Government officials have come under fire for allegedly not properly understanding Olympic funding.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) faced Conservative criticism after it promised £100m in funding from the private sector.

The DCMS has since owned up to not realising it could not pledge the money for training back in 2006.

Quoted by Marketing Week, David Wyatt, DCMS parliamentary private secretary, said “none of this was understood in 2006″ in reference to the lack of rights his department had to offer firms looking to be connected to the 2012 Games.

Tory politicians are now demanding “clarity” on the issue, and expressed concerns further errors could be made.

Jeremy Hunt MP is Shadow secretary of state for culture media and sport. According to Marketing Week, he said he “shudders to think” what other miscalculations might be made.

In June the magazine reported that the DCMS had no-one in place to fill a £100m gap in finance for UK Sport.

Officials have since touted a possible deal to link different companies to different Olympic venues at London 2012.

Olympic marketing and sponsorship rights are complicated and firmly regulated. Global marketing rights are owned by the International Olympic Committee.

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Mobile ’smartphones’ could soon brush aside traditional phones, laptops and PDAs as the business devices of choice, it has been claimed.

Mobile Computing News reports the expanding number of applications which can be used on the gadgets could see them overtake other communications methods.

Some smartphones can now run the likes of word processing, spreadsheet and email software on their operating systems.

This makes them more attractive to firms looking to pair devices with desktop computers and laptops.

Smartphones can also be used to access low cost voice over internet (VoIP) packages, allowing employees to make cheap calls.

Mobile Computing News also reported some people would not be put off by the higher cost of smartphones thanks to their range of functions and hefty capacities.

Airborne internet access also took a step forward this week, with the Times reporting that American Airlines has installed the web on some of its flights out of New York.

Passengers can use laptops, PDAs and smartphones to log on during these flights thanks to a Wi Fi device.

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Bright business future for smartphones

Higher-end phones which can support a number of applications could be the future of business mobile contracts, experts have said.

Technology publication Mobile Computing News says smartphones running open operating systems could overtake PDAs and less advanced mobile phones.

Many smartphones support software running spreadsheets and email, which can be useful for workers looking for devices which synchronise smoothly with PCs.

They can also be used to log on to voice over internet software (VoIP) so the user can make cheaper calls, potentially offsetting the costs of some subscriptions.

Mobile Computing News reports although smartphone contracts can be more expensive than traditional business mobile deals, the extra capacity and functionality is making them more attractive to firms.

Elsewhere, in-flight access has become a reality thanks to an American firm running a new service on flights from New York.

According to the Times, Amercian Airlines has started offering Wi Fi on the routes, meaning people with smartphones, laptops and PDAs can access the web while airborne.

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The average British shopper splashes more than £70 on their lucky Valentine, according to research.Figures from PayPal show £71.25 is the average amount spent on presents for loved ones for February 14th, with 23m UK lovers stumping up a remarkable overall total of £1.6bn.

About 33 per cent of people buy gifts costing £50 to £99 - a number which shoots up to 44 per cent among 18 to 24-year-olds.

Almost a quarter or 22 per cent of people who responded to the PayPal survey said they would be willing to spend between £100 and £249 for the day.

Cristina Hoole, PayPal spokeswoman, said: “It would seem romance is far from dead as almost half of Brits are splashing out that massive £1.6 billion on their loved ones around Valentine’s Day.”

Energy bills for some households will go up again thanks to the latest provider price hike.
The average bill for a dual fuel customer with E.On is set to rise from £913 to £1,063 say experts uSwitch.com.Its price rises are planned to come in on February 8th, when E.On, formerly Powergen, becomes the latest in a series of power companies to up prices.

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com, said all but one of the major suppliers has upped prices in recent months. Scottish & Southern Energy has issued an assurance that its hikes would be delayed until late March.

She said: “With savings of up to £325 to be made, now is the time for consumers to really start making competition work for themselves.”

The Observer newspaper recently reported that many Britons could end up to taking out debt consolidation loans in 2008.