can try something a little different this Christmas.

Rather than trudging to WH Smiths to buy a boring Christmas card for your loved one and joining a queue which snakes out the shop entrance and halfway up the high street, mobile users can send a personalised and fully animated card to anyone else with a mobile phone. The cards also come complete with sound and are bound to bring a smile to the face of anyone on the receiving end, especially if they happen to be a technology geek. The main target group identified by the two entrepreneurs is the 18 to 30 age group.

The company is the first to occupy this corner of the market and, with the domination of the mobile phone in this day and age, it may become big business. The Managing Director of the company explained the appeal of the idea. Since “virtually everyone has a mobile phone”, the businessmen thought it would make sense to introduce the capability of sending cards via a mobile. So, if you want to try something different this Christmas, pay a visit to the company website and don’t worry, the recipient will not have to pay a penny.

Most mobile phone users will agree that there are few things more annoying than receiving a constant barrage of unsolicited text messages; the bad news is that a recent study has found that incidents of unsolicited text messages are on the rise across Europe, with approximately twenty five per cent of mobile phone users noticing a rise in such messages over the past year. Whilst unsolicited text messages remain a problem across Europe, the study has shown that it is particularly bad in France, where spam has risen by approximately sixty per cent during the past year.

Another worrying statistic was revealed by the research, which was carried out on behalf of Airwide Solutions, a company which wanted to look at the way consumers use their mobile phones in different countries across Europe. The research found that an increasing number of under-age consumers are accessing adult material over their mobile phones. This material may be concerned with gambling or adult entertainment in general and the problem is particularly acute in Spain.

Almost five per cent of mobile phone users aged between thirteen and seventeen in Spain have admitted to viewing material on adult sites which was designed for those aged eighteen and over. This figure compares badly to the percentage of British users in the same age group. Only just over one per cent of these users have viewed material of an adult nature over their phones.

Whilst British mobile phone users are not too concerned with accessing adult material, they are more interested in purchasing mobile content, including ringtones and wallpaper. British consumers spend almost six pounds on average per year on mobile phone games, various downloads and media clips, and other entertainment options.

Recent research from Nielsen Online has found that more and more people are choosing to access the Internet via their mobile phone, whilst web access via computers is decreasing in popularity. Nielsen Online found that, during the second and third quarters of this year, over seven million people accessed the Internet using their mobile phone.

This figure represents an impressive growth rate of twenty five per cent, whilst the equivalent growth rate for computers stands at just three per cent. Furthermore, Nielsen Online has revealed that users accessing the web via mobile phone are generally younger than those accessing it via a computer.

Nielsen Online’s research also exposed other trends which differ depending upon how the Internet is accessed. For example, with users accessing the web via a standard computer, Google is the most popular website. However, with users accessing the Internet via a mobile phone device, BBC News remains the most popular website. Almost twenty five per cent of those accessing the web via mobile phone view the BBC News site.

Kent Ferguson, a senior analyst for Nielson Online, believes that the trends highlight the fundamental differences between mobile phone and computer Internet access. Mobile phone usage relates to the immediate desire for information. Thus, many people choose to head straight to a reliable news source, which also provides information about weather and sport. On the other hand, people who use computers to access the web may spend more time browsing entertainment websites or shopping on online retail sites.

Nokia, LG, Samsung, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson have launched an energy rating system for mobile phone chargers in an effort to make the industry more 'green'.

The five manufacturers have joined forces to help armchair eco-warriors determine whether their mobile phone is a bastion of energy efficiency or a fat leech feasting on the world’s power supply.

The ratings will adhere to the European Commission's energy standards but will only reflect the amount of energy consumed when the charger is idle (i.e. the charger is still plugged into the wall socket but it has been disconnected from the phone).

The no-load power consumption score chart has five stars representing devices that use less than 0.03w per hour (5-stars) to those that use more than 0.50w (0 stars).

Mobile phones are ubiquitous in the modern world. Nokia scientists claim that, of the 6.72 billion people on the planet, at least half of them own a mobile phone. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the amount of energy consumed annually by billions of idle chargers would exceed that used by a small city.

A Nokia press release explains: “If the three billion people owning mobile devices today switched to a four or five star charger, this could save the same amount of energy each year as produced by two medium sized power plants.”

Of course, chargers only consume energy when they are plugged in. Thus, if you want to help the environment without having to shell out for a new charger, just unplug your existing one and put it back in its box. It's easy.