: Were you always hoping to use a button-less mobile phone? Does the use of the tiny buttons on your mobile phone irritate you? Well, innovation in this direction is taking shape in Japan.

Hitachi is showcasing a revolutionary, button-less mobile terminal christened Waterscape. This prototype, which was on display at the Hitachi stand, enables users to browse information through `bubbles' by inclining the terminal towards the desired content. The content options available are e-mails, reading news articles, listening to music and even viewing movie clips.

: Have you always felt that the easiest way to transmit messages is by writing it yourself instead of keying it in? Basically, to help personalise content with one's own handwriting, Sony Ericsson, the joint venture between Sony, Japan and Ericsson, Sweden, has displayed the Chat pen CHA - 30. Using the chat pen, users can write content they wish to send on a special paper.

The pen digitises the handwritten characters. After reading the content on the paper, the chat pen equipped with infrared camera, graphics processor and a Bluetooth transmitter can transmit the message say, to a PC or a mobile phone or any other communications device.

: How many times have you sat in front of your computer waiting for the Web site to download content? If you are looking for relief from this frustrating wait, help is at hand. OptiView Technologies, the US- based company, has recently launched a suite of content acceleration products aimed at improving the performance of Web sites. Using its product called Turbocache, on display at CeBIT, 2002, the downloads from different Web sites are to be made three times faster.

It will also help optimise faster access to images, graphics and other content in Web sites without visual degradation. It will also help leverage existing resources to reduce the operational and bandwidth costs by 75 per cent. This product is particularly targeted at Internet and enterprise service providers.

: Have you gone through the bothersome rigmorale of selecting printers while printing documents? Electronics for Imaging (EFI), a US-based company, is offering relief with an innovative solution, with the launch of its product, PrintMe Networks in Europe.

PrintMe Networks is the first Internet solution which enables any user to print to any printer from any wireless device without any cables, drivers or complex set-up. For millions of professionals working from remote or multiple locations, EFI will simplify their lives by makes printing any time, anywhere from any device convenient and easy. Mobile professionals can print and fax documents from their PCs, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) or even their cell phones by simply `dialling' into any printer on the PrintMe network or to most fax machines in major countries worldwide.

To use the service, people need to only open a free PrintMe account at www.printme.com and use it to select and connect to any printer listed on the PrintMe network.

: Can you contemplate a watch as an organiser, travel companion and mobile phone? Sounds clumsy, but IBM thinks otherwise. This new prototype called WatchPad is a collaboration between the IBM Research Centre and Citizen watch.

It is an enhancement of the Linux Watch technology, which was on display at CeBIT, 2001. The earlier version of Linux Watch had features such as calendar functions, short messaging services and blue tooth connectivity for wireless communication between notebooks, PDAs or mobile phones.

IBM has worked on the earlier version with enhanced features such as recognition of voice input and output, which basically frees a user from the complex set of buttons. Carrying the innovation forward, it currently has a fingerprint recognition sensor, which makes it highly secure vis-à-vis the use of passwords. It is also in the process of incorporating location-based services into the features of this watch.

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