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Britain's mobile operators aren't always as creative as they might be when it comes to making money out of existing services. They fret about 'delivering OT content' when they already have services that go unexploited.

Text information services are a case in point. Up until now the market's been dominated by two players, TextPerts and AQA. The latter charges £1 for every question it answers by text. The latter charges £1.50! Well, it is owned by the men with moustaches.

Now a new entrant has entered the market. ChaCha charge 'the standard rate for texts' (I've always wondered what that is) which, in their case, comes to around 10 to 12 pence per query.

To test them, I texted them three queries of varying difficulty, and to their credit they answered in minutes. 

'What is a Croydon Facelift?' came back almost immediately. 

How on earth do they make money though? Even if they bought some impossibly cheap minutes, the margins on each transaction must be pretty slim.

They claim to have 60,000 highly-trained human fact finders - and highly trained people don't come cheap (unless, of course, they're exaggerating that bit).

There are no adverts on each text that I could see, so how are they doing it? Are they selling details about our queries? 

TEST: HOW THEY PERFORMED

We tested ChaCha's speed and professionalism with these questions:

1. If we all held up a mirror and directed the sun's rays in one direction, could we fry Piers Morgan like an ant?

2. How much power, on average, does a Cornish wind turbine generate?

3. What is a Croydon Facelift?

Answers 1 and 3 were provided within a minute. Answer 2, which was trickier, only took slightly longer (but was obviously taken from standard  figures for wind turbines, so was effectively meaningless, arguably)

Still, for 10p a question, it's not bad. Have you tried AQA or TextPerts recently?

Keep quiet about this - it's an industry secret - but some IT companies can be a bit dull to work for. But how do you move up the ladder?

If your current job leaves you creatively unfulfilled, and you want something impressive to put on your Linkedin profile, why not create a mobile app? You'll never get rich, but it'll impress future headhunters or clients.

We asked Oli Christie (left with comic Dom Joly), CEO of mobile games studio Neon Play for his 10 top tips on creating your own successful mobile game. As a quid pro quo, I should mention that, with over 23 million downloads and seven UK number 1 games, Neon Play is the top independent mobile games studio in the UK. Neon also developed a game for Dom Joly. 

1.  Have a cracking, unique idea. Everyone always says they have a "great idea for a game", but there are 500,000 apps to compete with, so it's not that easy to find one that's never been done before.

2.  Keep it simple. Games like Doodle Jump are very easy to play, but a challenge to master. That is the mantra you should follow for a successful game. 

3.  Do your research. Chances are that your amazing game idea has already been done, so have a look at the App Store and see if there's something similar. If there is, go back to the drawing board or find an interesting different angle.

4.  Don't quit your day job. Only a tiny percentage of apps make a profit. You will not be the next Angry Birds, so manage your expectations. If it succeeds, then quit. Focus on Apple first and Android later.

5.  Talent required. You need a designer and a developer as a bare minimum. If that's not you, ask your mates, go online, but find the best you can afford. Maybe do a rev share. Or programs like Game Salad make it possible to make your own game.

6.  Test, learn and refine. Get as many friends and family to play the game. Don't say a word and watch them play it and see if they get it and which bits they don't. Don't take feedback personally, but change the game where necessary. Playability and fun is key.

7.  Set your price. Do you charge a flat rate 69p for your game? Or go free with advertising? Or the most profitable way is "freemium", which is a free game with features in the game that players buy to enhance their gaming experience. Kerching.

8.  Standing out from the crowd. With hundreds of new apps being released every day, you need to get promotion for your app. So find an interesting news angle, get some PR, use Facebook and Twitter, plus do a promo video for YouTube. Every little helps.

9.  Review sites. Send your game to all the major app review sites and journalists. You get 50 free promo codes from Apple (so they can play the game without paying for it). Good reviews and a high star rating help sales.

10. Listen and learn. Get feedback, fix bugs, do updates. As your fan base grows and you earn more revenue, do a bit more research into other ways to earn money. There is huge potential to earn big bucks, but do not underestimate that it is very, very hard.

In the latest instalment of his PR MasterClass, Gavin Bird, CEO of Condescentii Digital, reminds us that this is a people business.

Journalists, bless them, couldn't function without PR. That's why they sit by their phones all day, waiting for you to call them.

You should never leave a journalist alone with his thoughts, he's likely to get depressed. (Look at me! I'm assuming it will be a man. These days, it could be a lady!)

I tell my staff to phone each journalist ten times a day. But each call has to be different, or the hack is likely to throw one of his (or her!) hissy fits.

Yes, I know what you're thinking: precious so and sos aren't they? Well yes, but's that's the PR man's burden. Just think about the swimming pool, the car and the pesonal helicopter.

Remember, every call you make is 'content'. And what does content have to be? That's right, compelling and engaging!

So here's my list of ten engaging calls you MUST make to any journalist.

1. Hello, I'm not disturbing you am I?

2. I know this isn't quite what you're looking for but...

3. Which publication was this for again?

4. I forgot to ask, but what's your deadline?

5. My client isn't around, but can I give you an old press release? You can have it as an exclusive!

6. When is this going to appear?

It's important to let the client know when their coverage is appearing. Any journalist will be delighted to interrupt what they are doing to help your company's internal admin processes.

7. You've asked me to send a picture. What sort?

8. My client doesn't have a headshot. Wasn't the picture of the XB675 Blade Server good enough?

9. What is high resolution? And what's a jpeg?

10. Hello? I hope you pick this message up. My client is unable to help you and I'm going home now.

There we have it. Those ten calls should get you through any PR journalist engagement, and leave the journalist feeling thoroughly compelled and contented.

There's just one phone call to make now.

"Hello, I'm not disturbing you am I? Can you tell me why you didn't use our press release?"

In a survey conducted last week, this column uncovered the truth about iPhone users; they make the worst drivers.

The survey was conducted on two separate occasions on the same stretch of road.

Cycling against the traffic, from Chobham to Kingston in Surrey, researchers counted the number of motorists who were driving while consulting their mobile phones.

80 per cent of those who took their eyes off the road to look at their smartphone were iPhone owners.

The other one (20 per cent) looked like a Blackberry user. You know the type.

The results didn't surprise me, who conducted the bicycle based research. 

"IPhone users are a menace on the road, and should pay extra road tax," I said, before calling on the government to act. "I call on the government to act," I said.

I don't know about you, but I hate wearing headsets and those ghastly ear things. There must be a nice way to be handsfree.

Gigaset has just released the latest handsfree home phone, the Gigaset L410.

Unlike an ungainly headset, the L410 does not attach to the ear but is simply clipped to clothing and, weighing just 30 grams, is hardly noticeable, meaning you no longer have to compromise on style.

They could have made it a bit more stylish though. Why not make them in nicer colours? Or in the shape of a brooch or something. Surely a nice pink flower brooch style handsfree gadget would accessorise any outfit!

The end result is that users are able to take care of other tasks in the kitchen whilst simultaneously making a call - whether that's loading the dishwasher, making a coffee or simply cooking.