Archos gives the home phone an Android upgrade

Pioneers of Android Tablet devices, French company Archos has turned its hand to the home phone in a bid to push the aging product into the digital age.

To create its sleek and desirable Archos 35 Smart Home Phone, Archos streamlined the often-outdated device to match smartphone standards, added the Android operating system and refreshed it with forward-thinking technology.

"Compatible with any ADSL box or phone line and using standard DECT protocols the Archos 35 Smart Home Phone is a light and stylish home phone that brings users contact sharing with their Android smart phone, MP3 ringtones, caller photo display as well as access to thousands of Android apps, web surfing, emails and video calling," said Archos.

The handset is equipped with a built-in front-facing webcam that enables consumers to use the device to make high definition video conference calls, to watch over their baby monitor from a separate room or as a remote surveillance device.

It also features a 3.5in touchscreen, email access, WiFi connectivity, and the ability to download games and applications.

During a press event in Paris, the company also took the wraps off a less-useful hybrid Tablet and music player product called the Archos 35 Home Connect. The clunky-looking Android device follows in the footsteps of Sony's Dash personal Internet viewer and the Chumby 8 - great products if you want an expensive feature-rich alarm clock or photo viewer, less enticing if you were hoping for a portable, full-featured Tablet.

Archos gives the home phone an Android upgrade

Pioneers of Android Tablet devices, French company Archos has turned its hand to the home phone in a bid to push the aging product into the digital age.

To create its sleek and desirable Archos 35 Smart Home Phone, Archos streamlined the often-outdated device to match smartphone standards, added the Android operating system and refreshed it with forward-thinking technology.

"Compatible with any ADSL box or phone line and using standard DECT protocols the Archos 35 Smart Home Phone is a light and stylish home phone that brings users contact sharing with their Android smart phone, MP3 ringtones, caller photo display as well as access to thousands of Android apps, web surfing, emails and video calling," said Archos.

The handset is equipped with a built-in front-facing webcam that enables consumers to use the device to make high definition video conference calls, to watch over their baby monitor from a separate room or as a remote surveillance device.

It also features a 3.5in touchscreen, email access, WiFi connectivity, and the ability to download games and applications.

During a press event in Paris, the company also took the wraps off a less-useful hybrid Tablet and music player product called the Archos 35 Home Connect. The clunky-looking Android device follows in the footsteps of Sony's Dash personal Internet viewer and the Chumby 8 - great products if you want an expensive feature-rich alarm clock or photo viewer, less enticing if you were hoping for a portable, full-featured Tablet.

Archos gives the home phone an Android upgrade

Pioneers of Android Tablet devices, French company Archos has turned its hand to the home phone in a bid to push the aging product into the digital age.

To create its sleek and desirable Archos 35 Smart Home Phone, Archos streamlined the often-outdated device to match smartphone standards, added the Android operating system and refreshed it with forward-thinking technology.

"Compatible with any ADSL box or phone line and using standard DECT protocols the Archos 35 Smart Home Phone is a light and stylish home phone that brings users contact sharing with their Android smart phone, MP3 ringtones, caller photo display as well as access to thousands of Android apps, web surfing, emails and video calling," said Archos.

The handset is equipped with a built-in front-facing webcam that enables consumers to use the device to make high definition video conference calls, to watch over their baby monitor from a separate room or as a remote surveillance device.

It also features a 3.5in touchscreen, email access, WiFi connectivity, and the ability to download games and applications.

During a press event in Paris, the company also took the wraps off a less-useful hybrid Tablet and music player product called the Archos 35 Home Connect. The clunky-looking Android device follows in the footsteps of Sony's Dash personal Internet viewer and the Chumby 8 - great products if you want an expensive feature-rich alarm clock or photo viewer, less enticing if you were hoping for a portable, full-featured Tablet.

Gadget charges cellphone from boiling water

A Japanese company has come up with a new way to charge your mobile phone after a natural disaster or in the great outdoors - by heating a pot of water over a campfire.

