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Gigaset M740 AV: The entertainment box from Cordless Products

The new Gigaset M740 AV Digital Video Broadcasting Receiver marks Cordless Products’ entry into the entertainment market – and has already won its first customer: Carrefour Spain has ordered 50,000 of them.

The versatile Gigaset M740 AV brings the future of home entertainment to the living room. It’s a set-top box for receiving digital aerial television programs, a television projector and an MP3 player for the home HiFi system all in one. The set-top box allows users to decide what they want to see and when they want to see it. Because in combination with a hard disk drive, the Gigaset M740 AV affords time-shift television. This intelligent form of TV program recording is a highly practical option if the viewer happens to be called away during an on-air program, for example, but would later like to see what was missed. While the on-air program is still being recorded, the viewer can look at earlier portions of the program that were missed (time-shift function). Moreover, the Gigaset M740 AV is equipped with two tuners to enable one program to be recorded while another is being viewed live. This finally puts an end to one annoying problem with most commercial set-top boxes. In contrast to the Gigaset M740 AV, they’re unable to record one decoder-received program while watching another live on the screen.

The hard disk that’s used to record the program can be attached directly to the set-top box, or the device can interface with a hard disk in a PC via either a cable or cordless link and be integrated into a Wireless LAN. The device can also be used for listening to MP3 music files over a HiFi system and for viewing digital photos and films on a television set. The Gigaset M740 AV will be launched on the German market in October, in time for Christmas business.

Beginning in October, this smart box will additionally be on the shelves of the Carrefour retail chain in Spain. With a contract for over 50,000 devices, Carrefour intends to play a pioneering role in the introduction of digital terrestrial television: In Spain, 90 percent of the population views terrestrial-based television. Carrefour wants to use the device to gain a direct presence on its customers’ TV screens to offer value-added services like product and marketing information or for downloading mobile phone ringer tunes.

Cordless Products is using this universal set-top box as the kickoff for a bevy of innovations relating to digitized multimedia content, such as voice, photos, films and music: “We’re working on an extensive product portfolio that we’ll be gradually debuting over the course of the coming months,” says CP chief Clemens J. Joos.

Connection to an antenna for terrestrial reception.

More Pictures:

http://www.siemens.com/index.jsp?sdc_rh=null&sdc_f lags=null&sdc_sectionid=0&sdc_secnavid=0&sdc_3dnvl stid=&sdc_countryid=0&sdc_mpid=0&sdc_unitid=999&sd c_conttype=2&sdc_contentid=1213888&sdc_langid= 0

http://www.siemens.com/index.jsp?sdc_rh=null&sdc_f lags=null&sdc_sectionid=0&sdc_secnavid=0&sdc_3dnvl stid=&sdc_countryid=0&sdc_mpid=0&sdc_unitid=999&sd c_conttype=2&sdc_contentid=12138

"The only think I am waiting for now is a Handytone-like adapter that will be plugged directly in an ethernet jack and allow my traditional phone to the Skype network with no computer assistance."

This should take care of that

I am a biomedical engineer at a USN&WR top 20 hospital, working in the cardiology-related departments. We do have medical devices, including patient monitors, that run in Windows OS's. One is the Witt Biomedical monitors we have in our adult cardiac cath lab. The software was originally written to run on MS-DOS and really only runs on Windows 2000 to provide a GUI for the nurses to point-n-click. It uses Windows file sharing but doesn't even utilize print services. The whole thing should have been rewritten about ten years ago but Witt already has over 25% market share and is trying to compete with the big dogs like GEMS (GE Medical Systems) and Siemens. The old Siemens Cathcor monitors we used to have ran on *nix but the brand spankin' new GEMS Combolab we got for our pediatric cath lab runs on Windows XP for the nursing stations and Windows 2003 for the servers. The Siemens Axiom Artis x-ray angiography systems in our adult cath lab runs a mix of OS's, such as Windows NT (soon to be XP) on the Host-PC, Vertex on the Real Time PC, Neutrino on the Real Time Controller (the truly patient critical part), and Windows CE on touch panels and displays. Siemens will tell you all about their "revolutionary OS" called Syngo that will, to paraphrase, "provide one user interface for all imaging modalities" but it's really just running on top of Windows NT/XP. The intravascular ultrasound machine that we have, a Boston Scientific Galaxy runs on Windows NT. Even the Kodak laser printer we have for printing on x-ray film has a DICOM server running Windows NT. All of this runs on the hospital's open network and has been disconnected for either being actively infected with a virus or for not being patched.

