Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
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A Japanese robot manufacturer called BL Autotec has developed a remote-controlled robot hand [JP, PDF] that’s able to grip and turn doorknobs. Once connected to a emergency robot, it can safely open doors at disaster sites, for example in collapsed buildings without putting humans in danger. Autotec says the robot can be used in the case of nuclear, biological and chemical disasters. The hand has a built-in CCD camera and an LED light so a human can operate it remotely in dark areas. Using a total of four shafts, the hand can move up to 1m. It’s also able to move hazardous materials to some extent, for example rubble. BL Autotec says the hand can also be used for industrial applications. The company plans to sell complete sets consisting of its hand and a special, self-developed emergency robot to Japanese and foreign buyers for $110,000. As you can see in the picture above, rescue workers can actually carry the robot on their back (it weighs 34kg though). Sales are expected to start in 2013, with BL Autotec hoping to sell 25 sets in the first year.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
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Just yesterday, we reported about Panasonic’s sales plans for their 3D devices in the US ( Samsung is ready , too). And today, Sony has announced [JP] prices and release dates for eight 3D BRAVIA TVs for the Japanese market. The company wants to sell a total of 25 million LCD TVs next fiscal year (a whopping 67% increase from its forecast for the current fiscal year that ends this month), with 3D TVs accounting for 10% of that number. The eight Sony 3D TVs are very nice too look at and appear to be less expensive than their Panasonic counterparts. Here’s all you need to know: LX900 series The flagship LX900 series consists of four models with screen sizes between 40 ($3,200), 42 ($3,900), 50 ($4,800) and 60 inches ($6,500). Buyers will get 2 pairs of active shutter glasses, wireless LAN, full HD, 4 HDMI ports, a USB port, video-on demand, and LED backlight. The 60-inch model, the KDL-60LX900, is pictured above. There’s also an “intelligent people sensor system”, which adjusts images and sound depending on where viewers are located. And through face detection, the TVs can even be “personalized”. For example, the TVs can detect if a child is sitting too close to the screen and display a warning message. And if nobody is in the room for a certain period of time, the TVs shut down automatically (“On/Off Conscious” function). The 40- and 42-inch models will go on sale in Japan on June 10, followed by the bigger LX900 models on July 16. HX900 The HX900 series consists of a 46- ($4,350) and a 52-inch ($5,250) model. For some odd reason, 3D glasses are not included in the price. These models are full HD, too. The HX900 series shares main specs with the KX900 (outlined above) but lacks the fancy sensor systems and wireless LAN. The bigger of the two models, the KDL-52HX900, is pictured above. Both HX900 models go on sale on July 16. HX800 Priced at $2,450 for the 40-inch model and $3,100 for 46-incher, the two models of the HX800 are the cheapest of all 3D TVs Sony unveiled today. The TVs feature LED backlights, full HD and all basic specs of the HX900 but come without wireless LAN or sensors. They also lack the 3D glasses, which buyers need to get separately. The picture above shows the 40-inch model, the KDL-40HX800. The two HX800 TVs are scheduled to hit Japanese stores on July 16. Sony wireless LAN adapter The HX800 and HX900 TVs do have (wired) LAN but buyers can also get the UWA-BR100, a wireless LAN adapter that’s to be inserted into the USB port of the TVs. It’s already available in the US for $79.99 . Sony Active Shutter 3D TV glasses and synchro transmitters As the HX900 and HX800 TVs don’t come with glasses, Sony also announced the extra-large TDG-BR100 in black and the smaller TDG-BR50 in blue or pink (price: $140 each) today. Then there’s TMR-BR100, a 3D “synchro transmitter”, which makes sure the glasses can actually display the 3D images your TV produces (price: an extra $60). Sony said they will roll out these TVs globally at around the same time, meaning Panasonic will have a head start of about 3 months in the USA and 2 months in Japan. Just like Panasonic, Sony is expecting the 3D business to evolve into an important revenue machine in the near future. Here’s a Sony Japan 3D promo movie released today:
