Indoor Firework projector by SEGA TOYS

July , 2010 ·  

Here is an ideal way not to deprive your children from experiencing a firework. SEGA TOYS announced an indoor firework entertainment system “Uchiagehanabi” allowing users to enjoy skyrockets without using a fire at home. Well, it is all projected images. “Uchiagehanabi” is just a compact size projector with the body size of 19cm (W) x20cm (H) x20.5cm (H) with six built-in lenses and one speaker. “Uchiagehanabi” is capable of projecting skyrockets looking like the real one on the wall or the ceiling with a sound. The nearly three hours consecutive operation is possible with four size AA alkali batteries. The biggest skyrocket comes with a diameter of 1.2-1.5 meters. There are various skyrocket operation modes to enjoy from such as “a fireworks display mode” and “a pyrotechnist mode”. “Uchiagehanabi” comes with 9 cartridges and each cartridge has five different patterns of fireworks on the negative films, also the package includes 3 special message cartridges such as “I love you” and “Happy Birthday”. In addition, you can create your own fireworks on clear films which are also included in the package. The “Uchiagehanabi” comes with optional cartridges such as “Sumida river fireworks display set” and “Fireworks for home party” with the price of 2415 yen. “Uchiagehanabi” will go on sale on August 1st and the price will be 15540 yen.

Read More

Stone Sauna an emerging health trend in Japan

July 8, 2010 ·   

“Ganbanyoku” is one of the health trends emerging in Japan. The word “Ganbanyoku” means “stone bath” or “stone sauna” in Japanese. “Ganbanyoku”warms your body deep from the inside helping to activate the body metabolism as well as improving blood circulation. Furthermore, Ganbanyoku can have detoxification effect since the stone contains a lot of minerals and emits far-infrared ray. TAGUCHI SEKIZAI INC in Gifu, Japan created a stone bed that heats up a body by just laying on it providing an enjoyable “Ganbanyoku” experience at home. The company uses granites produced in Hirukawa area in Gifu prefecture where is famous for its granites containing high degree of radium. The surface of the granite is coated with nano silver coating and the heating of granite stone bed which is done by using P.T.C heater takes approximately 20 minutes. But your home “Ganbanyoku” does not come cheap. The price tag on this stone sauna is 882,000 Yen including tax with a dimension of 2.1mx0.8mx0.4m and its weighs 80kg. This is not the only product by this company, TAGUCHI SEKIZAI produced many kinds of products which are made of granites such as a stone cube which can create natural mineral water by just putting stones into the regular water.

Read More

The World’s Thinnest Far Infrared Heater

We have seen it in all sorts of shapes and forms but nothing this thin. This newly developed far infrared based hear measures only 1mm thin, developed by a venture company in Japan. The company has successfully managed to make a thin heater based on mixture of paper and carbon fiber. Up to now, the heater’s use has been limited for floor heating, but AIM design Institute uses this technology in manufacturing stylish heating furniture and panel heater. The panel heater is very easy to install and it enables users to set temperature from 25 up to 60 degrees Celsius.
Due to use of far infrared ray, the heart is not suited to warm up the whole room; it is more suitable for warming up part of the body which faces the heater. Other products include chairs, stool and foot heater with a very low power consumption for example using foot heater costs only 0.4 yen/hour. The panel heater is available in two sizes which are 90W and 135W types. Both heaters come with controller and the price tag of 108800 yen and 133000 yen respectively.

 2010 ·   

Read More

SHARP Introduces, Industry’s Thinnest and Most Compact Terrestrial Digital and Analog Tuner Unit

