Humour Cafe

The Google Switch: an iPhone killer?

Color us skeptics on this one, but we've got a tipster claiming to have the scoop on Google Switch. This version of the mythical Googlephone is said to be the result of a collaboration with Samsung -- not Alpha Networks or HTC. Of course, it's a button-less touchscreen device as is the rage these days only this time with GPS built-in for pinpoint navigation around Google Maps.

What's pictured in that all too familiar blur (Photoshopped?) is the phone's contact program said to be an extended version of Gtalk combining Gmail, text and instant messaging. According to our tipster, the device doesn't have any on-board storage. That's right, all your applications are served up over the network with new apps "attached" to your account via a web interface. So what is it... the real deal or engorged fanboy fantasy? Check the gallery below for biggie pics suitable for dissection.

Google phone is coming, believe it or not

The writing is on the wall and now people who have been briefed on Google’s cellphone project have revealed that Google has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into it. And yes, it has developed prototype handsets, is currently in talks with operators such as T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, and has talked through technical specifications with phone manufacturers.

Consumers can expect a variety of Google phones from multiple manufacturers based on its specs and better yet you may not even have to change carriers because it’s more than likely multiple operators will offer them.

Beautiful concept rendering of the Google phone courtesy of T3.

Don’t dump that new iPhone or old clamshell phone just yet because the Google Phone wouldn’t be available until next year at the earliest, say people familiar with the project.

The Mountain View, Calif., company has made clear it is serious about developing advanced software and services for cellphones. “What’s interesting about the ads in the mobile phone is that they are twice as profitable or more than the nonmobile phone ads because they’re more personal,” said Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt at the D: All Things Digital conference in May.

A Google spokesman yesterday declined to comment on a Google phone project, but noted: “We are partnering with almost all of the carriers and manufacturers to get Google search and other Google applications onto their devices and networks.”

Once again, people familiar with the matter stated that “the Google phone project goes far beyond Google’s existing deals to include its search engine or applications such as Maps on select handsets.”

As if that’s not enough info, the source continue to share that “now [Google] is drafting specifications for phones that can display all of Google’s mobile applications at their best, and it is developing new software to run on them. The company is conducting much of the development work at a facility in Boston, and is working on a sophisticated new web browser for cellphones, people familiar with the plans say.”

Taking a different route than Apple, Google is willing to let manufacturers create devices on a common set of specifications and hope that multiple operators will offer its phone.

Google has approached several wireless operators in the U.S. and Europe in recent months, including AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon

Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, people familiar with the situation say. T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, appears to be the furthest along in considering it, these people say. Andy Rubin, who helped design T-Mobile’s popular Sidekick phone, now works at Google and is involved in its handset project.

The specifications Google has laid out for devices suggest that manufacturers include cameras for photo and video, and built-in Wi-Fi technology to access the Web at hot spots such as airports, coffee shops and hotels.

It also is recommending that the phones be designed to work on carriers’ fastest networks, known as 3G, to ensure that Web pages can be downloaded quickly. Google suggests the phones could include Global Positioning System technology that identifies where people are.

People who have seen Google’s prototype devices say they aren’t as revolutionary as the iPhone. One was likened to a slim Nokia Corp. phone with a keyboard that slides out. Another phone format presented by Google looked more like a Treo or a BlackBerry.

It’s not clear which manufacturers might build Google wireless devices, though people familiar with the project say LG Electronics Co. of South Korea is one company that has held talks with Google. Google has already lined up a series of hardware component and software partners and signaled to carriers that it’s open to various degrees of cooperation on their part, the people say.

Phone manufacturers and operators will not be charged a licensing fee but Google has suggested the phones could carry the Google brand alongside the brand of the operator or, alternatively, leave it out completely.

Any time a new player enters a market, especially when it comes to Google, it’s extremely exciting because consumers will soon have more options to choose from. Their flexible approach towards branding is also interesting, and will inevitably draw comparisons with “everything must match” Apple and AT&T.

Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings Ever

1. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt ($135,000,000)

This record breaking sale was enabled by a court order by the Austrian government to return the painting to the Artist's rightful heir. The entire dispute lasted over a year and was necessary to return the painting that was looted by the Nazis during World War II.

Skillfully painted in 1907 by the art nouveau master Gustav Klimt, the painting was purchased by Ronald S. Lauder, the cosmetics heir, in 2006.