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Monday, March 8th, 2010
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Major Japanese oil wholesaler Nippon Oil and Hitachi subsidiary Hitachi Plant Technologies are developing a technology that’s supposed to make it possible to mass-produce eco-friendly jet fuel from Euglena , single-celled organisms that live in ponds and lakes. To be more exact, both companies are cooperating with and acquired shares in a Tokyo-based venture called Euglena, Inc. , which is trying to find a way to extract oil from these organisms to produce fuel. The venture says they already have a culturing system in place that can be used to grow Euglena efficiently, adding their production yield is superior to crops usually used to produce biofuel, i. e. corn or sugarcane. The current goal is to push down production costs per liter in a test plant to $0.80 per liter in order to be able to compete with regular jet fuel as far as prices are concerned. Another option, according to Euglena, is to use the biofuel for buses. The company says mass-producing Euglena-derived biofuel should be possible by 2015. Via The Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Monday, March 8th, 2010
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As everybody knows, 3D TVs are all the rage at the moment, with Panasonic being one of the most active electronics companies in that area . But until today, details on how and when those devices will be sold outside Japan were relatively scarce. Panasonic now announced it will partner up with Best Buy (the largest consumer electronics retailer in the US for those who don’t know) to market its 3D TVs in America. And Panasonic’s aim is nothing else than to become the No. 1 company in the future 3D TV segment, ahead of Samsung, the current leader in the global TV market . A total of 300 Best Buy stores in major American cities (1,000 locations by year end), i.e. New York, will create special 3D video sections to promote sales. In the US, Panasonic is undercutting Japanese MSRP by about 30%, with the first 3D TVs ready to hit Best Buy stores as early as the day after tomorrow. A 50-inch 3D TV is likely to retail for $2,500, while special bundles (TV+Blu-ray player+3D glasses) will cost around $500 more. The company confirmed the American models will have no web access functions (without which hardly any high-quality TV in Japan gets sold nowadays). Panasonic says the goal is to sell 1 million 3D TVs globally this fiscal year, half of them in America. The company calculates that selling 1 million of those 3D TVs is equal to capturing a global market share of 50% in this specific segment. Via The Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
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Ladies and gentlemen, I am not a loquacious orator. I’ve never written an impassioned speech. I’m just a part-time tech blogger. But today I must do my best to motivate — nay, to inspire — you, the tech-savvy population of the Internet, to bring all of your design and engineering and user experience skills to bear on the problem of the modern era. Set aside your silly USB gadgets, and forget the Linux-vs-Windows debate. We need to concentrate on an issue that affects us all. Yes, I’m talking about the public restroom. The Situation I wrote in the summer of 1999 about my dislike for public toilets . It’s been a decade since I wrote that. In that time, my Palm III has been replaced by a Treo 650, then a Treo 700, then a Palm Centro, and finally an iPhone. In that time, hybrid cars have become commonplace on the streets of America. Wikipedia launched and collected more than 14 million articles. People of all technical ability now regularly pay their bills online. You can do video conferencing for free from your desktop computer! Advances have been made in every conceivable industry, and yet the public toilet is largely unchanged from what it was before the turn of the millennium. This cannot stand. Please bear in mind that I don’t spend much time in women’s restrooms, so my rage may be myopic. Ladies, if your toilet experience is superior to men’s, I beg your patience. I suspect, however, that everyone could benefit from a few simple modifications to the status quo of public toilets. As I observed in my 1999 complaint, public toilets are one of the most dehumanizing experiences of modern life, and yet we continue to make and use public toilets in the same way. Little privacy, poor sanitation, and a complete stripping away of personal