AUG, 2010 ·  

With increasing demand for more thinner and stylish design of LCD TVs as well as digital video recorders products from consumer, manufacturers of such equipment has been working hard in various areas to respond to this demand. One of the components within the LCD TVs as well as digital video recorders that have been cause for over sized products is tuner units within these equipments, where such products typically incorporate multiple tuners in providing the functionality to receive simultaneously multiple channels. Furthermore, the manufacturers of such equipment need to incorporate both digital as well as the analog tuners to fulfill world wide market, which is also instrumental in increasing the final product form factor. In response to this challenge, Sharp has successfully developed an all-in-one terrestrial tuner unit which incorporates both the digital as well as analog circuitry in one unit. The newly developed VA1N2WF2121 tuner unit for terrestrial digital and analog broadcasting features a new silicon tuner IC that fully integrates the components that make up the tuner circuitry in a monolithic semiconductor device. Through this achievement, Sharp has qualified the new tuner unit as industry thinnest profile of only 5mm, and most compact size of 4.44 cc. Furthermore, the new VA1N2WF2121 tuner unit comes with a built-in digital signal processor as well as low-noise amplifier, designed to improve and boost reception performance while contributing to improve viewing experience in areas with poor signal quality. Combining both digital and analog terrestrial broadcasts covering all regions of the world into a single unit eliminates any needs for designing separate receiving circuits for accommodating each broadcast system.
The new VA1N2WF2121 tuner unit has receiving frequency spectrum for VHF, UHF, CATV full-band, with compatibility to 45-862 MHz. The digital output, the IF signal output is from 4 to 57 MHz, and the analog output are the CVBS and SIF signal output. The mass production of VA1N2WF2121 tuner unit will commence as of August 30th, 2010, at a planned monthly production of 500,000 units. The current sample price for each unit is at 20,000 JPY.

Read More

Development of Wireless Power Transmission System by MURATA

AUG, 2010 ·  

Following the foot step of Sony’s and like, Murata Manufacturing has made an announcement on development of a wireless power transfer technology ,namely field-coupled wireless power transmission system capable of supplying power to devices wirelessly, where the devices can be charged by simply placing them on the charger without any needs for power cords or other physical connections.
The filed-coupled system is a wireless power transmission method, where the electrodes are positioned at the power-sending and power-receiving ends, where the energy can be transmitted through the electric filed that has been generated between these electrodes. Due to the fact that capacitance is generated between two electrodes, the system is also called a capacitance coupling system. The system has been developed based on Murata’s circuit design know how and the power transmission technology of TMMS. The new system can be targeted for various applications such as charging of cell phones, mobile music players, digital still cameras, notebook PCs, light fixtures, decorations, etc. Also by incorporating the new charger into an office desk, the desk will turn into a “smart” desk capable of charging notebook PCs, and other such devices. That’s not all, by incorporating the system throughout transportation and accommodation facilities, devices can be charged anywhere without any needs for AC adaptors. The new system comes with transmitted power of 1 to 10 W. Murata is planning a mass production by 2011, with a monthly production of 10,000 units. The target price for pair power-sending and receiving module is 980 JPY. There are 10 patents pending relating to this transmission method

Read More

Development of Close Proximity Wireless Communication Technology integrating Transmitter and Receiver Circuit Block in a Single Chip

AUG, 2010 ·  

Close proximity wireless communication technology is nothing new; it is currently being incorporated into contact less smartcards; however further adoption of this technology for small equipment has been a issue, due to requirement of a large antenna area of credit card size, in order to achieve a sufficiently small noise level as well as high tolerance for misalignment between the transmitter chip and receiver chip. In response to this technical challenge, Renesas Electronics has successfully, developed a close proximity wireless communication technology requiring an antenna of only 1mm in diameter, making it ideal for on-chip integration, where a short-range data transmission of within 1cm distance can be achieved.
The new technology will eliminated any needs for metal connectors in small terminal devices such as memory cards as well as wires in hinges of mobile terminal devices, where previously contactless communication has been difficult to achieve. Renesas has developed a prototype transceiver chip based on this technology, with an integrated antenna capable of transmission speed of 15 megabits per second, at par with data rate that is required for high definition terrestrial TV transmission. Furthermore, the new technology can also eliminate any needs for large size power consuming phase locked loop (PLL) within the receiver part, since the receiver does not need to generate any synchronization signals, resulting in reduced power consumption on the receiver side by approximately 50% in comparison to conventional design.

