The IFA Experience

The IFA Experience

By Shayne Rana 

Aahh Germany. A land of beer, bread, cheese; drunk with culture and… well more beer. It’s also the place that hosts the IFA or Internationale Funkausstellung (do NOT ever ask me to pronounce that—I had enough trouble with street names and some things on the menus) in the city of Berlin. IFA is one of the world’s largest consumer-electronics-slash-home-appliances-and-gadgets expos. In fact, it’s said that they get an even larger turnout than CES that’s held in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

The venue is humongous and that’s an understatement. It’s the size of about three football fields back to back, and there are two levels. So naturally I got a serious workout and it did me good too, considering all the delicious German food I was scarfing down. Our hosts were gracious enough to take us around the beautiful city of Berlin that’s so rich in world culture it can get overwhelming at times.

The event itself had all the biggest players in the biz showcasing their wares. IFA isn’t just a showcase for technology or products that are on the shelves or soon to arrive there; this is also where manufactures can give us a glimpse of what’s to come. Future Technology, so to speak; technology that is still in a prototype phase or undergoing testing awaiting a release date. It’s all there.

   Visual mediums are what’s hot this year. The TV set has undergone a drastic facelift, or should I say overhaul. Sure it’s still a TV but it seems like even the flatscreen LCD and plasma generation has already been rendered obsolete. LED and AMOLED TVs with their vibrant colors, energy-efficient sales pitches and super sexy, super thin form factors are the new idiot boxes. That term has also is now obsolete. The TV is the new medium of outreach, not that that has changed over the last few decades. The process has changed, though, with the likes of technology like Internet TVs. The TV now has the ability to be used as the primary display for everything with audio and visual properties and connectivity features. DLNA wireless connectivity allows mobiles, cameras, camcorders, laptops, PCs and the like to use the TV, which should rightfully be the largest screen in your home, as the main source of visual attention. I can just hear parents screaming at their kids right now: "You watch too much TV as it is and now all this?! What about your education!" Little do they know, this IS our education.

3D TV with glasses is impressive enough but Samsung’s prototype of 3D TV without their use is something to very seriously look forward too. But TVs aside, taking the gadget component into perspective, I can honestly say there’s a lot that‘s coming. What got my ticker all warm and fuzzy was the fact that a lot of manufactures like Samsung and Nokia have started using recycled material in the manufacture of mobile handsets and packaging as well as solar panels for charging to ease up on the environment. Hey it may not be giving anything back, but it sure as hell isn’t taking any more. It’s a start.

IFA and Berlin have been a great experience from the technology and personal perspectives. There’s a lot that can be expected from the manufactures and there always will be and it’s good to know that they’re working on it. Staying connected through a variety of mediums that are eco friendly, manage to serve and meet most of our requirements and be easily accessible in terms of availability and being user friendly at all times is what they’re calling Digital Humanism. A very appropriate term—keep our humanity and stay in tune with technology. Man, do I love the 21st century!