The iF International Forum Design is awarding IBM 16 Design Innovation Awards for superior products and solutions, giving the corporation the most awards of any competing company. The iF product design awards will be formally presented at the CeBIT 2006 exhibition in Hanover, Germany on March 9.
The iF product design award is given annually to companies that achieve significant breakthroughs in design and collaborative innovation of products and solutions across a wide variety of industries.
Four IBM products and innovations in particular are recognised for their potential to transform industries.
The Magic Block is a portable recording device that stores non-stop sound throughout the day, making these recordings the user’s private digital sound diary, searchable through voice recognition. An embedded fingerprint-recognition reader is used for security access to ensure privacy.
IBM’s Audio Video Speech recognition system, a wireless voice recognition headset, uses both a microphone for audio and a camera to “read lips,” vastly improving speech-recognition accuracy in noisy environments.
The Creativity Console is a portable DJ mixer with audio and video playback, music creation, video editing, and portable DJ capabilities.
The imaginatively-titled IBM Wireless Handheld Device is a custom-designed, wireless computer device used by stockbrokers to manage and monitor millions of stock trades from the New York Stock Exchange trading floor.
IBM also won awards for its storage and server solutions.
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