We reported last year that NEC, Hitachi and Casio were in negotiations to merge their cell phone operations to become Japan’s second biggest manufacturer, following Sharp. And the new company, which is called NEC Casio Mobile Communications and was established on May 1, just yesterday announced ambitious expansion plans.
Natural user interfaces using gestures aren’t really new, but AirSwing, a technology developed by Toshiba, offers something unique: it neither requires expensive hardware nor substantial CPU resources to work. After installing AirSwing (which is in prototype stage) on your computer, all you need is just a conventional web cam as the input device to start.
In fact, NEC claims their UI system uses only 3% of the processing power of a 400MHz ARM 11 CPU. The way it works is that the display shows a semi-transparent image of the user, a menu and the content the user is supposed to interact with. It’s then possible move around or select pieces of content, for example flick through photos in a photo gallery, simply by making gestures.
The idea is that because AirSwing users see a picture of themselves on the screen, it’s clear for them where to “press” a virtual button or how to move hands at all times. Once it’s ready, Toshiba plans to market AirSwing to digital signage companies.
As you can see in the video below, Toshiba has some kinks to iron out before that can happen though:
Valuestar N VN790/BS – that’s the name of the 3D PC that NEC today announced [JP] for the Japanese market. The company’s faster than expected: just last month, NEC teased such a machine in Tokyo, saying it’s likely to ship by October 2010. But Japan will get the PC as early as next month. And it appears to be a pretty cool machine.
Buyers will get a 20-inch 3D screen with 1,600×900 resolution and a Blu-ray drive to view content (images and video) stored in that format in 3D. NEC says for DVDs, users will be able to switch between 2D and 3D. Needless to say, the machine accepts 3D content in other forms, too (3D pictures from Fujifilm’s 3D camera, for camera).
Spec-wise, NEC throws in a Intel Mobile Core CPU (no details yet), 4GB RAM (8GB max.), a 1TB HDD, 3W×2ch speakers, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit as the OS. The main unit is sized at 490×362×169mm and weighs 8.6kg.
The PC also comes with a pair of glasses (an extra pair will set you back $67), a remote control, an integrated TV tuner, and a wireless keyboard.
NEC plans to start shipping the 3D set at the end of next month (price: $2,450). The company hasn’t said anything yet about international sales plans.
Remember SEDs? Those surface-conduction electron-emitter displays were around for quite a while, competing with FEDs (field emission displays) until Sony decided to pull the plug on the latter back in March last year. That gave one company, Canon, enough of a push to continue to believe in SED. Canon even filed new patents on SED technology in the US in May 2009. But that’s over now (we kind of anticipated this as early as December 2008).
Canon yesterday decided to freeze development of SED technologies, mainly because the company was unable to push down production costs to an acceptable level. The plan to establish SED as the next standard for flat TVs also proved to be more difficult than expected because Canon faced a lawsuit based on their work with SEDs in the US (the picture shows a Canon SED prototype from 2008).
Toshiba left a joint venture with Canon that was aimed at developing SEDs in 2007 already. Now if only the hardware makers would focus on producing affordable OLEDs (Samsung Mobile Displays’ Sang-Soo Kim said this week he expects OLEDs to be the standard for flat TVs in about five years).
We have numerous super-light laptops, a plethora of netbooks, and the iPad to choose from. But some companies still produce portable DVD players. One example is Sony, which yesterday in Japan announced [JP] just that, the DVP-FX950. The player has two selling points: a 9-inch LCD screen that features an LED backlight and a battery life of 7.5 hours (up 25% from the previous model).
Other than the LED backlight, the screen features a resolution of 800×480 and a viewing angle of 180 degrees. Next to DVDs and CDs, the player also has a USB port, meaning you can plug in a USB stick to view JPEGs or listen to MP3s (other formats aren’t supported through USB). The player, which is sized at 227×170.8×34.4mm and weighs 0.88kg, also has an internal speaker.
Sony plans to start selling the DVP-FX950 in Japan on June 16 (price: $390). The company hasn’t said yet whether the device will go on sale in other markets as well.
