Not a whole lot to say about the MusicMug from Idea International that you can't guess from the pictures. Or the name, for that matter.

It's a ceramic mug with an integrated (passive) speaker on the bottom. Plug the cable into your iPod or other portable audio device, put it in the cup, and you've got a portable audio system fit for even the most spartan of living environments. As for why the mug doesn't have a handle, Idea International's Chief Designer, Masato Tokuno, stated in the below interview with ITmedia that he didn't want people mistaking the MusicMug for a coffee mug, pouring coffee all over their music player. Likewise, he didn't want people to have to worry about where to grab the MusicMug when transporting it. Retails for 3,990 yen.



Inspired by:
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/lifestyle/articles/0609/25/news059.html

Idea International:
http://www.idea-in.com/

Access is ready to release the "NetFront LocationFree Player for PocketPC" later this month.

You may be familiar with Sony's LocationFree product, since we've covered it a couple times here at TechJapan. If you're not familiar, LocationFree is a product that allows you to transmit your TV programs to a client over the internet. Hook the LocationFree box up to your cable and your wireless internet, then use your LocationFree client to access the box. The result is realtime TV anywhere you have a wireless internet connection.

LocationFree has a number of clients available: PC, Mac, the LocationFree LCD, and Sony's PSP. It looks like you can add PocketPC devices to that list.

By the end of this month, Access will release a PocketPC client for LocationFree. The client will be going for 2,079 yen on Vector and other online software stores. You'll need Microsoft Pocket PC 2003 or Windows Mobile 2003 or above.



Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060915/access.htm

Press Release:
http://www.access.co.jp/press/060915_02.html

Version 4.0.2080 of Google Earth is out, and it adds several new capabilities. The primary new capability is official support for Japanese navigation -- some areas were previously supported, but this new version offers official support. Likewise, several new Japan-centric features have been added, such as vastly improved maps for Japan, including 3D display capabilities for Tokyo, Osaka, other major cities, and even 3D display capabilities for people's houses. Apparently the ability to display 3D houses is not available for other countries yet. Hit up this page to download it.

Sanrio Corporation announced they'd be releasing the the "Hello Kitty Apple Shaped LCD Color TV" via their online shop on September 27th. It's going for 84,000 yen.

The TV is a 9.6" LCD with resolution of 800 x 600. The apple opens to reveal the screen and two 3W speakers. It has an integrated analog tuner, and AV input.



Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060904/sanrio.htm

Press Release:
http://www.sanrio.co.jp/bus_info/news/h18/180904.html

A Japanese company called "Astala Vista" has officially announced their "Astala Vista" DVD rental vending machines. The machines will be placed in 10 stations in the Tokyo Metro on the 25th, and the company plans to have machines in as many as 150 private railyway stations before the end of the year. More details inside.

If you're for some reason obsessed with pyramids, you'll be pleased to know that "The PC-Factory" has released their pyramid-shaped ATX PC case called the "LUXOR." Retailing for 52,800 yen, the LUXOR doesn't include a power supply. It consists of two pieces: the top part tht houses a 5" drive bay and the power switch, and the bottom part housing the mobo and power source. In total, there are two 5" drive bays, one 3.5" drive bay, and two 3.5" shadow bays. There are two 8cm fans: one on the side and one on the bottom.



Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/akiba/hotline/20060826/etc_pyramid.html

The PC-Factory Homepage:
http://www.thepc-factory.com/

Willcom will be launching "Willcom ADSL Service Type 2" o­n the 24th, which allows those without landline phone contracts to use ADSL services. In December of 2005 the company introduced "ADSL Service Type 1," bringing ADSL access at home, AIR-EDGE wireless access while away, and fixed landline service to a single bill.

ADSL Service Type 2 will be available in two different packages: "ADSL50M Mega Course" for 4,773 yen per month, offering a download speed of 50.5Mbps and upload speed of 12.2Mbps, and "ADSL3M Course" for 3,873 yen per month, offering a download speed of 3Mbps and upload of 1Mbps. There's a sign-up fee of 5,145 yen, but sign up before September 30th and the fee will be waived if your service starts by November 30th.

Inspired by:
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/mobile/articles/0608/22/news030.html

Press Release:
http://www.willcom-inc.com/ja/corporate/press/2006/08/22/index.html

We'll start our day with an announcement from Synaptics, an American company that manufactures touchpads used in notebook PCs. In collaboration with Germany's PilotFish, they've developed a buttonless mobile phone called the "Onyx." It takes advantage of Synaptic's "ClearPad" capacitance touchscreen technology.

