Suhit Gupta
06-01-2004, 09:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.cebit-america.com' target='_blank'>http://www.cebit-america.com</a><br /><br /></div>Last year, both Suhit and Janak <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,14869">attended the inaugural CeBIT America event</a>, although Suhit wasn't part of the Thoughts Media team at the time. This year, we had three Thoughts Media team members attend: Suhit from <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com">Digital Media Thoughts</a>, and Janak and Kati from <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com">Pocket PC Thoughts</a>. Instead of writing two separate articles for the sites, we decided to collaborate, so read on for our take of the expo floor from the Jacob Javits Center in midtown New York.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_01.JPG" /><br /><!><i>Figure 1: The Javits foyer, featuring CeBIT's entrance.</i><br /><br />Before you read any further, you should definitely check out <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,5557">Suhit's excellent coverage of the press event</a> at the beginning of the week. Suhit enjoyed the event, but was slightly disappointed that the event did not coincide with the launch of any new products, and the lack of presence of Canon or Nikon.<br /><br />It was therefore with great anticipation that we attended the expo; we're pictured below. We were anticipating a bigger turnout than the inaugural year; in fact, Suhit heard rumors at the press event that exhibitors were turned away due to a lack of space. Kati was in New York (her husband was attending a parallel expo) and decided to join us for the event.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_03.JPG" /><br /><i>Figure 2: Kati, Janak and Suhit in the lobby of the Javits center.</i><br /><br />Unfortunately, our expectations were rapidly dashed; not only was this year's CeBIT smaller than last year's event, but was comparable to last year's TechXNY/PC Expo debacle. Many companies from the press event did not attend, and the number of companies there overall was extremely small -- we toured the show floor in perhaps 3 hours. Perhaps the best event was a meeting with the OQO folks, and we'll detail our experiences playing with an OQO in an upcoming article. In the meantime, here's the highlights from the show floor.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_04.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_05.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 3, 4: LG's 27" and 30" Flatron LCD TVs.</i><br /><br />We visited the LG booth first. They were showing off their LCD monitors, LCD TVs, DVDs and projectors. The LCD monitors they were showing were in the 17" (1280x1024) and 20" (1600x1200) formats. It is clear that they've put a lot of work into making the monitor slimmer, brighter and more vibrant. The lighting at the event was quite bright, but the monitors performed very well nevertheless. However, the most interesting item was the LCD TVs. They displayed their 27" Flatron and 30" Flatron units. The 27" comes with an external Digital Media breakout box with NTSC and other inputs, while the 30" integrates these inputs and throws in a full TV tuner for good measure. Both are in the $2,000 price range, and you can get more information <a href="http://www.lge.co.uk/products/entertainment/tvs/">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_06.JPG" /><br /><i>Figure 5: LG's 12x Internal Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW.</i><br /><br />LG also showed off their 12x Internal Dual Layer DVD+/-RW, which enables the direct addressing of 8.5GB of data per disc. It is now available for just under $350; unfortunately, the media is scarce at this time. They also have an external model (not pictured here).<br /><br />Finally, LG has also apparently begun to manufacture projectors under their own brand name. The initial lineup features three units, but none of them struck us as particularly revolutionary.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/features/CeBIT-2004/KoreanCellPhone-01.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/features/CeBIT-2004/KoreanCellPhone-02.jpg" /><br /><i>Figures 7, 8: Korean miniaturized cellphones.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_07.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_08.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 9, 10: Kubong's webcams.</i><br /><br />The next pavilions featured Korean technology; one of the booths showed off very compact GSM cell phones. Fortunately, they're all triband GSM and they're attempting to bring them to market here, so we might see them one day. The second set of pictures shown above were taken at Kubong Information Technology's booth, where they were displaying their miniature (designed to attach to the top of a laptop) and desktop webcams; the latter is lamp shaped, comes with a microphone, speakers and a tiny desk lamp.<br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/features/CeBIT-2004/Gabrielor-01.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/features/CeBIT-2004/Gabrielor-03.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/features/CeBIT-2004/Gabrielor-02.jpg" /><br /><i>Figures 11-13: Gabrielor's new keypad in a variety of prototype form factors.</i><br /><br />A new company called <a href="http://www.gabrielor.com">Gabrielor</a> was showing off prototypes of their new one-handed "Rounded Keypad" technology. The idea is to efficiently pack an entire alphabetic keyboard, so that one can avoid multitap or T9-style solutions on their phone, data entry unit, or other compact/mobile device. The prototypes didn't have tactile feedback, so it's difficult to judge how well this is going to work.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_09.JPG" /><br /><i>Figure 14: Synet Electronics' video software.