Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Season's Greetings From GABA


Dear GABA members,

What a year this has been! Politically a new U. S. President (YES WE CAN), a new coalition in Germany (CDU/CSU and FDP), and economically the deepest recession in decades.

Especially during this recession, the German-American Business Association (GABA) has proven once again that it can offer unique support and added value providing the kind of community that helps professionals through difficult times. In reaction to the changed job market GABA offered a special job hunting series to help people reorient themselves and to use all channels including social media in their job search. With its 10 Industry Groups in place, GABA provided plentiful networking and training opportunities tackling business, technology, leadership and social topics. Some of them can be reviewed on the GABA Blog.

Despite the overall economic slowdown, 2009 was a very successful year for GABA. The association was able to grow its membership by 18% compared to last year. Now in its 7th year, GABA put together a total of 60 events: 40 in Northern California, and 20 organized by the Chapter in Southern California plus additional events in Munich and Berlin. The overall number of attendees exceeded over 3,500, a new record for us!


  GABA TV Airs Saturday At 8.30 PM

Another project GABA started in late 2009 is GABA TV. The weekly show is hosted by GABA's Media Co-Chair Pamela Lenz Sommer, and will air tomorrow for the first time: Starting December 19th, GABA TV airs every Saturday at 8:30 pm at KMTP TV channel 32. KMTP-TV32, Digital 33 reaches 1.9 million households in the San Francisco Bay Area over the air, via satellite and cable. GABA TV provides an additional platform for knowledge exchange, business and cultural topics and can be used as a venue to promote your business.

To all of you, who have experienced the value of our organization, please encourage your friends, business partners, colleagues and employers to Join GABA.

Especially after this challenging year, on behalf of the GABA Board, I want to thank our Executive Director Caroline Raynaud and her local team, the extended GABA team in Southern California, as well as the chapters in Germany for their work. And most of all, we give appreciation to our Industry Group Co-Chairs, and all our wonderful volunteers for a successful 2009.

GABA is driven by its members so please contact us with your ideas, valuable feedback and suggestions. We are always striving to improve.

Happy holidays and best wishes for a prosperous New Year!

Sincerely,

Thomas Neubert
Chairman and Co-Founder, GABA
 chairman@gaba-network.org

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute and Its Latest Innovations

During two events in December, members of German-American Business Association GABA and the Silicon Valley tech community received a rare look inside one of Germany’s R&D powerhouses – the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI). 

3-D Without Wearing Glasses

The Interactive Media group demonstrated several 3D displays that do not require any special glasses for the viewer.   This is accomplished by tracking the viewer’s eye position and mechanically adjusting the 3D filters within the display to optimize the viewing angle as the viewer’s position shifts continuously.  Another interesting demonstration showed how touchless gesture control can be used to play a video game or interact with an informational kiosk.


The Image Processing group described the immersive experience of 7 HD displays stitched together, providing a 180 degree field of view with 3D sound.   There is no better way to watch the German national soccer team, except being there, of course!  Another project, named the “virtual mirror”, provides an augmented reality display which can be useful when trying on new shoes or a new suit, without requiring the specific merchandise to be on hand.

Gesture Controll and Virtual Mirror

It was exciting to see the researchers describe what is possible already now and in the future.  The possible applications of this research are endless – ranging from the medical field, to consumer technology, to information services.

The HHI is part of the Fraunhofer Association, which comprises 60 institutes in Germany and other parts of the world, offering research services to industry and government.   For its part, HHI employs over 220 scientists plus approximately 130 students, with a total research budget of € 26M.     Its primary focus is communication networks and image processing, with special emphasis on interactive media, mobile broadband, photonic networks and components, and fiber optical sensor systems.   FHHI staff has been honored with two Emmys for their contributions to the H.264 video format.

The HHI is interested in sharing its technology and R&D capabilities with interested companies in the Silicon Valley.   Engagements can be short, medium, or long-term, ranging from straight technology licensing deals to joint research projects or even establishing joint spinoff ventures.

Happy Holidays!

Steffen Bartschat – Co-Chair, GABA Software Industry Group
http://www.linkedin.com/in/bartschat

For more information about the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, see their website or join them at one of the following occasions:

CES, Las Vegas, NV, 07.-10. JAN 2010 and NAB, Las Vegas, NV, 12.-15. APR 2010
Contact: Jürgen Rurainsky, rurainsky@hhi.fraunhofer.de , +491735449185


Web2.0, San Francisco, CA, 03.-06. MAY 2010
Contact: Michael Witte, Head Strategic Marketing michael.witte@hhi.fraunhofer.de

Photonics West, San Francisco, CA, 26.-28. JAN 2010 hall north, booth 4601
Contact: Dr. Joachim Giesekus, joachim.giesekus@hhi.fraunhofer.de, +4916093973493

OFC/NFOEC, San Diego, CA, 23.-25. MAR 2010
Contact: Wolfgang Schlaak, schlaak@hhi.fraunhofer.de

Siggraph, Los Angeles, CA, 27.-29. JUL 2010
Contact: Jürgen Rurainsky, rurainsky@hhi.fraunhofer.de, +491735449185