SPACE WIRE
Chatty robots, cocktail-shaking computers, pen phones wow CeBIT crowds
HANOVER, Germany (AFP) Mar 18, 2004
A chatting robot, a BMW that can make dinner reservations and a computer server that can mix a dry martini are among the gadgets drawing crowds at the start Thursday of the CeBIT, the world's biggest high-tech trade fair.

The week-long event in the northern German city of Hanover is aimed at capturing the imaginations of consumers, and futuristic wizardry went hand in hand with the nuts and bolts of telecommunications and information technology.

Sony wowed visitors to its stand with its prototype of its QRIO robot that cannot only talk but listen and respond. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder stopped by Thursday morning and got a performance by the Japanese giant's new dancing robot, which could even keep a beat.

Another favorite on the chancellor's tour was the Pen Phone by the German electronic group Siemens.

Shaped like a stylus, it is able to recognize handwriting and convert it into a text message ready for transmission, or to save a phone number in its directory. And it can make a standard call too.

German luxury car maker BMW rolled out models from its 5- and 7-series outfitted with an Internet connection.

Drivers have telephone directories and emergency services alerts at their fingertips and can also call up information about cash machines, restaurants, hotels and even parking spaces in the area.

"An Internet connection has got to come to customers, not the other way around," said Hans-Albert Aukes of Deutsche Telekom at the CeBIT, predicting that Internet connections would be standard in new cars in a few years.

Meanwhile German company Pyramid, a manufacturer of spam and virus filters, has developed a server named BenHur that can make a drink even James Bond would appreciate.

Its software can read a mixing guide and set up to 10 pumps in action, whipping up cocktails and longdrinks mixed to perfection -- just the right recipe for an industry starved for new ideas that actually work.

"If all else fails, have a drink," said managing director Frieder Hansen.

Interactive mirrors and helpful shelves were also on display promising to transform the clothes-shopping experience of the future. A customer selects an item of clothing and goes to the mirror equipped with a touch-screen enabling her to create a model with the right proportions to "try on" the item.

The technology, developed at the Institute of Disciplinary Research in the German town of Fulda, avoids lines for fitting rooms and assures gifts fit like a glove.

The space-age shelves are designed for shoe shops and allow a customer to choose among, for example, running shoes with an animated display comparing the virtues of each pair available.

Japanese electronics group NEC has brought the standard television set down to size, namely onto the display of a cellular phone. Able to receive terrestrial frequencies, the TV phone can also flip through Web sites related to the programming on the screen.

Size matters in the mobile phone industry, and South Korean manufacturer Maxon claims to have developed the world's smallest GPRS handset -- only a tick larger than a box of matches when folded together.

A featherweight at just 59 grams (two ounces), the mini-phone boasts a color display and a tiny keyboard. But Maxon said the device's battery power could stand up to most competitors, holding up for 200 hours in stand-by mode and three hours in use.

The CeBIT is hosting more than 6,000 companies from 64 countries and is expected to attract some 500,000 people before it closes its doors March 24.

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