>> euromaxx highlights. coming up in this edition. dresden waltz. the semper opera ball gets thousands dancing. >> super depfment ran. a 92-year-old french woman saves the world. >> and angry birds. a smartphone video game developed in finland has millions of fans. this is euromaxx highlights and here is your host, karin

helmstaedt. >> hi, and welcome to our highlights edition. if you want to ged "ahead" in life, get a hat, and if you really want to stand out from the crowd, make sure it is one from stephen jones. the british designer regularly supplies haute couture fashion houses. he designed carla bruni-sarkozy's pillbox hat, and even icons like the late diana, princess of wales wore his creations. so hats off to stephen jones, who told us something about his work.

>> the creations of british hat designer stephen jones are often the icing on the cake. he's designed head pieces for the collections of more than 80 fashion designers around the world. like french haute couture label dior, and its iconic chief designer john galliano. >> i work with all sorts of different people and i have throughout my career because i see myself very much as a fashion milliner, not as a milliner milliner. so when i was at college i did women's fashion and then i bit a milinery on to that. so that's how i see things and

that's why i think i work so well with fashion designers because i can see things from their point of view. >> is he one of the famous hatmakers most important clients. the two britons have collaborated closely for almost 20 years. >> every day of the year i work with john galliano and it's great to be working with him because he's somebody who really understands hads. >> stephen jones' shop and studio are in the district of covenent garden in the heart of london. >> hat collections from from everywhere. i take inspiration from literally every minute of my walk -- waking and sleeping life. >> in the early 1980's he designed hats for pop star boy george. the style icon of the so-called romantic movement. he also supplied the british

royal family. princess diana was one of his clients. his hats are also a must on the catwalks. >> to be a good miliner you have to be a good listener of of course you have to have your own ego and create your own little world which maybe makes sense to you and maybe to nobody else, but you have to understand the designer and understand the client. >> the hats he makes for prominent private customers are one-of-a kind, tailor-made by his hand in his london studio. the star milrliner employs more than 25 people who help breathe life into his ideas. >> collections for me are always slightly auto buy graphic cal -- autobiographical. i actually spent some time in hospital, which i had never done before, touch wood. and i wanted to make some hats

slightly based in medicine. this hat here, with three top hats all on top of each other, this was based on the idea of x-rays, what's on the surface, what's behind. >> queen elizabeth recently awarded jones the order of the british empire, and museums in london and antwerp have devoted major exhibitions to him. but he prefers to look to the future. >> when you are a hatmaker, it is all about freedom of expression. so when there is so much out there, there is always so much for me to make. >> stephen jones brings his own craftsmanship, artistic spirit, and sense of color to the world of haute couture, and by doing so he has become a star in his profession.

>> one of the highlights of germany's social calendar is the semper opera ball in dresden first held in 1925 but discontinued in 1939. six years ago, the ball was revived after the restoration of dresden's magnificent opera house. and now the event has become so popular that, apart from the ball inside, there is also quite a party going on inside. >> when famous semper opera house finds itself the backdrop to this kind of extravaganza, then the chances are it is time for the annual opera ball. attended by 2,000 guests indoors and another 10,000 outside, it is one of the major events on the dresden social calendar. no high-profile event like this would be the same without the celebrities, like musician and humanitarian activist bob geldof.

>> i played during the communist period. i played during 1990. i've seen the reconstruction gradually. so tomorrow morning before i get back in the plane, i will go to the church and the palace. it is good to be here. >> the highlight of the night is the dance of debutantes. in contrast to the red dress code of the previous years, tonight is the young ladies' ballgunes are the same shade of pink. >> the excitement begins when you are still young. actually being here and seeing the people is just awesome. >> it was my parents idea, but i'm glad i came. >> 76 dance couples between the ages of 16 and 29 were selected from hundreds of politicants. -- applicants.

the younger generation traditionally open the night's proceedings. ♪ >> another big moment on the program is the performance of jonas kaufmann an internationally renown tenor. ♪ >> the ball confers a medal, the order of st. george. the award honors prom gent individuals for their achievements. this year bob geldof received one for his humanitarian work. it is close to midnight when the dancers settle down to a more restrained three-four time.

