Gadgets rule at tech shows

THE BOYS’ toys sector was showcased last month in the form of the combined Best of Stuff and What Hi-Fi? Sound and vision show.
There was a strong convergence theme, as you would expect of an event devoted to audio and visual technology. The trend towards the miniaturisation of MP3 players was exemplified by the Q-Be from Korea based Mobiblu. Weighing in at 18 grams, this tiny cube measures 2.4 cm
on each side. It comes with up to 1Gb memory and has an OLED display.
Other exhibitors included Sky, which was showcasing its High Definition service that will accompany the HD broadcasts beginning next year and Nokia, which was unveiling its new
handheld tablet PC, with which you surf the net using a touchscreen and stylus in place of a mouse.
Sony was showing off the new Qualia 004, a top of the range high definition projector previously only available in Japan and the US.
Creative brought the Zen Sleek, a MP3 player with a similar spec to the iPod, but smaller and Siemens Mobile, recently acquired by Benq, displayed the SL75, a phone with a video player,
MP3 player, MMS and email capabilities, as well as the now ubiquitous Bluetooth and camera.
Award winners included the Denon DVD-1920 DVD player, the Sony RDRHX710 DVD recorder, the BenQ PE7700 Projector and the Monitor Audio i-deck MP3 player speaker dock.