Read More

Development of New LCD Controller Enabling Dual Display on Mobile Devices by SHARP

AUG, 2010 ·   

Following Toshiba’s announcement on development of industry’s first dual touch screen “liberto W100”, Sharp Corporation took that one step further, by introducing industry’s first LCD controller for mobile devices capable of simultaneous display of two different contents on two different screens at resolution of half-XGA which is 480×1024 pixels. I guess the next playground for mobile device manufacturer is the dual screen/touch screen feature, which is a handy feature for up coming eBook readers.
According to Sharp the demand for dual-screen display is growing. The idea of dual screen is nothing new, mobile manufacturer they have already introduce them as a primary and secondary LCD screen in mobile phones, but Sharps take this further by extending this idea to two primary screens, displaying different content on each split screen.The new LR388G9 LCD controller comes with a 32 Mbits of built-in video memory a two fold increase in comparison to its predecessor and a faster image processing speeds, which is essential for displaying two different contents in a dual-screens. The new LR388G9 LCD controller is also enables the full-HD video to be outputted to an externally connected LCD TV, video projector, or other type of display devices. Additionally, the LR388G9 LCD controller features a high-speed serial interface (MDDI 1.2/MIPI as well as wide range of other interfaces such as those found in cameras, SD memory cards, and IrSimple (Infrared communication). The new LCD driver will hit the market by July 5th, 2010, with planned mass production by September of 2010. The sample price is at 2,400 JPY.

Read More

Development of New Process for Integrating Low-Power, High-Speed RRAM devices on a 128-kbit Memory Chip

AUG, 2010 ·   

Adding new features while lowering the power consumption of IT equipments is in every manufacturer agenda. One of the top candidates in achieving this power reduction is within memory devices, shifting the demand for low-powered high-speed memory devices. This has lead researchers and manufactures to non-volatile devices requiring power for only read and write data and not for retaining data. An ideal candidate is RRAM, a new non-volatile memory type which are being developed by many companies. The technology comes with some similarities to CBRAM as well as phase change memory. So far different type of RRAM has been proposed based on various dielectric materials, from perovskites to transitional metal oxides and chalcogenides. Based on this, group of researchers at AIST (National Institute of Advance Industrial Science and Technology), Sharp Corporation, Institute of Semiconductor &Electronics Technologies of ULVAC and Professor Kazuya Nakayama and Akio Kitagawa of Kanazawa University has successfully, developed a process for integrating low-power, high-speed non-volatile resistance random access memory (RRAM) devices on a 128-kbit memory chip.
The team has also succeeded to fabricate chip arrays on an 8-inch wafer. The RRAM chip array fabrication was done using the existing semiconductor manufacturing process, avoiding the use of high cost components such as noble metal electrodes as well as materials requiring special handling, resulting in a cost competitive memory devices. The institute is currently working to resolve all issues associated with commercialization of the new device at the array and chip levels for is early application and commercialization.

Read More

Launch of New Tough Tablet PCs for Educational Institution in Japan

AUG, 2010 ·  

In accordance to set policy of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, with an aim to increase the role of ICT in educational institution, Toshiba and Intel have made an announcement that will jointly commercialize specialized tablet PC that could withstands all the tears and wears associated with educational environment. The new CM1 among the entire tough feature comes with monitor that rotates 180 degrees. Furthermore, its 10.1 inch tough screen LCD supports pen input which allows students to practice handwriting. Additionally, the CM1 features a handle for easy carry around the school. The CM1 is based on Intel Learning Series hardware reference design for developing education use PCs around the world, and Toshiba’s notebook PC technologies, such as robust, shock resistance designs, with low power consumption. The new tablet PC features a slip resistance rubber coating for use on school desktops.
Furthermore, the CM1 can be connected to electronic blackboards and projectors wirelessly, for presentation and collaborative works. The CM1 come with Intel Atom Processor N450 (1.66 GHz) as well as Intel NM10 Express Chipset. It also has a 160 Gb/2Gb capacity with approximate dimension of 286 x 216 x 35.6 to 57.0 mm, and weight of 1.8 kg. the new CM1 table PCs will hit the Japanese schools at the beginning of August, 2010.

