It all started the first day, during the Sony press conference liveblog. Expecting Wi-Fi around the fair like last year, I opened my laptop and searched for networks to start posting the news as they were announced with text and images, like we usually do. Then it was the first time I realized this IFA was going to suck big time, starting right there: the T-Mobile Wi-Fi network, the one we usually connect to in the show, wasn't available at Sony's hall.

Fuck.

OK. No worries. There's another one, completely open, labeled Sony Event. "Great," I thought, "they are giving us Wi-Fi to work". I tried to connect. Nothing. There was no connection to the internet. Tried to connect again. Nada. Suddenly, the big screen in front of me lighted up:

Bloggers, you have Wi-Fi available. So feel free to blog the event live.

"No we don't, you son of Sir Howard!" Tried again and again and again. Restarted the computer. Some smelly Frenchman next to me was getting amused by my desperation, giving me stupid advice about how to connect. I wanted to punch him. On the crotch. As the place was getting full and the event was about to start, I started to panic. I saw people trying to connect like me, also frustrated. It smelled pretty bad. And it wasn't the Frenchman. I needed to start blogging in one minute. "OK, last try." No dice.

My only internet device was the iPhone, with its screen keyboard, the one that some people think is useless to actually type. The trick about the iPhone keyboard is that you don't have to try to be precise. Just try to hit the correct letters more or less, and let the prediction do all the work. However, even while I'm a good iPhone typer, doing updates over the slow GPRS, waiting for all our editing system to reload every time I saved, was going to be impossible.

Thankfully, Kit was in Lisbon awake and working. I fired up my AIM client and wrote to him "EMERGNCTT!" Shit. This spelled "d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r-!" Actually, it spelled "desastre!" because I had my Spanish keyboard turned on. After I changed the keyboard to US English, I started to write at full speed on the iPhone, with Kit copying and pasting from his AIM screen to the post in Giz's editing system, saving instantly.

The whole process was only adding a couple of seconds of delay to the liveblog, so we were good. And the pictures? Straight from the iPhone camera and sent over email whenever I had a pause to take them. I would just start the camera, shoot, send via email, get immediately out, and keep liveblogging via AIM while Mail was uploading the photo. Even the pictures were looking great because I was right next to the well-lit stage. No need for fancy stabilizers. I just held my breath and that was it. We did the same with the Philips press conference and, at the end, everything worked out perfectly.

I know that many other smartphones would have been able to do the same, but this time it was my good old iPhone, with the broken screen, and Jones on the background. The same iPhone that I hated and blamed for taking the worst pictures at the best rock concert ever saved my life at IFA 2008. I guess there's always a yin to every yang. [All IFA 2008 Coverage]

This just in case you didn't get the headline reference:

This year, Sharp kept the same size, but made their bags inflatable. The result is that you had the same morons colliding with you everywhere, but at least it didn't hurt your legs, arms, or body. And with that, I really mean crotch.

Plus, as a bonus, I was able to use them to lie down, take a siesta, and tan in the Berlin Messe gardens. Thank you Addy, you make the world go 'round. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

Like someone pointed out before, the life of a fridge is very long, so the iPod dock would probably become obsolete down the line. I also don't see the point of having your fridge acting as your amplifier: as you can see in the video, you can connect extra speakers to it. The Wi-Fi connection and iGorenje program makes a lot more sense, as it can be expanded in the future to accommodate new appliances and functionality. Plus, it is device independent. Although you can use any device, however, the interface has clearly been optimized for the iPod touch and the iPhone, which is the handheld they were using for their demos. According to them, they have some kind of collaboration contract with Apple, so Steve or someone else in Cupertino must be a fan of the brand.

The iGorenje system works quite well. It uses the Wi-Fi network in your home to connect your web-browsing device to your oven and washing machine, and when it's released later this year you will be able to control all Gorenje appliances.

iGorenje's interface is very easy to work out. Just touch the function, select the options you want and click Start. The appliance will get the parameters, start working and give you feedback in realtime, back to your iPod. For the oven, you can start from a recipe, a wizard that allows you to set the oven according to the kind of food and weight, and a custom program, which can be easily created in iGorenje and then stored. The process is fully automatic, so if you have something that needs to be cooked first slowly, then a really high heat in the last minutes, it will handle it for you.

For the washing machine, it's exactly the same thing. This time you have different programs according to the clothes you put in, making it very easy to operate. At last, because washing machine user interface seem to be developed by sadists.

But while the whole thing seems polished and works well, do we really need this kind of sophistication in our kitchens? I may be too old school, but I like too cook in the kitchen, not by remote control. I like the idea of programming the oven in an easy way, although I will still be controlling it myself. What do you think? Is this the kind of evolution everyday home tasks need? [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

Honestly, when I was in front of it I just couldn't tell the difference from a real t-shirt. It deformed like the one she was holding. I think she's a witch. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

• It's Friday. You arrive home. You are drunk, like always. You have a Great Idea that, most probably, you will repent about the next morning. Knowing that you will spend the whole day in bed next Saturday, you think about bringing the Qube foldable hob next to your bed, along with some bacon and eggs. You know, for brunch. You wake up on Saturday with your face and chest covered with eggs, bacon in your underpants, olive oil on your hands, and a strange tingling sensation up your pooper. You repent. You don't want to know. You vow it will never happen again.