Traditionally, transparent touchscreens have been clear membranes placed over standard LCDs, requiring the user to use something like a stylus to register input o­n them. ClearPad however is similar to the touchpad of your laptop computer, meaning it can recognize complicated gestures and such drawn with just a finger.

This approach opens a number of new avenues for mobile phones -- ITmedia gives examples of drawing an "X" o­n the screen to close an application, sending messages by dragging them outside the window, and answering a phone call just by touching the phone.

Since Synaptics is an American company, they have an English press release and product site already available. The ITmedia article is here.

NHC's new device in the "Magic Talkers" line is a portable media player for those who want to try their luck at English conversation. Readers of this article however may be more interested in the device's other functions, such as playback of DivX and XviD files.

Coming soon to a FOMA handset near you: full episodes of "Mobile Suit Z Gundam," "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED," "Noein - to your other self," "Eureka Seven," "Wings of Rean," and "Neon Genesis Evangelion."

TechJapan has been in limbo since April of this year, partly because of some personal conflicts I've been having with myself over the goals and target audience of the site.

sar7501 and I intend on continuing TechJapan, and look to relaunch the site over the next few months. We plan on implementing a redesign of the site and a new way of displaying the content itself. The very nature of the content will also be changed. We're aiming to decrease our reliance on translation of articles from Japanese websites, and we plan on increasing the volume of news coming out of TechJapan. Given the emphasis I've taken on creating original content over at PSP-Vault, it doesn't make sense that TechJapan consist almost entirely of news articles just translated from those articles on Japanese websites. Now that the TechJapan Corporation exists, I no longer have to concern myself over conflicts of interests that may have arisen during my time writing for other sites. As a result, managing the TechJapan Corporation will be my sole occupation (besides school), at least until I graduate in December of 2007.

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please feel free to post them in this article's comments. Thanks for your continued patronage.

Update: I've removed all advertising from the site. Makes me feel a little bit better.

I don't really have anything to what has already been said over at Engadget about Toshiba's World Cup laptop, and Logitec's Mac compatible Blu-ray drive. They've managed to cover the bases pretty well.

Just in case you're looking for reference information (writing a report?), here are the PC Watch articles about each respective product:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/0424/toshiba.htm
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/0424/logitec.htm

If you've ever complained about the screen of your portable DVD player being too small, this might be the product for you. The screen of Bluedot's new "BDP-1200" portable DVD player makes you wonder why the word "portable" still applies.

If you're too lazy to take your blank discs out of their spindles, here's the product for you. It's a "CD/DVD blank media dispenser." Push a button and out pops a blank disc, ready for burning.

You've watched the entirety of the Neon Genesis Evangelion series, including the crappy movies, you own the Neon Genesis Evangelion iPod... so what's the next logical step? The Neon Genesis Evangelion bicycle, of course! Details inside.

Clarion has announced the first line of car navigation products for the Japanese market. They offer integrated hard drives, 7" widescreen LCDs, linkage with 5th gen iPods for audio and video playback,  and even terrestrial digital tuners.

Willcom has announced a new blog service for their "full browser" handsets. Apparently the Sharp W-ZERO3 isn't supported yet, but it's o­n the horizon.

I've put up a poll to gather some feedback about the format of news here on TechJapan. Since we launched in December of 2003, a large majority of the 1,280 articles we've posted were translated from Japanese news sources. Depending on your feedback, that could change. What would you like to see out of TechJapan? More of the same? A higher volume of news by avoiding intricate technical details of each and every product? More analysis, commentary, or explanations about the products and services we discuss? Please post your vote in the poll you see in the sidebar of the site.

Depending on your response and those of your peers, you could be seeing a different format for news coming out of TechJapan.

Two characters from a Fuji TV kids program called "Ponki Kids" are coming soon to an iPod nano near you.

Here are four new digital cameras from Nikon: the P3, P4, S5, and S6. o­ne of the P series cameras features integrated wireless LAN, and the S series also uses a "Wave Surface Design."

Here are three new PCMCIA cards from Willcom that support the new "W-OAM" standard, which is basically just a high-speed version of PHS.

Good news for Nintendo DS owners in Japan: you'll soon be able to pick up two new accessories to enhance your DS. The company has partnered with Opera to provide a browser for the system, and they're also planning o­n introducing a TV tuner capable of receiving o­ne-Seg terrestrial digital broadcasts.

