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The WiMedia TechZone booth at CES 2007 will include WiMedia-based products from a bunch of companies (see the long list below) but the show-off item will be a decked-out prototype Mercedes-Benz R500 SUV. The electropimped R500 will be able to stream live high-definition video to an entertainment system using ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless connectivity.

The car - or multimedia mobile? - comes from DaimlerChrysler Research, Engineering and Design North America Inc. (DC REDNA) and includes Intel Wireless UWB Link 1480 MAC (Media Access Controller) and an Alereon AL4000 WiMedia RF Transceiver to create a wireless USB connection. Audio and video will be streamed from various devices and displayed on factory installed monitors in the headrests.

No word on the prototype’s availability. It’s likely just a demo set up to make it clear that the future includes some pretty dern cool wireless entertainment devices for your car.

Oh, and WiMedia is not a Nintendo initiative. It’s essentially a proposed standard for ultra-wideband (UWB) high speed-wireless networking using radio signals. More than 200 international companies have collaborated to form the WiMedia Alliance to help develop, test and promote WiMedia. In other words, they’re trying to make all your multimedia devices work together - in this case, in your car - without wires. Now put it in a hybrid and I’ll buy it.

Here’s that long list of companies that will have products in the WiMedia TechZone booth at CES:

• Alereon, Inc.; Artimi Inc.


• Focus Enhancements, Inc.


• General Atomic


• Hewlett-Packard Company


• Intel Corporation


• NEC Electronics Corporation


• Sigma Designs, Inc.


• Staccato Communications


• Stonestreet One


• Sybase iAnywhere


• Synopsys, Inc.


• TRDA Inc./Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.


• Wilinx Corporation


• Wipro-NewLogic


• WiQuest Communications, Inc.


• Wisair Ltd.


• USB-Implementers Forum

Site [Mercedes-Benz R500] Site [WiMedia] via [RSSFabriek] also [GermanCarScene]

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