dignity. In no other aspect of our lives do we put up with such a deprivation of basic civility. The building in which I spend most of my working day is only four years old, but already the bathrooms are filthy, and they only get worse as time progresses. I was depressed to see, during my trip to the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, that the gorgeous new multi-million dollar buildings were equipped with entirely ordinary public toilets. The school wasn’t even fully opened yet and already the restrooms were unpleasant to look at, let alone use. I have identified a few common problems with public toilets, and I beg your indulgence as I list what are probably your own top complaints. Faucets There are two kinds of sink faucets in use in public restrooms: manual and automatic. The manual faucets are no fun to use, because the handles get covered in soapy water from the previous user, who may or may not have been thorough in washing their hands. Even if there are no germs, it’s just not comfortable to grip a soapy faucet handle. Automatic faucets are a great idea, but almost always fail in execution. The sensors are usually not sensitive enough, so users end up waving their hands around for some time under the faucet waiting for water to start flowing. Sometimes the neck of the faucet is too close to the basin, causing the user to touch the grimy basin itself. Or the neck is too high, causing water to splash unnecessarily out of the basin and onto the user’s pants. Surely there’s some elegant solution to the problem of hand washing in a public bathroom? There has to be some cost effective way to make an automatic faucet that allows one to clean their hands without making more of a mess. Soap The dispensation of soap in public bathrooms is another area just waiting for a great solution. Current dispensing technology, like faucets, is either manual or automatic. Manual dispensers suffer from many of the problems of manual faucets: they get covered in sticky, soapy water that no one wants to touch, and therefore fewer people wash their hands. Clearly this is not an acceptable solution. Automatic soap dispensers aren’t much better, though. They either don’t work, dispense too little product, or dispense too much product. Another problem with soap dispensers is their placement within the bathroom. Sometimes they’re over the sink, sometimes they’re off to the side. I can’t begin to count the number of automatic soap dispensers placed to the side of a sink that simply dispense their product all over the counter top, creating a huge goopy mess. As a clear cost-savings mechanism, there’s usually one soap dispenser placed between two sinks, causing users to wait their turn when the bathroom is busy. Hand Drying Just like soap dispensers, the mechanism for drying one’s hand is almost always poorly situated. Most often there’s a paper towel dispenser on a wall next to or opposite the sink. This causes the user to turn from the sink, dripping water all over the floor, and then make the dispensing lever all wet and yucky as they press it to get some towels. Assuming, of course, that the dispenser actually has product in it! Automatic hand dryers that blow air are no better in this situation, as the water is simply blown off the user’s hands and onto the floor. While I was in Japan, I marveled at the automatic hand dryers there. Each one had either a small shelf under it to collect waste water, or was a vertical clamshell design in which the user placed their whole hand, making the surrounding area much cleaner and drier. Of course, moving from the sink to the dryer still caused water to drip from one’s hands, so while the Japanese are on the right track, they still have considerable room for improvement. Personally, I prefer using a paper towel to dry my hands. I’m very conscious of the amount of towel I use, and try to maximize my drying with the minimum amount of towel. It pains me to see other people in the bathroom use huge reams of paper towels to dry their hands. They don’t even try to dry first, and then use more if they need it: they simply pull out fifteen paper towels and wad them up into a giant ball. But human behavior is not the point of this call to arms, so let’s side aside sloth and selfishness for a later discussion. Automatic paper towel dispensers hardly ever work. They’re too slow to respond when a user waves their hand past the sensor, assuming of course that the sensor can be found. With no clear standard design, and poor instructional markings, users