The European Commission (EC) opens a consultation process on regulations regarding wireless connected devices and the internet of things, as part the Digital Agenda for Europe.

Apparently the EC wants to start working on the framework required to "unlock the economic and societal benefits of the internet of things," together with control on the gathering, processing and storage of data by devices.

According the commission the average citizen owns at least 2 internet-connected devices-- a figure to reach 7 by 2015. The commission also says the global number of wirelessly connected devices will double to 50 billion by 2020.

The consultation seeks opinions on privacy, safety and security, security of critical IoT supported infrastructure, ethics, interoperability, governance and standards. One can participate by clicking the link below.

Go Digital Agenda Internet of Things Consultation

Carphone Warehouse (CPW) sees a "good" fiscal Q1 2013 with sales growing by 10.6% Y-o-Y (or 13.2% if one excludes France) after it completes the acquisition of the Best Buy 50% stake in CPW Europe.

The acquisition is worth $775 million in cash and stocks, and will be fully consolidated within the CPW group.

Driving CPW sales are strong growth in the postpay category in the UK and consumer preferences shifting towards high-end smartphones.

"We believe the Group is well positioned following the strategic moves we have made and we are focused on replicating the UK's operational execution across Europe and bringing our Connected World capabilities to other business partners, including our recently announced partnerships with Media Markt/Saturn and Metro Group," CPW CEO Roger Taylor says.

As the likes of the Oculus Rift reignite interest in augmented and virtual reality headsets, companies start thinking of controllers complementing such equipment-- such as Singapore-based Intellect Motion with the iMotion device.

Reminiscent of the control gloves donned by Tom Cruise in science fiction film Minority Report (an unsurprising inspiration for the 9-strong team), the iMotion controllers allow for what Intellect Motion claims is "pinpoint-accurate 3D motion control" complete with haptic feedback, creating what amounts to a virtual touchscreen (or "giant motion sensitive space") in front of the user.

The system itself consists of a pair of mouse-sized devices users straps to their palms via velcro. Each device establishes user hand position within 3D space via combination of gyroscope, accelerometer and 3 LED lights feeding x, y and z coordinates to a regular webcam.

Remember the Yotaphone, the Russian smartphone with an e-ink display on the back? Its makers launched got an upgrade in the shape of the Yotaphone 2, a handset featuring the same concept, if with upgraded specs.

The Yotaphone 2 features 2 displays-- a 5-inch 1920x1080 AMOLED display on the front for primary use, and an always-on 4.7-inch e-ink display on the back for checking of notifications and customisable widgets. Further uses for the e-ink display include "YotaMirror" (enables the use of any app on the second display), "YotaSnap" (saves anything from the primary screen on the secondary display), "YotaCover" (puts a custom image on the second display) and a reading app.