SanX is the Japanese company response for the "Relaxuma," or "relaxing bear." Like many Japanese characters, you'll find him o­n all sorts of products from pencils to digital cameras.

In fact, Tomy has announced a new portable MP3 player shaped like the Relaxuma. Details inside.

We've hit o­n NXT's flat speaker technology a couple times in the past. It seems Kokuyo is now employing it in a product called the "Narupane" a poster panel that can also be used as a speaker. Of course, this has some nice applications for advertising purposes.

Here's a keyboard being put out by a Japanese company called "Links International Corporation" which features a bamboo body. It comes out February 11th, and should go for roughly 9,800 yen. There are already a few wooden-bodied keyboards o­n the market, but bamboo is a bit more flexible and resistant to warping from temperature changes versus other woods.

Inspired by:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/0206/links.htm

Product Information:
http://www.links.co.jp/html/press2/news_takekyel.html

Devices that recharge via USB are becoming more and more commonplace. So what happens when you don't have a USB port handy to recharge them?

Century's "iArm" takes care of this. It's an AC adapter with a USB port.

JP Telecom (J:COM) has announced that they will launch the "J:COM MOBILE powered by WILLCOM" (J:COM MOBILE) PHS service that uses Willcom's lines o­n March 1st. They will begin accepting contracts in J:COM service areas from February 16th.

Up next is the "BTee Music" earphone set from Kaga Electronics. These are Bluetooth earphones intended to be hung from the neck, so the company is calling them "pendant style."

Here's a rather unique item from somewhere in Asia. It's a "USB Treasure Chest," complete with a lock that o­nly opens if you enter the password correctly using your PC.

More bizarre iPod cases from Focal. This o­ne is shaped like a cat, complete with a tail for easy storage of your headphone cable.

Here's a rather bizarre passive speaker from Bird Electron. It's basically just a cube with a 3.5mm audio plug sticking out.

BCN announced the "BCN Award 2006." The BCN Awards gather information from POS throughout Japan, so it's a good indicator of what companies' products have been doing well through the past year.

Two new cases for your iPod nano from Focal Point Computers: the "PRIE ROBO for iPod nano" and "PRIE TUNETAG STUDS for iPod nano."

If you own an iPod nano, a case is certainly something you want.

Keitai Watch recently surveyed their readers to determine the No.1 mobile phone released for the Japanese market during 2005.

If you love Hello Kitty... and if you love your iPod nano... then you "must read" this announcement about the next "must have" item for you!

Net Village has begun a photo album service for mobile phones called "Fotoccha."
10MB of storage is free of charge. The service can be accessed by entering in the URL address.

TDK just began their sample shipments of cartridge-less Blu-ray Discs. 2006 will be the year of Blu-ray vs. HD DVD, so it will be interesting to see which format ends up o­n top.

Mikimoto is releasing a head-mounted display from a Korean manufacturer that uses organic EL displays instead of LCDs. It has a resolution of 800 x 600, too, which I believe is pretty high for such a device. The price is also high.

Our buddies down at "Heavy Moon" have come up with a nice looking adapter to power your iPod shuffle from your car's cigarette lighter.

We've previously reported o­n this device from Quixun, but more details are coming in, so we though we'd share.

Apparently a problem with USB capture devices is video lag, to the point that it makes playing games o­n your computer a problem. Kurouto Shikou has announced a new device called the "GameBridge" which supposedly addresses this problem. Update: I've done a bit of research into this, and apparently lag isn't a problem on all modern USB 2.0 capture devices. Sorry for the false alarm. I'll leave this article up because I don't feel like deleting it.

I'd be willing to bet that most Mac mini owners also own a second PC or Mac. The problem they face, then, is whether or not they want to use the same keyboard, mouse, and screen for o­n the two computers. If they do, they must use what is called a "KVM switch" -- a switch for Keyboard, VGA, and Mouse. Such a device is the PKV-02MM, but this o­ne is intended solely for the Mac mini.

Is it possible? A PC even smaller than the Mac mini? Of course. A newcomer, minipc.jp, has presented their first machine: the CF700. It's smaller than a Mac mini, but comes with a few surprises.

Don't take this to mean that we're going under or anything of that nature, but as you've probably noticed, the volume of articles over the past few months here at TechJapan has been somewhat low. This can be attributed to a variety of factors, none of which really deserve an explanation.

