Tokyo-based package software seller SOURCENEXT is leaving disks behind for its line of consumer software titles. From September, its core postcard-printing, homepage creator, and utility software titles will ship on your choice of frumpy CD-ROMs or trendier USB drives, with 30 titles making the move to thumb drive by the end of the year. The sales strategy, dubbed "U-Memo", recognizes that mobile PCs are moving away from optical drives, and that USB drives have become a commodity storage media. Prices will stay the same as CD-ROM versions, and space not taken up by software on the 1-GB "U-Memo" drives can be used for general data storage. That means "U-Memo" offers buyers that same software as the CD-ROM versions, with a thumb drive tossed in. Together with downloads, this looks like a sure end for CD-ROMs as a software delivery method.
http://www.sourcenext.com/titles/usb/?i=img_usb (Japanese)

Name: Epson Photo Fine Player P-7000
Category: photo viewer
Price: About JPY80,000
Release date in Japan: September 4, 2008

Here's a gadget category that isn't too well known outside professional photographers. But it's an interesting item that even hobbyist fotogs could find really handy on those longer shooting excursions.

Photo viewers are compact little combinations of hard drive and display. Their simple purpose is displaying photos, though in a photographer's work environment (as opposed to recently-popular digital photo frames that show pics as decorations). It's a tool that lets the photographer transfer shots to a hard drive to free up storage on the camera (or as a backup), and then study those shots on a larger screen than the camera's.

A good example is the new Epson P-7000 Photo Fine Player. The 433-gram device combines a 160-GB hard drive with a wide-angle 4-inch LCD. The screen displays over JPEG and RAW format images in 16.7 million colors, encompassing 94% of the Adobe RGB color space, so you can expect detailed color reproduction (advance reviewers have raved about its brightness and sharpness). Although it's a compact screen, zoom functions let you confirm details up close. Basic editing tools let you play with brightness, contrast cropping, etc., or add text; organization tools allow photo rating and creation of collections and slideshows. A new jog wheel makes it all easy too, says Epson.

There's support for audio (MP3, AAC) and video (MPEG4, Motion JPEG, H.264); video and audio outputs let you also display things on a big screen. (These additions are the reason Epson adds "Multimedia" to the product line's name overseas. Yes, you can use it as an expensive iPod if you like.)

The new model boasts data transfer (via CF or SD memory card) up to 35% faster than its predecessors: transferring 1GB of data from CF card to the hard drive takes 100 seconds. A full battery charge allows around 75 such 1GB transfers. All in all, the drive will hold about 9000 10-megapixel RAW photos (almost 4 times as many if JPEG), or 166 hours of 2Mbps MPEG4 video.

Also included is a battery charger and car adapter for travel, plus software to transfer Fine Player data to a PC.

A good photo viewer isn't an inexpensive addition to a weekend shooter's collection. (If the JPY80,000 tag is a tad more than you can afford, there's also a new P-6000 model with 80GB hard drive for JPY70,000.) But for anyone taking and reviewing lots of shots on the go, it's a more refined tool than a clumsy, expensive laptop with iffy battery life and disk space largely eaten up by data and software.

More info: http://www.epson.jp/products/colorio/photoviewer_digitalcamera/p7000_p60... (Japanese)

Amazon Japan's ready to get in on that iPhone action. Just head to http://www.amazon.co.jp/ on your iPhone, and you'll find a new site layout custom-made for your handheld. It's not all products and "buy" links; while not all full-sized Amazon features are there, bestseller lists, reviews, recommendations, photo close-ups, and more will keep you busy inside the World's Largest Bookstore while you ride the Chuo Line. Works with iPod touch over WiFi too, of course.

Name: Panasonic TH-50PZR900
Category: Hi-Def TV
Price: About JPY540,000
Release date in Japan: September 10, 2008

Panasonic Corporation's latest Viera Hi-Def TV further narrows the gap between TV sets and PCs: it boasts a 1-terabyte drive for recording shows and a LAN Ethernet port to access Internet content, particularly YouTube.

What will a terabyte of storage hold? Not quite as much as you might expect, given the heavy storage needs of digital broadcast: about 86 hours of BS digital TV, or 121 hours of terrestrial digital TV. (That same 1 TB drive could store several hundred hours of current analog broadcast TV; alas, that's what's being phased out in Japan by mid-2011, and the Viera won't even deign to record such old-timey signals.)

There's no dual-recording capability, so you can record only one channel at a time; there's also no external DVD player/recorder. So while the built-in hard drive is a nice feature, you'll probably end up getting a dedicated HDD/DVD recorder to go with the Viera. (Panasonic suggests its own line of DIGA BluRay DVD recorders.)