OLEDs, which are said to lead the next wave of innovation in the TV space (after back-lit LCDs and 3D displays), come with plenty of advantages: they produce gorgeous images, they are self-luminous, light, and they’re flexible – very flexible. Case in point: a super-thin, Sony-made 4.1-inch OLED that actually wraps around a pencil, shown today in Japan.
The display is just 80μm thick, offers 432 x 240 resolution (121 ppi), a contrast ratio of around 1,000:1, and produces 100 cd/m2 brightness. Sony says the OLED can be wrapped around a pencil with just a 4mm radius. And the OLED can actually continue to display images and video while being rolled up, which is (according to Sony) a world’s first.
Unfortunately, the OLED is just a prototype, but those of you who attend the SID event in Seattle this week will be able to see the screen in action. All the others can drool over the display in the short (but pretty cool) video embedded below.
Audio-Technica today in Japan announced [JP] diamond-shaped portable speakers, dubbed Bijoué/AT-SPF30, which are especially geared towards female users. Technically, the speakers aren’t special: you’ll get 600mW/φ28mm full range speakers running on two AAA batteries for 33 hours continuously.
Weighing just 105g, the Bijoué speakers is sized at 78×74×37mm. Audio-Technica doesn’t try to attract geeky female buyers just with the design and size but with a functional hook as well: when opening up the diamond speaker, users will find a small mirror behind the lid.
In Japan, Audio-Technica plans to sell the Bijoué/AT-SPF30 on June 16 in six different colors: black, brown, white, silver, golden and the inevitable pink (price: $30). If you’re interested but live outside Japan, I suggest contacting import/export specialists Geek Stuff 4 U.
One of the biggest problems that stands between electric vehicles and becoming mainstream is limited battery life. But there has been some progress in that area lately: the Japan Electric Vehicle Club [JP], a civic group based in Tokyo, announced today a Mira EV customized by the group traveled exactly 1,003.184 kilometers without a recharge.
The club shattered its own record from last month when another electric vehicle drove 555.6km (345 miles) from Tokyo to Osaka on a single charge. The new record was made possible by driving the car at a driving course in Shimotsuma, Japan, which is apparently the world’s longest.
Powered by a Sanyo lithium-ion battery (built by assembling 8,320 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries), the car ran for 27 and a half hours at around 40km/h on average.
The club had a team of 17 people at the course who took turns at the wheel. It will ask the Guinness World Records to officially recognize the drive soon.
What do you get when you cross a car navigation system with a wacky mini robot? You get Carnaby [JP], a very special piece of hardware developed by Pioneer and robot venture iXs. The in-car robot may look weird, but it actually serves a good purpose: it makes car navigation systems more accessible for the elderly and those with hearing disabilities.
The way Carnaby works is pretty simple. As it basically is supposed to be a visual help, the insectoid will move up its left arm when it’s time to turn left and its right arm before you’re supposed to turn right. The closer you come, the faster it flaps its wings (and the robot’s eyes then start glowing, too).
Pioneer is currently thinking about how and when to commercialize the robot, but I am asking myself if you should drive a car if you have difficulties following the instructions given by regular navigation systems in the first place.
Here are two short videos showing Carnaby in action:
Via Node [JP] via Akihabara News
Just in January this year, we reported about a very special magnetic tape that was developed by Fujifilm and IBM and that stores a whopping 35TB of data. But yesterday Hitachi Maxell has announced that its new high-capacity magnetic tape even offers 50TB. No wonder Maxell and and its partner in the development of the tape, the Tokyo Institute of Technology, are speaking of a “world record”.
The tape boasts a density of 45.0Gb/in2 (69.8Mb/mm2), as opposed to the 29.5 billion bits per square inch Fujifilm/IBM offered. Maxell says that by using a special, super-thin film that was developed by the Tokyo Institute of Technology, future tape cartridges could even exceed 50TB in storage capacity.
Expect the new tapes to be used by data centers in the not too distant future.
Via Akihabara News
I had the chance to attend a TED event last weekend, namely the TedxTokyo conference, which took place for the second time in Japan. And as CrunchGear’s Japan correspondent, I was naturally most interested in the geekiest presentation delivered: that of Professor Sankai from Tsukuba University (near Tokyo). (The video was of the presentation was uploaded just a few hours ago, which is why I waited till today.)
