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    The best gadgets on display at the IFA show

    By Jonathan Weinberg | Yahoo! News – Thu, Sep 8, 2011

    The first week of September is when the great and the good of the technology world descend on Berlin for the annual IFA expo.

    It is here that top manufacturers and many more popular brands - big and small - show off their latest and greatest wares, ready for the big Christmas rush.

    Below we round-up some of the best technology and gadgets from the IFA showfloor. You better start saving those pounds now.

    Perfectly Portable

    When is a PC not a PC? When it's the Samsung Slate. This £999 device runs on Windows 7 just like your desktop computer and is powered by a fast Intel i5 processor. But instead of a big tower and monitor, it instead has a 11.6 touch screen tablet. This can turn on in just 15 seconds and is used traditionally with the included wireless Bluetooth keyboard and mouse or with fingers and a digital pen. Front and rear cameras, a proper USB port and also seven hours of battery life, make this ideal for life on the move.

    No need for four eyes

    There's one rubbish thing about watching 3D telly and that's having to wear those silly glasses. Toshiba obviously agree because the company has revealed the world's first glasses-free 3D TV - a massive 55 inch ZL2 model that even tracks the movement of your face to ensure the picture is crystal clear, bringing movies and shows to life in three dimensions right before your spec-free eyes.

    Twist and shoot

    Digital cameras haven't changed much over the years but Samsung have been at the forefront of any clever bits of innovation. They once released a snapper with a screen on the front so you could see yourself in self-portraits and now they've changed camera design again with the Samsung Multiview MV800.

    It has a flip-out display screen to tilt up and down, allowing you to frame professional-looking shots from all angles. With 16.1 megapixels, a 5x optical zoom and a 26mm wide-angle lens, this camera will deliver picture perfect images every time.

    Shut out and drive

    The idea of Knight Rider's K.I.T.T. supercar becoming reality is now a step closer, with the launch of Ford Mykey. Thanks to a special key, the vehicle's top speed and even audio volume can be restricted meaning parents can lend out the motor to their offspring safe in the knowledge they can't take it over any speed they choose. Ford is also working on technology to allow its cars to take full advantage of wireless internet and all the cloud has to offer such as downloadable apps, software and voice control.

    A double strength tablet

    Sony are hoping to challenge Apple's iPad 2 with the launch of two Android tablet models, including the Sony Tablet P with its quirky folding design that makes it look like a book. Along with the Tablet S, both are the first tabs to be PlayStation certified to work with the original PlayStation titles that are on the way for Google's operating system.

    A USB port and card reader make them very connectable for plugging in digital cameras and camcorders. Out in September, they're available for pre-order now, priced from £399.

    Get the heads up on twitter

    This £69.99 Bluetooth headset from Plantronics isn't simply for making calls from your car. The M1100 uses a special voice-recognition service called Vocalyst to connect up to your favourite social networks. Allowing you to tweet and update your Facebook status directly from your mouth, you can also send emails, listen to text messages and create reminders. The M1100 will use your mobile's internet connection and the Vocalyst app and works with iPhone, Android and BlackBerry smartphones.

    IT phone home

    With such cutting-edge mobile technology on offer, it's a wonder anyone even bothers with a dedicated telephone indoors. But this Archos 35 Smart Home Phone is a nice way of combining both. It runs on the Android operating system offering apps and smartphone-style software to bring the latest news, views and games straight to your hallway. It also has a webcam that can make video calls and for baby monitoring. Out later this month, it costs £129.

    Time to see the future

    It looks like a gadget out of Star Trek but this visor-style gizmo is actually the Personal 3D Viewer from Sony. Plug it into a Blu-ray drive, PlayStation 3 or mobile device and you can watch content appear in front of your eyes in high definition. You even get 5.1 virtual surround sound through the headphones.

    Sony's James Forrester says: "The clarity of sound and picture that the Personal 3D Viewer is able to deliver makes it just like a mini-cinema that’s just for you." That should stop arguments over who controls the remote control.

     