</i><br /><br />Several booths later, we came to the Synet Electronics booth, where they were highlighting security and video software. Secure Send and PC-Keeper enable the securing of data and PC sharing, respectively; you can get more information from this <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20040526/tc_pcworld/116276">Yahoo! article</a>. Of more interest was their Video Editor and Video-to-DVD products -- video editing and burning software designed for beginners. They claim that Video Editor has a gentler learning curve compared to software like Premiere, but with a similar featureset. Video Editor also offers integrated CD/DVD burning to enable you to burn your edited videos straight to disk. It is available now for around $69. Video-to-DVD, meanwhile, is a DVD authoring/burning software that also looked cool. We did not get a chance to look at the software in detail, but Suhit is hoping to get a demo copy and further information for the Digital Media Thoughts community.<br /><br />We then passed a number of booths featuring various countries, looking for potential investors. CeBIT had a number of these, presumably to attract people to their countries for outsourcing and other services.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_10.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_11.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 15, 16: Foxda's mini flash players.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.foxda.com">Foxda</a> displayed miniature Personal Music Players. These units are USB 1.1 devices with 128MB of capacity. Their impressive features include the size (note the earbud for a sense of scale), good battery life according to the representative and low cost (although we were unable to obtain specific numbers).<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_13.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/features/CeBIT-2004/Electrovaya-TabletPC.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_12.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 17-19: ElectroVaya's Tablet PC and PowerPads.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.electrovaya.com">Electrovaya</a>, the battery specialists, had a booth where they were featuring off their new Tablet PC designed, unsurprisingly, with battery life in mind. The rep claimed that the device was designed for a full day's use (e.g., 6-9 hours) <i>with Wi-Fi on</i>, which would easily trump most Tablet PCs on the market today (and would perhaps make for a great complement to a Wi-Fi enabled trans-Atlantic flight!). They also had their popular PowerPad 120 and PowerPad 160 accessories for existing laptop and tablet PCs -- they're designed to sit underneath the laptop, on your lap, and can increase battery life tremendously. It's good to see there's at least one company out there working on practical solutions to the battery life problem.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_14.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_15.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/features/CeBIT-2004/Mitsubishi-01.jpg" /><br /><i>Figures 20-22: Mitsubishi's rear-projection display technology -- a single screen closed, opened, and 6 screens tiled.</i><br /><br />Just like last year, Mitsubishi was showing off their $20,000 rear projection DLP 50" display. The shots above show the unit and its innards, respectively; the screen is mounted on hinges to enable easy opening and maintenance. Thanks to the fact that their technology goes to the very edge of the screen, it's relatively straightforward to assemble a set of 6 tiled together to make the ideal screen -- for the low, low price of $120,000. 8O The individual units are also capable of high-definition, but the card to support the functionality costs somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000. Despite Suhit's repeated attempts to convince them that they need to develop a $5,000 solution to bring this to the mass market, the Mitsubishi folks insisted that they're focusing on the professional/business/military market for now. Apparently, CentCom currently uses these kinds of displays.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_16.JPG" /><br /><i>Figure 23: Kati and Suhit enjoying a little air, thanks to APC.</i><br /><br />APC had some of their top-of-the-end racks with comprehensive cooling systems at their booth. Since the racks were empty, these were tantamount to the ultimate in fan technology, and Janak quickly snapped a shot of the two of them getting a breath of "fresh air". ;) Suhit observed that the fans were creating their own localized "weather patterns" as can be witnessed by their hair.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_17.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_18.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 24, 25: Epson's 4000 8-cartridge inkjet printer.</i><br /><br />Suhit had a very disappointing experience at Epson's booth. Despite the fact that they were featuring the 4000 and 7600, Epson's representatives were rather unhelpful. When he went up to them to ask about more information on the 4000 and its 8-cartridge technology, they first shuttled him amongst the different representatives -- apparently it wasn't clear who was going to demo the product. They then scanned his badge and said more information would be mailed to him. Finally, when he started asking questions, he was just rudely handed a brochure. Clearly, they were not interested in selling their product and did not even attempt to make an effort. Ok, end of rant... Suhit'll have to continue waiting for reviews online to hear more about print quality, etc. :|<br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_19.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_20.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_21.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_22.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 26-28: The YellowJacket, and a spaced-out Janak modeling it. ;)</i><br /><br />The YellowJacket booth was actually quite well-done and informative. Janak posted <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28213">an article</a> a few days ago on their flagship product, which is a calibrated wireless receiver module that interfaces with HP's iPAQ Pocket PC in sweeping, analyzing and optimizing 802.11a and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi networks. We actually saw the unit in action and the representatives were informative, friendly and helpful, and quite knowledgeable, a rarity at such events these days. In fact, the three of us have concluded that car representatives are far more knowledgeable about their products at car shows than the reps about electronics at electronics shows.