are left to wave their hands over, under, and in front of dispensers until something happens. Obviously this results in water droplets splashing all around. The worst design I’ve seen — and I’ve seen it entirely too many times — is an automatic paper towel dispenser placed above or immediately adjacent to a sink. This seems at first blush like the right idea: minimize the amount of water that can be splashed around, make it easy for the user to wash and then dry their hands, and minimize the number of surfaces the user needs to touch. Unfortunately, this configuration almost always results in a never-ending stream of paper towels being dispensed directly into the sink, creating an even worse mess. Of course, the issue of paper waste also needs to be dealt with. Most trashcans in public restrooms are either too small for the volume of paper waste generated, or they’re not emptied often enough (or both!), resulting in lots of crumpled paper towels scattered on the floor around the trashcan. Flushing Urinal flushing technology seems mostly adequate, though urinal design itself could use some work. I suspect this largely my own problem, as a taller-than-average guy. For most men, I suspect the urinals work well enough for them. The flushing mechanism in stalls, though, needs a lot of work. Again, we have manual and automatic flushing. Manual flushing relies on the good behavior of the user, which is an unfortunate mistake. Automatic flushing, though, suffers from a number of design problems. The intent is well-meaning: a sensor behind the user detects when they move away and the flushing occurs automatically. In my experience, the sensor triggers as soon as I stand up, resulting in an inefficient and wasteful premature flush: I haven’t even wiped yet! When I’m done, I need to manually flush again by pressing a tiny little button embedded on a plate above the toilet. Why is the button behind me? Why do I need to turn around multiple times in the tiny stall? Wouldn’t it be better to have the flush button in front of me? And for that matter, why doesn’t the automatic flush mechanism trigger when the stall door is opened? This would, in my opinion, minimize a lot of wasteful flushing. Comfort As I complained in my 1999 screed, public toilets provide almost no comfort. They’re almost an afterthought in the building design process. The most architecturally stunning, human-friendly buildings of the common era have drab, semi-functional public toilets. Why is this? Why can’t we spend even a little extra money to provide privacy and comfort? I admit I have a shy bladder. I have a hard time urinating if I’m standing next to someone else. This is my own cross to bear, and I’m not asking for the world to change to accommodate me. But with just a little effort, we could all enjoy more privacy and comfort while attending to nature. Think about it: if you go camping, do you stand right next to your buddies while you all relieve yourselves? No, you spread out a bit to enjoy some privacy. Why then do we bunch men up in a row to take care of nature within the city limits? Utility Let’s face it: we use bathrooms because we have to. Why, then, is every public bathroom built exactly the same way, regardless of the kind of traffic that goes through the building? I’m thinking particularly of airports, train stations, and the like: people have luggage with them, but there’s almost no accommodation for this fact in any airport public bathroom. Heaven forbid you’re traveling alone with a bag of any size and need to use the toilet. At the urinal, your bag will stick out into the narrow aisle behind you, causing navigation problems for everyone. Or, your roller case will stand next to you, likely blocking an adjacent urinal. If you’re in the stall, best of luck! There’s barely any room for a human being, let along a human being with a bag. The Future In today’s world, we all cringe in disgust when we hear about how human waste was dealt with in centuries past. It is my hope — indeed, my vision — that future generations will cringe in disgust when they hear about the public toilets of the twenty first century. With your help, friends, we can make this vision a reality. I need your help, though. I need you to set aside your USB gadgets and your fanciful past times, and to apply your skills to this very real problem. Engineers, industrial designers, architects, user experience experts, efficiency experts, and every day people all need to pitch in to work together to resolve the problem of the public toilet!
