Mobile phones could be good for teenagers' health.

No, this is not another radiation story. It's about what teenagers do with their hands and money.

Research commissioned by the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme suggests the popularity of mobile phones among young people could be a factor in the falling number of 15-year-old smokers.

It said the number of boys who smoked regularly had fallen from 28 per cent in 1996 to 19 per cent, while the number of girls smoking had dropped from a third to a quarter.

Apparently, mobile phones embody the values cigarettes have long been associated with.

They are "chic" and grown-up.

They keep your hands busy while you use up the credits bought with the money you've saved by not smoking.

The next surprise for technophobes is, while it's good to talk, it's even more profitable to play games.

Intel, the chip maker, has announced the UK's biggest gaming event and points are beginning to make big prizes for gamers.

The Intel Masters, which will be held at the IMAX Cinema at London's Science Museum on December 21, will feature 24 gaming "clans" from around the UK competing for a record prize fund of £25,000 as they power their way around Counter Strike, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Warcraft 3.

Admission is free and six, one-hour screening sessions will enable 400 spectators at a time to watch the action unfold on the IMAX's cinema screen.

Only those over the age of 15 will be admitted to the screenings, so smoking shouldn't be a problem (although those attending will, most probably, have to turn their mobiles off).

Another, slightly less profitable, option closer to home is Thumb Acres, a weekly gaming event organised by Hove-based video games outsourcing company Babel Media at the Farm Tavern, Farm Road, Hove.

This is your opportunity, every Wednesday at 8pm, to play both the latest and best console games and retro hits such as Super Mario Kart, while having a laugh and enjoying a beer.

Although it's a social event, there are decent games-related prizes for the best players and, because it's a pub, making a thrashing at the hands of a young tyro less likely, you might even have a chance of winning something.

Healthy mobiles and profitable games - just imagine what's going to happen when mobile gaming takes off.

www.theaward.org
www.intel.co.uk/masters
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk
www.babelmedia.com