The flat-panel wide-screen plasma display with "Dynamic Black Layer" technology has an impressive contrast ratio of 30,000:1. Supporting that is a huge laundry list of color management technologies that Panasonic says provide the best picture you've seen in a plasma screen that size.  

On the network side, a custom built-in YouTube player (like that on the iPhone) brings funny cat videos and the like to your Viera starting September 30. (What does YouTube video, which is grainy even on an iPod screen, look like at 50 inches? One shudders to imagine.) The Internet connection also brings in expected features such as electronic program guide and viewing recommendations, though there's no general web browser, video/music store, etc.

Other specs: Full-HD (1920x1080) resolution, digital and analog TV tuners, 36W speakers, and connection ports for HDMI, i.Link (FireWire), composite video, S-video, analog audio, monitor, optical audio, analog RGB, and headphones.  

Panasonic introduced two smaller models at the same time: the 46-inch TH-46PZR900 and the 42-inch TH-42PZR900, with key tech specs the same as the 50-incher. The former is available from September 10 for JPY480,000; the latter, from September 20 for JPY420,000. (And if none of that impresses you, ask your Panasonic dealer about the new special-order TH-103PZ800: 103 inches (!) of plasma goodness for about JPY5.6 million, before considerable shipping and set-up fees.)

More info: http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/jn080826-3/jn080... (Japanese)

(Incidentally, if you're still using the name Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, you've got just one month left. From October 1, it's officially Panasonic, with both the Matsushita company name and the National home appliances brand disappearing under the Panasonic nameplate.)

Compared to its current HHR-3MPS rechargeable batteries, Panasonic's new EVOLTA rechargeables will not only run your toys about 10% longer on a charge, but last through 20% more recharges, about 1200 - the best in the industry, says the company. JPY1600 for 4 AA, JPY1500 for 4 AAA. From October in Japan.
http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/jn080828-1/jn080... (Japanese)

Name: Nikon D90
Category: digital still and movie SLR camera
Price: About JPY120,000 (body only)
Release date in Japan: September 9, 2008

It's the norm now that digital still cameras include some sort of video recording feature, and video cameras offer still-shot capability. Nikon's adding a new twist to the combination, with what it calls "the world's first digital SLR movie function that delivers genuinely cinematic results".

The D90 is the latest in Nikon's popular D line of digital SLRs, featuring 12.3-megapixel still shots. Its movie function records video at resolutions of 320 x 216, 640 x 424, or HD720p (1,280 x 720) in motion JPEG format, at 24 frames per second. (Sorry, no higher-resolution HD1080 video.)

What makes that exciting is not just the combination of a great still cam and decent HD video cam in one unit, but the ability to use Nikon's array of interchangeable lenses for video shooting. Fish-eye, wide-angle, telephoto... you'll swap lenses like a Hollywood movie-maker, something you can't do with general consumer video cams.

Aiding the moviemaker is a large DX-format 23.6 x 15.8mm CMOS sensor ("far larger than that in typical camcorders", says Nikon) with a sensitivity range of ISO 200 to 3200. A microphone and built-in speakers handle audio recording and playback. (There's speculation that the D90 will function as an audio player if you load it with MP3s, though Nikon itself doesn't say this.)

Still, this may not be your tool for feature films. When shooting video, you lose both autofocus and the viewfinder (use the LCD panel on back instead, via Live View previews). You can't go beyond 24 fps, which is fast enough for many but not all shooting purposes. Some pros are also wondering about the maximum video scene length before sensor overheating (hastened by Live View) becomes a problem.

In addition to that Live View preview in the 3-inch LCD display, other functions include Nikon Vibration Reduction (when used with compatible lenses), Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus module with 11-point AF system, face recognition, built-in flash, Image Sensor Cleaning, 0.15-second quick start-up time, and comprehensive image editing tools. Body weight 620g.

More info: http://nikon.com/about/news/2008/0827_d90_01.htm (English)

This sounds good in a world ever-more concerned about energy costs and eletronic waste: Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology (TMD) and Idemitsu Kosan have announced a new small-molecule organic electroluminescent (EL) display panel that reportedly lasts 30 times as long as current TMD screens while sipping a scant 1/10 the electricity. The 2.2-inch QVGA screen for mobile devices uses 100mW of power and lasts up to 60,000 hours, the best specs recorded yet for the category. TMD provided the TFT substrate design technology and element design technology, while Idemitsu chipped in RGB light-emitting materials. The two companies are now cooperating on commercialization plans.

Info: http://www.tmdisplay.com/tm_dsp/press/2008/08-08-20_e.html (English)