Gadgets galore at CeBIT

By N. N. Sachitanand

HANNOVER, MARCH 28. The world's largest IT fair, CeBIT, held annually in the German city of Hannover, has always been strong on presenting implementation of technologies that were considered futuristic a few years ago. True to style, this year's CeBIT is showcasing a host of gadgets and systems applying technologies that have only been talked about till recently, such as Bluetooth, Wireless LAN, Boradband Mobile and Packet Switched Telephony.

Among the hordes of interesting devices on display:

Ericsson's R520, the world' first triple band mobile phone for GPRS (general packet radio service) network that can send graphics, animation and audio and is also Bluetooth compliant. (Bluetooth is a low power radio frequency connection of 723 Kbps that allows up to 8 Bluetooth-enabled electronic devices, such as printers, speakers and PCs within a radius of 10 metres to interconnect without cables).

The palm-size Snap 350 digital pen-camera from AEG which can function as a PC camera, normal photo camera and a digital camcorder. It has a resolution of 300,000 pixels, 64 MB SDRAM memory and a USB interface.

The digital mulimedia book from Franklin Electronic Publishers of Germany, which is slightly bigger than the palm of a hand. It is simultaneously an e-book, audio book, MP3 compatible music player, dictating machine, appointment and task planner, address administrator and electronic dictionary. There are models with 8 and 16 megabytes of memory, the latter with space for 16,000 book pages.

C-Pen from C Technologies of Sweden, which is a mini personal data assisstant (PDA) and scanner for mobile use that reads, stores, processes and transfers printed text cordlessly to a PC. It can store up to 3000 pages in ist 8 MB flash memory and uses advanced optical character recognition routines.

The CK3000 Bluetooth voice recognition car kit for GSM phones from Parrot S.A. of France that provides for hands-free voice dialing. It can store up to 500 names and the voice recognition dialer uses the mobile phone automatically, even if the phone has been put into a pocket or briefcase.

Pocket mStation from Traxdata, U.K., is a portable digital audio juke box of the size of a stereo walkman that can store up to 200 CDs of music using a specially developed version of RealJukebox Plus and a 10 GB hard disk. Recording an average music CD takes only six minutes. It is compatible with any PC with a USB port.

Mediaportal from Multimedia Technologies of Germany is an advanced fully digital multimedia box for the TV set, about the siye of a VCR , which also provides Internet access, and DVD playback.

The Spectronic Multimedia Mobile from Spectronic Personal Communication AB is a third generation GSM mobile phone with an integrated digital colour camera, web and WAP browser as well as e-mail and fax capabilities. A newly patented touchpad system enables typing 100 characters a minute and make a call at the same time without using a keyboard.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Business
Previous : IRDA efforts to prevent AL mismatch
Next     : A case for 'Swiss-type' claims in Indian Patents
           Act