No napping on deck for France Telecom this year

Former state-owned telecoms incumbents with their reliable cash streams from millions of customers have an enviable position in these turbulent economic times. But don’t think that means they can kick back and catch up on their sunbathing, says France Telecom’s finance chief Gervais Pellissier. Nor do they have time to explore unlikely mergers and acquisitions, like last year’s $40 billion hostile and ultimately failed bid for Nordic telco group TeliaSonera. This year at France Telecom, owner of the Orange brand, it’s all hands on deck for management to steer the great ship through the crisis.  “Even on an aircraft carrier, when the sea is very big, I think everybody works,” Pellissier told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in Paris.  ”When the sea is calm in the Mediterranean in the middle of summer, half of the team can tan on the sun deck,” he said. I don’t say this is what we did in 2008… but let’s say we could dedicate some time to such an operation last year that we cannot dedicate this year — it’s impossible.”

You gotta love Rupert, says Pearson’s Scardino

For better or worse, Rupert Murdoch has made big changes to the look and feel of The Wall Street Journal. But whatever your take, it’s hard to dislike a man who loves newspapers so much, says Marjorie Scardino, CEO of Financial Times owner Pearson.

“He’s made a lot of changes,” Scardino told journalists on the day Pearson reported forecast-beating results, choosing her words carefully, but adding that the idea that editorial independence would be preserved at the Journal “didn’t last very long.”

Scardino said she didn’t envy the Journal its circulation of 2 million, about four times that of the FT, saying the FT was a “niche newspaper” with a lower cost base. She did, however, praise the journal’s managing editor, Robert Thomson, who just happens to be a former editor of the FT’s U.S. edition. Her verdict on Murdoch? “He loves newspapers. It’s hard to dislike a man for that.”  

You can read a 2007 interview with Murdoch by WSJ journalists on the subject of editorial independence here.

After Google Earth, search giant sets April 1 sights on Mars

Google showed how funny its plans for world domination could be by issuing an April Fool’s invitation to establish a human colony on the planet Mars in an expedition led by co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin together with friend and Virgin founder Richard Branson.

“Earth has issues, and it’s time humanity came up with a plan B,” said Google as it urged users to sign up for ”Project Virgle”, due to leave Earth in 2014.

The elaborate prank includes a YouTube video featuring Brin and Page, an application form asking wannabe Mars pioneers for their opinions on algae as food or 1/3 gravity, and a 100-year plan.

In the real world, Google is cooperating with NASA on a number of technology projects and is trying to help encourage the space industry to become more entrepreneurial. 

Paranoid Android?

Andy Rubin, the head of Google’s Android mobile phone platform, vanished from the Mobile World Congress wireless fair just before Microsoft announced it was buying his old company, Danger.

When Reuters showed up to interview him on Monday morning, a spokesman said Rubin had turned around and flown back to the U.S. just 24 hours after his arrival in Barcelona and before the world’s biggest mobile fair kicked off.

The spokesman said he did not know the reason for Rubin’s disappearing act. Later on Monday, Microsoft announced it had agreed to buy Danger, co-founded by Rubin and best know for the Sidekick mobile Web browsing device/phone. The T-Mobile Sidekick, based on Danger’s software and also known as the hiptop, offers elegant mobile versions of Web functions. Sounds a lot like what the Gphone would be, if it existed.

Mobile Fair: Google’s Android in action

British chip designer ARM Holdings VP of mobile solutions Rob Coombs gives us a look at Google’s upcoming Android mobile operating system.  This prototype contains a Texas Instruments chip based on an ARM design. Several members of Google’s Open Handset Alliance, to which ARM does not belong, are demonstrating Android prototypes at this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.  

This video was shot as part of the Reuters/Nokia mobile journalism project.

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CES: Drunk couch potatoes have one reason fewer to budge

If you find hosting veg-out sessions on the couch watching football with friends just too much work, the RC Cooler could be the answer to your problems.

The radio-controlled drinks cooler on wheels will zip those essential beers to your mates without anyone having to so much as get up.

“Why add the hassle of getting up every time a drink is needed?” asks RC Cooler maker Interactive Toy Concepts of Canada and Hong Kong.

The company is presenting the remote-control fridge-on-wheels at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

CES: Radio for the deaf

The deaf and hearing-impaired could soon be able to enjoy radio via text displayed on screens if a prototype to be demonstrated at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas proves a hit.

Popular programs from National Public Radio in the United States will be transcribed live by stenographers and broadcast via HD radio on Tuesday.

NPR’s partners in the project, U.S. government communications company Harris Corp. and Towson University hope they will eventually be able to bring radio broadcasts to the millions of people with hearing difficulties in the United States, and beyond.

Backers of the project have begun soliciting support from radio equipment makers including Kenwood, whose prototype device is pictured above.

LG welcomes Nokia’s market push

LG Electronics says it’s not intimidated by giant Nokia’s unveiling of an online music store and gaming service this week.

Rather, LG says the move should open up the online multimedia services business to other players — itself included.

“If they’re creating the market and creating the use, we’re happy,” the head of LG’s mobile design strategy, Chang Ma, told Reuters at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin.

LG has scored design hits with its “Chocolate” and “Shine” phones and this week at IFA launched its first premium feature phone, the “Viewty.” The device comes packed with user-friendly picture and video sharing features including a hot key to upload video to YouTube.

Forget global warming — check out this TV

Visitors to Berlin’s IFA consumer electronics fair seemed pretty indifferent to the environmental effects of their buying choices. Actually, quite a few showed more interest in big TV screens and hot brands, despite manufacturers’ efforts to woo them with green credentials.

Richard Lee, 35, responded with a shrug of the shoulders when asked if he preferred environmentally friendly products. “I prefer Japanese products,” he said, explaning that he works for an electronics manufacturer.

“We came to get new ideas,” he added, prying the back off an HDTV monitor in one of the exhibition stalls to peer at the inner components.

Richard probably doesn’t recycle either.   

Philips lures women with bling partnership

Dutch electronics group Philips showed off crystal-inlaid USB sticks and headphones at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin in an attempt to bring a little sparkle to its collection of computer accessories.

Teaming up with Austrian crystal maker Swarovski, Philips is offering heart-shaped USB keys that can be worn as a pendant for those with data they want to keep close to their hearts, and “Amazone” headphones for powerful women wanting to show their softer side.

“These new products will change the way women interact with innovation and technology,” they claim in a press release.