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 5th, 2010
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Do you remember the ringtone for dogs a Japanese company started offering two years ago? Now Japan gets to download another equally zany app for their cell phones, a ringtone [JP] that’s supposed to clean your nostrils in case you suffer from pollen allergy. The way it works is pretty simple. All that you need to do is to download the ringtone (works in Japan only), stick your cell phone to your nose and let the Hana Sukkiri Mashinuu (“Cleared Up Nose Machine”) do the job. The ringtone provider, mobile contents giant Index, is also responsible for the Bowlingual iPhone app for dogs . The company says there are a total of 27 ways to “personalize” the ringtone, with frequencies ranging from 420 to 1,070Hz. Tell the app if you have S-, M- or L-sized cheekbones (I don’t know why), choose the frequency, and the nasty pollens supposedly fall out of your nose automatically. Right. Index launched the first version of the ringtone back in 2004 with just 3 options to personalize the melody and has been working hard on improving the performance since. Just like Bowlingual, Hana Sukkiri Mashinuu was jointly developed with a real medical doctor [JP]. Via Asiajin
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
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A Japanese company called Minebea has announced [press release in English] a series of input devices, namely a keyboard, remote control and calculator, that have three things in common: They are stylish (with a mirror look), offer no physical buttons and are really flat. Based on a “next generation” input system Minebea has dubbed COOL LEAF, the designers did away with all key tops. Instead, users will type or press “non-physical” buttons or characters on a shiny, flat mirror panel that has a light guide plate-type backlight. Minebea uses a special film made by Japanese chemical giant Toray in the flat top, and electrostatic capacity type touch panel with force sensors beneath and said backlight as the bottom layer. Another selling point (apart from the beauty-factor): Mineba says the devices (named Φ-QWERTY, Φ-Calcs, and Φ-Remote) are much easier to keep clean than their conventional counterparts. In the press release , Minebea is already speaking about commercializing the technology but doesn’t go into details. Via Tech-On
Posted by 010081
Tech
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
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Ever since Iomega announced the iConnect Wireless at CES we’ve been thinking long and hard about our NAS usage. Do we really want a NAS with built-in drives? Why can’t we be free of NAS hegemony? Well, the $99 iConnect promises to break our shackles. It’s a NAS without a drive. Here’s a quick hands on and we’ll do a full review this week. The press release, for your edification, follows. Iomega’s New iConnect Wireless Data Station: Share Files, Manage Torrents, Access Your Data Remotely, Backup Your PC and Mac And Much More for Only $99 *** Transform Your USB Hard Drives and Flash Drives into “Smart” Network Storage SAN DIEGO, January 5, 2010 – Iomega, an EMC company (NYSE: EMC) and a global leader in data protection, today announced the worldwide launch of the Iomega® iConnect Wireless Data Station, a powerful and yet inexpensive device that provides a simple way to bring all of your USB storage into your network, allowing you to connect, share and access files anywhere, even over the Internet – all for only $99.99. On display this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (Booth # 31823, South Hall 3) in Las Vegas, the iConnect Wireless Data Station has no onboard storage, instead allowing users to bring all of their desktop and portable USB storage into their network. Connect the Iomega iConnect device to your router in either a wired or wireless configuration*, and it’s as easy as plugging external USB drives or USB Flash drives (any brand) into any of the four USB ports on the Iomega iConnect device, making the drives automatically connected to and accessible from any computer on your network or remotely via the web. With that simple set up, users of the iConnect Wireless Data Station not only have incremental storage on their network to save, share and enjoy, they also enjoy such capabilities as a UPnP™ DLNA Certified AV Media Server that streams photos, audio content and videos to a variety of media devices; a torrent download manager for managing peer-to-peer file transfers; Time Machine® support for Apple® users; device-to-device replication for data protection; print serving to the network and much more. “For computer users with plenty of USB-connected storage devices, the new Iomega iConnect Wireless Data Station is great way to save money and make your USB storage drives ‘smart’ at the same time,” said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega and the Consumer and Small Business Products Division of EMC. “For less than $100, users now have a NAS device that offers everything from remote access to torrent download capability to a built-in iTunes and media server. The iConnect Wireless Data Station is a great way to utilize what you already own in a whole new way.” Benefits and Features of the new iConnect Wireless Data Station The new iConnect Wireless Data Station utilizes the acclaimed EMC LifeLine™ software, a fully-developed Linux operating environment and suite of applications that is designed for cross-platform support with Windows®, Mac® and Linux computers. Users of the iConnect device interact with an easy-to-understand interface that provides all the latest in multimedia serving as well as remote access features, making it a breeze to access your own data, whether in the office, the home, or anywhere else in the world.