Don't let your car full of gadgets get stolen, like over 30,000 vehicles in Japan last year. Here's a gadget that may help: Kato Denki is offering a new Stealth Tracking System that places a PHS-based tracking device in your car. Utilizing the Willcom PHS network, the tiny 31-g box lets you (or the cops) track your car's location by PC or mobile phone should the need arise, for a rental cost of JPY735/month. It'll report details right down to the car's current address and the route it traveled, even in garages and basements that give GPS pause, says Kato Denki. For an extra JPY105/month, the service will send an alert when the car is detected outside of a prescribed geographic region.
http://www.kato-denki.com/products/stealth/index.html (Japanese)

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)

Name: PLANEX BT-HP01AD
Category: audio peripheral
Price: JPY6980
Release date in Japan: Early June, 2008

Wireless headsets are nifty, but can be pricey. Here's a solution just about any Bluetooth-equipped audio player owner would find handy: PLANEX Communications' new stereo audio Bluetooth adapter for any normal headphones, the BT-HP01AD.

Plug your favorite 'phones into the little lozenge-shaped BT and slip it into a pocket. Play audio from your Bluetooth gadget, whether mobile phone or PC, and enjoy the sound without the annoying tether. With a range of up to 10m, it's perfect for someone who wants to use headphones while roaming about the room.

While most PCs these days sport Bluetooth, not all audio players do; iPods are notably 'toothless. PLANEX fixes this with the BT-DockT (JPY6980), which transmits iPod audio over Bluetooth to your new BT.

The BT also sports a built-in microphone, letting it handle hands-free voice chats while you pace the floor. Yet another trick: the BT acts as a wireless remote control for your player, with play, pause, forward/reverse, and volume control.

As most readers will know, you have to "pair" Bluetooth devices to each other (otherwise, you'd get a mess of promiscuous devices trying to interoperate with every other device in range). The BT will "pair" with up to two devices, such as an audio player and a mobile phone. If you're listening to the player's audio when a call comes in, the BT will switch to the paired phone, letting you take up the conversation from there.

PLANEX is throwing in one more incentive for buyers: a free download of "Keitai Bannou Lite" software for backing up, editing, and managing mobile phone address book data on a PC.

Other specs: Class 2 Bluetooth. Up to 6 hours operation (or 200 hours standby) on 2-hour recharge. Size 4.4 x 2 x 1.8 cm; weight 14 grams, or half an ounce.

More info: http://www.planex.co.jp/product/bluetooth/bt-hp01ad/index.shtml (Japanese)
http://www.planex.co.jp/product/bluetooth/bt-dockt/ (BT DockT iPod adapter, Japanese)

Name: I-O DATA CPKB/BT Bluetooth keyboard
Category: keyboard
Price: JPY16,485
Release date in Japan: June 11, 2008

Those kids are fast with the thumbs on those mobile phone keypads; no question there. Give me a good keyboard, though, and I'll show 'em what typing is.

My weapon has arrived. The CPKB/BT keyboard - that's Cellular Phone KeyBoard Blue Tooth - talks to your DoCoMo SH906i or SH906iTV Bluetooth mobile phone, letting you switch from one or two thumbs to ten fingers. It's perfect for long email messages, blogging, or address book clean-up.

As you'd expect, I-O DATA plays up the "use your mobile phone like a PC" marketing aspect. Increasingly, mobile phones are powerful enough to take the place of PCs for many a user, yet for all the thumb dexterity of determined users, a keypad's physical limitations do slow down input. I-O DATA says the CPKB brings back true touch typing - though at a scant 15-cm width, it's definitely a compact 'board. Don't expect full desktop keyboard speed and comfort.

In addition, how often do you expect you'll be seated at a desk, wanting to type something long into your mobile? If that's not often enough to justify purchase, here's one more feature that may tempt you: add the I-O DATA USB-BT20 Bluetooth adapter (JPY4200) to your PC, and you can use the CPKB as a wireless PC keyboard.

