TechJapan

Portable AV: Zentek to introduce SDIO One-Seg tuner

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

Portable AV: Thanko MP3/WMA watch packs FM tuner

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/

Audio/Video: JVC's "Slim HD-ILA Optical Engine" reduces rear-projection TV thickness by 40%

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.

Mobile Phones: SoftBank's 13 "launch" handsets

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.

Business: Welcome to the party, SoftBank

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

Car AV: Sharp adds another viewing angle

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.

Peripherals: Buffalo keyboard features integrated Skype receiver

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/

Handhelds: Panasonic "Words Gear" book reading device

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

Peripherals: DoCoMo to release FOMA card with HSDPA support

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

Portable AV: MusicMug blends music, mug

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/

Digital Cameras: Olympus to bring out cameras with wooden casings

There's some new threeeeeeeeeeeee-dimensional wood molding technology from Olympus that takes Japanese Cyprus wood and compresses it so it's harder than industrial plastic. Add a nice finish and you get wood that's moldable for manufacturing yet hard enough to be used as casing for standard consumer electronics. Obviously Olympus's immediate plans include using the new technology on their digital cameras.

Olympus has an English press release with more details here:
http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/news/2006b/nr060925woode.cfm?ote=1&nr=1

Portable AV: Buffalo offers USB One-Seg TV tuner, recording supported

Similar to the Logitec USB One-Seg TV tuner we posted last week is the "Choi Tele (DH-ONE/U2)" from Buffalo.

It seems Buffalo's offering is a bit more meaty. It offers decoding for resolutions as high as 320 x 180, can handle iEPG, and includes a handy-dandy 3 meter extension cable. Best of all? It's cheaper -- Logitec's offering was slated for 14,000 yen, but Buffalo's offering is 12,075 yen.

The included viewing/recording software is called "PCastTV for One-Seg."

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060921/buffalo.htm

Press Release:
http://buffalo.jp/products/new/2006/000270.html

Peripherals: Evergreen mice with integrated USB hubs, microphones

Evergreen will be releasing two new low-cost mice on their "Shanghai Donya."

The first is the DN-UM2B, which features an integrated 2-port USB hub on the mouse's USB connector. Also, there's a cable winder. It's an optical mouse that uses USB 2.0, and it'll go for 999 yen.

The second is the DN-UM3K, which provides the same 2-port USB hub, but also adds an integrated microphone.

Inspired by:
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/pcuser/articles/0609/21/news051.html

Product Information (DN-UM2B):
http://donya.jp/everg/7.1/4547479501684/

Product Information (DN-UM3K):
http://donya.jp/everg/7.1/4547479501691/

Peripherals: Elecom's Gear Drive to prevent typos?

Elecom is geared up to release the "TK-U09FG" keyboards in late October that feature the company's new "Gear Drive" mechanism. Slated to cost about 5,040 yen, the new keyboards use a system of gears underneath the keys so that when pressed on even a corner, the key

will be depressed evenly. This is said to prevent "miss-types," which I suspect are caused by keypresses not registering correctly if they're not made in the exact middle of the key. I can't really say I've had that problem, but perhaps I do and don't even realize it. Either way, the keyboard is a Japanese 109-key layout, and will be available in silver, white, and black models.

Inspired by:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/0919/elecom.htm

Press Release:
http://www.elecom.co.jp/news/200609/tk_u09fg/

Mobile Phones: Blackberry's Japanese debut on September 26th

NTT DoCoMo has announced they'll be releasing the "BlackBerry 8707h" to corporate customers on September 26th. The 8707h is a "Global Model" of the BlackBerry 8707, offering support for W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS, so it can be used outside of Japan as well. It seems to be some sort of adaptation of the 8707v available for Vodafone (whoops) in the UK. Specifications include a 320 x 240 color screen, Bluetooth, 64MB of memory.

Specs-wise, the 8707h does not support Japanese. However, the device does support Namimail, a Japanese reading/input solution offered by NTT DoCoMo USA. Namimail can be used on most modern Blackberry devices, even those on carriers in the USA, so this might be one of the first and only times in history that a handset in the states actually has the same capabilities of a handset in Japan.

Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/31076.html

Press Release:
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/info/news_release/page/20060919b.html

Portable AV: Access to introduce PocketPC LocationFree client

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

Gaming: DoCoMo readies "Mega Games" for 903i series

NTT DoCoMo held an announcement event today in Japan for their new iAppli games for the 903i series.

These new games take advantage of the enhanced capabilities offered by "Mega iAppli." Mega iAppli vastly expand upon the capabilities of iAppli for DoCoMo's 900i series, by offering 10 times the amount of program space: 1MB. Furthermore, it is now possible to store these Mega iAppli on external memory, where they have no limitation for size -- it would be possible for a company to distribute a 10MB game, for example.