• It's Friday. The next Friday. You arrive home and you are drunk again. And hungry. You feel like banana pancakes. But you also feel like having a bath because you stink like a skunk dead from an overdose of MDMA and caipirinhas. Not knowing what to do, you go to the kitchen to get your Qube foldable hob, some bananas, pancake mix, maple syrup, and whipped cream to the bathtub. You wake up in the cold water next morning, two dozen pancakes floating on a mixture of water, maple syrup, and whipped cream. You can see last week's underpants lying on the floor, still with bacon in them. You notice the same tingling sensation, but you can't find any sign of the bananas. You repent again. A lot.

So maybe, the foldable hob to go thing is not such a good idea. Hanging it on the wall of a small kitchen, however, is a brilliant idea.

Gorenje Qube Fridge and Oven

They also had three beautiful stand-alone kitchen appliances in the same line—fridge and ovens—that are designed to be placed anywhere in your kitchen and easily moved around, like any piece of furniture. See them in video after the jump.

Gorenje Qube Top Oven

Unfortunately, these four kitchen appliances are still just prototypes. We were told the products will come to the market, but maybe not soon enough for me to install the wall-mounted Qube in my new apartment in New York. That if I can find an apartment before I leave at the end of this month. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

The application is not built for iPhone/iPod touch, however, but is served from a home server that controls the appliances directly. This allows you to not only use the iPod touch, but also any other web device in your home Wi-Fi network. The program allows you to program the devices using a very easy to use graphical user interface.

For example, you can set your oven to cook a type of cake by just visually selecting a recipe and clicking start. In fact, you can even get recipes straight from the server itself. The only bad thing: the iPod dock thingie is taking the place of the built-in draught beer system, which in my book is quite -20 points. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

The Good: The LG X110 felt solid and compact in my hands, heavier than I expected for such size. Good hard plastic finish outside. Fast operation under Windows and fast rendering and access to the web, although unfortunately I was only able to try it with the Wi-Fi connection. Good set of ports, although I wish all these computers implemented HDMI video output, rather than VGA.

The Bad: I was disappointed the interior wasn't real aluminum but painted plastic. The keyboard didn't feel good to me, too bland and not enough clickety-clack action, but that's just my personal taste.

Bottom line: For those looking for a good Windows- or Linux-based netbook with no-fuss internet access at all times, my first impression is that they will be happy with this one.

The worst: that two-headed furry blue monster that moved his heads, feet, and eyes while holding the system's display. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

The Good: Very good quality. The interface is simple, straightforward, and so is the device itself. They really nailed this one. As they told me, they are looking into the past to get some inspiration for their products, bypassing the whole let's-copy-Apple theme that dominates the MP3 industry. Good move, because they nailed it with this one.

The Bad: The AMOLED screen didn't seem to me like the best thing ever.

Bottom line: Great digital audio and movie player. While I couldn't try the synching with the computer—which it's crucial to get a good overall experience with this type of devices—it feels like a winner.

According to iRiver, it will arrive to the US in September, but they couldn't tell me the price. In the European market, it will arrive in October for 220 euros. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

The Good: It has Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, if that's your thing.

The Bad: All the rest. It felt slow and buggy. I found the stuttering interface particularly bad. The side bar widgets, which need to be dragged and dropped onto the screen to make them appear as tiny little programs, is an atrocious, gimmicky interface design. Wastes space and requires a motion that is simply not needed. Samsung designers should learn that a telephone is not a desktop computer, and replicating the Mac OS X Dashboard doesn't work in a tiny screen at all.

Bottom line: After 45 minutes poking and getting frustrated by it, my verdict is to avoid it like the pest. As a consumer, my first impression is clearly one of horror and frustration. I would rather get an HTC. Or a Sony. Or a Nokia.

Argument Número Uno: apparently this gestures-in-the-air control requires real magic powers. Watch Helga and myself getting frustrated, trying to control the pointer on the screen.

Argument Two: I can't think of any really useful application except having the ability to control your computer without having to touch your keyboard or screen at any time—and therefore, keeping them clean of any crumbles and/or fluids.

The idea is good. The implementation is bad. Unfortunately, the whole experience is quite frustrating, and while they are showing the same technology in an experimental TV—which has greater potential—it doesn't really work well there either.

I asked the german Kirsten Dunst and she told me an example of this being useful: if you are "cooking" and have your hands dirty, you wouldn't like to touch the keyboard or the mousepad, so you can use gestures to control de computer. Fair enough, that's one market right there: "dirty hands chefs who use their computers while they are cooking".

I can see this being useful in TVs, however, replacing the remote completely. And maybe in computers too, but not for pointer dragging and clicking. That's just useless. This technology needs a completely new graphic user interface to be really successful—like the simple Wii interface or the stuff shown in Minority Report. An interface that will allow to intuitively point at something or doing a hand gesture to trigger an action.

