Photos: Around CeBIT (part 2)
If you've got a living room big enough to house Panasonic's 103-inch HD plasma screen, you'll probably be able to afford it.
Another huge display: the gorgeous 56-inch Quad Full High Definition screen from Chi Mei Optoelectronics, with a resolution of 3,840×2,160 (8.29 million pixels).
More big kit, from NEC: the 3-DLP-chip NC2500S cinema projector, with a world-record brightness rating of 23,000 ANSI Lumens.
No technology show would be complete without an appearance by a prototype fuel-cell-powered notebook. Here is NEC's latest offering, which the company claims is the world's first notebook with a fuel cell as its main power source. This methanol-driven system lasts for 10 hours on one fuel cartridge, according to NEC.
NEC showed off its intelligent video surveillance system, which can automatically recognise different types of potentially suspicious behaviour, including tailgating/piggybacking (human or vehicle), perimeter crossing, object removal and unattended objects.
NEC again, this time with a personal robot called PaPeRo, which is short for 'Partner-type Personal Robot'. This little critter can recognise speech (even when it's speaking itself), as well as faces, gestures and symbols; the version designed to keep children happy and amused can sense when it's patted on the head or body; parents can call the built-in mobile phone to view and talk to little Johnny through PaPeRo's camera eyes and speaker; and if the kids are wearing a special ultrasonic transmitter, the robot babysitter can even keep track of its charges.
CeBIT's answer to Rome's Spanish Steps?
Microsoft's small and unobtrusive Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) stand nevertheless does brisk business following the 'Origami' launch on the first day of CeBIT.
AVG takes an impressively literal approach to show stand design.
It's a tough call to whip up interest in an open systems architecture for multifunction printers, but Sharp gave it its best shot.
Hall 11 was the place for all things GPS-related. A theme of this year's show was the move from personal navigation products to fleet management systems such as Tom Tom Work.
Meanwhile, over at Intel's stand, the Itanium zone generated its customary buzz.