Sankai talked about and showed the latest version of his brainchild, the super-cool robotic exoskeleton HAL-5. Made by his spin-off company Cyberdyne (yes, HAL-5 and Cyberdyne), the robo suit helps paralyzed persons walk and lift heavy objects through transforming brain signals sensed through the skin into motion.
You can find more technical details in our detailed article from last summer. In the meantime, Sankai developed wearable robot arms that can carry 80kg each. And now it’s also possible for people who lost a leg, for example, to make use of HAL-5. In other words, the leg part can now even help people who need to rely on an artificial replacement, not a “real” leg. Both new accomplishments are demo’d in the video embedded below.
Here’s the impressive presentation Sankai gave during TedxTokyo (in English) on video (not made by me). I shot the pictures you see above myself during the day of the event.
Do you remember the CEREVO CAM, the social camera that directly uploads pictures to the web (via Wi-Fi or 3G) from last year? Unfortunately, the shoot-and-upload camera is still available only in Japan (where it went on sale in December last year), but its maker, Tokyo-based startup Cerevo [JP] just announced a quite cool new function: The camera now supports Ustream broadcasting.
Cerevo says its new camera, dubbed CEREVO CAM live!, is the first that boasts this feature. Users will be able to directly livestream video from their device over Ustream, without needing a PC or any other kind of hardware (owners of previous models get the function through a firmware update).
Video is streamed in the CIF (352×288 resolution) format. A full charge is enough to livestream for about two hours.
Movies can be shot in HD (1,280×720 resolution), WVGA (800×480), VGA (640×480), and “WEB” (320×240). A full charge is enough to livestream for about two hours. And users can let the camera upload video content automatically to YouTube, too (video format: MPEG-4).
Technically, the device hasn’t changed. It still features a 9MP CMOS sensor, Wi-Fi 802.11n (b/g/n), 3G HSUPA support, a USB port, a MicroSD card slot, and a 2.4-inch LCD.
In Japan, Cerevo is selling the CEREVO CAM live! for $216 (a special Ustream set that includes a wide conversion lens, a 4GB microSD card and a mini tripod costs $20 more). The company is planning to go international with the device this summer (it already offers an interface in English).
Mitsubishi Electric today announced [PDF] it has installed five 80 person-capacity elevators at an office building in Osaka, which opened two weeks ago. The elevators, Japan’s largest, can carry 5,250 kilograms in load and offer a floor space of 9.52 square meters. That means that theoretically, up to 400 people could go up the 41 floors of said office building at once.
The cars have glass windows, allowing passengers to look outside while using the elevator.
Mitsubishi Electric itself doesn’t say its elevators are the world’s largest, but that might very well be. Let us know in the comments if you know better.
Japan has been flooded with new cell phones over the last few days. We’ve shown you KDDI au’s 10 new handsets Monday, SoftBank Mobile’s 13 new models yesterday, and now it’s time for NTT Docomo’s summer lineup. Japan’s biggest mobile carrier (55 million) unveiled 20 new cell phones [press release in English] yesterday, some of which are just awesome.
Here’s Docomo’s complete line-up for this summer. (Please note just a few features are listed up below, for example most of these models have TV tuners built in – without me mentioning this. Hit this link for more information on the handsets in English).
