Cebit 2004 Coverage

Koen writes "March the 18th, Teamhardware.com visited Cebit 2004, the largest IT fair in Europe. We made tons of pictures and gathered a lot of information. Topics of discussion: Intel, nVidia, ATI, XFX, Abit, Epox, Shuttle, DFI and more." Espectr0 writes "BBC News has an article with pictures of the new gadgets being shown at Cebit 2004. Some of them are: 3D screens, heads-up displays, all-in-one USB memory sticks and portable video players!"

Comments

New Technologies?

[jg21]

I wonder if it's true that we've reached a technology plateau or were there fundamental new technologies on show. Anyone?

Re:New Technologies?

[MoonFog]

Most of the latest technologies are derivates of older ones. 3D screes, mobile phones with cameras etc etc. I guess it all comes down to how you define fundamental. Most of the gadgets are either as said derivatives or new places for old technology, for example a portable tv with hard-drive.

Re:New Technologies?

[ThogScully]

It sounds like you've got really high expectations for "new technology" or what qualifies as new. Given that, consider the last 5 great things you consider "new technology" and aks yourself how often they come out. Is it so unreasonable that there isn't an announcement every year about a new technology that you consider new?
-N

Re:New Technologies?

[dealsites]

Yeah, the goods are just getting better. You can always improve an item by adding features, but I'l like to see some real new inventions/gadgets. TIVOs were pretty hot at first, now they got competition and HTPCs being built with free software. Wireless will be the latest thing to get integrated into everything. Wireless DVD players, home phones, hand-helds, etc. Soon if an electronic item doesn't have wireless it won't be able to compete.

--
Check here for the best price on tech gear. Sundays are crazy with all the new store offers.

Re:New Technologies?

[NeoThermic]

Remember, one can never say that we've made everything as its the unexpected inventions that change our world.
Remember the quote from the patent office in 1899, something along the lines of 'Everything that can be invented has been invented'?

Look at what we have now, 105 years after that quote. Also to those who never thought SMS would take over.

There is only such thing as a percivable technology plateau. Everything that we see around us seems to be the end all. We can't see why we would realistly need 32 TB of ram for instance. But just leave it a good 5 years, and I'm sure that someone out there will say 'I need more than 32TB for running this'.

Fundamental new technologies are being invented as we type and read this, we just don't know about them yet. Once its released, it has the oppertunity to change it all. Think about the AT -> ATX standerd.. and the new one [PTX?]. Once released, it should change everything.

Who knows... mabey in 15 years time, rather than watch our character on the screen run around the UT world with a gun shooting at the other people, we will be immersed in this game, made so real its impossible to tell the diffrence.

Who knows... that just might require 32 TB of ram...

NeoThermic

Re:New Technologies?

[jg21]

Well there's an intriguing technology timeline that BT in the UK released for example, which for 2004 alone comes up with some pretty imaginative possibilities - it continues through to 2040 btw. Just wondered what at CeBIT comes close to any of these hypothetical inflection points that's all.

Re:New Technologies?

[jellomizer]

What were you expecting, the holodeck or something like that. Heck when the lightbulb was made I am sure people went. Why do we need this, our gas lamps work perfectly fine. Or when the car was first invented, wow thats kinda cool but our horses are still better. Technology and most any other types of advancements like art, music, etc... Are a process of derivation of one idea to the next. Lets find a way to take a picture, (the Camera), Lets find a way to make pictures move (the movie camera), Lets find a way to make the pictures in color (color film), Lets find a way to send pictures across radio frequencies, (TV), Ok now lets make that color (Color TV), Now lets find a way people can record their own movies for TV (The Camcorder), Lets make it smaller and cheaper, Now lets find a good way people can distribute their own movies (VCR), Lets make them cheaper, Lets improve the image quality on the screen (HDTV), Lets improve the ability of the VCR (TiVo),...

Each step in the process in not a major change and people can usually take or leave the technology for a while to let it mature and having the other devices to give it extra value. Heck they said the same that you did back in the late 1800's that science and technology is about to plateau. But don't be suprised that you will show your grandkids your Old Apple G5 3Ghz or ultra small 64ghz laptop system and they call it an old, slow, big piece of junk, the way that we see the old mainframes today.

Re:New Technologies?

