The iFest ’08 event, organized by Infonomia, had its fourth edition held in the Forum Building in Barcelona between the 10^th and 12^th of July. After the amount of attention attracted at the 2007 edition, YDreams Med returned as an interactive technology partner, with the yFaces. Participants would write down free comments about the event on nearby post-its, that would then appear almost instantaneously on a giant 103” plasma, gently provided by Panasonic Spain.

iFest aims to accelerate business growth through innovation and creativity. There were over 25 speakers present including: Hiroshi Tasaka, David Weinberger, Alberto Alessi, Peter Watson, Tom Kelley, Antonella Broglia, Ricardo Baeza-Yates among others. Our own Miguel Remédio made a brief presentation about YDreams.

Some interesting bits:

- The Sustainable Dance Club (vid 1) (vid 2), from the Roosegaarde Studio (2). A dance floor geared with sensors and piezo-electric components that can power an entire disco, sic, and make it interactive. Opening next September, at the Watt in Rotterdam.

- Just rub yours against mine and we’re done. It’s “E“, the gadget set to replace business cards.

- A lot of content on fabrics and textiles: the entrepreneurial Sensing Fabrics with stylist Joan Fabregas, the free-minded XS Labs (vids) from Joanna Berzowska and two Dutch girls and their Taeppedyr that keeps babies from crying. Even Philips had something to say on the subject.

- Unlock your cell-phone just by staring at it, with VFacer (download available for the N70), from Visual Engineering.

- Philips’ drive for innovation was put forward by Emile Aarts, founder of Philips Home Lab. See if this sounds familiar in any way.

- And then there was the toy section. ALAVS (Autonomous Light Air Vessels) and their funny Blubber Bots. Goofy looking toy robots that look paradoxically vintage, from Fadisel. Download a bed-time story and stuff it into the storytelling Nabar teddy-bear. The oddly real and sensor filled Pleo dinosaur, 2007 Engadget Robot of the Year, from Ugobe.

- Telefonica I+D showed off a very prototypical Visual Search Engine, where a photo taken by your own cell phone can act as the “key word” for the search: take a photo of a CD cover on a shop-window and immediately buy that CD online…

- The solar powered scooter, from Sun Red.