Sharp LYNX SH-10B
(rebranded version of the Android 1.6 smartbook ISO01 KDDI showed in March: 5-inch touchscreen with 960×480 resolution, 5.3MP CMOS camera plus 0.43MP front camera, full QWERTY keyboard, Snapdragon processor (1GHz), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Wi-Fi, GPS, 4GB of internal memory, Sharp Blu-ray recorder connectivity)
Toshiba dynapocket T-01B
(rebranded version of the Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional phone “K01″ KDDI showed in March: 4.1-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen (480×800 resolution), 3.2MP CMOS camera, 12.9mm thin body, Snapdragon processor (1GHz), slider QWERTY keyboard,Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR)
BlackBerry Bold 9700
(well, it’s the same Blackberry Bold 9700 sold elsewhere)
NEC N-08B
(4.6-inch full wide VGA (854×480) screen, full QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi access-point capability, microSDHC slot, 1,000 hours of standby)
Fujitsu F-06B
(3.5-inch two-way touchscreen with 480 x 960 resolution, 13.2MP camera that lets you shoot full HD videos even under water (waterproof up to 1.5m), HDMI interface, Wi-Fi access-point capability, microSDHC slot, GSM, GPS, Bluetooth, DLNA support)
NEC N-04B
(3.3-inch full wide VGA screen, 12.2MP CMOS camera that lets you shoot HD videos in 1,280×720 resolution, Wi-Fi access-point capability, microSDHC slot, GSM, GPS, Bluetooth, DLNA support)
Panasonic P-04B
(3.3-inch full wide VGA screen, 13.3MP CMOS camera, Blu-ray recorder connectivity, GPS, microSD slot, Bluetooth, GSM)
Sharp SH-07B
(3.4-inch full wide VGA touchscreen, 12.1MP CCD camera that lets you shoot full HD videos even under water (waterproof up to 1.5m), HDMI interface, microSDHC slot, GPS, GSM, Bluetooth)
Fujitsu F-07B
(3.3-inch full wide VGA two-way screen plus OLED mini sub-display, 12.2MP CMOS camera that lets you easily share pictures on social networks, microSDHC slot, GPS, GSM, Bluetooth)
Fujitsu F-08B
(3-inch full wide VGA screen, 5.1MP CMOS camera, waterproof)
LG L-04B
(2.4-inch screen with 240×320 resolution, 3.1 MP CMOS camera, GSM, designed in collaboration with UK-based Studio Conran)
NEC N-05B
(3.2-inch full wide VGA screen plus OLED mini sub-display, 8.1MP CMOS camera, GSM, GPS, designed in collaboration with Japanese home furnishing store Francfranc)
NEC N-06B
(2.9-inch screen, with QVGA resolution (240×427), 5.1MP CMOS camera, GSM, advanced Deco-Mail functions)
Panasonic P-05B
(3-inch screen with QVGA resolution, 8.1MP CMOS camera, GPS, microSD slot, body with twinkling illumination, one version designed in collaboration with American fashion brand kate spade)
Panasonic P-06B
(3.1-inch full wide VGA touchscreen, 13.2MP CMOS camera, microSD slot, Blu-ray recorder connectivity, GSM, GPS, Bluetooth, waterproof)
Panasonic P-07B
(2.9-inch screen, with QVGA resolution, 5.1MP CMOS camera, GPS, microSD slot)
Sharp SH-08B
(3.2-inch full wide VGA screen, 8MP CCD camera, GPS, microSD slot, waterproof, designed in collaboration with fashion brand EMILIO PUCCI)
Sharp SH-02B marimekko
(3.4-inch full wide VGA screen, 8MP CCD camera, GPS, Bluetooth, GSM, designed in collaboration with Finnish brand marimekko)
NEC N-07B
(3.3-inch full wide VGA screen, 5.1CMOS camera, Bluetooth, GSM, 760 hours of battery life (standby), designed in collaboration with Tokyo-based design firm amadana)
Sharp SH-09B
(3.2-inch full wide VGA screen, 5.3MP CMOS camera, 11.4mm thin body, GSM)
Apart from these 20 new models, Docomo also announced they’ll be bringing the Samsung Galaxy S Android phone to Japan this fall.
Here’s a professional video in English shot at the Docomo press conference yesterday. It shows some models in more detail:
We’ve shown you the summer cell phone lineup from KDDI (Japan’s No. 2 carrier) yesterday. Today, Japan’s third largest carrier, SoftBank Mobile, showed its own summer lineup during a special press conference, and all of their 13 new models have one thing in common: they all come with Twitter pre-installed.
The buyers of these cell phones will be able to access Twitter either via a pre-installed app or through a pre-installed widget on the homescreen. The background is that SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son himself is a huge Twitter fan (he has almost 300,000 followers) and believes Japan is set to become Twitter country. And in fact, by some measures it’s already No. 2.
Photo gallery of all the 13 new Twitter-powered cell phones over at MobileCrunch.
