November 18 was the day and Dubai was humming with foreign delegates, head of IT and telecommunication companies, IT engineers, brand managers, media representatives and general visitors interested in information and technology. People flocked to the IT extravaganza, Gitex 2006, held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre to view the latest products from more than 1,200 exhibitors representing 2,274 companies from 61 countries. The trade fair lasted till November 22, 2006.

This year, a wellspring of new offerings in the telecommunications field was on display at Gulfcomms 2006, the first ever telecom expo held simultaneously next to Gitex. As in years past, Gitex 2006 will be remembered for its pomp and pageantry, with elaborate two-storey booths and showy displays of new products, while DJs and announcers held court over audiences with games and prize giveaways in addition to live dance and music performances.

However, for both visitor and exhibitor, as always it's all about the products, and this year saw ever more on offer: MP3 players and mobile phones for children and students, computer peripherals for IT managers and the technically inclined, and a broad range of cameras, printers, and other consumer electronics for the general public.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, etisalat and du manned booths at Gulfcomms, as did the international operators such as Orange and Korea Telecom. The number of exhibitors at Gitex has jumped 16 per cent to 1,347, and new country delegations from the US, Syria, Hungary and Portugal also participated this year.

Gitex's success has risen with the growing emphasis on information and communications technology in the Middle East. Market research firm IDC projects reveals that spending is going to be double from 2005 to 2010, when it will reach $16.8 billion.

"As the IT market strengthens and spending in the Middle East and North Africa markets increases we believe our role as a facilitator to deliver valuable business opportunities for the worldwide industry is paramount," said Helal Al Merri, Director General of Dubai World Trade Centre, the event sponsor at a press conference.

Occupying 62,000 square metres of show space, Gitex featured new products and applications spread across the entire high-tech field including push-email, radio frequency identification, mobile communications and IP technology.

Microsoft unveiled its latest versions of Office, its Exchange Server messaging platform, and its new Vista operating system. Sony, Hewlett Packard, and several other big-name IT companies also displayed their new products.

Nokia's participation exceeded expectations according to Joe Devassy, enterprise sales manager for Nokia Middle East and Africa.

"It was good overall, as this was the first time we had a booth at Gitex. From an awareness perspective, it was very good, and the feedback was very positive."

At events like this location can be essential. Nokia's stand received heavy foot traffic as compared to other halls, it was closer to the entrance.

Traffic of another kind was also a prime concern for Elvie Wong from Jiade, an electronics firm based in Shenzen, China.

"The foot traffic was great, we had a nice location next to a busy corridor," she said. But Wong wasn't so fond of the traffic she dealt with coming to the event. "I hope next year," she said with a laugh, "they improve the traffic out there."

Perhaps bringing a different meaning to the concept of mobile TV, spare a thought for the poor souls who have been manning the Dubai Silicon Oasis stand at Gitex. They've spent the past few days lugging heavy backpacks containing monitors. What exactly was playing on those monitors was the thing enticing people to their stand. It was simply a video of their latest developments.

Innovation and technology

Digital photo frames have yet to catch on in the UAE, but perhaps 2007 will be the year it happens. And it could be a Dubai-based firm who are at the forefront of pushing this technology.

The iMate Momento scores highly on the aesthetic front (it's got a sleek post modern design and mobile phone style interchangeable frames), but it also hits the mark for geek factor.

Visitors moved into an unparalleled position in business mobility with the Nokia E62 phone. Optimised for mobile email, this ingenuous business device supports various email client solutions so one can access their corporate email on the move the same way one would do on their office computer. It also provides the option of open and edit attachments in MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel formats or even view Adobe Acrobat PDF files on the widescreen 2.8" QVGA display in 16 million colours. Equipped with a QWERTY keyboard, typing has never been easier. Now, anybody can respond to emails as quickly as one receives them. Advanced voice features in the device also allow to conduct mobile conference calls to smooth over important negotiations anytime.

Resembling those chunky old-fashioned personal stereo cases, the iMaingo is an ingenious invention that had something at the show turning misty-eyed at the heady days of twisted tape reels, fast forward and eject.

The 2007 incarnation allows all to take your MP3 player out and about without worrying whether the elements like dust and water will ravage its precious little parts. Basically you pop your MP3 into the case (and it fits most players including mobile phones), zip it up and it is safe and sound. One can also entertain friends for hours with the latest Peruvian nose flute album that can easily be downloaded.

The Sony section of the hall was pretty impressive, and not just for the tinfoil jackets, which the beautiful people were forced to sport - presumably in an attempt to look futuristic. But in a room full of glitzy gadgets, the new Playstation took the plaudits. There was a strictly enforced queuing system in place for a go on the new machine, and the machine itself was housed in a comfortable little room, away from prying eyes.

