I realize it's been an awfully long time since I've posted anything o­n TechJapan, so my sincere apologies go to all of our avid readers who have been waiting (apparently there are 501 people still subscribed, says FeedBurner). I guess most of the audience has already moved o­n.

Basically, I came to Japan in January 2008 and have been working since. I don't think I really have time to manage the site, at least in its prior format, while working. That's not to mention that I haven't really been using the internet much, or even paying a whole lot of attention to consumer electronics news.

So needless to say, my priorities have shifted significantly. I launched this site during my freshman year of college, back when I had heaps of free time. If I get free time now I usually drink, (try to) play golf, or go somewhere I've never been before. Translating a news article about yet another DVD player with MP3 capabilities isn't so high o­n my list these days.

But that isn't to say we'll never be back again. There's a reason I still pay the $120 a year to keep this site here. What's the reason? Well, o­ne day I'd like to start a company of my own, so perhaps this is my final hideout of entrepreneurial spirit. Oh, PSP-Vault, that spin-off site I started, I sold for a decent sum of money that remains in my bank account today (putting it in the market didn't seem like a great idea at the time).

Therefore I'll just throw this out here in case anyone is listening -- what would YOU like to see TechJapan become? Stick with news? Add more business-y analysis? More columns/features rather than straight-up translation? Now that I'm actually in Japan it's theoretically easier for me to be where the action is, so to speak. A shop? I can walk to Akihabara in about 10 minutes from my apartment, in fact it's closer than my office.

Of course even those options all assume we stick to our Japan technology focus. Just because the URL is "www.techjapan.com" doesn't mean we have to talk about that. Maybe I can turn this into a blog where I instead talk about whisky made with ice from Antarctica, girls at car shows, and similar gaijin subjects?

Unfortunately the comments module o­n this site seems to have broken, and I'm definitely too lazy to fix it. So if you have a response, please just send it to zmcnulty@techjapan.com. Thanks!

Oh, and since a few people have asked...www.techjapan.com is not for sale.

Zentek Technology Japan has announced that they've developed a One-Seg tuner that conforms to the SDIO standard. SDIO is "SecureDigital Input/Output," which allows devices to use their SD card slots as though they were external device slots.

The new SD One-Seg tuner should be available in the first quarter of 2007, but only as an OEM device; thus we'll probably see it rebranded or offered by another company before it makes its way to consumers. The new device should bring One-Seg reception to devices with SD card slots and SDIO compatibility, such as PCs, PDAs, multimedia players, DVD players, car navigation systems, and even digital cameras.



Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060929/zentek1.htm

Press Release (PDF):
http://www.zentek.co.jp/pdf/2006/news_060928_1.pdf

Not the first time they've put out an MP3/WMA playing watch, but at least they're improving it -- Thanko Corporation has announced the "FMP3 Watch" to be available in 512MB and 1GB capacities.

The watch has an integrated MP3/WMA player, voice recorder, line recording, and now, FM transmitter. It's also water resistant. The FM transmitter should be very handy.

The continuous playback time is about 9 hours, and the watch takes about 2 hours to recharge. It recharges via USB, which is also used to load songs.



Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060929/thanko.htm

Press Release:
http://thanko.jp/fmp3watch/

There's some new technology from JVC called "Slim HD-ILA Optical Engine" that allows rear-projection TVs to have a drastically reduced thickness, to the point that they can be mounted on a wall. The new engine has allowed JVC to reduce the thickness of its 56" rear-projection TV from 47cm to about 27cm.

The new technology is pretty heavy on technical details, but basically, the use of a concave mirror allows the light coming from the projector to be more focused than when using a convex mirror. This in turn means the projector can be closer to the mirror, allowing for a smaller body size.

More details are in JVC's English press release. A picture of a potential model appears below.

You wouldn't want a bunch of handsets out in the wild without your own company name on them, so SoftBank has announced 13 handsets to "launch" alongside the new brand.

