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.
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)
Hate to leave your gadgets at home when you're behind the wheel? SIGMA A.P.O. System Sales's "MultiCharger CUMA01" 12V device charger is a box that turns your car's cigarette lighter socket into *two* lighter sockets plus two USB power ports. Perfect for keeping a handful of iPods, mobile game machines, phones, and other little gadgets powered on the open road. JPY1880. http://www.sigma-apo.co.jp/front/products/detail/CUMA01 (Japanese)
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)
Name: Winglet Category: Personal transportation device Price: ? Release date in Japan: 2010?
Look out, Segway. Someone's trying to do you one better, and it's none less than transportation powerhouse TOYOTA.
The Segway two-wheeled personal transporter made waves when released in late 2001, though it hasn't yet revolutionized urban transportation anywhere near the way that some predicted. Still, there's a lot of potential in energy-thrifty people carriers that don't take up much more space than a person alone does. Gazing toward that future, on August 1 TOYOTA revealed three configurations of its variation on the Segway concept, the Winglet.
A "next-generation mobility tool", the Winglet falls under the TOYOTA Personal Robot division, which a year ago absorbed Sony's unprofitable robotics business. The device isn't too coy about borrowing from the Segway: there's a similar two-wheeled platform to stand on, internal gyroscopes that make the device self-balancing, and sensors that read the user's body position to steer the vehicle. From there, the Winglet takes some interesting departures. Light weight and small size are at Winglet's core, with its A3 paper-sized footprint (about the size of two pieces of standard office paper side by side), and its tiny wheels (watch out for obstacles over 2-cm high). Unlike the Segway and its hands-on steering column, Winglet steering is dependent upon body position only; two of the three concept models are entirely hands-free.
The squat Type S weighs only 9.9 kg, achieves a range of 5 km, and has a legs-only "steering column" that doesn't even reach the knees. The larger Type M boosts the steering column to knee height, while the similar-sized Type L offers a full-height column for resting the hands (presumably to aid stability). Both M and L weigh 12.3 kg and have a 10-km range.
The Winglet travels at no faster than 6 km/hour, less than a third the Segway's top speed, and the above ranges are far less than the maximum 40 km claimed for a Segway i-series. On the other hand, the Winglet is far lighter than a 48-kg Segway, and recharges in only 1 hour compared to about 10 for the Segway.
Low-speed, convenient, short-distance zipping through crowded streets - that's what TOYOTA appears to have in mind. The Winglet may not have the potential shown by the Segway for police, postal, and other serious work, but with its low speed and small size, might find better regulatory acceptance as safe, practical sidewalk transportation. (While the Segway is undergoing testing programs in Japan, actual street use currently categorizes the Segway as a small motorcycle, which would require a license plate and the addition of signal lights and brakes.) It's practical for hilly areas too, says TOYOTA, able to climb 20-degree slopes.
From here out, TOYOTA plans user tests for the Winglet, including evaluation programs at Chubu International Airport and a marine resort from this fall. Commercialization by 2010 is the goal, so stay tuned to see whether TOYOTA makes the move from Japan's streets to its sidewalks and parks.
Name: 3R-VT101 "Vitiny" Digital Microscope Category: digital imaging device Price: JPY29800 Release date in Japan: Late August, 2008
The 3R-VT101 (aka "Vitiny") is a pocket-sized digital microscope from Fukuoka-based 3R Systems, offering zoom magnification from 7x to 108x. With its flat body and embedded screen, it looks a bit like a compact digital scanner, which in effect it is. The 70-gram Vitiny lights up its tiny subjects with a white LED lamp, reads the image with a 300,000-pixel CMOS sensor, and displays the output on a 1.8-inch TFT screen. Built-in effects, such as negatives, greyscale, embossed edges, and side-by-side image comparisons, help reveal fine details as needed. There's 2MB of built-in flash memory for saving up to 60 images, which can be downloaded to a PC via USB. The unit runs on power from three AAA batteries or via USB (PC or wall adapter).
Who would use this pocket digital microscope? Its modest magnification isn't for microbiologists, but might aid in student research projects, quality control inspections, counterfeit detection, beauty clinic skin analysis, and other investigative work. Order from one of 3R's several online shops (such as http://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/3r-shop/index.html ) from late August.
Vending machines, those big gadgets lining streets everywhere, have long been criticized for one problem: they'll cheerfully dish up alcohol or tobacco to any schoolkid with a pocketful of change. Consequently, the nation is now refitting nearly 600,000 cigarette machines to require a "Taspo" age verification card for purchase.
Customers without a Taspo card can head for one of 4000 new machines that use cameras and facial-recognition software to determine (that is, take a guess at) whether the buyer meets the age limit. But right now, underage smokers are having a laugh a the machines' expense: it turns out that if you just show the camera a magazine photo of an oldster, there's every chance that the machine will happily hand over the smokes. The manufacturer of the vending machines, Fujitaka, claims to be hard at work on a version that won't be fooled by photos. http://www.sanspo.com/shakai/news/080624/sha0806240502003-n1.htm
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