In a show, where the pre-requisite seemed to be to make the world look slicker, the Taiwanese manufacturer decided to make it look a little cuter. Hannspree caught the eye with a bonkers range of LCD televisions tailored mostly to kids and sports nuts.

My one reservation is that the screens may be a little on the small side with some of the kiddie efforts weighing in at just 9.6 inches. However, which kid (grown up or otherwise) would not want to watch their favourite programme on a TV, which has been housed inside a cuddly giraffe, a shiny red fire truck or even a basketball?

With a third range of genuinely stylish 'proper' TVs, a couple of UAE distributors deals in place and a launch date just in time for Christmas - Hannspree could be a name that was on the lips of many people.

There were media players left, right and centre at GITEX. In fact, every time one looked around, there was a risk of running into or stepping on one. So, it is nice to see technology being used to update religious traditions in the modern era.

All must have heard the Athaan being used on mobile phones in the UAE, but the iMuslim is a genuinely interesting development. Not only does it look pretty and neat, it is very portable and contains the entire Quran (in Arabic, French and English), the Hadith, Islamic calendar, prayer times and a video tour of the Holy Kabbah. And that's just for starters. The world's first Islamic multimedia player (IMP) should appeal to anyone with an interest in Islam.

Japanese businesses looking for an employee with tireless enthusiasm and an unrivalled work ethic can now hire robot workers for an hourly wage. The 113-centimetre-tall robot, called 'Ubiko', can welcome visitors, answer questions and carry objects. The company behind the robot is Tokyo-based Ubiquitous Exchange, which is developing Ubiko with another robotics firm, Tmsuk, based in Kitakyushu, southern Japan.

Following successful tests involving robot receptionists at a hospital in central Japan, Ubiquitous Exchange has decided to make Ubikos available for businesses to hire.

The blue and white robot has large ears and a single large video camera for an eye. It can answer simple verbal inquiries, making it suitable for use as a receptionist or a guide in airports or train stations, its makers suggest.

Classroom assistant

Henrik Hautop Lund, a robotics researcher at the University of Southern Denmark, says the decision to rent Ubiko out to employers reflects a wider change. "Ubiko is yet another example of how the service robots are becoming available for everyday life," Lund told New Scientist.

"There is currently a clear trend in both research and industry to engage in service robot development," he adds. "And we will see many other examples of service robots in the very near future."

But Lund adds that Ubiko robot may find little work outside of its native Japan, where consumers may be less accepting of robots in general. "It could certainly have a future in Japanese 24-hour stores," says Lund. "But, for export outside the Japanese home market, Ubiko must be developed further in terms of design and human-robot interaction."

Wage demands

The robot's wage demands are also unlikely to impress many prospective employers. Ubiquitous Exchange charges •52,500 ($445) an hour for each robot - hardly competitive compared to human helpers, even in a country with a dwindling population, such as Japan.

The company insists that Ubiko is not overpriced, however, "If we look at these robots as advertising and public relations businesses, the price is quite cheap, actually," Sakurai says, adding that twenty companies are already on the waiting-list to receive one.

Two other robot assistants, produced by Tmsuk, made their debut last month at Aizu Central Hospital in central Japan, welcoming visitors at the entrance and answering spoken inquiries. These robots can carry luggage and escort visitors and patients to their destinations.

There are few such inventions or phenomenon that are despite their importance fail to get due considerations amongst common people. Automobiles in last hundred years has formed an essential part of our life, though, there would be hardly any people who would have idea about the importance of spark plug, which was invented in 1902. Spark plug, devised by Gottlob Honold, played an influential role in the success of an internal combustion engine, which is a must for most of the vehicles.

Likewise, there would be only few people among common populace who would have concept of escape velocity. Tsiolkovsky a Russian scientist calculated the escape velocity from the Earth into orbit (8 km/second). Without this knowledge, space age had not been a reality; it would have been confined to science fictions.

Similarly, a device that in reality provided sustenance to the sphere of electronics and proved instrumental in guiding humans and this planet to current stage of sophistication failed to get due acknowledgement from the masses. The invention of 'Audion' - a 3-diode amplification valve, which was patented by its inventor, De Forest Lee on October 25, 1906, remains in ignorance, and hardly anybody amongst masses realise its significance, and the role it played in giving new meanings of communication.

Lee De Forest was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa on Aug. 26, 1873. He was a son of a Congress minister. His father became head of Talladega College for Negroes in Alabama in 1881. His father wanted him to wear his shoes. To Lee and his family, the white community was unfriendly. At school in Massachusetts, his life was hard, with chores as well as academics. More to the point, he was not accepted there. The attitude was an affair, which lasted throughout his life, and he was tremendously concerned with getting recognition from his peers.