We’ve shown you the summer cell phone lineup from KDDI (Japan’s No. 2 carrier) yesterday. Today, Japan’s third largest carrier, SoftBank Mobile, showed its own summer lineup during a special press conference, and all of their 13 new models have one thing in common: they all come with Twitter pre-installed.
The buyers of these cell phones will be able to access Twitter either via a pre-installed app or through a pre-installed widget on the homescreen. The background is that SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son himself is a huge Twitter fan (he has almost 300,000 followers) and believes Japan is set to become Twitter country. And in fact, by some measures it’s already No. 2.
Twitter CEO Evan Williams, who joined SoftBank’s press conference from San Francisco (via Ustream), said he has high hopes in Japan because it’s such a highly advanced mobile nation and Twitter is easy to use on cell phones (around 37% of active users use Twitter on their phones). The collaboration with SoftBank is a good start: The company boasts 22 million subscribers, and its user base has been growing nicely over the past few years. SoftBank as a whole, one of Asia’s biggest telcos, currently has a market cap of $26 billion.
The widget has been developed by Twitter in the US and will be available starting early next month (another widget that will be pre-installed on the next SoftBank cell phones is made by a third party). SoftBank subscribers with older handsets will be able to download the new Twitter apps and widgets at that point in time, too.
And here are all the “Twitter cell phones” SoftBank showed today, along with the main specs (needless to say, they all have many more features):
Sharp mirumo2 944SH
(3.2-inch full wide VGA touchscreen (480×854 resolution), 3-inch memory sub-display, 8MP camera, digital TV tuner, Wi-Fi, waterproof, Bluetooth, microSDHC card slot)
Sharp AQUOS SHOT 945SH
(3.2-inch full wide VGA display, 12.1MP CCD camera, records video in 720p, digital TV tuner, Wi-Fi, waterproof, Bluetooth, HDMI interface, GSM, two-way stereo microphone)
Panasonic 942P
(3.1-inch full wide VGA touchscreen, 13.2MP CMOS camera with auto focus, digital TV tuner, Wi-Fi, waterproof, Bluetooth, GSM)
Samsung 941SC
(3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen with 100,000:1 contrast ratio and 180 degree viewing angle, 8.1MP camera, digital TV tuner, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GSM)
Sharp SOLAR HYBRID 842SH
(3-inch QVGA screen (240×400 resolution), lets you make a two-minute call time after 10 minutes of solar charging, waterproof, Bluetooth, microSDHC slot, follows the 936SH from last year)
Sharp 841SH
(3-inch QVGA screen, 0.75-inch OLED mini sub-display, 3.2MP CMOS camera, microSDHC slot, waterproof)
Samsung AQUA STYLE 840SC
(2.8-inch QVGA screen, 3.1MP CMOS camera, digital TV tuner, microSDHC slot, waterproof, GSM)
Panasonic 842P
(3-inch full wide QVGA screen (240×427 resolution), 3.2 CMOS camera, 10mm thin body, digital TV tuner, GSM)
NEC 840N
(2.9-inch full wide QVGA screen, 5.1 CMOS camera, digital TV tuner, microSD slot)
NEC 841N
(3-inch full wide VGA screen, 3.1MP CMOS camera, 13.9mm thin body, digital TV tuner, microSDHC slot)
Sharp 843SH
(3-inch QVGA screen, 3.2MP CMOS camera, extra-easy to use, microSDHC slot, waterproof)
ZTE 840Z
(2.8.inch WQVGA screen, 3.14MP camera, extra-easy to use, microSDHC slot, GSM)
Sharp 945SH G
(based on the 945SH shown above, special Gundam robot version to celebrate the anime’s 30th anniversary, features a number of Gundam-specific contents and comes with a special dock)
We’re about to get yet another 3D-enabled piece of hardware, and this time, it’s a projector. Sanyo’s PDG-DWL2500J, announced today in Japan (press release in English), is not only “3D ready”, but it also boasts the world’s shortest projection distance (just 32cm to project images that are 80 inches in size) for projectors weighing less than 9kg.