Caveats: The CPKB works with phones using HID1.0 profiles, and so far is limited to the two SH phones above (as well as the PlayStation 3). The company promises that more supported phones are on the way. Another concern is buried in the small print: possible interference with IEEE 802.11g/b communications, i.e., your WiFi network setup.

Specs: Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, aluminum body, 15.2 x 9.2 x 1.4cm, 170 grams. Runs on two AAA alkaline batteries, from which you can expect 30 to 60 hours of use. Pairs with up to 5 devices. 59-key; based on the 109A Japanese keyboard layout, though without hiragana printed on the keys. Comes with plastic keyboard cover.

More info: http://www.iodata.jp/prod/mobile/keitai/2008/cpkbbt/ (Japanese)
http://www.iodata.jp/prod/mobile/keitai/2007/usb-bt20/index.htm (USB-BT20, Japanese)

Name: SONY Canvas Online VGF-CP1
Category: digital photo frame
Price: Open price (about JPY30,000)
Release date in Japan: May 17, 2008

Appearing together with the Liblog Station server is a new digital photo frame companion, the VGF-CP1. It'll wirelessly grab photos from a computer and dish up slideshows, complete with background music, on its 7" screen. SONY claims one touch of a button will connect the screen to your WiFi-networked VGF-HS1, PC, or "SONY Room Link"-enabled device, thanks to simple AOSS (AirStation One-Touch Secure System) configuration. (A little hands-on configuration allows connection to non-AOSS WiFi networks as well.) Internet access to Yahoo! news and Yahoo! weather displays, RSS feeds, and major online photo sharing services are another plus.

Remote content isn't your only choice; the VGF-CP1 will also read and display media fresh from MemoryStick, SD, or CompactFlash cards, as well as USB drives. You can also copy pics into the CP1's internal 100MB memory and let the photo frame take it from there - or even upload from the CP1 to online photo sharing services.

Again, SONY provides a little marketing thought behind the product: Everyone takes digital pictures, but not many enjoy and share them. While 80% of PC users in this digital camera age have photos squirreled away on hard drives or media cards, only 10% get around to frequently enjoying the photos via means such as printing or online sharing. SONY wants to provide its slideshow screen as an easy way for non-technical users to enjoy the photos they take.

Details: 11b/g WiFi, 7" WVGA (800x480) 24-bit "ClearPhoto LCD" screen (16+ million colors), 17.7 x 13.4 x 3.3cm, 530g, black or white. Designed to work with Windows XP/Vista PCs, or the VGF-HS1 home server. Behind the scenes, the CP1 runs Timesys Linux on a 400MHz ARM processor.

More info: http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/CP1/index.html (Japanese)

Name: Pioneer SE-DRS3000C
Category: wireless headphones
Price: Open price (about JPY40,000)
Release date in Japan: Mid-May, 2008

Pioneer's SE-DRS3000C system combines a 2.4GHz wireless transmitter (TRE-D3000) with receiver headphones (SE-DHP3000) for untethered listening within a 30m range. Its "3x3 transmission system" sends data three times, while automatically choosing the best of three frequencies, to ensure against data loss from surrounding radiowave interference. To keep the sound as clean as the source, the transmitter applies no compression to the data. Supported bandwidth is 10Hz to 24kHz.

The unit's headphones incorporate large 50mm drivers and Dolby Headphone technology, with buckskin pads to cradle the ears. A 48-bit processing DSP recreates clear sound from formats including Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Sound EX, Dolby ProLogic II, DTS, MPEG-2, AAC, and PCM.

The 'phones run on a lithium-ion battery; drop them onto the transmitter unit to recharge. The transmitter (not the headphones, as reported on many English-language gadget blogs) weighs 720g; the 'phones are 350g (20% lighter than Pioneer's previous wireless models).

Wireless headphones are of interest to anyone who wants to roam a bit while listening to high-quality sound. But Pioneer notes that AV fans with home theater setups are the category's key market, and promises a true movie theater-quality listening experience for buyers of the kit. Unless you always watch movies alone, however, you may need extra headphone units; Pioneer is glad to oblige for JPY26,250 per set.

More info: http://pioneer.jp/press/2008/0415-1.html (Japanese)