The Hatsuden-Nabe thermo-electric cookpot turns heat from boiling water into electricity that feeds via a USB port into digital devices such as smartphones, music players and global positioning systems.

TES NewEnergy, based in the western city of Osaka, started selling the gadget in Japan this month for 24,150 yen, and plans to market it later in developing countries with patchy power grids.

Chief executive Kazuhiro Fujita said the invention was inspired by Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left 23,000 people dead or missing, devastated the northeast region and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

"When I saw the TV footage of the quake victims making a fire to keep themselves warm, I came up with the idea of helping them to charge their mobile phones at the same time," Fujita said.

The pot features strips of ceramic thermoelectric material that generate electricity through temperature differentials between the 550 degrees Celsius at the bottom of the pot and the water boiling inside at 100 degrees.

The company says the device takes three to five hours to charge an iPhone and can heat up your lunch at the same time.

"Unlike a solar power generator, our pot can be used regardless of time of day and weather while its small size allows people to easily carry it in a bag in case of evacuation," said director and co-developer Ryoji Funahashi.

TES NewEnergy was set up in 2010 to promote products based on technology developed at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan's largest public research organisation.

It also makes and markets equipment to transform residual heat from industrial waste furnaces into electricity.

The company says the pot will be used mainly in emergency situations and for outdoor activities, but also has uses in developing countries.

"There are many places around the world that lack the electric power supply for charging mobile phones," Fujita said.

"In some African countries, for example, it's a bother for people to walk to places where they can charge mobile phones. We would like to offer our invention to those people."

Gadget charges cellphone from boiling water

A Japanese company has come up with a new way to charge your mobile phone after a natural disaster or in the great outdoors - by heating a pot of water over a campfire.

The Hatsuden-Nabe thermo-electric cookpot turns heat from boiling water into electricity that feeds via a USB port into digital devices such as smartphones, music players and global positioning systems.

TES NewEnergy, based in the western city of Osaka, started selling the gadget in Japan this month for 24,150 yen, and plans to market it later in developing countries with patchy power grids.

Chief executive Kazuhiro Fujita said the invention was inspired by Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left 23,000 people dead or missing, devastated the northeast region and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

"When I saw the TV footage of the quake victims making a fire to keep themselves warm, I came up with the idea of helping them to charge their mobile phones at the same time," Fujita said.

The pot features strips of ceramic thermoelectric material that generate electricity through temperature differentials between the 550 degrees Celsius at the bottom of the pot and the water boiling inside at 100 degrees.

The company says the device takes three to five hours to charge an iPhone and can heat up your lunch at the same time.

"Unlike a solar power generator, our pot can be used regardless of time of day and weather while its small size allows people to easily carry it in a bag in case of evacuation," said director and co-developer Ryoji Funahashi.

TES NewEnergy was set up in 2010 to promote products based on technology developed at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan's largest public research organisation.

It also makes and markets equipment to transform residual heat from industrial waste furnaces into electricity.

The company says the pot will be used mainly in emergency situations and for outdoor activities, but also has uses in developing countries.

"There are many places around the world that lack the electric power supply for charging mobile phones," Fujita said.

"In some African countries, for example, it's a bother for people to walk to places where they can charge mobile phones. We would like to offer our invention to those people."

Gadget charges cellphone from boiling water

A Japanese company has come up with a new way to charge your mobile phone after a natural disaster or in the great outdoors - by heating a pot of water over a campfire.

The Hatsuden-Nabe thermo-electric cookpot turns heat from boiling water into electricity that feeds via a USB port into digital devices such as smartphones, music players and global positioning systems.

TES NewEnergy, based in the western city of Osaka, started selling the gadget in Japan this month for 24,150 yen, and plans to market it later in developing countries with patchy power grids.

Chief executive Kazuhiro Fujita said the invention was inspired by Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left 23,000 people dead or missing, devastated the northeast region and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

"When I saw the TV footage of the quake victims making a fire to keep themselves warm, I came up with the idea of helping them to charge their mobile phones at the same time," Fujita said.

