March 16, 2007	Friday	Safar 26, 1428

HANOVER (Germany), March 15: Traditional German lederhosen with a built-in cellular phone, a bathroom mirror that can give current stock quotes and a BMW sports car that can talk and listen drew the crowds on Thursday as the world's top high-tech fair opened.

The CeBIT telecoms, computers and electronics trade fair in the northern German city of Hanover is a showcase of the visionary and the strange each March and this year is no exception.

Leading the parade of gadgets are the leather trousers preferred by thigh-slapping Bavarian dancers but this time they have a modern twist: a sewn-in mobile phone.

The lederhosen from century-old German all-weather clothier Lodenfrey feature a mouthpiece embedded in the suspender straps and a row of unobtrusive olive green buttons down the side of the leg.

Also at the fair's “smart textiles” exhibition is a pair of ski gloves from O'Neill that lets users operate their MP3 player in their jacket pocket as they schuss down the slopes.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the richest of them all?” “Bathroom TV” allows you to monitor your stock portfolio with a wireless beamer projected on to the mirror. And a waterproof remote control can join you in the bathtub.

Meanwhile a new digital restaurant menu may make sluggish service a thing of the past.

“Papeo,” short for Portable Assistant for Personal Electronic Ordering, means that guests no longer have to wait for the waiter to place an order but can use a touchscreen to communicate directly with the kitchen or the bartender.—AFP