In less than a week, the frenzy-inducing iPhone 5 is lined up to be announced at a special Apple event over in California, and the random rumour mill is responding accordingly.

Replacing gossip about smaller dock connectors and new headphone jack positioning, we now have a barrage of industry analysts offering their piercing insight into potential consumer behaviour, and today kicked off with one of the clairvoyant big wigs at Piper Jaffray speculating that Apple's latest toy is on course to break a plethora of industry records. Venturing that the new iPhone could sell up to 10 million units in its first week of availability, the sage prediction will no doubt put a damper on bitter rival Samsung's day - earlier, the Korean firm had triumphantly announced that its Galaxy S3 smartphone had topped 20 million unit shipments in record time.

Elsewhere, the European Commission's competition watchdog has given the green light to Project Oscar, an NFC-based smart payment collaboration between a trio of the UK's biggest mobile providers in Everything Everywhere, O2, and Vodafone. Rival network Three – as well as search giant Google – alleged that such a deal would be "discriminatory," with a newly formed partnership effectively controlling more than 90 per cent of the UK market. However, Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia – surely the old world's answer to Judge Lucy Koh? – rubbished that claim, saying that the contactless payment market enjoyed a suitably competitive atmosphere.

Kickstarter is trying to absolve itself of financial responsibility for failed campaigns. In a blog post, the popular US crowd-sourced funding website said it does not play a role in issuing refunds, and in fact never handles money at all. All transactions are instead a direct contract between the backers and the project creator. Once a project is successfully funded, money is transferred directly from the supporter's credit card to the project boss's Amazon Payments account. In other words, it's just not Kickstarter's problem. So there.

ITProPortal recruited another bright young mind to the cause recently, and new boy Aatif Sulleyman got off to a flying start today, reporting on an exciting new development in the social media sphere. Global contextual advertising marketplace Ad Dynamo has launched a new Sponsored Tweets service aimed at ordinary Tweeps wishing to monetise their social media presence. A variety of factors influence how much money users can charge for tweeted endorsements - follower base being the most obvious - though advertisers will retain final control over promotional tweets.

Finally, industry guru John C. Dvorak has been at it again with the apocalyptic predictions. The man who once infamously dismissed the mouse as just another transient tech fad has now turned his acerbic wit to the waning voicemail phenomenon. Putting it very bluntly, Dvorak says voicemail "totally blows" and seems to be eagerly anticipating its rapid implosion. Tracing the trend back to the archaic home answering machine, he points to texting as a more effective alternative.