2. Garçon à la Pipe by Pablo Picasso ($104,100,000)

Created during the Rose Period, Garcon a la Pipe showcases Picasso's exceptional use of cheerful orange and pink palatte.
The oil on canvas painting, measuring 100 × 81.3 cm (slightly over 39 × 32 inches), displays a Parisian boy holding a pipe in his left hand.

The record price auction at the time on May 4, 2004 in Sotheby's was a bit of a surprise to the core art buyers, because it was painted in the style not usually associated with the pioneering Cubist artist.



3. Dora Maar with Cat by Pablo Picasso ($95,200,000)

Another enormous surprise followed in 2006, when this painting near doubled its inaccurate presale estimate and brought in new record $95,200,000 at auction at Sotheby's on May 3, 2006.

Painted in 1941, Picasso's controversial portrait (one of his last) is sometimes described as an unflattering depiction of his mistress, Dora Maar, who was an artist/photographer and mistress of Picasso whose relationship lasted ten years during the 1930s and 40s.


4. Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh ($82,500,000)

This painting by the Dutch Impressionist master Vincent van Gogh suddenly became world-famous when Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito paid $82.5 million for it at auction in Christie's, New York. Saito was so attached to the painting that he wanted it to be cremated with him when he died. Saito died in 1996 ... but the painting was saved.

Vincent van Gogh actually painted two versions of Dr Gachet's portrait. You can view the other version, with a slightly different color scheme, at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.


5. Bal Au Moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir ($78,000,000)

Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre was painted by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1876. On May 17, 1990, it was sold for $ 78,000,000 at Sotheby's in New York City to Ryoei Saito, who bought it together with the Portrait of Dr Gachet


6. Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens ($76,700,000)

This painting by Peter Paul Rubens, painted in 1611, is the only painting in this list which was not painted in the 19th or 20th century. It was sold to Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet for $ 76,700,000 at a 2002 Sotheby's auction.


7. Portrait de l'Artiste sans Barbe by Vincent van Gogh ($71,500,000)

Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe ("Self-portrait without beard") is one of many self-portraits by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. He painted this one in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France in September 1889. The painting is a oil painting on canvas and is 40 cm x 31 cm (16" x 13").

This is an uncommon painting since his other self-portraits show him with a beard. The self-portrait became one of the most expensive paintings of all time when it was sold for $71.5 million in 1998 in New York.


8. Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier by Paul Cézanne ($60,500,000)

This painting by Paul Cézanne, painted in ca. 1893-1894, sold for $60,500,000 at Sotheby's New York on May 10, 1999 to "The Whitneys". Whitney, born into one of America's wealthiest families, was a venture capitalist, publisher, Broadway show and Hollywood film producer, and philanthropist.


9. Femme aux Bras Croisés by Pablo Picasso ($55,000,000)

This work, painted in 1901, was a part of Picasso's famous Blue Period, a dark, sad time in the artist's life. The beautiful & various tones of blue are typical. The painting depicts a woman with her arms crossed staring at the endless nothing.

Femme aux Bras Croisés was sold for $55,000,000 November 8, 2000, at Christie's Rockefeller in New York City.


10. Irises by Vincent Van Gogh ($53,900,000)

Vincent van Gogh painted this at Saint Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France in 1889, only one year before his death. In 1987, it became the most expensive painting to date. It was sold for $ 54,000,000 to Alan Bond and later resold to the Getty Museum.


No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock ($140,000,000?)

Unconfirmed rumors now buzzing the art world now place this painting at the top of the list, at least temporarily. If true, the $140 million price tag would be the highest ever for a painting, besting the $135 million paid for the Gustav Klimt painting Portrait of Adele Block Bauer in June 2006.

Painted by expressionist Jackson Pollock in his trademark "drip" style, the 4' x 8' painting is said to have been purchased by entertainment mogul David Geffen in November 2006.

Mocha-angelo or frothy-celli!

How to turn your cappuccino into a work of art

Wouldn't it be nice if all our coffee was served with the same care and attention as this barman has shown?

Sammy Lin, a New York barman, creates amazing faces and patterns for his customers' cappuccinos.

He has made quite a name for himself with his steady hand and creative eye for a frothy picture. Take a look at our selection:



Waiter, there's a hare in my coffee. Animal faces like this and the polar bear on the right take Sammy 20 seconds to do. He doesn't want to keep the customer waiting...