<br /><br />Suhit complained that the YellowJacket was bulky and not pocketable, but they correctly pointed out that it's a better solution than carrying around a laptop to do the same survey. Janak found it very comfortable to hold in the hand -- it's quite light despite the volume.<br /><br />The YellowJacket folks were, interestingly, the only ones to give away virtually anything during our tour of CeBIT; they gave the three of us a nice iPAQ leather case from <a href="http://www.casesonline.com">Cases Online</a>. Sadly, gone are the days of the late 90's when there were great giveaways at pretty much every booth.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_23.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_24.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 29, 30: Iomega's Networked Attached Storage (NAS) unit.</i><br /><br />Suhit was looking forward to seeing Iomega, and they certainly did not disappoint. First up was their Network Access Storage (NAS) unit. These units have 160GB Hitachi Deskstar drives in them (and can be purchased with up to 480GB of storage), a 2GHz processor and up to 2GB of RAM. Currently you will not be able to daisy chain these storage units together, but they may offer clustering options in the future.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_25.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_26.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_27.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 31-33: Iomega's Rev drives (external and internal, respectively) and a Rev cartridge.</i><br /><br />Even more impressive than the NAS were the new Rev drives, available in both internal and external forms. The third picture features the 35GB (uncompressed) disks (they claim 90GB compressed, although we're not quite sure what they backed up that claim with). The device is shipping now and is available for approximately $330, with cartridges are about $50 each. They interface using USB 2.0 or Firewire and apparently have blistering transfer rates. Since the read/write head is in the drive and the platters are in the disk, Iomega utilizes an "air-tight" drive mechanism to avoid dust. Suhit thinks this is an excellent backup solution, while Janak's a little more skeptical (given his mixed Zip and Jaz history). Both agree that Blu-Ray optical media may be the ideal future. ;)<br /><PAGEBREAK><br />Next, we made a visit to the folks at OQO. They did not have a public booth, but rather a (little) meeting room, in which the three of us sat for about 45 minutes and had an opportunity to play with the devices. To get our full feedback, you'll want to check out our upcoming article; we present some pictures below to whet your appetite.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_28.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_31.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_42.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 34-36: The OQO in its dock with the screen expanded, the OQO with the screen retracted alongside the iPAQ 2215 and Toshiba e805, and the OQO expanded next to the e805 running in landscape mode.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_43.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_44.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 37, 38: HP's ultraportable DeskJet 450 Bluetooth printer.</i><br /><br />Next up was HP. As Suhit pointed out in the previous article, HP wasn't announcing anything new. However, he did get a chance to see the HP DeskJet 450 -- the color inkjet printer that can be battery-powered and can communicate over Bluetooth. This looks like an excellent solution for a wireless printing solution. HP claims that the battery lasts for approximately 300 pages of printing, and you can send data to the printer from your PDA or laptop via Bluetooth.<br /><br />While Microsoft's main booth was devoted to CRM and other "enterprise" applications, and thereby was devoid of gadgets, Microsoft <i>did</i> have a MSN SPOT watch booth. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures; instead, the SPOT folks took pictures of Suhit and Janak, because they were both wearing SPOT watches. ;) Kati was happy to hear that they're planning to make a slimmer "ladies" version of the watches, but given how large the existing ones are compared to her wrist, she's not sure how much smaller they can get.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_45.JPG" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cebit2004_regularevent_46.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 39, 40: Yes, a consumer Breathalyzer! 8O</i><br /><br />Our final discovery was a booth by some company that was selling a handheld consumerized Breathalyzer -- a pocket-sized devices to quickly check your alcohol level (after a party or some such) to see if it is safe to drive. Kati and Suhit decided to test their alcohol levels. Kati correctly got her result as 0.0, implying that she was completely sober. Suhit, on the other hand, registered a blood alcohol level of 0.2. 8O For those of you that don't know what that means, a BAC of 0.2 is <i>beyond</i> toxic (and Suhit hadn't even had a drink!). Seeing as how the legal limit for driving is a BAC of 0.08, he was half expecting the device to automatically call the cops and the ambulance simultaneously :).<br /><br />As you can guess, the fact that we reported on a Breathalyzer unit implied that we walked away largely unimpressed by the number of vendors that showed up. Suhit lamented the lack of camera and imaging companies (some of which were present at last year's conference), and he didn't see any next-generation media drives like Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drives/disks. Meanwhile, handheld companies were not well-represented either; HP had their regular iPAQs, but nothing new was present, and the one highlight in terms of handheld computing was the OQO.<br /><br />The expos seem to be getting sadder as the years go by; Janak thinks it's because of the proliferation of the Internet as a cheaper, more readily accessible marketing tool, thereby eliminating the need for large expos in the first place. Nevertheless, we can hope that next year's event is better.