as usual, in dresden visitors dance not only to the ballroom but outside in the opera house. the debutante couples leave the building and dance among the crowd in what's become something of a tradition. the motto of the ball this year is "dresden smiles." hence the giant clowns' faces. >> it's just wonderful what we'v here. especially for an eastern german city. >> i think the motto is a good one, and thrares great atmosphere here. >> 3,000 red balloons rose into the night sky, carrying a valuable cargo. the one that gets the farthest wins its finder and an invitation to next year's

semiper opera ball. >> if you were to ask parisian photographer sasha goldberger to name his hero, he'd almost certainly say his grandmother frederike goldberger. and given that she regularly dons a superhero suit to pose for pictures zooming around on a motorbike or flying with a cape, that's no surprise. mamika has become a star in her 90's. 3 she's on facebook and myspace, but she still can't crent constitutional amendment that she has an -- she still can't comprehend that she has an international community of fans. >> i always think i look ugly, that i'm not well groomed.

i i am always very self-critical, which is normal, isn't it? i'm not a person who deludes herself that she's interesting. sometimes i think this is no good, this is boring. but it turns out, everyone likes it precisely because i'm an old woman. if i were 50, no one would be interested. >> mamika's grandson sacha goldberger helps produce the unbelievable pictures. otherwise he takes photos for fashion magazines like "elle" or develops advertising campaigns like this one for smart cars. he loves irony. >> in advertising you have to be creative all day working for big clients. i thought it was interesting to develop ideas not just for name brands, but also for other projects. at any rate, i always try to

come up with something new so that my pictures never become boring. >> sacha goldberger's grandmother has become his favorite model. after retiring from work at the age of 80, she needed something to do. >> back then she was no longer working. she was bored and feeling a bit down. she was down, but not depressed. so i tugged we -- suggested we take a few pictures. >> since then they have come up with craziest ideas. their pictures have been shown in a paris gallery and i book has been published on mamika. >> i had an idea. he is always looking for funny things, and that's good. i said to him, why don't you do everything backwards. so i sat depoup backwards. then an old man came by and just

shook his head. he must have thought i lost my marbles. >> the pictures also live from special effects. frederica gets her superhero look on the computer. but sacha isn't telling us the tricks of the trade. >> for a good photo, everything has to be right. everything has to be perfect down to the smallest detail and at the right moment. the dog has to take the right position, my grandma has to have the right facial expression, and the smoke has to rise in the right place. the deck race has to fit, and the light, too. and then the good picture. and of course, the retouching is always important, so that you don't see the effects. >> and the woman who is probably the world's oldest photo model is still going strong.

>> you know, i have always worked a lot, an awful lot. so doing this is nothing. it takes hardly any time, one or two hours. it amuses me. and it is fun. >> and that's a good thing. in a month she will play the leading role in a short film about the character "mamika." she looks forward to this challenge with equanimity. >> i'm not nervous. i had an infear yorte complex, but not -- i had an infear yorte -- inferiority complex, but not anymore. >> maybe mamika will become a star in the united states. her photos will be are exhibited at an art fair in palm beach this february. and hollywood has already shown interest in filming her story.

>> these days when mobile telephones were used to make just a phone call are over. these days a growing number of people own a smartphone. essentially a mini computer equipped with applications or apps that can do everything from finding the near effort good restaurant to imitating the call of your favorite bird. and while we're on the subject of feathered friends, a game known as "angry birds" was the surprise hit of 2010. >> colorful birds being catapulted at green pigs. in the smart phone app, angry birds, pigs, have stolen the birds' eggs, and now the fealingtered foe want revenge. -- feathered foe want revenge. last year the game was downloaded a phenomenal 50 million times from the internet.

the smash game was invented here. the developers at the finnish company rovio had already published 53 moderately successful games before they started developing angry birds two years ago. >> my cousin, niklas, who is also working here, had shown the game who his mother who was having a dinner party, and she actually had to delay the dinner party because she was playing the game for so long. she doesn't play games at all. the next day niklas came back and said, i think we're on to something. >> here is the game in the early stages of its inception. >> at first we didn't have the slingshot at all. people didn't understand what was going on in the game because there were the birds at the castle. and then when we added the slingsshot, it was obvious because everybody knows how to use the slingshots.