The pot features strips of ceramic thermoelectric material that generate electricity through temperature differentials between the 550 degrees Celsius at the bottom of the pot and the water boiling inside at 100 degrees.

The company says the device takes three to five hours to charge an iPhone and can heat up your lunch at the same time.

"Unlike a solar power generator, our pot can be used regardless of time of day and weather while its small size allows people to easily carry it in a bag in case of evacuation," said director and co-developer Ryoji Funahashi.

TES NewEnergy was set up in 2010 to promote products based on technology developed at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan's largest public research organisation.

It also makes and markets equipment to transform residual heat from industrial waste furnaces into electricity.

The company says the pot will be used mainly in emergency situations and for outdoor activities, but also has uses in developing countries.

"There are many places around the world that lack the electric power supply for charging mobile phones," Fujita said.

"In some African countries, for example, it's a bother for people to walk to places where they can charge mobile phones. We would like to offer our invention to those people."

Review of Nokia transferring 2,800 staff to Accenture

NEW STRATEGY: Nokia is outsourcing its Symbian software development to Accenture and transferring 2,800 workers to the firm as the Finnish handset maker pushes ahead with plans to introduce its first Microsoft Windows phone this year.

Nokia Corp has completed a deal to outsource its Symbian software development to Accenture, including the transfer of 2,800 workers to the global management-consulting firm.

The announcement came two months after Nokia disclosed the plan as part of its aim to cut costs by US$1.5bil by 2013, including 7,000 global layoffs, and catch up with top rivals in the tough smartphone market.

The Finland-based company faces strong competition from Research in Motion's Blackberry, Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, as it continues to see market share fall. Last month it issued a big profits warning.

Nokia's share price has plunged in recent months and recently has been trading at multi-year lows of around US$6.05.

Nokia said Accenture PLC will provide it with software services through 2016 with the personnel transfer expected in October when the deal closes. Half of the workers are based in Finland with another 1,400 in China, India, Britain and the United States.

Besides the personnel transfer, Nokia has said it plans to lay off 4,000 people by the end of next year, mostly in Denmark, Finland and Britain.

Another step
In another move to improve services, Nokia will integrate its NAVTEQ mapping unit with social location services operations to develop "a new class of integrated social location products and services for consumers."

The struggling company, which claims more than 1.3 billion mobile customers, said it wants to provide new products and support for bringing the Internet "to the next billion."

It said the plan includes to develop platform services and local commerce services for device manufacturers, application developers, Internet services providers, merchants and advertisers.
CEO Stephen Elop said that focusing on location and commerce was "a natural next step" for the company.

"We will provide next generation social-location applications and commerce to differentiate Nokia," Elop said. "We also aim to extend our content and services offerings to all consumers by making them available to partners and customers on a wide variety of devices and operating systems."

Since 1998, Nokia has been the biggest seller of cellphones, but in the first quarter of this year Apple overtook it as the world's top handset vendor in revenue terms - reaching sales of US$11.9bil on shipments of 18.6 million devices against Nokia's revenue of US$9.4bil on shipments of 108.5 million units.

Although Nokia sold 432 million devices last year - more than its three closest rivals combined - its market share continues to fall. At 29% in the first quarter, it's at its lowest level since the late 1990s.

Wait and see
Even more damaging has been Nokia's inability to meet modern challenges of the smartphone market, the lucrative sector in the handset industry, where Nokia used to be the leading innovator.

Although it sold 24 million smartphones in the first quarter, 13% more than in 2010, its share in the sector plunged to 24% from 39% a year earlier.

Nokia has unveiled its N9 smartphone, based on its new MeeGo platform, but the handset received mixed reviews as markets are waiting to see the company's first Windows Phone.

Elop has said that the Windows-based phone will be launched later this year with bulk sales expected in 2012.

In February, Nokia announced a major strategy shift when it partnered with Microsoft Corp, saying it will gradually replace Symbian and MeeGo platforms with the Window-based software that will become the main software used in its cellphones.