Such changes enable content publishers to create games of much higher quality. Coupled with the polygon rendering capabilities of the new 903i series handsets, these so-called "Mega Games" offer what I guess is the highest quality gaming experience found on any mobile phone in the world. Major content publishers were on hand at the announcement event to show off their new Mega Games. Bandai Networks showed "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED" with full 3D rendering, Bandai Namco Games showed Tekken 2, which featured the same polygon count as the original PlayStation version. Other games include Street Fighter ZERO (Alpha), Biohazard (Resident Evil), Dirge of Cerebus Lost Episode -Final Fantasy VII-, Monster Hunter, Mobile Pawapuro Baseball MEGA, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and so on, all of which take advantage of the enhanced iAppli features.

Both Impress Watch and ITmedia have coverage of the event, with plenty of pictures to go around. Click on the pictures below to be taken to their coverage.

Audio/Video: Evergreen Alien head speakers

Evergreen is releasing the "Edifier E1100" speakers today, which remind me like the heads of one of the creatures in Aliens. Anyway, these 2.1ch speakers are made by Edifier, have a maximum output of 4.5W apiece, and look pretty cool.

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060914/everg.htm

Product Information:
http://donya.jp/everg/7.1/4547479506191/

Software: Google Earth does Japan better

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.

Mobile Phones: NTT DoCoMo to release "Sound Leaf" bone conduction earpiece

DoCoMo is geared up to release their bone-conduction receiver microphone, the "Sound Leaf," on the 15th. The Sound Leaf plugs into the earphone/mic port of DoCoMo's FOMA handset and uses bone conduction technology to deliver sound. Bone conduction is a technology were sound travels through a person's skull to be delivered to their ear, rather than through the air canal, enabling the Sound Leaf to be used "even in places where a lot of noise makes it difficult to hear." The Sound Leaf officially works only with FOMA handsets.

Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/30996.html

Product Information:
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/info/news_release/page/20060912.html

Audio/Video: JVC to introduce "Near Speaker Surround" technology

JVC has some new technology called "Near Speaker Surround" that creates surround sound using a single 2ch speaker unit. The speaker unit is placed close to the listener. Incoming multichannel signals are processed to be converted to binaural signals. Binaural signals are typically listened to using headphones, since they get the maximum channel separation -- use standard speakers and you will experience what is known as "crosstalk," where signals that are intended for just one ear also reach the other ear. However, with JVC's new "Transaural Processing" technology, crosstalk is cancelled, enabling listeners to achieve a headphone-like experience using a standard 2ch speaker setup. Because near-field involves placing the speaker nearby and requires only a single speaker unit, sound leakage can be reduced by as much as 56% versus standard multi-speaker setups.

Just as a side note, for those that doubt 2ch stereo's ability to provide true surround sound, put on a pair of headphones and listen to this.

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060912/victor2.htm

Press Release:
http://www.victor.co.jp/press/2006/near_speaker.html

Audio/Video: Sony unveils prototype hybrid Blu-ray, headphones, Bluetooth devices

Sony held the "Dealer Convention 2006" on the 13th, and Impress Watch was of course on hand to see what they had available. The company demonstrated several of their Blu-ray products, including a hybrid recorder with both hard drive and Blu-ray drive, as well as new Sugo Roku recorders, new LocationFree products, and new cameras and projectors. (pictures in this article).

Also shown by the company were several new audio products including several new models of headphones. Perhaps more interesting was the "HWS-NEW" Bluetooth unit that can act as both a transmitter and a receiver. They also showed a few models of headphones that could be used wirelessly, an a transmitter called the "TMR-NEW." Finally, they showed the "SRS-NEW" 2ch Bluetooth speakers. Pictures of all the above products are available here.

Portable AV: Logitec's USB One-Seg receiver

Looks like Logitec was thinking of the rest of us by releasing this new USB One-Seg receiver coded the "LDT-1S100U." I say "rest of us" because the vast majority of One-Seg solutions available to date have been integrated; you've been required to buy a new device, whether it be a new mobile phone, new portable DVD player, or whatever, to watch One-Seg.

No more -- Logitec will be releasing the 1S100U this month for about 14,000 yen, based on the predictions of a few stores in Akihabara. According to the company, this is the first PC accessory with One-Seg support. The receiver has an integrated USB port, so you just plug it into your PC, extend the antenna, and you're ready to watch One-Seg broadcasts. The functionality of this one is sort of limited, since it doesn't do One-Seg recording, data broadcasts, or EPG, but it's a step in the right direction.

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060913/logitec.htm

Press Release:
http://www.logitec.co.jp/press/2006/0913_02.html

Product Information:
http://www.logitec.co.jp/products/1seg/ldt1s100u.html

Mobile Phones: Mobile Suica with Vodafone too

Vodafone and JR East Japan have announced that you'll be able to use Mobile Suica with Vodafone handsets from December 2nd at 4PM. Mobile Suica uses the "FeliCa" contactless chipset found in many modern Japanese handsets to allow users to ride trains without paper tickets.

Only two Vodafone handsets currently available will support Mobile Suica: the 904SH and 905SH. The name of the service itself will also be changed from "Vodafone live! FeliCa" to "S! FeliCa" when Vodafone's brand name changes to "SoftBank" on October 1st of this year.

Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/30887.html

Press Release:
http://www.vodafone.jp/japanese/release/2006/20060905_1j.pdf

Audio/Video: Hello Kitty apple-shaped LCD TV

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