MIPS Technologies Unveils Smartphone Featuring MIPS-based processor

MIPS Technologies Inc exhibited the first mobile phones featuring a processor with a MIPS (Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages) architecture in a hotel near the venue of the 2011 International CES.This time, the company showcased two models. One is an Android-based smartphone, and the other is a low-priced mobile phone that is often called "feature phone." The operating system of the latter is eCos, an open-source real-time OS.The two phones are scheduled to be released in the Chinese...

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Japanese Maker to Sell USB-powered 15.6-inch LCD Display

Green House Co Ltd announced a 15.6-inch LCD display that has a power consumption as low as 5W and can be powered via a USB 2.0 cable.The company expects that the display, "GH-USD16K," will be used as a monitor for a desktop PC or a sub-display. It will be released in late January 2011 in Japan. Its price will be ¥17,800 (approx US$215) at the company's online store.The pixel count and brightness of the GH-USD16K are 1,366 x 768 and 220cd/m2, respectively. Its contrast ratio is 400:1. Its view...

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Sony Aims to Be Number-one Maker in US in 2013

Phil Molyneux, president and COO of Sony Electronics Inc, had a press conference for Japanese media Jan 7, 2011. He has been working for Sony for 20 years or more and became the president and COO of Sony Electronics Sept 1, 2010. The followings are the questions and answers raised in the conference.Q: How about the sales of 3D TVs in the US?Molyneux: In the year-end sales season, which is from November to December 2010, Sony acquired the largest market share in the 3D TV market. In 2010, 3D TVs...

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Panasonic Exhibits Gesture-input Remote for TVs

Panasonic Corp prototyped a gesture-input remote for TVs and demonstrated it at the 2011 International CES.A TV can be controlled by holding the remote by hand and moving it. The company also developed a graphical user interface (GUI) for the remote, and the GUI can be three-dimensionally operated on a 3D TV.In addition to gesture input, a TV can be controlled by using a touch sensor attached to the tip of the remote. A thumb is placed on the touch sensor, and a pointer on the screen, etc can be...

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NEC Avio Launches Small Non-contact Skin Temperature Measurement Device

NEC Avio Infrared Technologies Co Ltd released a non-contact skin temperature measurement device integrated with a desktop mirror.The device, "Thermo Mirror SX-01," was developed to find people who have a fever due to, for example, flu virus at the reception areas of companies and other organizations. NEC Avio had a press conference to explain about the product Jan 11, 2011, in Tokyo.NEC Avio is a major infrared thermography manufacturer. When SARS emerged in 2003 and when a new type of flu appeared...

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Funai to Debut Android-based Universal Remote in March

Funai Electric Co Ltd exhibited a multi-touch TV remote based on Android 2.2 at a private booth in a hotel near the venue of the 2011 International CES.The remote is equipped with a 7-inch display. Funai will start shipping it in March 2011 in the global market. The price is expected to be ¥30,000 (approx US$362) or less, the company said.Funai developed the remote by making improvements to a remote that it demonstrated at CES in 2010. It not only functions as a universal remote but can be connected...

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Casio Develops World's 1st BLE-compatible Watch

Casio Computer Co Ltd showed a watch compatible with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a low-power consumption version of the Bluetooth wireless technology, at the 2011 International CES.The watch, which is powered by the CR2032 button battery, operates for at least two years without replacing the battery while using near field communication, Casio said. It is the world's first watch compatible with BLE and will be commercialized within 2011, the company said. Casio had a demonstration of using the watch...

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Toshiba to Launch Its Google TV in FY 2011

Toshiba Corp commented on the developmental status of its "Google TV," which has already been reported by some media, at a press conference that took place prior to the 2011 International CES.Toshiba admitted that it is now considering developing a product based on Google TV, a software platform that was jointly developed by Google Inc, Sony Corp and Intel Corp for TVs."Toshiba is not a company that will release such a product ahead of other companies," Shoji Murasawa of Toshiba Visual Products...

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Sony: Its E-book Business Different From Apple's

"We are aiming to acquire a share of 40% in the global electronic book market in fiscal 2012," said Sony Corp, which has been leading the US electronic book (e-book) market with Amazon.com Inc.We interviewed Fujio Noguchi, who supervises Sony's e-book business as deputy president, Digital Reading Business Division, Sony Electronics Inc, about the company's perspective on and strategies for the e-book market. (Interviewer: Yasushi Uchida & Takuya Otani, Nikkei Electronics)Q: The e-book market...

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Softbank to Release 'E-money Sticker' for iPhone

Softbank BB Corp will release the "E-money Sticker for iPhone," which can be attached to the iPhone 4 and enables to use it for payment in or after mid-February 2011.As for the format of contactless IC card, the sticker supports Sony Corp's FeliCa. The shape of the sticker fits the back of the iPhone 4.Softbank BB will release three types of the sticker. They support Aeon Co Ltd's "Waon," bitWallet Inc's "Edy" and Seven Card Service Co Ltd's "nanaco" e-money services, respectively (each sticker...