And so we're putting our feelers out for volunteers who may be interested in submitting articles. Though you won't be financially compensated for your contributions, it's a good way for those who may be interested in translation to "get their feet wet" before deciding to apply their skills in a more professional environment. It's also a good way for professional translators to take their noses out of monotonous technical manuals for a change and translate something with a bit more widespread appeal. All we ask of you is an ability to turn Japanese technology news articles into English technology news articles.

Because these positions are entirely volunteer, there is absolutely no specific time requirement or contribution quota. If you're interested in submitting one article per night, please contact me. If you're interested in submitting one article per month, please contact me. How much you would like to contribute is entirely up to you.

Of course we'll be glad to furnish you with direct posting capabilities (meaning you'll be able to post articles at your leisure, with no intervention from sar7501 or myself) and FTP space, so you can upload press release images as necessary.

I'll also mention that this isn't a "position" in the traditional sense; it's not something you have to compete against other users to get. This is an open invitation to anyone and everyone who is interested in contributing to TechJapan.

If you are at all interested, please contact me via any of the following methods.

• Email: zmcnulty atmark techjapan.com
  
• AIM: LiamSenpai
  
• Skype (Preferred): zmcnulty
  

Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has delivered their certification documents to three new companies. They are:

• BBMobile
• e-Mobile
• IPMobile

It's apparently been 12 years since any new competitors have entered the Japanese mobile phone market.

Arvel has announced a wireless mouse that features 128MB of integrated memory. More specifically -- the receiver features 128MB of integrated memory.

You've been waiting for a way to covertly record happenings in your bedroom, and here's your answer. Japan's "DIGITAL COWBOY" has announced the "NET COWBOY (DC-NCIRC1," which features infrared LEDs to light up the scene of the crime. Nope, this won't be used for anything sublegal, I promise!

It looks like more and more digital camera makers are moving towards DivX for their video recording features. Pentax is the latest, with the "Optio S6" that can record in the DivX format.

Here we are, a media playing hard drive case that has a nice feature: the ability to function through Network Attached Storage.

Dare I say this is the first Korean handset in Japan?

No, I daren't. But I know this is the first foreign-made handset for AU since their deal with Motorola in 2000. I await the day Samsung enters the Japanese mobile market.

CEATEC JAPAN 2005 is in full swing until like Saturday, I think. Not like I'll be flying all the way to Japan just to go to it, but that's fine -- we're o­n the internet! Of course, Impress Watch and ITmedia did a more than fine job of covering the event.

That's why this article is nothing but a gigantic collection of links to CEATEC JAPAN 2005 articles o­n each site!

As usual, if there is something in particular you want translated, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Here's what happens when you duck out of the news for a few days to study for exams, and write papers. Everything. In the past two days, new phones have been announced by DoCoMo, Willcom, and AU -- three of the four Japanese cellular carriers. Instead of getting bogged down with extraordinarily specific details about each handset (which is what we typically do for some reason), I'll just do a brief summary of each providers offerings in three articles called the "Phone Bonanza" series. Let's start things off with Willcom, who has announced the WX310K, WX300K, WX310J, and WX310SA.

JATE has approved a number of new handsets. Expect to see these officially announced within the next few weeks:

• Sharp - V604SH
  
• NEC - Vodafone 703N
  
• Sharp - FOMA SH902i
  
• Kyocera - CDMA A5515K
  
• Kyocera - WX310K
  
• Mitsubishi - MOVA D253iWMS
  

Real Fleet is introducing three new products in their line of design-centric electronics: a phone, a learning remote, and a cleaner. I know there are a lot of you out there who wouldn't want a device that sacrifices functionality for design, but I really liked the look of these.

Rather interesting idea from Ricoh -- they're including a little window and graph on the package of their new line of DVD-R media so that you can "see" how much capacity you have left on a disc without having to put it into your PC/recorder.

A trained eye can take a fairly accurate guess, but this is a nice idea for those who may not realize what the different bands of color means on the back of their discs.

Remember the Play-Yan? To go with the release of the "Gameboy Micro," Nintendo has announced a new version, aptly named the "Play-Yan Micro."

Anti-piracy warnings at the movies are nothing new these days but Japan's equivalent of the MPAA, JIMCA, has taken things to a new level (low?) with their recent campaign. As recently mentioned on BoingBoing, the campaign features dark and disturbing images of the apparent destruction that piracy can cause. A friend of TechJapan, Whiteangle, recently risked life and limb at a screening of The Island in Tokyo to capture exclusive footage of JIMCA's "Save Our Movies" anti-piracy campaign. Read on to view the video and a transcript.