Regardless of this situation, he was determined and sure of himself. During his adolescence, he felt great attraction in machines and equipments, and information in relevance technological advancements would always be a reason to excite him. This interest and his loneliness motivated him to turn to science. At the age of thirteen, he had invented a number of mechanical gadgets.

His inventions included a miniature blast furnace, a locomotive, and a working silver-plating apparatus. He was lucky to receive some scholarship, which enabled him joining the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University - one of the few institutions in the United States that offered a first-class scientific education at that time. During that while, he got the title of 'homeliest and nerviest student in school' from his colleagues. Despite all the odds he continued to work hard and in 1899, ultimately, obtained his doctor of philosophy degree in physics.

Despite doing jobs to earn his bread and butter, he continued to concentrate on his science experiments in later hours. In 1896, subsequent to completion of PhD, with a thesis on radio waves, he developed an advanced wireless telegraph receiver. He had established the De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company by 1902, but due to the poor business practices; his set up proved a failure. Despite being extremely creative and energetic, De Forest frequently remained unable to spot the potential of his inventions and failed to achieve their theoretical implications.

At this point in time, electricity and electrical components became matter of great attraction for him. Principally, the study of electromagnetic wave propagation, which at that time was being opened up chiefly by the German Heinrich Rudolf Hertz and the Italian Guglielmo Marconi, besides Fasseden (world knew him later on as father of broadcasting), had become center point of his concentration. Doctoral dissertation of Lee Forest's on the 'Reflection of Hertzian Waves from the Ends of Parallel Wires' was perhaps the foremost doctoral thesis in the United States on this theme that was later to become known as radio.

Lee De Forest was granted patent 841,387 for the vacuum tube, which is regarded as 'valve' from British perspective. Audion Tube proved a groundbreaking development in radio and broadcasting. Many of the advancements we envisage would not be a reality without that invention. This patent or invention stays perhaps as the most significant invention in the history of electronics, as the concept of an active element was introduced for the first time.

This invention, seemingly inconsequential, did its job to revolutionise the planet. This creation completely altered the living habits of the millions. This component provides nitty-gritty or impetus to countless electronic systems, devices, products and accessories. Prior to tubes, there was no concept of consumer electronic products. There was no radio, no cellular phones, stereos, or even monos were available for at least for consumers. Radio broadcasting, or the broadcasting of sound, embarked on when Lee De Forest invented the Audion tube.

He transformed the work of other inventors and fashioned the Audion, a vacuum tube held some gas, while working on improving wireless telegraph equipment. The device was triode; a filament and a plate were built-in, like ordinary vacuum tubes, but also a grid between the filament and plate. This reasoned to strengthen the current through the tube; consequently weak telegraph and even radio signals were intensified. At that time, Lee Forest was of the firm opinion that the gas was a necessary part of the system. But later on, probably by 1912, the other scientists, working on this sphere of science proved that a triode in a complete vacuum would exhibit far better results.

Revellers planning a night out in the Netherlands should keep their voices down. To prevent fights breaking out, surveillance cameras in the city of Groningen have been adapted to listen out for voices raised in anger. Microphones attached to the cameras feed the sound signals to software that can detect voices that are aggressive in tone. "Aggressive people tend to tense their larynx, and the sound made by their vocal cords is distorted," says Peter van Hengel of developer Sound Intelligence, a spin-off of the University of Groningen. This means that high frequency vowel sounds span a broader frequency range. "A truly aggressive voice is very hard to imitate," he says. In a trial earlier this year, police made three arrests after being alerted by the system. Tests are also under way in Rotterdam, on Dutch trains and in stations.

In 2006, Intel Corporation introduced the most products in its history with industry-leading performance advantages that will change personal and business computing. The summer was highlighted by the introduction of the Intel(r) Core(tm) 2 Duo and Intel Xeon(tm) processor families across Intel's product lines. In November, Intel introduced the world's first quad-core processor for mainstream servers, workstations and high-end desktop PCs. Intel also plans to extend its manufacturing and product leadership over the long term with accelerated microarchitecture development cycles and constant manufacturing advances - already praised as the world's most advanced. 2006 marks the true dawning of the multi core era. Intel in summer unveiled the Intel Core 2 Duo processor that offers undisputed performance leadership for laptops and PCs, and a version for servers. By mid-October, Intel had already shipped six million units. Intel Core 2 Duo processors for desktop computers use up to 40 percent less power and improve computer performance by 40 percent versus Intel's previous best microprocessor.