Via Daily Mail

The Hipphopoptamus and the Tortoise

NAIROBI (AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the

tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong

bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal

facility in the port city of Mombassa, officials said

The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about

300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki

River into the Indian Ocean , then forced back to shore

when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on

December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.

"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a

male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to

be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu,

who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP.

"After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized.

It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother.

Fortunately , it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond.

They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added.

"The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother.

If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive,

as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and

by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their

mothers for four years," he explained.

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,

but by the moments that take our breath away."

This is a real story that shows that our differences don't matter

much when we need the comfort of another.

We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures of God,

"Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together."

World's tallest man saves dolphin

The world's tallest man has saved two dolphins by using his long arms to reach into their stomachs and pull out dangerous plastic shards.

Mongolian herdsman Bao Xishun was called in after the dolphins swallowed plastic used around their pool at an aquarium in Fushun, north-east China.

Attempts to use instruments failed as the dolphins contracted their stomachs.

Guinness World Records list Mr Bao, 54, as the world's tallest living man at 2.36m (7ft 8.95in).


Veterinarians turned to Mr Bao after attempts to extract the plastic shards at the aquarium in Fushun, Liaoning Province, had failed.

The mammals had lost their appetite and were suffering depression, aquarium officials said.

The heads of the dolphins were held back and towels wrapped around their teeth so Mr Bao could not be bitten.

He then extended his 1.06m-long arm into the mammals' stomachs.

Chen Lujun, manager of Royal Jidi Ocean World, said Mr Bao was successful and the dolphins were "in very good condition now".

Local doctor Zhu Xiaoling told the state media agency Xinhua: "Some very small plastic pieces are still left in the dolphins' stomachs.

"However the dolphins will be able to digest these and are expected to recover soon."

Mr Bao was confirmed as the world's tallest living man by Guinness World Records last year.

He overtook the previous holder, Radhouane Charbib of Tunisia, by just 2mm.

Guinness World Records say Mr Bao was of normal height until 16 but then put on a spurt that doctors were unable to explain, reaching his full height in seven years.

Digital Watch: Nooka Rubber Watch Tells Time in Dots

Nothing screams "cool" like the Nooka rubber and plastic Zub-20 Zot watches. Coming in six different colors (because who doesn't want an orange rubber watch?) the Nooka watches display hours as a progression of 12 dots while the minutes flow along the horizontal line below. The date and seconds -- because the company ran out of unique ways to show numbers -- are shown in a generic digital window.

The watch features a 20mm-wide band and is waterproof for up to 90 feet in salt water. It's available now in Black, White, Red, Orange, Yellow and Blue and will set you back $125 dollars while simultaneously destroying your sex life.

A Phone That Bends

If you like to sit on your phone or throw it around when you’re upset check this concept soft phone out.

The phone is encased in a flexible plastic housing. A soft polymer insert is located between the microchip module and the casing. You can drop it, bend it, sit on it, toss it around.

The phone has a flexible display which looks like paper, but the incorporated ink can change positions when affected by electric signals to form images on the display.

The process, called “electrowetting” works at the speed of light you can even watch a video without a hitch, a technology developed by Robert Hayes and Johan Feenstra. Although the phone itself is a concept, the “electrowetting” technology is no fairy tale.

Transcend T.sonic 820

Transcend announces its new T.sonic? 820 series of MP3 players. With 1.5-inch SuperColor OLED screen. the T.sonic? 820 is an advanced MP3 player designed to play music, photos and video.

In addition, the T.sonic? 820 player has a FM Radio and Advanced Digital Recording features including, recording using its Built-in Microphone, an External Microphone, or Line-In device. It can also be used to read E-books and store your computer files. T.sonic? 820 is available in two high capacity colorful models, 2GB (White) and 4GB (Black).

If price was never an issue, every single person on the planet would have bought the best MP3 player out there.

The words 'compromise' and 'value' would have never made it to the dictionary. Fortunately or unfortunately, they both exist in our word-bank and even outside it. Not everyone who wishes to listen to music can afford the iRivers and iPods, but one doesn't have to opt for some cheap unbranded player that passes noise for sound.

For those seeking reasonably good sound quality at a reasonable price, here comes brands like Transcend.

Turn ons

Battery life, Loads of settings, Simple Interface, Video playback, Bundled Security Software, Value for money.

Turn offs

Bundled earphones could have been better, Can play limited formats, Average build quality.