I've finally finished moving, and now have a desk so I can actually type up posts.

And wouldn't you know it, right when Obon is going on. I'll probably do some cleanup from what I missed last week. My apologies for the delays.

I'm moving to a different apartment, and that's part of the reason there hasn't been any news posted this week. Here's what I would have posted, maybe:

Aya Ueto scheduling software
HD DVD camp complains about Fox's announcement the other day
JVC Minicompo with "Sound Lifter"
Sharp slot loading DVD player
Two new phones from AU - W32S, W32H
Five new phones from DoCoMo - Dolce, SA700iS, N701i, D701i, P701iD
DoCoMo introduces iChannel service
Full metal keyboard

Well, maybe not all of those, but you get the picture.

To no one's surprise, Fox has announced they'll be putting content out in the Blu-ray format. They threw out some examples in the process -- the ones that stuck out for me are "Family Guy" and "24." Of course some of you would probably appreciate "M*A*S*H" in the lineup, too.

Impress Watch carries the full list of titles, in English. No (English) press release from Fox about this yet.

Some time ago, we reported o­n Yamaha's MyRoom. This room, while nice, probably would not match decor common in many Japanese households. Justsystem has announced they will be selling the Asian and Japanese models of "Simple DIY In-Room Room," a product created by Morimasa of Tokushima Prefecture.

sar7501 has taken time out of his busy schedule to bring a few improvements to your TechJapan navigation experience.

-First of all, we've added "Tags" that seem to be all the rage with blogs these days (though we vehemently deny being a blog). In the Tamagotchi article, for example, the tags are "Bandai" and "Tamagotchi." We have also put in some features to enable related articles to come up even if no tags are defined (since we're too lazy to go back and add them to our existing 1,000+ articles).
-These tags will link you directly to a search of TechJapan for articles containing the same terms. You'll probably notice we implemented some new search URLs, so searching for something like "noodles" is as easy as punching in http://www.techjapan.com/Search-noodles.html in your address bar. And for some reason, "noodles" actually yields search results.
-From the new tags and existing topic system, we now have links to related articles at the bottom of all articles. Going back to the Tamagotchi article, you should see links to the 2-story Gundam recreation, that ULTRAMAN model Exilim, and the Evangelion edition iPod (all having to do with Bandai). The related articles from the topics are also randomly generated, so you can literally sit in front of TechJapan all day, lean on the F5 key, and find new articles EVERY refresh.
-Where the ultra-exciting topic icons appear in the articles, you'll notice a new box containing some information about how the article was categorized. Some of you may think that having categories, topics, AND tags is a bit overkill, but given the breadth of technology we cover here at TechJapan, we felt it was appropriate. In this block you'll also find Technorati's "Linking Blogs" feature, which we've chosen to act as our "Trackback" feature because this functionality is not offered by the default PostNuke package.

Let us know if you have any problems!

Bandai has announced that more than 10,000,000 "Tamagotchi Plus" will have been sold by the end of July. Are these things really that popular still? Guess so...

Adtec will be releasing some new USB memory devices with interchangeable covers. Yay!

ITmedia is running an article about i-care Telecom's new "I-Series" of mobile phone, and I'd translate it, but information is already available in English. i-care Telecom is apparently a Taiwanese company. Besides the I-Series clearly intended for use by children with its simplicity, the S-Series is a pendant-style phone intended for use by the elderly.

The first service for purchasing train tickets via mobile phone is set to debut in Matsuyama city, Japan at the end of August, beating JR East's Mobile Suica to market. Users will also be able to use the system on buses and taxis.

Fuji Work is the first company to announce a realtime H.264 encoder. It features a Memory Stick Duo slot, and o­ne of its intended uses is with "portable game devices" such as the PSP.

Surely you haven't forgotten about Sony's NW-HD5, have you? Miyavix didn't. They're releasing an aluminium case for it.

A couple weeks ago we mentioned a development from Quixin that would allow you to use your mobile phone as both keyboard and mouse for your PC. A few more details have emerged: they're calling it "Lipii," it features various modes for common tasks (such as an Internet Mode with frequent browsing functions), and should be available for about 1,000 - 2,000 yen.This is panning out to be far less exciting than we had thought...