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Energy firms eye building 100 hydrogen stations by 2015 for fuel-cell cars

Gas suppliers and oil companies say they will seek to build some 100 hydrogen supply stations at four major city areas to prepare for the launch of mass-produced hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles in 2015. The four areas in which hydrogen fueling stations will be set up center on Tokyo, Aichi, Osaka and Fukuoka.A total of 10 energy companies made the announcement in a recent statement jointly issued by Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co., signaling their coordinated efforts...

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Osaka Station to be rebuilt into 'eco-station' that uses recycled rainwater, solar panels

As part of large-scale remodeling work on JR Osaka Station scheduled for completion in April, JR West is giving the station a green makeover, making it into an "eco-station" that will use rain runoff and solar panels.Rainwater from the new 180- by 100-meter dome-like roof, as well as wastewater from restaurants and other facilities that will be in the 31-story "North Gate Building" under construction on the north side of the station will be collected and filtered in a water tank capable of holding...

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Tokyo Tech to develop 'green' supercomputer

Tokyo Institute of Technology plans a five-year project beginning next fiscal year to develop a supercomputer with a cooling system that uses snow, ice and underground water in cold weather regions.If successful, a supercomputer with a superior energy-saving system will be created.Amid the intensifying global competition over supercomputers, one significant technological hurdle is that the larger a super-computer, the more electricity it consumes.Currently, supercomputer cooling systems consume...

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Tomatoes contain nutrient which prevents vascular diseases

They are the most widely produced fruit in the world and now scientists in Japan have discovered that tomatoes contain a nutrient which could tackle the onset of vascular diseases. The research, published in the journalMolecular Nutrition & Food Research, reveals that an extracted compound, 9-oxo-octadecadienoic, has anti-dyslipidemic affects.The team led by Dr Teruo Kawada, from Kyoto University and supported by the Research and Development Program for New Bio-industry Initiatives, Japan,...

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Stem cells could restore lost breasts

A research institute to be established in spring will attempt to regenerate the breast tissue of mastectomy patients from their own stem cells, sources said.Kyushu University and Osaka University will join hands with other national universities and medical institutions to establish the institute to help breast cancer patients, with clinical tests scheduled to begin by March next year.The institute hopes to devise a treatment that will gain government approval and be covered by health insurance,...

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Japan creates 1st artificial rare metal

In a world first, Japanese researchers have produced a new alloy similar to the rare metal palladium, a breakthrough that could help alleviate the nation's dependence on other countries for this resource.The alloy was produced with nanotechnology and has properties similar to those of palladium, a rare metal located between rhodium and silver on the periodic table of the elements.Led by Prof. Hiroshi Kitagawa of Kyoto University, the research team also produced alternatives to other kinds of rare...

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Panasonic tablet has TV-based services

Panasonic Corp. on Wednesday said it will globally release a multifunction tablet device in the second half of the year that allows e-book, video-streaming and other services to be used with its Viera Internet-capable televisions. Shiro Kitajima, president of Panasonic Consumer Electronics Co., the company's major U.S. arm, made the announcement at a Las Vegas hotel ahead of the four-day Consumer Electronics Show starting Thursday. The touch-screen tablet, which operates on Google Inc.'s Android...

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Sony aims by 2012 to take second-largest slice of tablet market, behind iPad

Sony Corp. is aiming high with its tablet computer under development, eyeing the second-largest share of the global market after Apple Inc.'s iPad by 2012, a company executive said Thursday."Although it's certain that the iPad is the king, the point is who will take second spot?" Kunimasa Suzuki, a Sony executive, told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.Sony has been working on the specifications of its tablet, including options such as adopting Google Inc.'s Android operating...

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Brain changes explain why teens have no fear

THE brain undergoes changes in adolescence that suppress fearful experiences learned in childhood, said a study released on Monday that could explain why teenagers act so brashly at times.Scientists studied the fear responses of mice for clues about how adolescents would react to situations that resembled prior experiences that involved pairing of electric shocks and tonal noises.When they compared how adolescent mice showed a freeze reaction, compared to younger and older mice, they found that...

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Japan's NTT Docomo, Dai Nippon launch e-book service

JAPANESE telecommunications giant NTT Docomo and publisher Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) on Tuesday announced a joint e-book service to take advantage of a wave of launches of tablet computers and e-readers. The new venture, 2Dfacto, will on Wednesday open a Japanese online bookstore with an initial 20,000 titles, including books and manga comics, for users of smartphones and e-book readers marketed by NTT Docomo, the companies said. The venture is set to expand to 100,000 titles over the next few months,...

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'real green teabag' by hyung gyun jung + il seop so + han bi jung + jae young heo - iida awards 2010

'real green teabag' by hyung gyun jung, il seop so, han bi jung and jae young heo 'real green teabag' by hyung gyun jung, il seop so, han bi jung and jae young heo is one of the shortlisted entries from more than 4000 participants in the 'iida awards 2010' competition, organized by designboom in collaboration with incheon metropolitan city. when green tea is brewed improperly, it releases a chemical that diffuses the positive effects of drinking it. the design of the teabag aims to be...

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