During a three-day HP Lab 2001 event in Cyprus this week, Hewlett-Packard previewed most of its consumer products and technologies due for release later in the year.
In-depth sessions combining technical briefings and hands-on testing were mostly consumer-focused, ranging from digital photography, scanning and imaging, DVD authoring and publishing, to Bluetooth-based wireless connectivity and home desktop computing.
Event manager Malgorzata Goralska said the fourth annual HP Lab attracted 114 journalists from Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.
Some of the technologies on show are still in prototype stage, such as the HP DVD Writer 100i bundled with MyDVD software, which is due to ship in the third quarter of 2001.
HP`s use of Bluetooth wireless printing was already demonstrated at CeBIT 2001 in March. 3Com`s Wireless Bluetooth PC card, which HP will offer from 1 July in its Omnibook and Pavilion PCs, was on display at the Cyprus event. The hands-on demo included wireless printing on an HP Deskjet 995c printer from up to 10m away from an HP notebook or an HP Jornada enabled for Bluetooth printing.
The best attended session has been the one on digital photography, presented by two scientists directly involved in developing digital imaging technologies at the HP research and development (R&D) Lab in Palo Alto, California. Dr Ross Allen, an HP Lab department manager, talked about differences between laboratory and real-world digital camera testing, and introduced HP`s "Fall 2001" camera line-up.
David Campbell, optical engineer-scientist at HP`s digital imaging R&D Lab, led the practical testing session, where participants had a chance to try the new HP photosmart 318 and HP photosmart 715 digital cameras.
Campbell said the focus of HP`s digital imaging R&D is similar to what other camera companies are doing: adding more features while making cameras easier to use. "The other very important thing is that HP is trying to make the whole system easy to use.
"Our cameras are probably not the very best. If you want the single best camera, a Nikon or an Olympus may be better. But HP wants to be the best in offering the whole system: the camera, computer, memory card, printer - that`s our goal.
"Photo printing is a whole new area in many ways," he added. "People use a lot of paper and a lot of ink, they buy printers. It`s said that 60 billion photographs are printed worldwide in one year. That`s a huge number and most of that is done with the likes of Kodak and Fuji. HP wants to take at least a part of that market, especially for home, convenience printing."
Earlier this week, HP and Sonic Solutions, maker of DVD authoring software, announced HP will use Sonic`s MyDVD software for recording and authoring DVD videos. MyDVD will be bundled with HP`s DVD+RW drive, to be released later this year.
Sonic`s OEM manager Michael Downs said Sonic is a leader in "Hollywood" DVD systems, converting VHS video into DVD video format. "We will now allow consumers to create DVD movies, using the same engine used to create professional Hollywood movies."
Some of the products on show will only be available in a select few countries, so South African consumers are unlikely to see the slick new Pavilion desktops, home entertainment-ready, with a wireless keyboard and mouse option, pre-set for easy Internet access. The desktops will be provided in partnership with top Internet service providers and offered through retail outlets.
The Pavilions are initially targeted at countries in Europe where HP already has a strong retail market position. HP boasts the number one position in Spain, and is number two in Germany and France, while in the UK it is among the top five vendors.
Share