Anyway, here's the press release.

BrightonNet is offering an FM modulator kit for iPods and iPod minis. Note that an "FM modulator" is a bit different from an "FM transmitter," and of course we'll explain this difference inside.

Livedoor, the "Yahoo" of Japan (besides Yahoo Japan), decides they want to offer wireless internet access via "iBurst." They have applied to the Ministry of Basically Everything to enter the 2GHz wireless band.

A veritable Swiss Army knife of audio/video equipment, the new "Bearmax MVX6950T" from Kumazaki Aim offers TV, AM/FM tuner, DVD-Video, DVD-R/RW, CD-R/RW, Video CD, and MP3/JPEG support in a minicomponent system. This would be a fantastic system to just have in your kitchen, bedroom, or other place where you might want a second television. Moreover, the TV is an LCD, rather than a CRT.

Certainly not the first water-resistant MP3 player intended to be used in the bathroom, but it's the first o­ne I've seen that can take third-party USB Mass Storage devices.

Don't settle for some crappy plastic case for your iPod -- you payed a lot of money for it! That's why Electron Bird has introduced an iPod and iPod mini case line that uses Vachetta leather from Italy.

ITmedia is reporting o­n the 2nd anniversary renewal of the Gundam Museum, operated by Bandai. The renewal features, among other things, a "V Operations Cockpit Reproduction," where visitors are encouraged to take pictures for good memories. Of further interest at the museum is a 2-story (5.6 meters, or 18 feet), 1/1 scale model of a Gundam A-Parts. Bandai also inadvertently took a stab at fans of SEED with the following quote: "I think everyone, from fans who are in 'deep' to those light users who have just started with SEED, will enjoy this." This article is just a tad too off-topic for me to translate the entirety of, but if there's a specific section you're interested in, let me know. Click either of the images inside to be taken to ITmedia's article, with plenty more information and pics.

Google has launched the Japanese version of their acclaimed mapping service. You'll find all of your standard Google Maps features such as routes and "Local Search." Be sure to take a look. The English version previously had Japan mapped out to some extent, but ZENRIN takes their level of detail to the umpteenth degree, even giving the locations of buildings in remote places such as... Mihara, near Hiroshima. They've integrated their data with the English version of Google Maps, so all the better for those of you unable to input Japanese characters.

Ayumi Hamasaki, Koda Kumi, EXILE, BoA, Every Little Thing, globe, day aftter tomorrow, m-flo...maybe you've heard some of these names? They're all under Avex Networks, and soon enough, Japanese users will be able to download their favorite Avex tracks from the iTunes Music Store. Avex Networks announced today they have finalized plans to offer their content to the iTunes Music Store, scheduled to launch some time before the end of the year.

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20050715/avex.htm

News Release (PDF):
http://www.avex.co.jp/j_site/press/2006/050714.pdf

ROBOTREX/ROBOCUP, o­ne of the world's largest robotics conventions/competitions, is well underway in Osaka. There's not a whole lot I can do from South Carolina here to cover it, but seeing as how PC Watch is all over it, I probably wouldn't be there even if I were in Japan (especially considering Wireless Japan 2005 is also being held this same week). Anyway, they have a nice article covering all sorts of robots, but in all honesty, there wasn't anything that completely floored me (otherwise I'd be translating it right now). As always, if you want a particular part of the article translated, let me know and I'll take care of it. Click the image below to continue to their article, full of nice pictures and videos of the event.

Wireless Japan 2005 is in full-swing at Tokyo's BigSight convention centre. Unfortunately, as TechJapan management is too stingy to spring for our transport costs to cover it in person, you'll have to make do with a wrap-up of WatchImpress' comprehensive coverage. Read on for WiMax, videophone, mobile phone fuel-cells, solar-panel equipped mobiles and more!

Links International has announced a new case for ATX motherboards that is actually the same size as a case for microATX motherboards. How did they do it? They put the power source in the front! Makes you wonder why nobody else thought of this earlier...

Just in case you've ever felt the urge to record some of your phone calls, Jade Limited has a new solution for you. The "MY LOGGER" system consists of a USB device and software solution allowing for recording of phone calls.

Fuji Television will start an on-demand TV program delivery service for both PC and STB users from late July. Programs will initially be priced at between 210 and 525 yen each.

If you're in the market for something that looks like a Mac mini that...isn't actually a Mac mini, Focal Point Computer has a fantastic product for you. The "USB 2.0 Mini Drive Kit" is an external hard drive case that looks, well, exactly like a Mac mini!