[GlasWolf]

I completely agree that the majority of the new gadgets and gizmos are either refinements or the merging of two technologies, but I'm surprised you put 3D screens in that category. It's a technology that could eventually drive a fundamental change in how we interface with computers - calling it derivative is a little unfair IMO.

Re:New Technologies?

[Espectr0]

Remember when your OS came in 5 1/4 disks?

And now, some of then come in DVD?

It's scary. Software programs will get so big that to a point humans won't be able to develop them.

Now, a decent game takes near 3 years to develop, when those old commander keen games were done in 3 months

Re:New Technologies?

[Froggert]

As someone who works with portable technology all day, the next great technological leap in this area that I see is going to be making devices and technologies work together with better software.

This, of course, has been promised for many years, but we've finally got a lot of the technology base required to make it seamless. On the way to a soccer game with two coworkers, I can now receive my office email on my smartphone, check the traffic conditions and decide which route to take.

In a year or two (or three), I'd expect that new cars would automatically detect that I've got a bluetooth phone, and use a standardized api to communicate back and forth. If a phone call comes in, the radio will turn itself down, and if I pull over to answer it, the radio will function as a speakerphone. What about if I have location services on my phone (and these are coming), and a GPRS net connection? I should be able to use voice command to tell the phone to download directions from here to X, and then playback those directions over the radio.

My cellphone already tracks my location, what if that also functioned like instant messaging apps, and let me know when one of my friends was online and somewhere nearby? I'm headed to the gym, and so are Bob and Sue. Open a quick push to talk session, and ask them if they want to meet up by the weight bench?

I head home, and now my cellphone functions as a remote control for all the bluetooth enabled components in my stereo and it also recognizes that I'm home, and automatically sets up call forwarding to my home number, which is voice over ip based. I want to watch a movie stored on my pc, but that should be transparent to me, because it's all wirelessly connected.

It's pretty easy to go on forever with scenarios like these, all of which are possible today, but only with custom written software. In a few years, this should all be happening automatically, or with a few clicks and button presses.

Re:New Technologies?

[Trejkaz]

But perhaps more importantly, were Infinium Labs there to show off a real Phantom? :-/

Wonderful

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm no troll, buy maybe a bit off topic.

It's wonderful how the consumer technology market is always ahead.
But about the technology to help save humanity(eco, stupidity, famin.. etc)!

I know that people rarely think about these kind of things, let alone do something about it, cuz we have better things to do, but one day all these things that we push to the side will bite us when we least expect it.

If you don't believe me, just wait and see!

Re:Wonderful

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't fight stupidity. A stupid human will still remain one, even if he has a machine doing all the thinking for him.

Famine is pretty much caused by there being too damn many of us. It's hard to fight this, as well (mass murders aren't a solution).

As for ecological problems, no technology by itself isn't enough. A drastic change in mentality is also required -- one that would make people understand that this planet is not for us alone. That we need all those other species as well. That even though we're different from other animals in many ways, we are not the "crown" of the nature, we don't rule it -- we're a part of it.

And yes, this is going to be the hardest part.

Re:Wonderful

[MisanthropicProgram]

Unfortunately, a disaster has to occur for the majority of people to take notice. For example, until the environmental issues start to cause disasters, like sea levels rising and flooding NY City, nobody will really take the threat seriously. Yes, there are some S. Pacific islands starting to feel the effects, but until it becomes worse, very few people will care. By then, I'm afraid, it'll be too late. :(

Re:Wonderful

[Justice8096]

Hmm... if famine was truly caused by there being too many of us, then there is no reason for dieting, and no one would complain about Genetically Engineered crops, or organically grown crops. Everyone would be equally hungry. Oh, and there would be no subsidies for farmers not to grow crops.
One day, famine may be due to overpopulation. Right now, it is due to politics or isolation of a population. Or both. Honestly, human life isn't that important to us. Neither is animal life.
Put it all into perspective - let's say that we learn to dampen our effect on this planet - will this stop the next ice age? Will this stop the ice caps from significantly melting? Will this stop the next asteroid or comet from causing a massive extinction event? And if any of those things happen, won't we still have massive extinctions?
What we can do is buy time for ourselves, like I am by putting myself on a low-saturated fat diet. This won't stop me from dying - it'll just decrease the odds of me dying now. I can still get hit by a car, suffer an anurism or die of asthma, or some expression of my bodies inherent desire to reject its parts.
The only way for me to get out of this situation would be to find a way to house my personality elsewhere. The way out for humanity is to find housing elsewhere, in a place with less chance of becoming inhospitable to us. That needs technology.

largest IT fair in Europe....

