Great gadgets at CeBIT

janeko writes: "CeBIT is propably the largest techno/gadget exhibition in Europe. Every year there is great news of new gadgets and this year is no different. A company from Israel called VKB has created a vitual keyboard that can be displayed, using a laser, on almost any surface. Connect it to your PDA and use your kitchen table as a keyboard. Talking of surfaces, Olympia has created sound device called Soundbug that uses any hard surface as a speaker. Again, attach this to your PDA and kitchen table and enjoy your mp3's. News.com has more." Soundbug was also mentioned in this earlier story; what other gadgets from CeBIT are worth talking about this year?

Comments

Tiny Linux PDA with Thumb input

[Cy Guy]

Yhaoo is running a story on the Filewalker PDA from Invair.

It sounds like neat gadget, using IR to connect with your mobile phone for email/msg access, but the price makes no sense unless it actually comes with the phone itself.

Here are the specs from the Invair website:

* Metal Housing
* Tiny credit card form factor
* CPU: 133MHz Intel StrongARM system-on-chip processor
* Memory: 32MB SDRAM; 16MB Flash ROM
* LCD display: 160 x 240 pixel resolution, 16 grayscale, EL backlight
* Dimensions: 1.6 x 2.5 in. (42 x 63 mm)
* I/O expansion: IrDA, USB
* Card slot for MMC and SD Card
* Dimensions: 3.4 x 2.2 x .74 in. (85.9 x 54.4 x 18.8); Weight: 3.2 oz (92 gm)
* Batteries: 2 AAA or 2 AAA Accu
* Multilingual Embedded Linux operating system (German, English, French, Italian, Spain)
* Multilingual Application Software:
Email, Notes, Contacts, Todo, Calendar, Clock, Alarm, Games, Linux-console
* PC-synchronization with MS Outlook, plus backup/restore
* Email Support: SMTP und POP3
* Fileviewer: TXT, HTML, PDF, JPEG, GIF
* It will be sale for the price of 649 Euros with a 32 Mb MM-Card included in April 2002
* FILEWALKER was developed and is manufactured in Germany
* The desired language is chosen during initial configuration and can be changed anytime with a hard system reset.

earlier on Slash?

[Alien54]

we did have rthese stories:

Virtual Keyboard by CmdrTaco with 248 comments on 05:27 PM -- Wednesday November 14 2001
Using Tables as Speakers by Hemos with 312 comments on 10:41 AM -- Thursday March 14 2002

at least products are making it to the trade shows.

CeBit is the largest trade show WORLDWIDE

[Moritz Moeller - Her]

Yes. It is not only the biggest in Europe, but the biggest in the world, even including the North American Continent.

Some facts:
2.041.550 m show area
~ 8.100 exhibitors (3.000 intternational ones)
800.000 visitors

Re:CeBit is the largest trade show WORLDWIDE

[Anonymous Coward]

Heise translates stories for their english newsticker page, if the content is of an international nature. The English report is here.

Zaurus shipping date

[erl]

From memory, they said around May-June.
First in Germany and the UK.
It really looks like a gread PDA. Nice screen and GUI.

Gadgets galore...

[frozenray]

what other gadgets from CeBIT are worth talking about this year?

Here's a collection of neat CeBIT gadgets from the c't newsticker. All articles are in German, but there are pictures and links to the manufacturer's webpages:

• I already mentioned the Casio Exilim mini digicam in an earlier post.
  
• The Spectronic smartphone with an innovative user interface
  
• An electronic notepad by Hexaglot
  
• A new PDA from Sony
  
• A 2 GB Flash USB keychain module for a grand
  
• The Invair Firewalker PDA for one-handed operation (please refrain from making jokes about hairy palms and the like, thank you :)
  
• The Elitegroup i-Buddie laptop - look Ma, no batteries! (hint: lower price, at least in theory)
  
• A stick-me-on-a-CF-module digicam
  
• A Zaurus based Linux Smartphone
  
• DVD-R and DVD-RAM based camcorders
  
• The Origami Smartphone which was first introduced at Comdex last year, (picture is here)
  
  ... and lots of other cool stuff, like the new nForce 615-D and 620-D chipsets, IP (as in address) enabled cars, server blades, ...

Re:Sony PlayStation 2 Linux Banned from CeBIT

[Cy Guy]

Yeah, Yahoo is running the story here.

I don't understand why MS thinks this will win them any fans. The story includes a MS denial that they were the ones that ratted on Sony, but the show organizers have confirmed it was them.

MS had people playing the XBox at the show, but they were paid MS employees. Sony should have just paid 1 euro to everyone that wanted to play on the PS2, then claimed they were doing the same thing as MS.