Luckily SoftBank is continuing the tradition of putting out English press releases and information alongside Japanese press releases and information, so you can head over to the official page for more information. Just so we're clear, the handsets are:

• 910SH, a Sharp handset with 5MP camera and 2.4" display
  
• 910T, a Toshiba handset with 1GB of internal memory, Bluetooth, and music player
  
• 810SH, a Sharp handset with a VGA display and "elegant design"
  
• 811SH, a Sharp handset with a VGA display and 21mm thickness
  
• 810T, a Toshiba handset with "Advanced Simple Mode"
  
• 811T, a Toshiba handset with audio playback and GPS
  
• 705N, a NEC handset with 16mm thickness and "stylish design"
  
• 705NK, a Nokia handset with 3.2MP camera and bar design
  
• 705P, a Panasonic handset with a 14.8mm thickness and one-push button open
  
• 705SC, a Samsung handset with 12.9mm thickness and sliding mechanism
  
• 706SC, a Samsung handset with a 12.3mm thickness
  
• X01HT, a Windows Mobile smartphone known elsewhere in the world as the hTc Z, with HSDPA support
  
• C01SI, a CF connectivity card with HSDPA support.
  

As of October 1st, Vodafone K.K. is officially "SoftBank Mobile Corp."



Hopefully I'll remember to call them that from now on. I'll be updating the topic logo when I get a chance, but for accuracy, no previous references to "Vodafone" will be changed.

Vodafone.jp is now redirecting to SoftBank Mobile's site here:
http://mb.softbank.jp

Sharp and Sharp Laboratories of Europe announced their "Triple View" technology today, which builds upon their existing Dual View technology by adding a whole other viewing angle.

This development means that three people seated at different angles facing the same screen will each see a different image. Billy on your left sees a picture of a truck, you see a picture of a trout, and Bubba to your right sees a picture of a shotgun.

Sharp's own English press release offers more technical details. According to the Impress Watch article, a single LCD with a resolution of 533 x 480 dots is split into three different signals with a Parallax Barrier, giving each virtual "screen" a resolution of a mere 177 x 480. Not exactly earth shattering, but at least the technology now exists.

Similar in nature to Sony's Mouse Talk, the BKBU-SKJ109/SV from Buffalo combines a standard PC peripheral with a Skype handset.

In addition to being your run-of-the-mill 109-key (+13 hotkeys) Japanese keyboard, the BKBU has an integrated receiver for taking Skype calls. The phone portion is Skype Certified, so it's "officially working with Skype" as far as we're concerned. Retails for 6,993 yen from early October.



Inspired by:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/0927/buffalo2.htm

Press Release:
http://buffalo.jp/products/new/2006/000312.html

Product Information:
http://buffalo.jp/products/catalog/item/b/bkbu-skj109/

The "Words Gear" is a new portable book reader/media player from Panasonic sporting a 5.6" display with a resolution of 1024 x 600. The "E Sensor" that sits next to the screen is a touch-sensitive control device shaped like the letter E, allowing you to control the device's functions with one finger.

The Words Gear can handle audio, video, still images, and electronic books stored on cards inserted in its SD card slot. It supports "SD-ePublish," which supports CPRM, for copyright protected content. The battery life is about 6 hours.

Slated to launch in tandem with the new device is a new company jointly established by Panasonic, Kadokawa Mobile, and Tokyo Broadcasting, dubbed the "Words Gear Corporation." The company will be handling the production and distribution of content for the device, primarily via saidoku.com, whose "image character" is none other than Kaori Manabe. Hubba hubba.



Inspired by:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/0926/pana.htm

Press Release 1:
http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/jn060926-1/jn060926-1.html

Press Release 2:
http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/jn060926-2/jn060926-2.html

Up first today is the "M2501 HIGH-SPEED," a Motorola-made FOMA card with support for DoCoMo's new HSDPA services. It'll go for somewhere close to 15,000 yen.

HSDPA offers a sustained download speed of about 3.6Mbps, but you might want to be careful as DoCoMo doesn't offer a fixed-rate data transfer package for PC access. That said, software included with the M2501 will allow you to make voice and video calls, so there's a nice amount of utility present. It should also be useful overseas, since it supports GSM as well -- you can use the data features in 83 different countries, and make voice calls in 145 countries.



Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/31164.html

Press Release:
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/info/news_release/page/20060926a.html