    76 comments

    • D'Oracle
      D'Oracle  •  8 months ago
      Does anyone remember when digital camera's did not exist, and yet with a bit of effort, some of us at least managed to take half decent photos? Or how about pre LCD and LED TV's, unless you were very unlucky, we all got a pretty sharp reception right? and does having regular programmes broadcast in HD really make a difference to the viewing experience? perhaps, for a minute or so, but like all things without real value or substance ( and that includes most new technology ) it soon merges into just another costly, pointless aquisition. We are being shafted in every which way, and worse of all, we readily assume our submissive position for this to occur.
    • I fooking dare ya
      I fooking dare ya  •  8 months ago
      I'd like a more real feel to my trusty rabbit ;-)
    • Watch_Out!
      Watch_Out!  •  8 months ago
      I LIKE!
    • Whoo
      Whoo  •  8 months ago
      How about one with a drawer at the bottom and a button to press that gives you a voucher for a free sample of whatever advert you are watching on screen !
    • A Yahoo! User  •  8 months ago
      when is the ipods coming out!!!
    • P
      P  •  8 months ago
      Yeah and when we buy these expensive things we won't be able to afford the electric bill now that the price of electric will be going up in october by 18.something%, bring on utopia
    • chocolate123
      chocolate123  •  8 months ago
      what a lot of newfangled shite!
    • Kevin
      Kevin  •  8 months ago
      well i say what delightful items i must purchase some
    • ROBERT
      ROBERT  •  8 months ago
      mmm, i think some of you are forgetting that these companies are BUSINESSES, and as such as long as people buy their stuff they will continue to bring out better, more expensive stuff. so if we all stop buying it, they will stop making it !!! however, even in these times of financial crisis, obviously someone is still buying, which is why they are still making it !!! remember too, that some of this technology will be used by medical teams, and research labs, notice hospitals increasingly use ipads , whereas once upon a time there would have been 1 main computer, and all surgeons etc would have had to go to the terminal, now they can take the 'portable terminal' onto the ward, or to a colleague for a second opinion.
      all technology is about finding a better/quicker/easier way of doing a task. look at the advances in fire fighting that have come as a result of other technology. ie thermal imaging cameras etc.
    • Alex Seno
      Alex Seno  •  8 months ago
      All is sh*t. When will teleportaion be invented? *_0
    • Drunken Monkey
      Drunken Monkey  •  8 months ago
      Oh, and as for that 3D Visor thing from Sony? Nintendo tried that back in 95 with the Virtual Boy. It was a colossal failure. Granted, technology has moved on a lot since then, but I'm betting the visor will go the same way ads the Virtual Boy nonetheless. 3D was a fad back then, and it still is now.

      I'd also love to know what the battery life on that thing is too, how much it weighs, and whether or not having the screens that close to your eyes is going to cause any migraine inducing eye strain. The latter of which was a problem that the Virtual Boy suffered with.

      And as for the tablet computers... Sorry, but I fail to see why I should spend a thousand pounds on a tablet, which only becomes useful when you use a separate keyboard for it, when I could quite easily get a laptop or notebook, with an equal or higher spec, for a fraction of the price
    • Drunken Monkey
      Drunken Monkey  •  8 months ago
      "now they've changed camera design again with the Samsung Multiview MV800."

      Rubbish. Variable angle screens have been around on digital cameras for YEARS. My old Canon Powershot SX10 from 2009 had a screen like that. Can't speak for other companies, but when it comes to Canon, "vari-angle" screens are standard feature on their current DSLR's, super zooms, and high-end point and shoots (G11 & G12 for example). I expect the same could be said for Nikon too. All this is, is the natural and inevitable progression of a feature first seen on higher end cameras, down to the lower end consumer cameras, not exactly what I would consider ground breaking innovation.
    • The Scientist
      The Scientist  •  8 months ago
      All this genius to produce throw away rubbish. Is advancemant just about scamming money? Who needs 3D? Aren't we connected to the world enough, with facebook, blackberry, some people post their every thought - you realise what dullards they are. Have some time alone with your own thoughts!
    • P
      P  •  8 months ago
      I am still waiting for a gadget to make BLiar disappear so that he can stop his war mongering speeches along with Cameron too!!
    • Bub
      Bub  •  8 months ago
      Shouldn't we be putting all of our last re-souses in to trying to develop renewable energy? Instread of pointless things like, a house phone and moble phone in one? Or a 3d tv that doesnt need glasses? I mean who even gives a crap about 3d? Its only good at the Cinema. A camera with an ajustabe scree? We have had them for years. Thats not new technology.
    • Darren
      Darren  •  8 months ago
      Love the idea of using voice recognition in a bluetooth headset to update Twitter, Facebook, etc.....

      Wouldn't even need a keyboard to inform everyone I'm "having a @#$%"......
    • Steve
      Steve  •  8 months ago
      how about replacing those fiddling mp's that seem to line there pockets and ruin our country,and push us further into poverty,with a thinking machine that help's,instead of making "toy's" that the average person in the street can't afford.
    • Mr T
      Mr T  •  8 months ago
      Have to agree with most of the comments here... all of the HD TV, 3D TV, SHIT TV... is marketing crap, it's like a fucking sticker on a product which is supposed to justify the price being 100s of pounds more than a "regular" TV... and yet everyone seems to buying into this shit... over-paying... does anyone even understand what HD is? screen capable of displaying 1920x1080 resolution imagery... my old PC had that years ago, my couple of years old graphics card was capable of producing 2048x1600 output and didn't have any "special" stickers on it... ALL BOLLOCKS AND YOU LOT ARE PAYING FOR IT... EXTORTION PRICES!
    • JOE RAINOR
      JOE RAINOR  •  8 months ago
      i have now come to the end of my buying any more gadgetry,over the years i have wasted thousands of pounds on stuff that i did not really need so now the buck stops here and all i ask you gadget makers is "where will it all end" You are turning the human race into a bunch of robots that you will have complete power over,NO! i will turn off my own lights when I want to,i will go to bed when I want to, and so on and so on. I am glad i wont be around when your life is not your own any more. BE WARNED!!,
    • P BRIGHTWELL
      P BRIGHTWELL  •  8 months ago
      Hmm - 3d tv without glasses - a tv that tracks your eyes - hmm - what if more than one person is watching???? - I think i will wait a bit before spending a fortune on a prototype
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