** Among the many value-add features of the iConnect Wireless Data Station: • Easy file sharing, data backup and print serving from any networked Windows® PC, Mac® or Linux workstation. • Gigabit Ethernet and wireless connectivity by connecting directly to your router in either a wired or wireless (802.11b/g/n wireless protocol) configuration. • Remote access allows you to connect securely from anywhere in the world and get full access to pictures, videos, files – everything stored on the connected USB drives. An added bonus: remotely access and administer the iConnect device through a personalized web address. • Simple expandability means you can add storage capacity by simply connecting more or larger external USB drives. • Device-to-device replication for data protection allows you to define a job to copy and/or synchronize files to and from the connected USB drives or any other shared storage on your network. Iomega makes it easy with one-touch copying with the QuikTransfer button on the front of the iConnect device. • Print Serving with intelligent print sharing capability for up to two USB printers. • Time Machine support allows Apple users to easily backup any Mac computers running OS X (10.5 or later) using Time Machine. • UPnP™ DLNA Certified AV Media Server provides the ability to stream photos, audio content and videos to a variety of media devices, such as game consoles (Microsoft Xbox® 360, Sony PlayStation® 3), audio bridges, iTunes® players, networked digital picture frames, Iomega® ScreenPlay™ products and more. • Photo slideshow capabilities with an integrated utility based on the Cooliris™ technology for quick browsing of pictures stored on the connected USB drives. • Torrent download manager allows the iConnect device to manage peer-to-peer file transfers without the need of a dedicated PC. • Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) provides no touch, automatic transfer of photos from digital cameras via one of the four USB ports on the iConnect device. Backup and Security Software for a Total Data Protection Solution The new Iomega iConnect Wireless Data Station comes complete with a portfolio of backup and security software, including native security support with robust username and password authorized access. RSA® BSAFE® encryption security technology is included, too, for protecting installs and upgrades from viruses or malware. RSA is the security division of EMC that protects digital data at many of the world’s largest banks. Also included with the iConnect Wireless Data Station is the Iomega Protection Suite of software. Available via download, the Iomega Protection Suite includes Iomega QuikProtect for simple scheduled file-level backup; a choice between EMC® Retrospect® Express or Express HD to back up your data, plus applications and settings; and a free subscription to a market-leading software that protects your PC with anti-virus, anti-spyware, and web security protection. Compatibility The iConnect Wireless Data Station is compatible with Windows®, Mac OS®, and Linux® PCs. The interface is localized for 11 languages (including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, German, and Russian). Price and Availability and Warranty The new Iomega® iConnect Wireless Data Station, on demonstration at the Consumer Electronics Show (Booth # 31823, South Hall 3), January 7-10, in Las Vegas, will available worldwide starting in February for $99.99. (Pricing is U.S. suggested retail.) The iConnect Wireless Data Station is backed by a three-year warranty (with product registration).
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
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A Japanese company called Idea Label has designed the “Music Planet” [JP] today, a portable, ball-shaped MP3 player that you can take with you to the bath tub. The device is IPX7-certified, meaning it can withstand immersion in water up to a depth of 1m for up to 30 minutes. The device also features an FM radio tuner, an alarm clock and stereo speakers. It supports SD/SDHC cards (up to 32GB) and has a USB port. Sized at 165×160×165mm, the Music Planet is powered by six AA batteries that are enough to listen to MP3s stored on an SD card for 13 hours (9 hours for USB files and 28 hours for the radio). The device is already on sale on Idea Label’s Japanese website (price: $120) and is Japan only. So if you live outside this country, I’d suggest you contact import/export specialists Japan Trend Shop , Geek Stuff 4 U or Rinkya . Via AV Watch [JP]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, February 26th, 2010
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Tokyo-based crap gadget maker Thanko continues to amaze. The company today announced [JP] a mouse with an integrated speaker, believe it or not (Thanko already gave us the “mid-air” mouse , the USB cooler mouse , a heated mouse , and a liquid mouse ). This new model is supposed to replace conventional speakers that take away so much valuable space on your desk, but I doubt this will happen. Thanko also throws in a mic so you can use the mouse/speaker for your Skype calls, too. The 1000dpi/USB mouse is already listed on Thanko’s Japanese website and costs $20 (including the mic). Ask import/export specialist Geek Stuff 4 U if you live outside Japan and are interested in this thing for some reason.