Technology and Innovation

The VW Camper Van, vehicle of choice for surfers, and hemp shirt-wearing travellers the world over, has been given a makeover and a change of name. Enthusiasts can pay their respects to the all-new VW Microbus at Volkswagen’s impressively swish site. A movie shows off the Microbus’s new curves and illustrates the additional gizmos; such as a rear-view video camera, mounted above the license plate, that relays pictures back to a screen in the central roof console. And they’ve upgraded the original’s wheezy engine to a 230-horsepower V6 beast. Is nothing sacred? • For more concept cars turn to page 68.

Shutterbugs will be thrilled by Canon’s new six-megapixel digital camera. The D60 is based around the same design principles as its predecessor, the D30, but includes a raft of improvements. Its resolution has been increased by 100 per cent, and it has an upgraded 1.8-inch LCD monitor on the back. It can shoot three frames a second for a burst of eight frames, and has features to give better image quality in difficult shooting conditions. You store images on the 128MB CompactFlash card that’s supplied. All this in a lightweight yet strong cover and stainless steel chassis. You get the picture. Well, you will.

The 42-inch 16:9 CMP4121 is certainly versatile, handling both computer and video applications. Its native resolution is 1,024 x 1,024 pixels, but it can go as high as UXGA (1,600 x 1,200). Meanwhile, it can display video up to HDTV standards. There’s a variety of video and computer inputs, and a built-in 8W stereo amplifier for audiophiles. Worried about it burning out too quickly? Well, don’t. Hitachi is touting a bunch of screensavingtechniques, and promising a lifespan “16 times” that of normal produets. The display uses cutting-edge ALIS (Altérnate Lighting of Surfaces) plasma panels, and has a healthy contrast ratio of 700:1. All this, yet an overall depth of less than 9cm.

Those in the know say that one day, pretty much every household appliance will be connected to the Internet in some way. We’ve had Net-enabled fridges, washing machines and microwaves… now make way for a piano. Roland’s HPi-5 is the first digital piano to enable you to download music from the Internet and see the notes appear on its built-in screen. What’s more, its Digi-score technology can produce an on-screen musical score based on the notes you play. Don’tworry if you’re a novice key-tinkler: there’s even a video game-style “guess the notes” tutorial and – oh yes – an on-screen bouncing ball to keep your tempo in check. There’s also more advanced recording and playback features for all the budding Mozarts among you.

This is a beast of a player, clocking in at a whopping i8.5kg in weight. The specs are equally heavyweight too. There’s a digital output for stereo 24/192 and six-channel 24/96 audio, and it has what Denon describes as “the latest state-of-the-art chippery” throughout. For audio, it uses eight 24-bit 192kHz audio DACs, and additional HDCD decoding for CDs. If you’re playing DVD-Audio discs, there’s flexible bass management too. Meanwhile, for video output, it uses Denon’s cutting-edge sean circuitry, and twin 14-bk 108MHz video DACs with Noise Shaped Video – one for progressive sean, and one for standard ¡nterlaced video.

We’ve got a fruity feeling for this new subwoofer from Tannoy, with its long-throw heavy-duty cast chassis and American cherry finish with a polished alloy trim. It’s not just a looks thing, though. Its continuous output power shapes up at 200W RMS, while its peak output power is a healthy 400W. The dimensions are 522 x 805 x 5iomm, and it weighs in at 42kg.

From the latest batch of IBM’s
ThinkPad laptops, welcome the A3ip. It’s being pitched as a mobile workstation, theoretically giving you the power of a heavyweight PC in the form of a laptop. Its basic specs are impressive, with 256MB of memory as standard, ATI Mobility FireCL 7800 graphics wizardry and a 15-mch UXGA FlexView display. The wireless functionality is a big selling point too. This A3ip model is one of the first IBM laptops to support both Bluetooth and the 802.11b standard. Perfect for tapping away in the comfort of your backgarden, in other words.

While the world dribbled over the new ¡Mac’s fíat screen, Apple had another surprise up its sleeve: this new Cinema HD Display. All right, so it’s really aimed at creative types using it for their work, but ¡s still sexy enough to tempt the rest of us. It’s less than two ¡nches thick and has a wide-format display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. It has support for 16.7 million colours and a 160-degree viewing angle, and runs its digital video signal, USB data and power through a single cable. Far less clutter, and a lot more style. Why should designers have all the fun? Surely your desk is crying out forone ofthese.

With the ability to send email and SMS text messages, surf the Internet and playgames, it really is the ultimate in home communication. Developed in collaboration with one of the world’s leading telecom service providers, and manufactured with onlyAmstrad’s know-how, it offers the most cost-effective and easy way to stay in touch with friends and family.

ViewSonic’s go-anywhere tablet PC was announced at this year’s CeBIT computer fair in Hannover,Germany.The ViewPad 1000 is a fully functional PQrunning Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and based on an Intel Celeron 800MHz processor with 128MB of RAM and a 10GB hard drive, but what makes it unique is the touchscreen functionality and the complete absence of a keyboard (though a wireless keyboard can be bought separately). Its networking capabilities are impressive:it has built-in WAN and LAN support,and it can connect to other PCs and devices wirelessly, using Wi-Fi networking.The machine,