As the CeBIT opened to the public in this northern German city, nearly 6,300 firms from 69 countries were jostling to dazzle consumers with glimpses of the digital future.

Germany's Infineon Technologies teamed up with local clothing manufacturer Rosner to create a "multimedia" jacket. Cut from durable Italian cotton, the garment sports an MP3 player and a hands-free Bluetooth mobile phone.

Dubbed "mp3blue", the jacket has touch-sensitive buttons on the sleeves and sewn-in conducting fabric strips that link up to built-in headphones and a microphone hidden in the collar.

The MP3 player pauses automatically when the phone rings and a rechargeable battery gives the man on the move eight hours of service.

Meanwhile Canada's Acadia University has made it possible for two musicians separated by an ocean to play together. Software beams the keystrokes on one grand piano on display here in close to real time to another in Nova Scotia.

The developers of "MusicPath" promised a four-handed, transatlantic jazz jam session at the fair Friday.

Dynapoint of California has developed a tool for the next nerve-wracking corporate presentation. Its waterproof wireless mouse can stand up to even the clammiest of hands, works at a distance of up to six meters (20 feet) from the computer and comes equipped with a laser pointer.

But for the truly cutting edge, g.tec Guger Technologies of Austria has developed a mind controlled pocket computer. With the help of a pair of electrodes attached to a user's head and the PC, Dr Christopher Guger showed how the cursor could be moved with brain power alone.

"Every thought produces changes to our brain wave patterns," Guger explained.

"Certain thoughts cause specific changes and these can be identified by the computer and used to produce certain motions."

Taiwan, which has sent a whopping 777 firms to the CeBIT, is touting a digital in-car TV receiver developed by Eastern Electronics that can receive up to 200 channels on the freeway and resists the common "flicker" effect even at speeds of 150 kilometers/hour (about 90 miles/hour).

The developers noted that the television was, of course, not for the driver but the passengers.

Taipei-based Avermedia Technologies unveiled a thumb-sized "TV stick" containing a tuner that allows users to instantly turn their home PC or laptop into a digital television set.

The world's largest mobile phone maker Nokia was showing a new model, the 6680, with two built-in cameras allowing video conferencing with eye contact in real time.

Phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson, meanwhile, was showing off a handset with a Walkman portable music player while Vodaphone unveiled a digital television service for cell phones and pocket computers.

US computer chip maker Intel and the German firm SAP, the world's leading maker of business software, announced an RFID technology alliance to develop applications that could eventually replace retail bar codes.

And Germany's Desko was promising to eliminate long lines at immigration with a passport reader that can directly scan personal details and biometric data from a chip implanted in the document. The company said it has clients including airlines, government authorities and police.

The Frauenhofer Institute, the people who developed the MP3 music compression technique, presented a digital companion that allows patients to be monitored when they leave hospital and mini-computers equipped with sensors for emergency workers to automatically transmit information back to their base.

The CeBIT is expected to draw 500,000 visitors before it closes March 16.

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