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Gee Whiz from Japan
Japan’s largest consumer electronics show, CEATEC 2009, highlights robots, interactive walls and 3D TVs.
NZ Management – November 09
All in the family
Dr Zinkann, the 4th generation of leaders at German global appliance company Miele, searches for continual improvement.NZ Management – November 09
Cultural Crossovers: Kiwis Abroad
NZ Management – October 09
BRIDGING CULTURAL GAPS New Zealanders do business across the ditch, around the globe, in fact, wherever they want to. A lot of coverage is given to working within our multicultural workforce at home, but what about offshore? Are your business negotiations being hampered by poor etiquette and assumptions? Pauline Herbst consults the experts.
Ask Michael Stedman, managing director of Natural History New Zealand (NHNZ), about dealing with one of the 160 countries his company works with and he stresses patience – at least six times. It’s not because he’s an impatient man. Shaun Conroy, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise’s (NZTE) regional director for North East Asia, also cautions that a three-year period from initial contact to deal is not uncommon in Japan. You might be thinking this is just an Asian trend. You’d be wrong.
It’s Show Time – In Berlin
FAIR TRADING Organised by Messe Berlin GmbH, IFA is now the world’s biggest consumer electronics and appliances trade show, covering 121,000m2 of display space and hosting 1164 exhibitors. While in Berlin, Pauline Herbst spoke to Messe Berlin CEO Raimund Hosch.
Ask Raimund Hosch what the most enjoyable part of his job is and he replies: “What I love most is what I have done this morning – staying in touch with the exhibitors, watching how the show is turning out and seeing that my exhibitors are satisfi ed with their orders. An international trade show is such an exciting business.”
What’s not apparent from this seemingly casual response is how gruelling “staying in touch” with over 1000 exhibitors is. NZ Management just managed to catch up with Hosch in between a carefully coordinated schedule where he visited a host of stands.
CEATEC: Touching lives
PC World.co.nz
Ceatec wrap-up
Pauline Herbst
Life Wall
Taking the prize for coolest concept at the show was Panasonic’s Life Wall. A concept video was shown at Ceatec’s 3D presentation but PC World had the opportunity to see the real deal at Panasonic’s Eco Ideas Centre and can tell you it is mind blowing.
Picture this: an entire wall of your living room has a massive image projected on it, let’s say a beach scene. You walk up to it, point and a glowing purple circle appears. It says: “Hi Pauline,” well in this case “Yoshi”. Infant circles pop up around it, each representing a number of features: email, your books, images, etc.
With a lazy wave of your hand you can access your files, drag and drop them to a virtual bookshelf, video conference and even create artwork.
CEATEC: Tokyo TVs
PC World.co.nz
Ceatec coverage
Pauline Herbst
Covering a Japanese electronics show is like finding yourself in the middle of a DragonBallZ arcade game. The noise is deafening, there are bright flashing lights everywhere, doll-like Japanese promo girls that look like animated mannequins – everyone is clamouring for attention. Now to add to the chaos, you can get all of this in full HD 3D.
Major manufacturers at this year’s Tokyo-based Ceatec, held from the 6-10 October 2009, are battling it out for attention in the audio-visual sphere with Japanese giant Panasonic determined to be the first to market with its 3D TV in 2010.
IFA Preview
Tech Trader – September 2009
IFA – Europe’s answer to CES and now the world’s largest trade fair for consumer electronics and appliances. Pauline Herbst reports from Berlin.
Energy effi ciency, convergence and connectivity are still hot topics in this industry – that is what the opening press conference at IFA 2009 revealed. Inside the Berlin Exhibition Grounds were 1164 exhibitors taking up 121,000 square metres of space. Sony dominated day one, with new triple tuner Bravias, the launch of Bravia internet video (Europe only at this stage) and the first look at Bravia 3D. Sony chairman and CEO, Howard Stringer, said he hoped to have 3D models in homes by the end of next year.
Crossing Borders
NZ Management – September 09
Global Lounge
WOMEN IN THE WORLD In our series of interviews with senior managers from around the world, Pauline Herbst catches up with Romebased Wendy Harcourt, senior advisor for the Society for International Development, on her recent visit to New Zealand.
After receiving a PhD in history, Australian-born Wendy Harcourt had to decide whether to stay in liberal Adelaide or become a feminist activist in London. She did neither, instead taking a chance on romance in Italy. She’s now lived there since 1988, building an impressive reputation in the areas of gender and development research.
Hide your stash
IFA Wrap-up: Berlin
Pauline Herbst
Ever since the first caveman learned to store his food supply (imitating the squirrel perhaps), it seems we’ve been obsessed with hiding and then trying to find, the “stash”. So much so, that according to geocaching.com, there are approximately 900,000 caches around the world. And the connection to IFA? Garmin of course.
The Kansas based company is sponsoring Treasure Hunt 2.0, the Garmin GPS Festival auf Zollverein. Several thousand GPS fans, gamers and geocaching nuts will be descending on the former coal mine (heritage listed Zollverein in Germany) for the event. If you’re one of them and looking for a weekend with a difference, there’s still some time to book a flight: the festival runs over the weekend of the 19 and 20 September. And as far as Garmin is concerned, what better device to use than its newly released Dakota touchscreen outdoor handhelds? The Dakota 10 and 20 GPS navigators…
Showstoppers
Day 3: IFA Coverage
Pauline Herbst
This particular Miss IFA has been the eye candy for the show for the last three years but it’s the ear candy she’s multitasking that really gets us going. Although not a new release, Sennheiser took the opportunity to showcase ”the world’s best headphones”, the HD 800s (each even has its own individual serial number), which recently won the ‘European Headphone 2009-2010’ award.
New wireless models shown for the first time at IFA and due to be released in October include the RS160, RS170 and the RS180. Dynamic sound transducers with powerful neodymium magnets ensure clear, high-resolution audio playback whilst the Kleer transmission technology promises uncompressed transmission of the audio data. Not only can you move around while watching tv but you can also enjoy cable-free music at a radius of up to 100 metres (RS 160 up to 20 metres, RS 170 up to 80 metres and RS 180 up to 100 metres, line of sight.
