Berlin  - Flat-panel televisions are becoming even slimmer, according to manufacturers offering new products this week at the IFA consumer-electronics fair in the German capital Berlin.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel inaugurated the fair Thursday evening. Buyers were to begin inspecting the merchandise Friday.

The fair, which runs for six days, is an annual parade of digital cameras, mobile phones, audio devices and televisions.

Sony claimed the thinnest TV, saying it would exhibit Friday a not-for-sale prototype screen just 10 millimetres thick, while Sharp said it would have a screen that is a scant
22 millimetres thick actually in European shops by this October.

This year's IFA, one of the world's top electrical fairs, has been expanded to include home appliances such as dishwashers and stoves.

Merkel, who holds a doctorate in physics, revealed to reporters at IFA that she has no toaster in her household and mocked herself as "a wee bit shy of innovation." She admitted she had initially doubted the usefulness of satellite navigation devices for cars.

"When my chauffeur asked me a few years ago for a car with GPS, I said, 'Don't you think you can manage with a map?'"

The rapid progress in global positioning (GPS) was illustrated Thursday by Dutch manufacturer Tomtom, which described a new technology that detects traffic congestion with the help of data reported automatically from cars and mobile phones.

Tomtom said it would transmit live warnings to its top-of-the-line navigation devices about snarled roads, starting this autumn in five European nations, so that its customers can drive around congestion.

In her remarks Thursday, Merkel served notice that Germany will act on power wastage by home appliances and consumer electronics devices when they are turned off. Environmentalists have repeatedly complained that devices on stand-by use up electricity.

"We are going to make progress on legal provisions dealing with this," Merkel said, noting that her government had said two years ago it would act against devices that draw power when not in use.

The chancellor said Germany could theoretically eliminate two major power stations, or export their electricity abroad, if all the country's devices were to cease using electricity when turned off.

Electrical manufacturers defend stand-by functions, saying devices in sleep mode go back into operation much quicker than those completely switched off. (dpa)