[Uzull]

"Cebit 2004, the largest IT fair in Europe." Funny. Here we say that it is the largest IT fair in the world (www.heise.de) !

Re:largest IT fair in Europe....

[Sique]

It is the largest IT fair of the world, if you count the numbers of the exhibitors, the number of the visitors, the area of the fair and the gross yearly revenue of all participating entities.

Microsoft Targets Portable Porn Market

[amigoro]

Last Image

Here is the pocket multimedia player we have heard so much about recently. Sporting an 80 GB hard drive, this beauty can store and play all your pictures, music files and video files, (in Windows WMV format).

Nuff Said.

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Nicest thing for me is the nanode

[Space cowboy]

a gorgeous box using the nano-itx layout referred to earlier on /. I think a set-top box is coming my way :-)

Simon

Re:Nicest thing for me is the nanode

[multiplexo]

You darn kids and your mini/nano ITX based HTPCs! In my day we had real HTPCs, the VAX 11/720 HTPC and the Sun 6/690 HTPC with IPI drives. None of this namby, pamby ITX stuff.

Re:Nicest thing for me is the nanode

[swb]

Ya know, back in the day when everyone had a massive wooden console TV, you probably COULD have stashed a VAX or something inside the cabinet.

Some people I knew had a big (25"?) TV in a massive wooden console with a phonograph and stereo speakers. I think the whole cabinet was like 5 feet wide by 3 feet deep. Wouldn't need some lame nano-itx case for that.

Re:No evidence of manmade global warming

[darius779]

This may or may not be true, I am not sure. However, I am a Master of the Obvious, and common sense tells me that the old saying "Don't shit where you eat" also applies on a global scale. How about "Don't shit where what you eat - eats"? Hmm.. unless it is a mushroom.. then I guess its ok

Re:No evidence of manmade global warming

[MisanthropicProgram]

There is no evidence of any human connection to global warming.
Mr. President,
So we should sit around and do nothing until there's proof of causation? Then, again, it'll be too late. While by reducing CO2 and other polutants, we'll make the environment better: less polution, less repiratory illnesses, cleaner air, etc, etc, etc... So, so what if there's no link - we'll still benefit.

Re:No evidence of manmade global warming

[canajin56]

It doesn't matter that we'll all benifit, that doesn't excuse fraud. Humans have raised the amount of CO2 and hydrocarbons by a miniscule amount, 0.6%. A single volcano erruption unleashes more char, ash, sulphur, CO2, CO, and hydrocarbons, than all of human history. Also, the sun has been getting hotter for the past decade...perhaps that has something to do with the rising surface temperatures. Further more, we already know that Earth's climate has dramatic cycles. We are still coming out of the last ice age, so a consistent rise in temperature is to be expected.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with reducing pollution. I don't want to breath smog. Coal power contributes to acid rain and mercury poisoning. But those very problems should be the issue.

Re:This is Europe

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently you haven't met a European woman since the Dark Ages, right? Why are Americans so unbelievably ignorant about Europe so that they honestly and truly believe that women do not shave their legs or wherever? I've heard about "ignorance is a bliss," but this is getting ridiculous. Get rid of your prejudice.

Here is MY coverage

[Zone-MR]

Just posted this entry on my blog.

knoppix 3.4

[sewagemaster]

this is the same Cebit fair where knoppix announces/showcases their 3.4 release (Kernel 2.6 included in the bootCD).

Re:This is Europe (main difference)

[datalife]

Look here to see the main difference between Europe and USA.
It's no goatse.cx link..

Everything that can be invented....

[D. J. Keenan]

Remember the quote from the patent office in 1899, something along the lines of 'Everything that can be invented has been invented'?

This letter to The Economist gives different perspective on that old story:

It is an historical myth that the commissioner of America's Patent Office recommended it be abolished in 1899. Rather, he asked for a funding increase because of the heavy load of applications, arguing that anyone who would deny him additional funding must believe that "everything that can be invented has been invented."

It's interesting, too, to see how little times have changed since then--the patent office saying that it was overloaded and needed more resources.

Re:But are there any...

[lpret]

wtf? she's not that hot. How about the PHP girls?