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'What has enabled Russia to rise among the great powers of the world…has been the conquest of Siberia'
W.Bruce Lincoln

An app to warm you in the Siberian winter

By Vladimir Chubarov
11 November 2013

Forget your old-fashioned ways of preventing frostbite when its minus 20C and lower.

Left to right - Alexander Borisov, Mikhail Bebishev and Evgeny Fedorov in Kazan. Picture: InnoSoft 

It is neither a hot drink nor a shot of vodka - a team of Siberian programmers have suggested their own way of warming you up in the cold, and won a recent 'Hackathon' competition in Kazan. The idea of making a hand-heating app came when programmer Maxim Chavlytko, 23, from Krasnoyarsk 'InnoSoft' company made a mistake while working on another project, which led to his phone dramatically heating up. 

So when they needed an idea for the contest, they decided to a offer a saviour for anyone caught outside with no (or useless) gloves, which has happened to us all. The app called Warm Beams is run on a Smartphone, and turns it into the modern equivalent of a hot water bottle in your hands in the perishing cold. 

Out of 26 teams, the 'InnoSoft' took first place and got Android tablets, special prizes from a venture fund, and the right to be first in line for places at a business-incubator. The app needs further development before it can be tested on the market, and rookie students have been hired to finesse it. 

'We really enjoyed working in a rush. Sometimes we need to work that way, because it helps to keep us in good form,' said team leader Alexander Borisov, 30. His team have earlier made an app for the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum, which helped participants find information about it, and developed a system for booking taxis. They are now working on a ride-sharing app linking drivers and passengers in real time.

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Comments (3)

why not to look various other apps up before creating the one of your own lads? Like, Pocket Heat and the likes?
Ted, NZ
12/11/2013 18:07
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Not a bad idea. How do you get your phone back to life after that?
Hanif, Asia
12/11/2013 08:50
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how long does it keep the warmth? how how exactly does it get? is the phone working well again after it gets so hot?
Eric, Hong Kong
12/11/2013 06:08
3
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1

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