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

Ergonomics?

[Mr Windows]

It's hard enough to find a decent keyboard with physical keys. I imagine that typing on your kitchen table (or wherever) is going to get painful pretty quickly. Perhaps the flexibility of the keyboard and the ability to get rid of physical effort might have a positive effect, but I'd be reluctant to use a "virtual keyboard" for a lengthy period without having the ergonomics properly checked out

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.

Wraparound fabric keyboard for PDAs

[dipfan]

The laser keyboard mentioned may be vaporware, but in the meantime Logitech had on show at CeBit a very cool little wraparound fabric keyboard that doubles (when not in use) as a case for a Palm PDA. It's water-resistant, has hot keys, and folds out to be about the size of a notebook QWERTY keyboard. I think it's retailing in the UK at about £100 ($140), which seems steep, but I'll find it very useful for use in libraries as it's totally quiet. On sale in the UK next month.

The company's press release is here (has pix):
http://www.logitech.com/cf/newsarticle.cfm/ 4406

Nokia 7650 Phone

[nookieman]

If you are a real mobile phone freak like me, you ought to be interested in the new Nokia 7650 mobile phone. It has a color display, digital camera (640x480), bluetooth, does MMS, has MIDP JAVA support and uses the Symbian OS.

Look at the live CeBIT web-thing demonstration the MMS feature here (it has girlie pictures :-)).

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

kinda phunny....

[Anonymous Coward]

Look at the laser-keyboard website...

the main graphic eventually flashes to a dude trying to type on his dashboard...

while he's driving right down the CENTER double yellow lines.

Who are the ad wizards who came up with that marketing idea, and how long do we have to wait to get rear ended by some dude using his dash as a keyboard???

Here's a potential trojan attack...

[C A S S I E L]

Couldn't someone record an MP3 which, when played back on your kitchen table acting as loudspeaker, has the effect of typing on the laser keyboard projected on the table, hacking into your system?

Developers really do need to consider the security implications of their products, especially when making our kitchen furniture smart.