What's in it for you?

The Transcend T.sonic 820 comes bundled with a standard set of earphones, USB extension cable, line-in cable, neck strap, a driver CD and an instruction manual. With this 2 GB player you can listen to music and radio, record voice and FM, watch videos, view photos, and read e-books.

Specifications

Storage capacity: 2 GB, Dimensions: 82mm x 40.5mm x 12mm, Weight: 45g, Screen: 1.5" (128 x 128 pixel), Music formats: MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM10, Photo formats: JPG, BMP, Recording format: ADPCM (WAV), Video format: MTV, FM Radio, Battery: Rechargeable Li-ion

The layout of the T.sonic 820 is such that it feels like a mini mobile phone. When held in the palm of your hand, all its keys are within the reach of your thumb for easy navigation. The buttons are well spaced and you'll hardly misstep. However, the build quality and feel of the buttons is strictly average and they're not soft-touch.

The Menu

The T.sonic 820 greets you with a flashy Transcend logo, followed by the available memory info on the screen. It takes about 3 seconds for it to start, and around the same to switch off.

The menu is quite intuitive, and you get a hang of it almost immediately. If you must know the details, here's a run through of the menu brass tacks.

Music

You can listen to MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM10 (subscription music) and WAV music formats on this player.

Apart from the standard functions like play, pause, previous, next, rewind and fast-forward; you can have some fun using the record button to continuously play a designated part of an audio piece - this is called the A-B function.


When transferring music to the player from your PC, you can segregate it by genre, artist, album, etc. This in turn helps you quickly find the music you want to listen to with the help of the menu and navigation keys.

Radio

When you choose the radio function, the player automatically searches for frequencies and saves the strongest radio stations; you have the option to select them manually as well. You can save up to 9 stations on it. That's a bit strange as the cheaper players from the same company let you save 20 stations. You can record a radio session by holding the record button for 2 seconds to record what you're listening to on the radio. The quality of FM reception is pretty decent.

Record

You can record voice on the 820 through the in-built microphone by pressing the record button for 2 seconds; or through an external device like your music system with the direct line-in recording facility.

Anyone can get a hang of recording with either options as it is not at all complicated; else there's a useful manual for step-by-step instructions just a click away.

Photo

You can add BMP and JPG images simply by 'drag n drop' through your PC. The picture quality is not great, and you'll only be able to see a close-up well enough. Images are grainy; nevertheless, provide for a go-through of the pictures you want to see.

Video

Inspite of the small 1.5" screen that makes for a tiny and distorted video playback, I still think it's a nice addition to this player as a part of the whole deal. Staring at the screen for watching a movie could be strenuous, but fun nonetheless.

All video files need to be converted to .MTV format to be played on the player. A 700 MB AVI file took about an hour to convert. After conversion, it shrunk to 258 MB in the MTV format.

E-Book

You can read TXT files on this player. The screen size being petite, it's not fun reading long articles on it. I would prefer storing small text files like addresses or notes on it.

Settings

This contains a big gallery of options and features for this little player. The following is a list of the available selection:

-Equalizer: A standard one, it lets you customize the sound to your preference with a 5 band equalizer.

-Screensaver: You can set the time delay for the screen to go blank, display the logo, display the song title, display clock, or even photos.

Repeat Mode: You can choose from: normal, repeat one, repeat all, shuffle and normal/repeat/shuffle all the files in a Folder.

-Record quality: The quality of an audio recording can be set to Low (8,000Hz), Medium (16,000Hz), or High (32,000Hz).

-Language: You can choose to use any one of the 13 languages.

-Sleep: You can set a time delay to make the player shut off automatically.

-Real time clock settings (RTC): The RTC displays the local time and date, both can be adjusted and an additional setting that lets you enable Daylight Saving Time (DST) to allow for local Summer and Winter times.

-Contrast: You can set the contrast of the OLED display.

Media transfer modes (MTP) has 2 options:

a) MTP: If you plan to buy and play WMA-DRM10 (only) music files, you'll need to select Windows Media Player 10 to transfer and synchronize your WMA-DRM10 music files with the T.sonic 820's MTP Folder.

b) USB: If you are using a Mac /Linux computer, or you want to create specific folders on your PC for each of your media files (Music, Video, Photo, E-book), you'll need to select the USB (WMA-DRM10 NOT supported) Media Transfer Mode to transfer multimedia files to your player.