Now a lot of our stuff is not Windows based. Most of it I don't know what OS it does run on (perhaps proprietary information) but I can say it doesn't appear to be Windows. Philips Intellivue MP90 networked patient monitors, Datascope CS 100 intra-aortic ballon pumps, and Worldheart Novacor left ventricular assist sytem (think artifical heart) all have their own software. Some systems that use 3D modeling, like the Endocardial Solutions Ensite 3000 use SGI workstations and software.

Many of the CT and MRI scanners I see, patient monitors we put in, anesthesia carts we employ use non-Windows operating systems, not because Windows is considered unstable or insecure, but because medical IT is so far behind due to the years it takes to get FDA approval on new equipment. Many new systems do use Windows because it's easy to work with and easily networked. For instance, one cool new system (the company and name I don't know) allows an anesthesiologist (who monitors 3-4 CRNA's in as many OR's) to see blood gas waveforms and other vital signs on one of those little clear screens three inches in front of your eye. It uses Wi-Fi to transmit the data to a Windows embedded device in the doctor's fanny pack. It goes without saying that we have incredible signal strength on our wireless network all over the OR area; you wouldn't want a dropped connection there! All of our clinical workstations and every office computer is Windows NT or XP.

I cou

I work for a medium size public transit company in Southern California. All of our busses are fitted with a gps and Siemens TransitMaster system.

We are starting to implement signs like you are talking about at some of our bigger stops (ie, "Route 45 - Next bus arriving in 10 minutes") They also have a web module that you can use on your company's web site.

I'm not sure how much the system costs, but I know that they supply some of the other municipal bus systems around here that are much smaller than us, so they should be able to help you.

http://www.sts.siemens.com/

In other parts of the world, wireless carriers had been forced to implement number portability, years before it was decided in the US.

Telecom equipment vendors have been offering standardized solution packages to allow number portability. Some examples: Ericsson, Alcatel, Siemens.

... hmm, definitely not. Even SIEMENS has a thingy called instabus .

However, this reminds me of the hero in UBIK (the author was honored here) who always had difficulties with his appliances refusing to work as he was chronically out of credit.

The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please." He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. "I'll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked. "What I pay you," he informed it, "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don't have to pay you." "I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt." In his desk drawer he found the contract; since signing it he had found it necessary to refer to the document many times. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip. "You discover I'm right," the door said. It sounded smug. From the drawer beside the sink Joe Chip got a stainless steel knife; with it he began systematically to unscrew the bolt assembly of his apt's money-gulping door. "I'll sue you," the door said as the first screw fell out.

Tough times to come.

CC.

OK, before everybody gets carried away with what SCADA systems are based on, let me point out - SCADA stands for "Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition". No single company makes SCADA any more than any single company makes any other type of application software.

SCADA systems exist that will run on QNX, Linux (See VSystem), Windows NT/2000, DOS (Yes, DOS - i.e. FactoryLink with DesqView) as well as other older platforms like VAX/VMS and PDP-11.

So, SCADA systems do not necessarily rely on OPC or DCOM - some do, some don't. Some still use DDE (trust me, not the most reliable means of communication).

Industry uses all sorts of SCADA systems, from several vendors - Rockwell Software makes RSView, Wonderware makes InTouch, Siemens makes WinCC, you get the picture. The GE package involved in the systems at First Energy is only one example of SCADA, in the same way that EMACS is only one example of a text editor.

Sorry for the rant, but IAAAE (I am an automation engineer).

