Last week we wrote about Three Mobile’s new laptoptrade-in scheme, which offers customers the chance to earn £150 for their old laptop when they buy one from Three. Well, it seems that the bug is catching. Asda is thelatestbig-name brand to jump on the trade-in bandwagon, as it now offers cash for customers’ old digital cameras, handheld consoles, mobile phones, mp3 players or satnavs. From June, laptops, games consoles and tablets will also be eligible for itstrade-in scheme....

As one of the most prolific users of Twitter with over 6.6 million followers it makes some sort of sense that Ashton Kutcher would end up with his own Twitter client. It’s calledA.plus and it’s made by UberMedia, the creators of Echofon and Twidroid, so it’s got a good pedigree. A.plus features all of the basic things that a desktop Twitter client should have, with a few additional options that could give it value for heavy users of Twitter....

Airbnb, the web service that hooks vacationers up with independently-listed nightly rentals, has justreceived an undisclosed amount in fundingfrom actor Ashton Kutcher. While the numbers aren’t disclosed,GigaOm saysthat this is Kutcher’s biggest investment to date. The actor is ramping up his investment company, A Grade Investments, and is apparently being courted by Valley entrepreneurs en masse. Kutcher will also be bringing his considerable fame to bear on Airbnb’s behalf. He’ll be going beyond his duties as investor and taking an active part in “community engagement,” according to Airbnb....

The rise of the Asia as a region for sustainable app distribution is clearly evident. According to the latestDistimo Report, the download volume in the Apple App Store for iPhone from Asian countries grew significantly in the past six months. In fact, the report suggests that China has recently became the second largest market after the United States. Now may be the time for iPhone developers who are mainly focused on the U....

A joint study by Google and Ipsos has found that the Asia-Pacific markets have the highest penetration of mobile phones in the world,according to a report by Campaign Asia-Pacific. The report, titled “Smartphone Research on Mobile Internet and Market Trends”, spanned 30 markets across the globe, including 11 in the Asia-Pacific region. Besides having the highest market penetration statistics, it also found that Asian users of mobile phones tend to interact more with their phones and more of them find their smartphones more interesting than watching TV than their counterparts in the much further developed regions like Europe and the United States....