Sanyo says the maximum image size achievable for projections with this model is 110 inches (in WXGA resolution), up 30 inches from the previous model. With this new projector, which can be used both vertically and horizontally, the company also managed to cut the size of the hardware by about 50% (it now measures 321x 170×385mm).
Sanyo predicts the 3D function in particular will be used by museums, “amusement arcades”, movie theaters, advertisers, or for business presentations that require high show value (viewers will need to wear active shutter glasses to see the 3D images).
Buyers also get a 10W mono speaker, an HDMI interface, WLAN, 2000:1 contrast ratio, and 2,500 lumens brightness.
The PDG-DWL2500J will go on sale in Japan in July with an open price model. Sanyo hasn’t said yet when the projector will hit international markets.
Most of the robots out there have one common problem: They can only move in a slow, mechanical and chopping motion. In other words, the vast majority of robots lacks “elegance” and basic maneuverability. But not so this unnamed, fan made mini robot from Japan.
Find embedded below two videos that show the little guy performing a perfect back flip. The robot somehow reminded me of the Ropid we’ve shown you last year.
This short clip shows the back flip:
This video shows the move in slow motion and is much cooler:
Via Plastic Pals via FrostyDesign [JP]
Japan’s second biggest mobile company KDDI today unveiled [JP] the 10 cell phones of their new line-up for this summer. The first of these models, the majority of which are waterproof (which seems to indicate a new trend in Japan’s cell phone industry), will be rolled out in Japan as early as at the end of this month.
Here’s the complete line-up:
Hitachi beskey
(3.2-inch LCD IPS screen, 8MP CMOS camera, SD card slot, keypad replaceable (in three designs), waterproof)
Casio Exilim CA005
(3.2-inch LCD IPS screen, 13MP camera with 3x digital zoom, SD card slot, waterproof)
Sony Ericsson Cybershot S003
(3.2-inch TFT screen, 12.1MP camera with Exmor sensor, multiple camera functions (for example “smile shutter), SD card slot, world’s first waterproof slider)
Sharp AQUOS Shot SH008
(3.4-inch Sharp ASV screen with 480×854 resolution, Wi-Fi, 12.1MP CCD camera, waterproof)
Toshiba REGZA Phone T004
(3.2-inch Regza TFT screen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 12.2MP CMOS camera, Qosmio and dynabook connectivity)
Sony Ericsson BRAVIA Phone S004
(3.2-inch Bravia TFT screen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 8MP CMOS camera, waterproof)
Sharp SOLAR PHONE SH007
(3.2-inch Sharp ASV screen, 8MP CCD camera, 10 minutes solar charge is enough for a two-minute phone call, follows the solar phone from Sharp from last year)
Sanyo SA002
(3-inch TFT screen, 8MP CMOS camera, SD card slot, waterproof, world’s slimmest waterproof slider (14.8mm))
Kyocera Kantan Keitai K005
(3-inch TFT screen, 3.3MP CMOS camera, extra-easy to use, SD card slot, waterproof)
Pantech Kantan Keitai-S PT001
(handset with no display, super-easy to use, designed for the elderly, waterproof, 410 hours of standby)
We all knew this day would come eventually, and that day was yesterday: a robot called “I-Fairy” conducted a wedding, an official one. Needless to say that the wedding took place in Tokyo and that the robotic wedding conductor is the brain child of a Japanese company, Kokoro.
The Tokyo-based firm says the wedding, which took place in Tokyo’s Hibiya Park in front of 50 guests, was the first of its kind. It’s weird, but this all makes a bit more sense when taking into account that bride Satoko Inoue (36) actually is a Kokoro employee and that husband Tomohiro Shibato (42) is a professor of robotics at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in central Japan.
I-Fairy stands 1.5m tall, actually gave instructions like “You can lift the bride’s veil now” and theatrically moved its arms during the ceremony (it has 18 joints in its arms alone), all remote-controlled by a human being (a friend of the newlyweds) in the background.
Kokoro actually sells the robot to anyone who is willing to pay $68,000 for it (there’s even an English-language sales brochure [PDF] for the I-Fairy). The company is well-known for making super-realistic humanoids.
Here’s a video shot by the Associated Press:
Here’s another video from Japanese robot news site Robonable:
Picture credit: Reuters