For example, what sports cars do you have in your garage? Ferrari or Porsche I'd assume.

I have a car built by Matra, which is branded Renault. So according to my papers I am driving something else than the brand tells me.

And what's the brand of your kitchen sink?

With kitchen installations it gets complicated. Often the different brands are selling the same utility for the same job. Dishwashers in Europe are often built by Electrolux, but sold as Whirlpool, Siemens, Bosch, AEG... Ovens often leave a Siemens facility, and then they are branded Whirlpool, Siemens, Bosch, AEG...
Same with floppy disks. There was one facility, which produced some 70% of all worldwide sales of floppydisks. But no brand ever reached more than 20% of the market.

Btw: My kitchen sink is called EMSEN .

DC?

Thank you Mr Edison. We'll call you if we need you.

Yeah, I mean it's not as if there's any research being done in this, or any manufacturers of power systems building these things.

As if any serious energy company would even consider such a thing!

According to the photo of the rack, it seems like a Siemens Simatic S7 PLC, an industrial strength controller, also used in automation.

Ok, then what is this and this and this and this and this?

Hydrogen stores energy more effectively than current batteries[...]

1. Get hydrogen to fit in a car, in metal hydrides or in another form;
2. Implement PEM fuel cells on cars (See Mercedes' Necar 4)
3. Use SO fuel cells to burn natural gas more efficiently and reduce emissions while managing to actually make money, see Siemens.
4. First mobile implementations will likely be buses, as they have a reduced chicken-and-egg problem (they all refuel at the same place and regularly), see Ballard.

Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Sagem, Alcatel, Symbian.
The list could go on. Many, many of the big players in the mobile phone market (phones, network technology, software) are located in. Europe. Europe is a huge market. Not only Italy or Finnland, but also the other big and small countries (DE, FR, GB, ES) have a penetration beyond 60%. There are approximately twice as many mobile phones in Europe as in the US.

And the younger generation wants to do more than just phone someone. SMS, Games, even the number of ringtones or display colors is a very important factor for many customers here.
I believe that while EMS (enhanced message service) was useless like WAP, MMS (multimedia message service) will be used widely. Many people (especially nerds) laugh about these uses but you shouldn't underestimate how much they are accepted by other people. Mobile Multimedia Instant Messaging willl later (with the help of GPRS and UMTS) bring the Internet into the mobile world:
EVERNET. It's not just a marketing hype! If the price is ok (and even if it isn't -> SMS), the (European) customers will use it, because it changes their life so much. For all these features you need software, capable delivering these "services":
You should take a closer look on the Symbian OS v7. It's a well engineered OS with a bright future. One day, at some places in Europe, it might be used more frequently than MS Windows.

We will see who will win this war. One could even call it a war between continents... but this would perhaps be too flamebait. My guess: At the end everyone will find their niche!

>At least we had the good sense not to name a company "Fokker."

Sure, but what about this? At least you tried... :-)

But this, I don't understand at all. Especially the one in Staines, UK (near the bottom).

(Not to moderators who don't have much ball bearing experience: Work safe link. Seriously.)

Are you talking of which Power Computing?

http://www.power-computing.com/: maybe their webdesigners helped Apple to do effective e-business without Apple having to knee in front of IBM.

www.powerc.com/: today they're a lot friendly to AthlonXP boxes, they'd admit that AMD makes the best cpu's ;-)

Or is it there... http://www.siemens.com/index.jsp?sdc_langid=0& sdc_ggid=&sdc_contentid=250851&sdc_conttyp e=4&sdc_unitid=12&sdc_mpid=0&sdc_count ryid=0&sdc_sid=7618516456&sdc_3dnvlstid=24 9719&sdc_secnavid=249550&sdc_sectionid=2&a mp;sdc_flags=0&sdc_rh=&sdc_m4r=

Even though I never quite understood why my fellow Germans write so many messages on their teeny-weenie pieces of Finnish or German ingeniouity (or just plain Taiwanese ingeniouty, if you're gonna be nit-picky), they will have to love this. I've seen cell phones that no longer had writing on their buttons because they'd been pressed so much in the process of writing important messages like "I was just thinking about you" or "I'll be running 3 minutes late" and the like.