As it is now, it just doesn't fly. What do you think? Do you think this is useful? Is there any else to this than its "wow!-what?-why?" factor? [More IFA 2008 coverage]

While the slick Sony ZX1 is only 9.9mm, it also has a box in the middle and has to be set up on a stand because of that. The Samsung Ultraslim LCD TV All-In-One 1 doesn't, extending the circuitry across its back and tapering the glossy back cover toward the edges, in a very smooth curve. This is a design choice similar to the iPhone 3G and the MacBook Air (and before the anti-Apple fanboys protest, here's a little tale: four days ago I asked one of the chief designers at Philips about Apple's industrial design. "Do you think they are a big influence in consumer products?" I said. Smiling, he spent five minutes talking about the undeniable influence of the work of Ive and Co. in most of the stuff currently out there).

The Good: Amazing, beautiful design. It's as beautiful and simple on the front as it is on the back. In fact, so nice on the back that, even while it's perfect to be hung on the wall, I would like for it to be standing in the middle of a room. The picture quality doesn't go far behind. Crisp image quality and very smooth motion, with an even distribution of light.

The Bad: You will have to wait until next year to get one.

Bottom line: The race toward the slimmest TVs continues, and I think Samsung has the winner so far. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

It can't run Mac OS X. And to me, that's the killer. For Windows users, however, the Samsung X360 looks like the best machine of both. Granted, Apple fanboys will argue that a revision of the MacBook Air is just around the corner, but at this point and on the surface—and without knowing the final US price, which we guess will be comparable to the MacBook Air as well—, the winner is the Samsung X360.

The Good: Ultra-thin, ultra-light, great quality, and good number of features, including expandability via Express Card and direct access to HDMI and flash cards (I can kill for this one). No compromises except the optical unit, which I can live without, like many other people, I suspect. The keyboard was comfortable, chiclet-style.

The Bad: The damn piano black finish. As a personal note, the fact that it can't run Mac OS X (without modification) is the main drawback for me, as I think it's what makes the MacBook the best notebooks in the market. However, this last "bad" won't be bad at all for the largest part of the market, though.

Bottom line: If Samsung can nail the price of this unit at the $1,800 mark, they definitely have a best seller in their hands. However, we will have to wait and see Apple's new MacBook Air, who obviously has a long lead in this category at this point. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

And they are right. Miss Samsung Biker Girl, we love you (but not more than we love Miss IFA). Too bad the cameras are nothing to write home about, just mid-year updates to their existing models. No amount of hot chicks on a bike will change that, I'm afraid. OK, maybe six of them will do it. [More IFA 2008 coverage]

Berlin, Germany, August 29, 2008 - Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a
global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies,
today unveiled a new technology designed to produce clearer images
that make it most suitable for game and video playing. It also
unveiled two new monitors equipped with the technology.

The technology called "Enhanced MPA" has been developed to reduce
ghosting effects, which are seen as weak points of LCD monitors. Based
on the existing Motion Picture Accelerator (MPA), this new technology
opens a new chapter in improving the image quality of LCD monitors.

Thanks to the technology, the Motion Picture Response Time (MPRT) of
the two monitors (SyncMaster 2233HZ, SyncMaster 2243HZ) has been
reduced from 27 ms to 9 ms, making them most suitable for game and
video playing.

Yongjin Park, Vice President of Samsung Visual Display Division said,
Samsung hopes to show its outstanding technological capability via
innovative products equipped with enhanced MPA technology.

"I believe that the new products and technology will boost Samsung
monitors' status as a technology and design leader," Mr. Park added.

In addition, the two monitors support a high resolution of 1680*1050
and a dynamic contrast ratio of 30,000:1. Also, their designs match
with both B2B and B2C market demands, allowing consumers to choose
their desired design depending on user environment.

Samsung believes these new monitors will satisfy high-end users such
as professional gamers as well as general users who want to enjoy
multimedia contents to its full extent.

In particular, the company will expand its share in the B2B LCD
monitor market with these products by introducing them to those areas
where CRT monitors are still in use because of ghosting effects, such
as airport security.

Specifications

Model
2233HZ
2243HZ

Panel
Viewable area
22" wide

Brightness
300cd

Response Time (ms)(typ.)
5ms

Maximum Resolution
1680x1050

Color Supported
16.7M

Input Connectors
D-sub/DVD-D

USB powered hub option

1Up, 2Down (2233HZ)
1Up, 4Down (2243HZ)

Special Features
2233HZ
Enhanced MPA on/off
MagicBright3,Off timer, Image Size Color Effect, Customized key,
MagicWizard & MagicTune with Asset Management, Windows Vista Premium,
DVI with HDCP, Safe Mode (DownScaling in UXGA)

2243HZ
Enhanced MPA on/off
MagicBright3,Off timer, Image Size Color Effect, Customized key,
MagicWizard & MagicTune with Asset Management, Windows Vista Premium,
DVI with HDCP, MagicRotation S/W(Pivot), Safe Mode (DownScaling in
UXGA)

* Specifications are subject to change without notice