CeBIT 2009 Unfolds as a Diminished, Yet Still Imposing Tech Event

by Chris Preimesberger in Hannover, Germany

It was a gray, foggy, chilly day March 2 as the last of the booth-builders finished their preparations for CeBIT. The fairgrounds use about 2 million square feet of space for this, the largest IT show in the world.

MSI, a Taiwanese laptop and netbook manufacturer, unveiled its U115 netbook at the show. It sports an Intel Atom 1.33MHz processor; a 10-inch, 1024-by-600 VGA monitor; either 8GB or 16GB of storage capacity; and a 12-hour battery, all for about $650.

This Windows-based Dr. Eye 8.1 netbook by Inventec features a twist-around monitor and an ultralightweight body. Designed for the education sector, this model includes professional translation software with language-learning functions. It features Chinese-English-Japanese multilingual dictionaries and specialized subject dictionaries in the IT, medicine and management fields.

This Tsann Kuen Fora CD player (right) resembles a giant eye on a pedestal. But this is one unusual CD player; it uses as its power source a solar panel (left). The product is called Fora because it originated from the idea of photosynthesis found in plants. It catches the rays of the sun during the day and stores the power in an electricity “depot,” and when the battery is sufficiently charged, you can pop in your favorite CD and sit back and relax. No electricity from the wall!

This Internet SV1 AiGuru video phone by Asus is simple enough for someone who isn’t a computer user to operate; there are only seven buttons, and the sound and video quality are excellent.

The Unitech Rugged Secure Mobile Computer is an integrated, multifunction Windows CE-embedded device. It has 3.5G wireless capacity and built-in GPS with InstantFix, which enables it to trace and track the location of its user. It features IP65, 1.5m drop testing and a high-sunlight readability screen, so it can be used in the toughest environmental situations. It is also equipped with a fingerprint scanner for authentication purposes.

This little Joybook Lite U101 mininotebook features a 10.1-inch screen, with an LED backlight screen. It also supports both HDD and SDD storage capacity. The manufacturer, BenQ, says it has a quick 8-millisecond screen response time, an intuitive user interface and high-quality battery efficiency.

These colorful objects look like holiday decorations, but they’re actually CPU fans stacked up and using colored LEDs in a creative fashion that begged for a photo.

Who ever decreed that a flat-screen monitor, or indeed, any sort of monitor, has to be gray or white or black? This display from HKF Computer System shows otherwise.

After a full day of hiking the extensive grounds with a heavy backpack and talking to vendors and attendees, this is the one place a journalist wants to be so he can head back to the press center and, well, go to work!