IFA 2008 kicked off today, with a slew of press conferences keeping our guys on the ground (not to mention the team in the office back home) more than busy, as they ran around trying to see, hear and write the news about all the latest announcements from the big players in the world of consumer electronics.

And the big thing this year? Huge big, skinny tellies! The bigger and skinnier the better, it would seem, with Sharp and Sony going head to head on the big, skinny telly front.

Upscaling, eco-friendly TVs

If your TVs aren't as slim as your competition, then it seems the next big thing (at least, going from Toshiba's IFA showing today) is to talk about up-scaling TVs, shout about how environmentally-friendly you are, how you are making combo DVD/HD TVs for the kitchen and bedroom and how you plan to go beyond the current high def 1080p resolution standard in the future.

Or even, as in the case of Panasonic, bang on about the option to watch IPTV on your new telly. Or forget about the TVs altogether and tease and tantalise us with the promise of a Blu-ray recorder. And then shatter our dreams by telling us it's only going to be released in France to start with, for some daft reason to do with the French having more money than we do. Or something.

Rumour, speculation, fear

And what else are trade shows good for if not for being hotbeds of 'rumour and speculation' (the three words guaranteed to fill the PR mooks with dread) with TechRadar hearing from our sources on the ground that Sony is planning on releasing a 27in OLED TV before the year's end. Perhaps the biggest news of the show so far…

Philips went for the angle of a TV that's easy to install with the funky looking new Essence as well as unveiling a quirky little home cinema audio kit called CinemaOne.

Finally (for now at least…), German luxury brand Loewe steered clear of gimmickry, instead announcing some feature-packed additions to its high-end range of TVs, JVC announced a shock move upmarket and Samsung unveiled what some attendees were whispering might just be a 'MacBook Air' killer.

Stay tuned tomorrow for lots more new gadgets, gizmos and tech news directly from the showfloor at the Messe Berlin.