>> there are 40 employees working on developing the game. three times as many a year ago. rovio is making big money from the downloads, even though each game only costs 79 cents. >> you should be able to play three minutes and stop and continue. so it is a different from games where you actually are sitting on the couch and play for three hours. i have heard that people play this on the couch a lot. >> and it has become a pretty common passtime on the street, too. they are called casual games, something people use as time fillers. >> it's different, something new. >> it's great for smart phones. it is rated well and i rate it highly, too. >> it's quite good if you are waiting for the train. it helps pass the time.

>> one of the first world-wide smartphone game hits was doodle jump in 2009. a completely new market for games has emerged in just two years. one of the latest successes is "cut the rope." the game went on the market four months ago and since then has been installed 20 million times. >> the smartphone market has grown tremendously. since the ad vent of the first apple iphone four years ago, it has become a standard accessory. it started out as a product for people who wanted cool gadgets. and now with the alternative technology android, the other operating system in the smartphone market with relevant market share, it has become a mass fee non phenomenon.

>> worldwide hype surrounding games is nothing new. 10 years ago "moorhuhn" or "crazy chicken" took the digital world by storm, and had millions glued to their pc screens. now there are smartphone versions, too. >> it's very easy to use, very easy to learn. the advantage is that the tasks are really complicated and difficult. you really have to think hard about low to complete each level. >> the designers are currently working on new versions of their game. >> the designers and game developers at rovio are currently working on new versions of their game. >> we want to build on the characters that we've built, and take it to further games, take it to merchandising and also to

some form of broadcast media, like tv and even movies. >> and if that's not enough, fans can order online the very cute "angry birds" and "angry pigs" online to cut l with at home. it's the ones on the smartphones that have the temper. >> finally, it's time to recap the international furniture show in cologne. it is one of the biggest gaurgs -- gatherings in worldwide sector with over 1,000 exhibitors from 50 countries. and this year lighting was one of the hottest topics as led lamps come into their own.

>> a classic lamp shade with new led technology. spotlight and lightstrips that can shine in different colors. light-emitting diodes are new trend intend today create atmosphere in their homes. this tobias gr aufment's company in hamburg, he is one of the german's most remountain light designers. when led's first came out, he felt their light was too dim. but in the last two years there have been great technological improvements, and grau now uses them a lot in his lamp modes. >> led light is still so new that one is fascinated by it. >> one of tobia grau's new

lamps is called "falling." its form is possible only with led's. >> with led's, you can design lamps that are completely closed. the high-energy efficiency means they produce less heat, so less heat has to be discharged. i can build a completely closed lamp with a large surface that transports the heat away, and then i have a powerful source of light in a completely closed form. >> tobias grau used the spherical form in his model "falling in love" as well. these little lamps don't get very hot, so they can be placed on any surface and even be held in one's hands. the diodes also produce light in any desired color. tobias grau is exhibiting his

led lamps at cologne's interior design fair, imm. the intensity of the light is easy to alter by hand. light-emitting diodes are an important trend with other exhibitors in the trade fair. led's are often integrated directly into the furnishings as with these pieces of lounge furniture. or here in the bathroom. a real plus point are the various light moods and colors that led's make possible and that can be altered or dimmed at the touch of a button. the same principle holds with the led lamps made by the fill yips electronics company. here, too, color and brightness are adjustable. >> it is a very clear trend for living rooms to create atmosphere with the aid of colored light. light has different effects depending on the hugh. it can be stimulating or relaxing, and you can change the

mood by changing the color of the light. >> traditional furniture manufacturers have also discovered led light. sidgel-color led's are used especially in closets. the low level of heat production makes them suitable for the undersides of shelves. these days, led's have usage-life of 20 years, so the i illuminated shelves rarely need to be removed for maintenance. >> one of the emphases at this year's furniture trade fair, but also in the furniture trade, is led lighting technology. here we see it in walk-in closet, here the underside is illuminated. we are familiar with it from christmas lights, but now it has become an acks loot must, the trend for the future. >> back at tobias grau's

company in hamberg, he and his team are discussing new designs. one thing is clear -- led technology will continue developing in the coming years and ever more design possibilities will be born. >> the future belongs to led's. >> tobias grau will already be presenting more lamp forms at the next international lighting trade fair in milan in april. >> not too far off. you can find our highlight show on our web site for reviewing. so until we meet again, alles gute and good-bye! iijj