Charge your phone with coffee and beer

 

A new device that can charge your mobile phone with a hot cup of coffee or a cold beer mug has been developed by a US company. 

The company claims that the two-sided Epiphany onE Puck converts the warmth of your hot cocoa or iced beverage into power for your phone. The lightweight device is portable enough to store in your purse or day bag for emergencies. 

The device uses a Stirling engine powered solely by heat disparities to generate the electricity to keep your phone up and running, Gizmag reported. 

Stirling engines were actually invented in 1816 as a rival to the steam engine, but its use was limited to low-power applications for a long time. 

Epiphany Labs is using modern materials to use the technology in a rather different way. The most obvious evolution comes in terms of size. 

The working prototype of the Epiphany onE Puck is not much larger than the bottom of a cup, so it's small enough to carry around easily. 

The device has two sides - a blue side for cold drinks and a red side for hot drinks. According to its creators, a hot drink is the optimal way to charge a device. 

It comes with a USB port that can charge any device that draws 1000mA or less. This means it can charge iPhones, Androids, iPods and other USB-based devices. 

Epiphany Labs claims that, in ideal circumstances, the device would be able to charge your phone at the same speed you would see plugging it in directly to a wall. 

It will also work in less-than-ideal conditions, but if you are not placing a fresh hot drink on the Puck, you will have to wait a little longer for your device to receive a full charge. 

The team from Epiphany Labs has a working prototype, and is turning to Kickstarter to get the funding needed for production.

 

Nokia out of 5 in global market

Finnish mobile handset manufacturer Nokia, which is facing a major crisis in global sales, still tops the list of mobile handset market in India even as it has been displaced from the fifth spot in global sales by the beleaguered BlackBerry maker  Research in Motion (RIM).

According to a report by Cybermedia, Nokia had 22.2 per cent share of the Indian handset market in terms of total unit shipments in the first half of 2012, followed by Samsung with 13 per cent and Micromax in the third spot with 5.5 per cent share.

India's total mobile handset shipments topped 102.43 million units, of which 5.50 million were smartphones, as per the report. Samsung topped the list of smartphone shipments, followed by Nokia and RIM.

The report also revealed that Android (with 56.4% market share) was the leading operating system (OS) in India, followed by Symbian (17.4% share), BlackBerry (12.1% share), Bada (8.5% share), iOS (3.0% share) and Windows Mobile (2.6% share) on a base of 5.50 million units, during the same period.

India is one of the few markets where Nokia still has a hold. As per an IDC report, the Finnish company has now dropped off the Top 5 list of smartphone vendors, which is led by Samsung and Apple at number 1 and 2 positions. Nokia was replaced by RIM at fifth position whose shipment volumes appear to have flattened though the company posted the second-highest year-over-year decline among any the leading vendors.

According to Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Nokia's share losses and the company's transition away from Symbian to Windows Phone has left ample opportunity for rivals to steal share away from Nokia over the past 18 months. 

Steve Jobs wanted to scrap Google Search from iPhones

Apple has been panned across the world for its new Maps application, which has been riddled with errors. Company CEO Tim Cook recently issued a public apology over the Maps fiasco and even went to recommend rivals map applications like Google and Nokia's to users of devices running on iOS 6. 

However, reportedly it was Steve Jobs' displeasure with Google over Android mobile OS which made Apple build its in-house Map app. Not just this, Jobs even wanted to scrap Google Search from all iOS devices. 

According to a report in Bloomberg Business Week, Jobs wanted to pull the plug on Google Search as well, but decided against it as users would not take that move lightly, considering Google's strength in the search department. 

The report says that Jobs, who envisioned the iPhone and the iPad, wanted to replace Google Maps as the mapping app for iDevices due to his hatred for the search giant. As per the report in Bloomberg Business Week, "Apple insiders say Jobs himself initiated the mapping project, putting mobile software chief Forstall in charge. He installed a secret team on the third floor of Building 2 on Apple's campus to replace Google Maps on the iPhone." 

Steve Jobs' hatred for Google was over certain features that it was not releasing for Apple devices. The report said, "At the time of his death, Jobs had come to loathe Google, which he felt was copying features of the iPhone while withholding a key feature of Google Maps that allows smartphones to dictate turn-by-turn directions aloud."

Windows 8 needs improvement: Microsoft co-founder

Describing elements of  Windows 8 as 'puzzling',  Microsoft co-founder Paul Allenhas admitted that the upcoming operating system needs some improvement. 

Allen said some elements of the operating system 'can induce confusion', but added that he was 'excited and impressed' by the new programme overall. 

"Windows 8 does certainly require a brief adjustment period before users become familiar and comfortable with the new 'bimodal' operating system," the Telegraph quoted Allen, as saying. 

Allen said he had been using Windows 8 on both a desktop computer and on a tablet, but described the dual operating system as confusing and said it was difficult to know which mode to choose when opening an application or a file. 

"A few minor issues aside, I'm impressed with its clever integration of a bimodal interface to simultaneously support both desktop and tablet use in the same operating system," he added. (ANI) 

iPhone 4 and 4S to get a price cut in India

Reports from various news sources claim that the iPhone 4 and 4S will soon get a price cut in India. The 16GB iPhone 4S is expected to see a price cut of Rs 3,100 to Rs 41,400. The iPhone 3GS, which last saw a price cut to Rs 9,999 via Aircel, has been discontinued.

The 8 GB iPhone 4, now the new entry-level iPhone, gets a price cut of Rs 9,100 to Rs 28,300. According to BGR.in, Apple will not be selling the iPhone 5 through Airtel or Aircel, and has appointed Ingram Micro and Redington for the launch of the iPhone 5 in India.

The phone is expected to launch in India by November. Meanwhile the iPhone 5 is already available online and in the grey market, at starting prices of Rs 60,000 for the 16 GB version and a drop dead rate of Rs 1,05,000 for the 64 GB variant.

The phone uses a nano-SIM, an even more slimmer version of the SIM card than its predecessor, which will have to be sourced from the carrier.

Three Apple resellers in Bangalore gave no confirmation on the availability of stocks and the new prices of the iPhone 4 or 4S.