Read More

Fujitsu Develops Outpatient Guidance Solution based on Electronic Paper Technology

AUG, 2010 ·   

No one likes the stress of waiting in the hospital waiting room, and if you ever got stuck in hospital or clinic waiting room, this solution may come as a relief both for sake of using your time more effectively as well as minimizing your chances of catching that special type of flue from someone close to you in that waiting room. Typical clinic and hospitals now a days use the electronic signage in their waiting rooms to let visiting patients who will be called next, however this solution requires all patients to stay near the waiting room and the display screen, resulting in crowding the place. In order to offer healthcare facilities with a way of improving their services and amenities that they provide to their outpatients as well as relieving patients from stress of waiting and providing them with the means to use their time more effectively, Fujitsu has come up with a outpatient information solution that is based on electronic paper technology.
The new solution through a proprietary wireless communication system connects electronic card holders which is e-paper based in helping patients with navigation system guiding patients to examination rooms or diagnostic testing rooms in healthcare facilities, as well as an electronic medical record system. The new system will provide detailed guidance information delivered to the electronic card holder of an individual during their visit form check-in all the way through the payment. The electronic card holder shows outpatients their place in the waiting lineup and will notify them when their turn comes up through visual displays and vibration, allowing patient to leave the waiting room and spend their time however they find most pleasing and less stressful, so long as they are within signal range. The new system is commercially available from today, but shipment will commence from Feb. 2011. Fujitsu has set a sales target of 30 systems over the next three years.

Read More

Release of IC Card Marketing Campaign System by TOPPAN Printing

AUG, 2010 ·  

Toppan Printing earlier this month has released a system that company calls it “TOP TOUCH” designed for implementing effective marketing campaign by leveraging usage histories for electronic money and transport cards carried by general users. Toppan’s main business targets are companies in fields of transport, distribution and eating and drinking which issue their own IC cards. Up to now there has been no effort to make use of information such as usage histories stored on IC cards due to lack of methodologies or know-how, making most campaigns aimed at all IC card holders to be conducted regardless of their usage history. The new “TOP TOUCH” IC card campaign system, provide a capability for reading and using the usage histories that has been accumulated on IC cards such as electronic money and IC transport cards.
Leveraging this system, companies will be able to hold prize draws and points that meet certain conditions such as purchasing products over certain value using an IC card, or using a certain mode of public transportation in visiting a shop or even attending an event, resulting in an increase frequency of IC card usage by general public. The devices in this system come with a compact size, not requiring special installation space, where they can be incorporated into POP display. Further connection of these devices to a network opens the possibilities of implementation of effective campaign at a lower cost. The terminal set for this system cost 150,000 JPY, plus system usage fees (e.g. Point rally using 10 terminal sets would cost 120,000 JPY per month). There are also separate initial costs and network line cost. The cost will differ depending on the type of campaign. Toppan is setting sales target of 300 million JPY by 2012.

Read More

GOPAN the World’s First Rice Bread Maker by Sanyo

AUG., 2010 ·   

This could be good news for all bread lovers without having to deal with wheat allergy. Sanyo just came up with the new concept of home bakery, and the company calls it GOPAN. GOPAN is not your average home bakery system; it comes with fully automatic rice mill function allowing its users to turn their uncooked rice into bread, well rice bread to be exact. But not to worry, GOPAN can take care of your other conventional bread as well, plus more. The bread making machine comes with the Gluten and nut automated putting feature, plus others for making JAM, Noodle as well as rice cake.
GOPAN is a bit on a heavy side assuming you are not going to lift it on an every day basis, it comes at a hefty 11 kg weight and it measures 354mm (W) x 278mm (D) x 387mm (H). The GOPAN comes with powerful milling motor of approximately 6300 rev./min. and kneading motor of approx. 400 rev./min. It takes approximately 4 hours to have your own bread ready with timer setting of up to 13 hours. The GOPAN will hit Japanese retail store on Oct. 8th, 2010. Sanyo is planning a monthly production of 10,000 units.

Read More