One thing is clear, IFA, _the_ European consumer electronics show, knows how to put on a show and how to entertain.
If you’ve been to the show in Berlin that runs between the end of August and that start of September you’ll know what we mean – it’s huge and the companies that exhibit there really go to town to make their stands special.
It’s also very popular with over 100,000 trade visitors from 93 countries visiting it last year. (more…)
Here’s an interesting video that we grabbed at IFA last year.
The concept? Rather than shops needing to have huge stock of every trainer available, all that would be needed is for a stock of virtual trainers.
This gives the shops a number of advantages. The shops can be considerably smaller, saving money on expensive ground rent; they’ll be able to sell trainers that they don’t have in stock; trainers that don’t even _exist_ can be sold – how good is that for a business?
One of the clear upcoming trends for TV manufacturers is to try and persuade you to change your current flat screen (if you’ve taken the plunge already) to an even thinner TV.
While we were at IFA last year, we were stunned by the ultra thin TV shown by Sharp, which came in at a crazy 20mm, at its thinnest point – it was only 29mm at its thickest!
NXP have had a Set Top Box (STB) playing Flash for quite a few years now. They’ve moved this on now play Flash videos, enabling them to support YouTube and other Internet video services without the need for a separate computer – and from the comfort of the sofa.
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If you thought that HD TV was the best picture you’re ever going to see, think again. The release of 100/120 Hz Full HD TVs gives you a pretty clear idea that the market is moving again.
NXP showed us a chip the Nexperia PNX5100 which really ups the game for HD. Lower down you can listen to the interview with those involved and watch a video of it working.
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If you want to know where consumer electronics are moving, there’s no better place to find out than via the people that make the chips that will power these devices.
One that came into being last year that really impressed us last year at IFA was NXP, a spin-off from Philips, essentially what used to be their chip R&D division.
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We got excited about face recognition in digital camera when we first heard about it – when the FinePix F31fd came out back in Septemeber 2006 – but now it’s becoming run of the mill.
Sony have taken it one step further with the Cyber-shot T200. Not only does it spot faces, but it will automatically take the photo when the person in shot smiles.
Philips continue their run of staging press event differently. At IFA they started with a stage with dancers, before the boss came on stage to tell us all about the wonderful things they’d been working on.
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Sharp have shown their next generation LCD TVs – the summary?
They are phenomenally thin – extraordinarily thin.
How thin? 20mm thin, increasing slightly to 29mm at their thickest part. Crazy isn’t it?
The bezel is just as slim, with the top coming in at 20mm at the top and 25mm on sides.
Two years after Samsung first announced their intention to sell a dual fomat HD player that would play HD-DVD and Blu-ray – in the same unit.
As well as being the first dual format player, the BD-UP5000 Duo HD Player supports both formats interactive formats – DB Java and HDi.
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