Under the slogan "One Digital World" the teeming halls of the Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center are this week hosting the most impressive array of gadgets and gizmos in the world. These are some of the new devices that are attracting the most attention:
Phones: The size of digital devices continues to shrink at the same time as their power grows at an exponential rate. This means that devices the size of cell phones can now do more than fully fledged PC's did a few years ago. Last year the novelty phones doubled as video cameras. This year, Sony and Samsung have cell phone/cameras that display 1.33 megapixels. More importantly they also serve as message centers, newscasters, word processors, MP3 players, and even DVD players. The implication is clear: Pretty soon almost anything that you can do on a PC, TV, camera or music player, you will be able to do on your phone.
PHOTO: AP
Digital televisions: Slim, stylish and with spectacular pictures, digital televisions are blasting images from every available wall space. More like computer monitors than traditional analog TVs these devices use digital data to provide pictures that are brighter and sharper than anything seen in the past. Sales in the sector boomed 41 percent in the past year, even though prices are still high, ranging from US$4,000 and up. If money is no object Samsung has a US$70,000 set that is the largest in production at 80 inches.
Sony also made waves with its "location free wireless TV," a small device with a 12-inch touch screen that connects to a wireless home network and allows Internet access, e-mail and TV viewing without any cables.
Digital music players: The Apple iPod remains the pick of the bunch and thanks to a groundbreaking deal with technology giant HP is set to increase its lead even further. HP will start selling its own branded iPod, as well as loading all of its computers with Apple's iTunes software. This means that Apple, whose computers account for only 3 percent of the PC market, suddenly has an inside track with the world's second largest computer maker.
Games: The new consoles from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are not due out till next year at the earliest. But a new device from Apex, which until now has carved out a niche as a maker of low-cost DVD players, is worth taking a look at. The US$399 Apextreme is a purpose built high-end gaming PC that hooks up to a television instead of a computer monitor to allow PC games to play on a large screen, and at a fraction of the price it would cost to get a regular high end PC and graphics card.
Networking: Japanese electronics giant Panasonic surprised observers by showing off a nifty new networking technology that shuttles data around the home or office at a blistering 170 megabits per second. It's not wireless, but who cares when all you have to do is plug in an adapter to a wall outlet. The adapter converts data into a format that can be carried over standard power lines and is fast enough to send multiple streams of high-definition video to every room in the home.
Car stereos: This might seem an odd niche to be raving about, but some of the most spectacular sights at the massive show are custom cars fitted out as mobile sound and entertainment systems. There's a massive Hummer H2 with speakers the size of most other cars and no less than five livingroom-size LCD televisions. If that doesn't grab you how, about a tricked out VW Beetle with headlights converted into fishbowls.
Taiwan moved clear of Mexico to be the only country at No. 2 in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Men’s Baseball World Rankings. Meanwhile, draft bills to set up a ministry of sports were approved at a joint session at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. After previously being tied with Mexico for second on 4,118 points, Taiwan moved clear on 5,498 points after they defeated Japan in the final of the WBSC Premier12 tournament on Sunday. Mexico (4,729) dropped to fourth, behind Venezuela (4,846), who finished fourth at the tournament. Taiwan narrowed the gap to first-placed Japan to 1,368 points from 1,638, WBSC
GLOBAL SUPPORT: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the motion highlighted the improper exclusion of Taiwan from international discussion and cooperative mechanisms Taiwan yesterday thanked the British parliament for passing a motion stating that UN Resolution 2758 does not involve Taiwan, making it the latest body to reject China’s interpretation of the resolution. The House of Commons on Thursday debated the international status of Taiwan and unanimously passed a pro-Taiwan motion stating that the House “notes that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the political status of Taiwan or establish PRC [People’s Republic of China] sovereignty over Taiwan and is silent both on the status of Taiwan in the UN and on Taiwanese participation in UN agencies.” British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Parliamentary
HIGH ALERT: The armed forces are watching for a potential military drill by China in response to the president’s trip, with the air force yesterday conducting an exercise President William Lai (賴清德) is to make stopovers in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam during his seven-day trip to the South Pacific, his first official visit since taking office in May, the Presidential Office said yesterday. Lai, accompanied by a delegation, is scheduled to depart for the South Pacific on a chartered flight at 4:30pm tomorrow, stopping first in Hawaii for a two-night layover before traveling to the Marshall Islands, an office official said. After wrapping up his visits to the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, the president is to transit through Guam, spending a night there before flying to Palau,
‘IMPORTANCE OF PEACE’: President Lai was welcomed by AIT Managing Director Ingrid Larson, Hawaii Governor Josh Green, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and others President William Lai (賴清德) was feted with red carpets, garlands of flowers and “alohas” as he began his two-day stopover in Hawaii on Saturday, part of a Pacific tour. Looking relaxed in a Hawaiian shirt, Lai flitted around the US island state, visiting the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Hawaii’s leading museum of natural history and native Hawaiian culture, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency and the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Lai was given the “red carpet treatment” on the tarmac of Honolulu’s international airport, his office said, adding that it was the first time a Taiwanese president had been given such
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