At IFA, the consumer electronics fair held in Berlin, one of the stars of the show was a new mobile phone called Blue Earth. It’s a touch screen phone with a solar panel on the back so no charger is needed. It can be charged in sunlight or under a simple office desk lamp.

Better still, the case is made from recycled plastic water bottles so it really is an environmentally friendly phone. It will be in the shops later this autumn with a price tag of around 400 euros. Gesture recognition is also moving full speed ahead. Researchers started from the assumption that hand gestures are the most intuitive and natural way to control a machine and have now produced a lamp which can be controlled by a simple thumbs up / thumbs down gesture. And a new camera equipped with face recognition could be just the thing for your next party. It sits on a rotating stand and automatically distinguishes faces and/or smiles. So if it were set up in the middle of a party for example, it would automatically snap all the guests. When it hits the shops prices will be between 350 and 400 euros.

For more information about IFA see:
www.ifa-berlin.com

More about: Germany, Technology, Telecommunication

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