-Sync lyrics: A karaoke-type feature that displays the lyrics of a song on the screen during playback.

-Playback speed: You can increase or decrease the playback speed of an audio file.

-Radio reset: Deletes all presets and starts afresh when you use the radio function next time.

-Playlist manager: A quick way to manage your favorite music.

-Slideshow maker: You can set delay time between pictures.


-World time: You can view the local time for different time zones.

-Record quality: The quality of an audio recording can be set to Low (8,000Hz), Medium (16,000Hz), or High (32,000Hz).

-Record input device: You can select the medium you're using to record audio - built in or external microphone, or Line- in.

-Voice Activation Detection (VAD): This helps you in making gapless audio recordings. This means the player will only begin recording when it detects the subject speaking, if the person(s) pauses, or stops speaking the player stops recording until the person(s) starts speaking again.

Sound Quality, Earphones

The earphones provided with the T.sonic 820 are standard and produce above-average sound for its bracket. The highs sound almost shrill, especially if you listen to heavy metal. The lows and mids are average and just about acceptable, all in all making it an above-average pair of earphones.

Needless to say, investment in a better pair of earphones will pep up the sound quality. It will be noticeably better, but don't expect miracles.

Apart from the quality of the earphones, another concern is their color. Transcend bundles black-colored earphones with a white T.sonic 820, which I must say looks like an ugly combination.

Battery

The provided rechargeable Li-ion claims to give you 15 hours of playback. In reality, a continuous playback of music lasted exactly 13 hours, which is pretty good. It will be a little lesser if you're watching videos.

A complete battery charge takes about 4 hours.

Miscellaneous

The player is available in two color options - black and white.

You can disable all keys anytime by using the push-lock .

In case the player hangs up, you can use the "reset button" placed at the bottom of the player to restart the player again.

Included Software

-MTV Video Converter: Very simple to use, just add the video file you want to convert to MTV, and sit back for a few minutes; the wait would be longer if the video file is big. After the file is converted, you can simply drag and drop the MTV file to the player.

-Slideshow Maker: T.sonic 820 only plays pictures with SLS extension for a slideshow. Therefore, if you want to use the slideshow feature on this player, you must first convert your photo files to the SLS file format using the slideshow maker program, then transfer the converted files to the player.

If the mountain of setting options wasn't enough, here's more. You can install the "T.sonic Utility" software from the disc provided in the bundle to have the following features:

PC-Lock Function: When the PC-Lock Function is enabled, you can use your T.sonic as a key to lock your computer protecting it from use by others.

Boot-Up Function: If you are using the Windows 98SE Operating System, the T.sonic can be configured to act as an MS-DOS Boot Disk. After you've setup the T.sonic, you can use it to boot-up your computer, allowing you to run MS-DOS programs; this does not make the T.sonic a Rescue Disk for Windows, nor does it put Windows Startup files onto your T.sonic.

After booting with the T.sonic, you must start Windows from your hard drive, or a previously created Rescue Disk.

To use the Boot-Up function, you must log in to the Windows OS with Administrator rights. A maximum capacity of 512MB is reserved for the Boot-Up disk sector in the USB-HDD format.

Partition & Security Function: Enabling this feature allows you to setup a secure area on the player to protect your personal information with a password. You can partition the player into "public" and "private" password protected areas. Data and information in the private area is kept secure and can only be accessed by logging onto the player using the correct password.

The partition & security function is not supported in the Mac or Linux Operating Systems. To use this function, you must log in to the Windows OS as the Administrator.

Recovery Function: If your T.sonic 820 ever stops working properly, try powering it off and on a number of times. Alternatively, you could try to solve the problem by "Resetting" the unit. If neither of these options solves the problem, you can use the T.sonic Utility program's Recovery Function to restore the player's default factory settings.

Conclusion

The Transcend T.sonic 820 is available for about Rs. 4000 with a 2 year warranty.

The player's sound quality is average, but that can be upgraded with better quality headphones. The picture and video quality is not great too, but it still adds to the bundle for the price it's available at. With this price and overall features, it makes for a very neat 'value for money' portable music/video player option.

Sun and Wind Powered Bike Trailer

The Navitas is a bike trailer that generates its own power using the sun and wind. Designed by Paul Smith, a student at University of Derby in England, the trailer has a rear wheel that splits three ways to become a vertical axis turbine. There is also a compact

solar panel to help to provide a charge to the onboard 24V battery. The battery provides power through a 12V cigarette lighter socket and a USB hub. I'm not sure how practical a wind turbine the wheel would make, but the idea is interesting nonetheless.

