BBC Click: The opening months of every year are a good time for technology conferences. CES takes place in January, the Mobile World Congress is in February and if it is March then it is time for Cebit.

Held in the German city of Hanover, the giant trade fair is typically has more than 400,000 attendees who come to see, try and buy the latest in hardware and software.

The difficult economic conditions means that some of the larger players, such as Samsumg, are not attending. But their absence has given smaller companies a chance to show off their innovations.

Pocket-sized 3D laser scanner
One such firm is David Vision Systems which is fighting for a place in the 3D scanning market. “Others are expensive because they require complicated and precise mechanics, our scanning systems consists of standard components that are available at a low price,” said Sven Molkenstruck from David Vision Systems. The company has come up with a pocket-sized 3D laser scanner.

Internet car radio
Another innovation on display at Cebit was the world’s first internet car radio by Blaupunkt. The device has come out of a collaboration between Blaupunkt and Australian internet radio platform miRoamer.

Drivers need a 3G mobile phone that is Bluetooth-enabled to listen to 35,000 radio stations from across the world. This encryption device can can be connected to mobile phones

Voice encryption
Feeding off the trend for handset gadgets at Cebit, those conscious of phone eavesdropping can turn to voice encryption devices. Rohde & Schwarz has developed a small device that can be connected to mobile phones and encrypts a user’s voice.

“To protect your transmission, your speech, you have to do it end to end,” said Henning Krieghoff from the crypto tech firm. “On the other end we have a decrypter mobile as well, or we have some boxes which can be connected to normal telephones, be it analogue or digital telephones.”

Full article at BBC Click.

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T3: Let’s be honest, DAB radio hasn’t really taken off in the car, so what hope for internet radio? Very little right now we suspect, but that doesn’t stop the Blaupunkt miRoamer-powered internet car radios being stylish pieces of kit.

Newly-introduced into the US market (and likely to hit the UK too), the radios use your Bluetooth-connected mobile phone for connectivity to stream any of the 16,000 radio stations from the miRoamer portal.

Just don’t stream via your PAYG handset, unless you’ve got a very understanding bank manager. And don’t even think about getting a continual stream of Bulgarian folk or Swedish pop once you leave a built-up area.

Mind you, when you do leave the big city, there’s always the option of traditional radio, CD or a USB-connected music player as back-up.

blaupunkt internet car radio miRoamer