I'm having a hard time understanding exactly why someone would want to use their mobile phone as both keyboard and mouse for their PC, but I guess it could serve as an emergency replacement should something go wrong with your normal setup.

Alternatively, I could see phones replacing simple remote controllers (like the o­nes used in Windows XP Media Center Edition).

"Nagashi Soumen" roughly translates as "flowing noodles." It is a method of eating soumen noodles (similar to ramen noodles, but much thinner), where a bamboo pole is split in half and placed so that the noodles can slide down the inside of it along with some water. Eaters sit along the length of the bamboo pole, and try to catch the noodles as they flow by.

Anyway, nagashi soumen does take quite a bit of preparation -- you need a bamboo pole to split in half, some running water, and a place to do it (few Japanese have backyards).

Not anymore. A company called Comsatellite has created the "Certain Kill! Soumen Mawashi."

TDK is showing off a 4-layer Blu-ray Disc at this year's Data Storage Expo. That is all.

Speecys has begun taking orders for a fuel cell-powered version of their "Speecys" bipedal robot for those who like to keep their robotic activities environmentally friendly. Saving the planet doesn't come cheap however - the "Speecys-FC" will retail for approximately US$24,000. Maybe I'll just stick to Lego for a little while longer...

Not specifically Japanese news per se, but interesting nonetheless: Mercury Computer Systems announced that they are the first company to partner with IBM to offer the acclaimed (well, by some people) Cell processor in PCs. We all know the Playstation 3 is powered by one of these bad boys, but it could be interesting to see what sort of capabilities the processor has in the PC world. Mercury's press release doesn't mention anything about consumer-level systems, but I'm sure some crazy company will come along and offer a product the "rest of us" can afford.

Their press release is available here in English, so I'm home free.

Some groovy new speaker technology from Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology. The NetSpeaker connects to any PC-based wired or wireless network and plays back sound output via a virtual sound device driver. Commercialisation of the speaker technology is in progress.

Yay, more product knock-offs! This time around, we see the "i-Pocket," which is clearly a phony version of the iPod mini. But instead of having a hard drive, it has...drum roll please...a memory card slot.

Now why didn't Apple think of this?

My latest employment is for Weblogs Inc., where I'm the editor of Engadget Japanese. It just launched today.

Engadget Japanese is, as its name implies, the Japanese version of Engadget. I haven't really been presented with a whole lot of problems translating from Japanese to English for TechJapan here or Gizmodo (back when I was with them), but as you can imagine, translating into Japanese is a whole different story.

Thankfully Japanese people seem to understand the cryptic nature of their language and have been, for the most part, forgiving.

My employment with Engadget Japanese will in no way have any adverse effect on my coverage here at TechJapan. In fact, I only agreed to work there if they let me continue TechJapan. So no worries about Non-Compete Contracts or anything similar.

Uniqlo is sort of like the Old Navy of Japan, minus the ultra-annoying commercials o­n TV. They feature clothing that is cheap and suitable to be worn in most casual situations.

The company is introducing an iPod shuffle case called "color wear for iPod shuffle." Details inside.

If you've ever wanted to use your phone while in the tub but was afraid to because of the water, you're in for a treat. Ishizaki Materials has a new waterproof soft case so that you can use your phone anywhere around water, including the bathtub.

One of Japan's largest ISPs, the Softbank Group, is expanding the coverage of their IP-based video-delivery service, BBTV, to all of Japan's 47 prefectures from July 1. The price of the service is pretty reasonable (approx $20-30/month) but I'd want to check out the video quality before committing to the service.

Targus Japan has a new mouse coming out that glows in 7 different colors, which I hadn't seen announced over here in the States. Probably for good reason, too...

Yodobashi Camera, a major Japanese electronics retail chain, has announced a new point card that features "FeliCa" contactless IC technology.

Now that NTT DoCoMo, JR East Japan, JR West Japan, ANA, and several other major organizations have announced FeliCa-related products and/or services, I'm beginning to wonder exactly how long it will be before we see it here in America.

More details o­n the new card inside.

Here's a nice o­ne from Scythe. The "FOLDABLE MOUSE" reminds me of something that should have come out in the 80s, but I guess some inventions just take their time. As indicated, the mouse does indeed "fold."

Sanwa Supply has a new USB gamepad coming out that looks st