------------- Look out for more CeBIT news in the April 2008 issue of CHIP.
New CeBIT raises the bar
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CeBIT, the annual ICT show held in Europe, redefined itself this year. Held between March 4 – 9, the fair in its new format had four key categories: business solutions, public sector solutions, home & mobile solutions and technology and infrastructure. This year there was a clearly defined layout that helped visitors find their way to the exhibitors and ICT solutions they were interested in, much faster than before.
A brand new feature at this year's event, the CeBIT Global Conferences, provided significantly greater coverage of ICT themes of relevance to the industry and its target clientele.
"The new CeBIT format has succeeded across the board, drawing an enthusiastic response from visitors and exhibitors alike," declared Ernst Raue, Managing Board member at Deutsche Messe, at the close of this flagship IT show. "This six-day event has generated a fresh sense of optimism and a premonition of great things ahead in the global IT industry," he added.
CeBIT 2008 had revealed a return to the days of euphoria about new technologies and solutions, he asserted, adding that the new CeBIT had again raised the bar: "This show has managed to maintain its momentum throughout. We had a fantastic opening ceremony featuring heads of state and visionaries, which was followed by a charity run attracting over 1,300 participants at the midway point, plus a great weekend to cap it off," he stated.
Jurassic pet responds to touch
Remember Aibo, Sony's robotic pet dog? Well, Sony no longer manufactures it, but there's another robotic pet that's drawing the crowds here at CeBIT. This one's called Pleo and it is a pet dinosaur complete with textured skin. The manufacturer Ugobe, calls Pleo a "life form". Pleo is drawing lots of fans around the world and we were told that this toy has an online community with "ploggers".
Pleo is a robotic Dinosaur that responds to touch. Head and body movements are smooth because of the many motors and gearwheels around its body, which comprises of over 1,800 parts. It has 38 sensors, 14 motors, and over 100 custom designed gears all around its body. There are sensors under its feet too.
Stroke Pleo's head and it gently tilts it's head and looks in your direction. Stroke it's back and it sways its tail. It even walks about and you can feed it a plastic leaf.
Pleo can even express emotions though we did not hear it make any cute sounds.
Pleo can be programmed and Uglobe will soon release a Software Developer Kit. There is an SD card slot and USB port on its belly. Uglobe tells us that they will release other life forms by the end of this year. Pleo is selling well in the US, UK, Ireland, Japan, and Taiwan.
For more information and pictures go to www.pleoworld.com
CHIP introduces Green Award
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CHIP Germany had its 16th annual awards function at CeBIT 2008. CHIP also celebrated its 30th anniversary at this event.
This year the popular awards for technology excellence also included an additional Green award, which went to Fujitsu Siemens for its Green PC.
The Asus Eee PC won for best innovation. Other awards for innovation went to Apple's TimeMachine, the last.fm community, WikiSearch, Casio Exilim EX-F1 digital camera and TomTom HD Traffic. CeBIT goes green -----
The theme for the CeBIT 2008 trade fair this year is Green IT, and many exhibitors here are presenting solutions, products, and innovations that address energy efficiency. Deutsche Messe AG , the fair organizers, have also set up a green IT village in one of the halls here.
Ernst Raue, who sits on the Board of Deutsche Messe AG said "This year CeBIT has decided to focus on Green IT, with a broad international line-up of contributors bringing together all the key activities of the ICT industry here in Hannover."
CeBIT is highlighting the Green IT theme in three featured components. The first is an extensive program of presentations and conferences. Secondly, a number of well-known and respected ICT companies are presenting eco-friendly solutions at the Green IT Village. Thirdly, CeBIT has prepared a Green IT guide with articles that offer advice on energy conservation and measurement of energy efficiency.
Asus launches new products at CeBIT 2008
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ASUS unveiled a range of PDA phones and new notebook computers here at CeBIT. The new product range includes a new version of the EeePC and a Lamborghini-branded smart phone.
In the PDA phone section, Asus launched the P320 which it claims is the smallest GPS-enabled PDA phone. The M536 phone with touchscreen interface has an integrated fingerprint reader. The P560 has an iPhone-like multi-pull interface. But the model that takes the cake is the ZX1 Lamborghini PDA phone. This model has a 3 megapixel autofocus camera, Bluetooth connectivity and GPS. Other features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, an inbuilt GPS receiver, 3G and HSDPA support.
The Asus Eee PC has won many hearts and some awards (including the CHIP 08 award for innovation). At CeBIT Asus launched a new Eee PC with a 9-inch display. This model has a faster CPU, 1 GB of RAM, and 12 GB of solid state storage. Battery life has also been improved, though we could not determine this. The new Eee PC has Windows XP as the operating system and integrates with the Windows Live platform. Microsoft Works is also loaded on this Eee PC. It is available in five colours. Anyone for a pink Eee PC?
Casio unveils high-speed digital camera
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Digital cameras are getting closer to camcorders. At CeBIT Casio showed its new EXILIM Pro EX-F1 with the world’s fastest burst shooting performance.
The 6.0 megapixel digital SLR camera incorporates a new high speed CMOS sensor and high speed LSI processor. It also has 12x optical zoom.
But the feature that wowed us was its burst shooting capability, something not seen in a DSLR before. Using the camera’s ultra-high speed burst shooting mode for still images or its high speed movie recording mode, users can capture a split second’s movement with greater detail. In still image burst mode one can shoot at 60 frames per second. In burst mode the frame rate can be varied between 1 and 60 frames per second while shooting. Other shooting modes like 5 fps and 12 fps are also possible.
Continuous recordings of up to 60 images per second can be saved in the camera’s buffer memory even before the shutter button is pressed. So you won’t miss that vital moment if you press the shutter button a split second late.
The other nice feature is slow motion. Users can take photographs and the action in the viewfinder or LCD screen can be viewed in slow motion. This is done almost in real-time.
The rapid flash function allows continuous shooting even in low light. While using the flash one can take upto 20 continuous shots at speeds of up to 7 frames per second. The internal LED light allows high speed burst shooting at between 10 and 60 frames per second.
The EXILIM Pro EX-F1 can also record high speed movie footage at very high fps rates so that one can enjoy ultra-slow motion playback. Users can select a recording speed of 300 fps, 600 fps or 1,200 fps. There is a movie button that lets users quickly start the movie recording without the need to switch from still image shooting mode.
The camera is also capable of shooting full high-definition movies at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, and at a rate of 60 fps. The camera can be connected to an HD compatible TV through an HDMI cable.
According to a Casio spokesperson, the EXLIM Pro EX-F1 will be available in the European market two months from now.
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