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We're here at CeBIT 2014!
If you don't count IFA, and for this week at least, we don't, then CeBIT is our favorite German tech show. It may be aimed squarely at business and infrastructure types, but we live in hope that there's some gems lurking between the server racks and point of sale units. Hannover's Deutsche Messe is currently full of burly scene-movers and covered by a hazy cloud of sawdust and smoke, but by Monday, it'll become one of the world's biggest trade shows. Naturally, we'll be cherry-picking the most interesting of what's on show and delivering it straight to your eyeballs via this wonderful thing called the internet.
CeBIT 2013 wrap-up
As it'd be poor taste to start singing So Long, Farewell from The Sound of Music, we'll have to settle for a cheery auf wiedersehen and some fond memories of our week in Hannover. Admittedly, this year's show was hardly a vintage for consumer tech news (something of a trend this year, non?), but we certainly saw a few things that made the trip worthwhile. Dan's favorite had to be the eye-tracking AR goggles, while Dana had a soft-spot for those Coby tablets. We're off to load up on chocolate and rindersteak for the flight home -- but you can re-live every nail-biting moment of the CeBIT 2013 if you take a trip past the break.
We're live from CeBIT 2013 in Hannover!
Hannover might not be as famous as Hamburg (Beatles), Berlin (politics) or Frankfurt (erm, meat-based cuisine), but for one week in March, it's home to one of the world's biggest tech events. Unlike our jaunts to MWC and CES, we're never quite sure what weird and wonderful things we're likely to find at this Teutonic tradeshow, but we'll be sure to bring you something new and exciting. Even better, thanks to some corrupted Michel Thomas Method MP3s, we'll be getting by with what remains of our high school German, a nice smile and a heck of a lot of pointing -- so wish us luck.
CeBIT 2012 wrap-up
For better or worse, our week in the frigid German city of Hannover has come to a close, bringing with it the end of this locale's days-long tourist season. All of the local highlights were in the region's Messe, and were focused around CeBIT, which draws visitors from every corner of the globe. There's no question that IT remains the focus of this giant European trade show, but buried amongst the servers, point-of-sale terminals and countless cloud-based solutions were a handful of gems. Ultrabooks stole the show from a CE perspective, with Intel's touchscreen-equipped solution making its hands-on debut, but we also came across a multitude of tablets, and even a pink Samsung Galaxy Note. We also spent some time wandering a virtual living room with a pair of head-tracking VR glasses, played a classic arcade game using only our mind (and our eyes), and got a front-seat demo of Audi's new gesture-based entertainment system, which lets you navigate your car while focusing on the road. We've gathered all of these demos and more for an inside look at everything CeBIT, which you'll find just past the break. Now, it's time for one more currywurst before we make our way back home.
We're live from CeBIT 2012 in Hannover, Germany!
Where is Hannover, you ask? Well it's definitely in Germany -- of that much we're sure. This town certainly isn't a tourist haven, save for a week in March when tech pros from every continent arrive and grow the city beyond its typical community of 500,000, but CeBIT is among the world's largest tech trade shows, and it's the sole purpose for our brief jaunt to Kansas City's sister metro. It's never crystal clear just what we'll see at CeBIT, though we've begun poking around one day shy of the show's official ribbon cutting, turning up a few surprises, such as this pink Galaxy Note. We'll of course be sharing whatever we happen to find between now and Thursday, so check back often for an inside look at Germany's flagship enterprise trade show.Protip: Use our "CeBIT 2012" tag for all of our updates from the floor!%Gallery-149460%
Samsung confirms pink Galaxy Note coming soon, we go hands-on (video)
Sure, you can personalize your Galaxy Note by sketching with the 5.3-inch phablet's S Pen, but there's no better way to express your mobile-obsessed self than by dressing your device in a flashy new color. Pink is the flavor of the month over at Samsung, which just gave us a sneak peek at its rosy Android hybrid at its CeBIT booth in beautiful Hannover, Germany. The sample on hand is of the shell-only variety, in that it doesn't include any internals, but looks pretty juicy even in its static state. The device is virtually identical to its blue and white counterparts, though its backplate is textured like that of the blue model, rather than the glossy rear you'll see on the white. There's not much more to say about pinky here, considering that the sample device won't even power on, but jump past the break for our hands-on video if you'd care to take a closer look. And keep an eye out for the pink Note in a store near you -- it's expected to land (in Germany, at least) within the next two months.%Gallery-149444%
We're live from CeBIT 2011 in Hannover, Germany!
Though enterprise software and infrastructure tend to be the focus of the event, CeBIT always yields a few consumer-focused gems -- and with all the tablet action lately, we'd be shocked if we didn't see a few slates break cover here. We'll be canvassing the fairgrounds all week looking for said gems... so be sure to join us on this magical journey, won't you? Tip: Keep an eye on the CeBIT 2011 tag for all the news from the show!
Black Prophecy cinematic trailer reveals ancient Restorer race
Among the upcoming sci-fi MMO releases we're curious about is Black Prophecy, a title in development at Reakktor Media in Germany. Black Prophecy's backdrop is a far future setting where conflict rages between humanity's two evolutionary offshoots; the biologically-superior Genides wage war against the technologically-superior Tyi. Each opposed faction threatens to wipe out the existence of their rival, but both the Genides and Tyi now face a greater common threat, the ancient Restorer alien race. Reakktor released a cinematic trailer for Black Prophecy today that shows off aggressive fleet battles and new ship designs, while giving us a closer look at the Restorers. We've got a YouTube embed of the Black Prophecy cinematic trailer for you below, best viewed in fullscreen HD:%Gallery-46991%
ESL Arena tournament Finals kicks off in Germany
The Intel Extreme Masters World of Warcraft Arena tournament will be culminating at the CeBit in Hanover, Germany from March 3rd to 8th, featuring the European Continental Finals as well as the Global Finals, which will determine the overall winner of the 3v3 Arena tournament. The event closes the third season of a globe-hopping event that spanned Dubai to Chengdu to Los Angeles, and a total of $280,000 in prizes is ready for the taking.The event in Hannover is significant in that it will be the first Level 80 tournament on the pro level, with special rules changes to reduce the effects of RNG. One example is banning speccing into talents like Hunters' T.N.T., Mages' Impact, or Priests' Blackout. ESL has also elected to exclude the new Arena maps -- the gimmicky Dalaran Sewer and Orgrimmar Arena -- from the tournament. This should make the competition notably different from live realms.The Electronic Sports League will feature live streaming videos of the matches throughout the event, with live commentary from the ESL hosts. Archives of matches throughout the tournament can also be viewed on the site or on youtube, even including popular clips outside of matches such as Swarm's infamous nerdrage breakdown. The program can be viewed through the ESL TV, as well as the live stream of all the matches. All games will be broadcast in English.
CeBIT 2008: we're coming at you live from Hanover
Our sources tell us Hanover is somewhere in Germany, but that's all we've confirmed so far. Luckily, while we might fall short with this whole "geography" thing, we did manage to sneak onto the show floor here at CeBIT 2008. Most booths are still heavily under construction, but we did manage to pick up a few scoops before we passed out from the paint fumes. Check out the gallery below for some quick booth snaps and artistically-framed exhibit hall exteriors.%Gallery-17321%