The optiPoint 100 advance, for one.

They get much more usefull if they have a SPBX (Soft PBX) or something.

And no,... I am not just making this up: I already did this. I have a Psion Revo+ and a Siemens S35i , which I use from time to time to check my (regular) POP3 email account. I haven't installed Opera on the Revo+, yet, but I ought to try it. Oh, it is quite expensive, and is not very fast, but good enough for email.

Besides, the phone also does WAP: I tried it once, but I don't think I will ever again. When you're used to the web it feels so...ehm...uninformative.

Look into SIEMENS over Nortel or Lucent. Their newer telephony products are based off of Solaris.

I just graduated from a brand spanking new high school. Conventional thinking would tell you that since a new school we'd be getting the best teachers and curriculum, instead I had to deal with administrators who had never heard of Kosovo and teachers who had lived 40 something years only to never hear of the game cricket. Now I couldn't even begin to describe the mentality of the student populus. I found something intrinsically wrong with class model to pass students on attendance and work completion rather than test scores and coherent thinking. In my senior year I had "peers" who asked "Was Caesar was a real person?" and "Which came first, The Great War or WW1?" These were the kinds of drones being given A's and churned into liberal state colleges. Now a true iconoclast like myself would be given an F for calling the Kosovo-unaware teacher an idiot. After incidents like that I'd be sent to the dean of students who would tell me I have no right to accuse "his" teachers of anything since I don't have my diploma yet. Ah well screw em! I'm 18 now making over 50K a year as an installation engineer for SIEMENS ICN! Not bad huh? Most of us geek types are considered gifted having IQ's well over 135. Actions like those which happened to me are what make many of us dropout. One third of all dropouts are gifted. MENSA has documented it. I find it sad that our great spirits are being met with violence from the mediocre.

I would love to do. But given the fact, that developers are small minority among users, and Emacs users are a small minority among developers, I would not dare. :-)

About that HTML idea. HTML has simply not been intended for controlling layout, so there are many cases when it does not bring the necessary looks. Some folks use Flash as an alternative. And to be honest, theses sites look not bad at all. Have these two examples:

The site of Talla2XLC, arguably one of the best german DJs. His site looks cute and are even able to choose one of several background Techno music stomps. :)

The Siemens corporation site.

Of course we have the problem that this flash module is not available for every platform. I used it from within the Linux Navigator under FreeBSD's excellent Linux emulation. I would have prefered a FreeBSD flash module but there was none (working) the last time I checked.

I also do not know if there are open source authoring tools or even generating tools available for that format.

However, the S25 has a built in modem, which connects through the infra-red port.

It took me 5 minutes to set up a palm III (yes, the same as you already have) to surf the web and collect email directly (pdq), using my standard dial-up free isp.

A little slow, perhaps, but easy and cheap (you only have to buy the phone)

However, the S25 has a built in modem, which connects through the infra-red port.

It took me 5 minutes to set up a palm III (yes, the same as you already have) to surf the web and collect email directly (pdq), using my standard dial-up free isp.

A little slow, perhaps, but easy and cheap (you only have to buy the phone)

Here are links to two of the siemens products I reffered to in the last post. The first is the Siemens LP 5100, a fully h.323 compliant, open hardware IP phone. The second is the TA 1100, an adapter which allows a normal POTS phone to act as a VoIP device.

SIEMENS TRANSMITS 3.2 TBPS ON A FIBER -- 80 CHANNELS AT 40 GBPS
Researchers at Siemen's Transport System Laboratories set a new record for optical data transmission on a single optical fiber: 3.2 terabits/second over a distance of 40 km. The demonstration transmitted 80 wavelengths of 40 Gbps channels generated using an Electronic Time Division Multiplexing ETDM system developed by Siemens.
http://www.siemens.co m/ic/networks/news/icmore/en/events2.htm
Siemens, August 9, 1999