GREEN HOUSE introduces two tiny lenses for the serious mobile phone photographer. The DN-MCL30 (JPY1799) is a 2x telephoto lens that weighs a scant 6.6 grams. The DN-MCL40 (JPY1999) is a 170-degree fish-eye lens weighing 10.8 grams. Both lenses make use of a steel ring that you attach around your camera's pinhole lens with double-sided tape; the lenses then attach to the ring magnetically.
http://www.donya.jp/item/6409.html
http://www.donya.jp/item/6410.html

Okayama-based Sanwa Supply offers a wireless 10-key-pad mouse, the NT-WLMA2. A selector offers the option to make only the mouse or 10-key functions active, so you don't accidentally punch numbers while mousing around. JPY7329.
http://www.sanwa.co.jp/news/200807/nt-wlma2/index.html (Japanese)

Recently we noted Thanko's USB Cooler Mouse with a built-in fan - a gimmick unfortunately able to cool only one hand at a time. Well, the company didn't waste much time addressing that shortcoming: this week, Thanko announced the USB Cooler Keyboard, an aluminum-topped full-size keyboard with no less than three fans blowing air out of ventilation holes in the palm rests. Two sweat-free palms can be yours for JPY6980.
http://thanko.jp/coolerkeyboard/ (Japanese)

Name: Solid Alliance "...of the world" series USB drive  
Category: USB memory drive
Price: JPY3200
Release date in Japan: July 25, 2008

Tokyo-based Solid Alliance, fine purveyors of USB drives shaped like ducks and sushi, now has a USB drive with your name on it - if that happens to be Satou, that is. Which, fortunately for the company, is pretty often the case in Japan.

The 19-million-strong members of clan Satou often find themselves mistaken for "that other Satou", and some have been known to wish for a more distinctive last name. But listen up, "sekai no Satou" ("Satous of the world")! It's time to display clan pride, says Solid Alliance. The company's new 1GB drive takes the shape of the two characters making up Japan's most common family name: "sa" plugs into your PC, while "tou" is the cap. Curvy Edo-era "yose" script adds to its visual impact. Solid Alliance adds a loop for a chain or strap, so you can openly display to the world your membership in this most inclusive of clubs.

(You're paying for your branding here, though, Satou-san. A generic 1GB USB drive is easy to find for less than JPY1000; even a 4GB drive should cost less than this model.)

Solid Alliance also adds a fervent wish for any and all athlete Satous to bring home gold from Beijing, along with the hope that "all of Japan's Satous win gold medals in the Olympics called life".

And if you're not a Satou? Solid Alliance is accepting votes online for the next name in the series. "Yamadas of the world"? "Fujiwaras of the world"? Perhaps one day, electronics shops will display racks of USB drives in hundreds of names, just as ready-made "hanko" name stamps are sold in stationery shops. So go ahead and vote for your lineage (though if you're not a Tanaka, Suzuki, Yamamoto, or Takahashi, you've got some waiting ahead of you).

More info: http://item.rakuten.co.jp/sastore/c/0000000336/ (Japanese)
Vote for the next name: http://www.solidalliance.com/cgi-bin/oftheworld/vote.cgi

Sanwa Supply has a new stylus aimed squarely at Japan's legion of new iPhone 3G users, the PDA-PEN17. The JPY2097 stick has a conductive sponge tip, and is good for any touch or drag operation that you'd normally perform with a finger. (Once again, a free piece of advice to stylus manufacturers: Why not tell customers to buy and hold two pens, chopstick-style, to enable two-finger pinch operations?)
http://www.sanwa.co.jp/news/200807/pda-pen17/index.html (Japanese)
iPhone accessory collection: http://www.sanwa.co.jp/seihin_joho/iphone/index.html

Robo Japan 2008 promises to be one of the more interesting gadget trade shows you can visit this year. Industrial robots will be in abundance, but the show organizers are placing emphasis on robot assistants for health care and the home. Meet the latest 'bots at Pacifico Yokohama on October 11-13. (Don't miss the 14th ROBO-ONE event on the first two days, featuring gladiatorial matches between two-legged walking robots.)
http://www.robo-japan.jp/index_e.html (English)
http://www.robo-one.com/ (Japanese)

Ishikawa Prefecture-based I-O DATA has a new tuner to bring terrestrial digital TV to your laptop or other PC, the GV-MVP/HZ. (Name origin: Graphic Video Magic TV Products / model HZ.) Connected and powered by USB, the compact tuner and its bundled software can record Hi-Vision TV to your internal or external hard disk, or to DVD. It's compliant with the new "Dubbing 10" system allowing up to 10 copies of digital TV broadcasts, and has one more trick up its sleeve: if your PC's power is up to the task, you can plug in as many as eight GV-MVP/HZ tuners to record multiple channels simultaneously. JPY15,700.
http://www.iodata.jp/prod/multimedia/tv/2008/gv-mvphz/ (English)