I spent some time yesterday touring TWF , the part of IFA where ubergeeks and techies get to show off their new developments and slightly more out-of-the-ordinary technologies. Here are a couple of interesting spots.
DMB: In South Korea they've already rolled out some services using the Digital Multimedia Broadcast standard, which is a rival to both 3G and DVB-H (a handheld equivalent to the digital transmissions we get from, say, Freeview). It's essentially a DAB radio signal with extra space for video, too.
3D interface: This one was fairly ropey, but the potential was there. Sitting in a 3D booth, you were able to move and manipulate objects by simply moving your hands about in the air. The results were simple and a little jerky, but interesting nonetheless.
Object tracking interactive video: A red-button style service and in which you could tag objects moving on a piece of video and link them to a data file. Their example was an ice hockey match: they had used to add an extra level of information - in this case, each player was highlighted with a coloured box: press the corresponding button on your remote control to bring up a biog and stats of that particular player. Creating a relationship between the object and the was simple: just find the first appearance of the item in question, highlight it and then the software would track its movement for the rest of the video.
Surround sound digital radio: Several stations in Germany are currently testing 5.1 Dolby surround sound over digital radio (DAB). Imagine the difference when you listen to, say, the Proms, or other live music broadcasts. It's not necessarily what you want when you tune into a news programme, but in the right circumstances the difference is impressive. Rolling out similar services in the UK could be tricky, however, since we work on a much tighter radio spectrum, and digital surround sound takes up extra frequency.