“It’s purely for the cyclist adventurer who likes to pedal around the country but also likes a bit of creature comfort,” says Paul

The Rave Massage Chair

It's not going to win major points from me for design but the Rave massage and music chair has other things to recommend it. It has four pre-programmed massage sessions, each running 15 minutes with automatic shutoff.

The Shiatsu acupressure and Swedish massage techniques can be adjusted by intensity, width, speed and direction offering deep kneading, tapping, rolling, spot and partial massages. It also has built-in storage for an iPod or MP3 player with the bass notes synchronized to the vibrations. There are two dynamic, full-range speakers mounted in the back and a music jack in the arm storage compartment. The consumer can plug-in so the music will play right through the chair. When the massage is operating and music is playing, the massage will be synchronized to the beat of the music. It comes in black, brown, gray, green or red and sells for $899.

The world's 'first mobile hotel room'

Fans back from a raindrenched V Festival might wish they had taken one of these - the "world's first mobile hotel room".

The Travelodge hotel chain said today that its Travelpod would soon be available at events such as music festivals and sporting competitions.

Designed to be set up anywhere you might put up a tent, it's cheering news for anyone who books into B&Bs at music festivals or panics about camping holidays.

The Travelpod - Travelodge's glamorous answer to a tent

The pod is sealed in a polycarbonate glass box, but includes features offered in conventional hotel rooms such as TV and air conditioning.

Leigh McCarron, Travelodge's director of sleep, called it "a ground-breaker in outdoor accommodation". The Travelpod, which measures 6 metres by 2.4, includes a double bed, bedside lights, carpeted floors, and dressing table - plus blinds.

A spokeswoman for Travelodge said: "The Travelpod is a ground-breaker in outdoor accommodation."

The Travelpod: Available soon at outdoor events such as music festivals or sporting competitions

She added, "With the popularity of outdoor sleeping we saw a definite niche in the market for something a bit more up-market".

When asked who will be hiring this glamorous answer to a tent, she replied

"One woman wanted 20 of them for the guests at her garden wedding to sleep in."

The Travelpod also has air conditioning, a flat-screen TV, an en suite wash room and a 'biodegradable' loo

"One man wanted one delivered to a beautiful spot in the Lake District, so he could propose to his girlfriend in it".

The Travelpod will be tested over the next couple of months.

Hundreds of naked volunteers brave cold for glacier photo

Hundreds of people braved goosepimples and frostbite when they posed naked on Switzerland's shrinking Aletsch glacier for U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick.

The photoshoot is part of a Greenpeace campaign to raise awareness of global warming.

Tunick, perched on a ladder and using a megaphone, directed nearly 600 volunteers from all over Europe and photographed them on a rocky outcrop overlooking the glacier, which is the largest in the Alps.

The volunteers are stripped naked against a background of ice and snow

Later he took pictures of them standing in groups on the mass of ice and lying down. Camera crews were staged at five different points on the glacier to take photographs.

Glaciers are sensitive to climate change and have been receding since the start of the industrial age but the pace of shrinkage has accelerated in recent years.

The environmental group Greenpeace, which organised the shoot, said the aim was to "establish a symbolic relationship between the vulnerability of the melting glacier and the human body."

Chilly volunteers stood still for the photographer's latest 'artwork'

The Aletsch descends around the south side of the Jungfrau mountain in the Upper Rhone Valley. Alpine glaciers have lost about one-third of their length and half their volume over the past 150 years.

The Aletsch ice mass has retreated by 115 metres in the last two years alone, said Greenpeace.

Tunick has staged mass nude photo shoots in cities across the world, from Newcastle, Britain, to Mexico City, where a record 18,000 people took off their clothes in the Mexican capital's Zocalo square in May.

The hardy volunteers even lay down on the ice for one of the photos

Speaking to Geneva's Le Temps newspaper in an interview published before the shoot on Saturday, Tunick said his photographs were both works of art and political statements.

"I will try to treat the body on two levels. On an abstract level, as if they were flowers or stones. And on a more social level, to represent their vulnerability and humanity with regard to nature and the city and to remind people where we come from."

Switzerland has about 1,800 glaciers and almost all of them are shrinking rapidly.