FICTION

Though it might not be much to look at, TransLaita’s new C’Slab is, however, one piece of technology bound to make its mark in the market place. The product comes in three basic sizes and simply looks like some sort of CPU for a computer. Looks aren’t everything. TransLaita, well known for its successful line of computer hardware products like the slick TransPC3 palmtop, believes its latest line addition is set to take the multimedia world by storm. "Basically, all the C’Slab does is further boost the ‘global village’ relationships we have today by helping to expose us to the beauties of other cultures," explains TransLaita’s Marketing Manager, Shittu Koola, "The C’Slab goes a step further by translating sounds and pictures into such forms as are familiar and more acceptable to TV viewers who, of course, are of diverse cultural backgrounds. We believe a lot of TV owners, parents especially, are going to find this product to be just what they’ve been looking for all these years – something offering them more choices as to what they’d like to see on TV, something making it easier to provide kids with more educational material as well as funkier entertainment." The C’Slab doesn’t just work with television sets alone, but can be connected to and used with video sets, CD and VCD/DVD players and even cable TV. Computer users can obtain the C’Slab2Soft which is the software version. At the heart of this device is In10’s powerful Konquest7.9 microprocessor.

Abdul Shin and David Jones Hecker headed the team which developed the C’Slab. What did they have to say about this new ‘wonder toy’ of theirs?

Abdul: The C’Slab lets the TV viewer customise the content shown on TV to fit his/her own tastes. This is another fabulous achievement for interactive TV viewing.

David: The C’Slab, connected to the TV set, receives the signals coming in from your antenna, video set or DVD player. This then allows you to determine how the pictures appear on the TV screen.

Abdul: Let’s say you like watching TV with your kids, but don’t like them seeing all that sex and nasty stuff? You just pick up your TV remote control, press some buttons and a message appears on the screen asking you what you’d like the C’Slab to do. Choose the PIC ADJ and SOUND ADJ options. More options are displayed for you to choose from and, at the end of it all, the things you hear and see are adjusted to fit your requirements.

David: The way it works is that the C’Slab has already been programmed to recognise over 4,800 male and female body structures and postures from different angles, close-ups and perspectives. It recognises words as well, sort of like those software that let speak to your computer. So, if you’re thinking "We-e-ell, you kids don’t want to watch thi-i-is" but can’t turn of the TV because you’ve already paid for this channel, no problem.

Abdul: The device uses skin colour, body shape and movements to determine how the actors/actresses clothes are adjusted into, say, Nigerian or Ghanaian outfits. The clothes they have on already are digitally extended and expanded into new forms and styles. Nudes have their hair colours used to determine the default colour of the clothing put on them. The default colour is otherwise black. If you don’t want to see all that flesh, you don’t have to.

David: The changes are as realistic as possible in order to avoid giving too much of an artificial look to what’s being viewed. The C’Slab is able to follow the characters’ body movements and postures so that the adjusted clothes flow and wrinkle accordingly. The C’Slab is able to identify parts of the human body displayed separately or together in much the same way as we identify and differentiate them. If those parts (laughing) you consider rude to be exposed in public are displayed – scenes of nudity, ‘sexually disturbing appearance and clothing’ - the C’Slab extends clothing to have them covered up. Necklaces hung around the neck and the like can be chosen, by the user, to be left uncovered. I think we all have a right to our opinions and choices.

Abdul: We had clothes designers from around the world help us with the 855 styles available on the C’Slab. The FUTURISTIC clothes option has turned out to be most popular with our customers. I guess many of them love to see everyone appear futuristic on their TVs. The wonderful thing is that the adjustments made also match picture resolution and quality of the productions being viewed.

David: You can also zoom onto objects (like a flower vase in the background) in sexually explicit scenes. Cartoons and other such animations are, however, not affected.

Abdul: The human shapes and sizes in the C’Slab’s memory are arranged in the order of gradually varying degrees. Where necessary the device makes use of approximations based on the data it has in its memory.

David: You could say that the C’Slab watches some 20 minutes your movies and TV programs in about 2 seconds before you do. That’s the beauty of technology and we’re constantly engaged in research to further enhance the product's functions and capabilities. Fortunately, when new developments come out, you need only upgrade your C’Slab rather than discard it to buy a new one.

Abdul: It can also be used to select certain sounds, words, phrases or expressions you don’t want to hear on TV or in the music you listen to and have them replaced either with beeps other words or simply taken out. The C’Slab has sound tones and frequencies matched such that the sound changes are almost impossible to detect. TransLaita is out for that natural feel and comfort to users of our products.

David: We’ve had huge orders from South Africa, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan and even Cuba along with many other countries around the world. So, yes, I guess you could say that this has been an extremely successful product in the market place.

Sales of the C’Slab have been surpassing even TransLaita’s own expectations and there have been a few instances where the company has failed to meet some of its customers’ orders. TransLaita is doing its best to reap as much profit as it can before substitute products begin to infiltrate the market and threaten its market share. Blue Buta is already talking about its plans to release its own product which it claims would "offer consumers twice as much what the C’Slab has to offer and at a competitive price". The firm is TransLaita’s biggest market rival. The losers? Well, aside from pix-remixers having demand for their illegal services beginning to dwindle, it looks like everyone’s a winner. Companies churn out newer, better products and all the competition leaves the consumer with a vast amount of choices to choose from at more reasonable prices.

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