Sick of using the antiquated P-Touch to make labels for your files? This beautiful bright red cube is a viable, modern alternative to the traditional label-maker—press that little black button and the lid opens up to expose a LCD screen and keyboard. Type in what you want your label to say, choose a font and size, and press print. The sticker comes out of that tiny slit in the side.

via .tokyomango 

Fujifilm Corp. and Nintendo Co. Ltd have collaborated to launch a new photo printing service exclusively for the Nintendo Wii gamers. The  "Wii Digicam Print Channel" is available only to Japanese Wii users and lets them upload images from SD cards to receive customized photo products like prints, business cards and photo books.

The Price List is:


* Photo print - L / 3R sized (127 x 89mm / 5" x 3.5", ¥30 including tax
* Business card - Standard Japanese business card (91 x 55mm / 3.6" x 2.2", ¥500 including tax for a set of 30 cards
* Photo book -
o A4, 6-page ring bound (297 x 210mm / 11.7" x 8.3", ¥2,480 including tax
o Square, 20-page ring bound (152 x 152mm / 6" x 6", ¥1,575 including tax

via digitalcamerainfo 

Adorables docks tout en bois pour les iPods par le japonais Marubeni Infotech.

Le dock existe en deux versions. Une version en noyer pour l'iPod Classic 5G et une version en bouleau pour le Nano 3G.

Les amplis délivrent une puissance modérée de 2X1W, mais les prix sont attractifs, respectivement 64€ et 58€.

Lancement au Japon début juillet.

via tendancehightech 

If you thought the prospect of mind controlled gaming was too much information for your geeky little brain to take, prepare to absorb another futuristic wearable gadget. Although the man in the picture and his equipment look slightly deranged and a tad wacky, it's all for a very good reason. He's controlling his portable music player with his eyes - yes, with his eyes! The custom made headphones, with powerful microchips, have been designed by a Japanese researcher, who is also the one modelling the device. This is no joke my friends, this eccentric but *real* breakthrough in portable music players can really be controlled solely by rolling your eyes.

via shinyshiny 

Shares in Toray rose over 5 percent on the news, while Mitsubishi Rayon jumped more than 6 percent.

The Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday that Nissan Motor Co (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Honda Motor Co (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) are also participating in the programme, being led by the government, which is providing 2 billion yen ($18.53 million) over five years.

Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), as well Honda and Nissan, denied the automakers were part of the project.

The paper said the companies, along with Toyobo (3101.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Takagi Seiko Corp (4242.Q: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and researchers from the University of Tokyo, aim to be able to mass produce the material by the mid-2010s and to make vehicles 40 percent lighter than steel-use cars.

Spokeswomen at both Honda and Nissan said they were exploring various new materials to use on vehicles but denied they were developing a new carbon fibre material with Toray and others.

Nissan said Toray currently supplies it with carbon fibre material, which it uses in high-end models such as the GT-R and 350Z sports cars and the Infiniti G35/G37 coupe in components such as the propeller shaft.

The Nikkei daily said the use of carbon fibre will likely improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent.

One of the issues is the high price of carbon fibre, but the cost gap with steel is expected to narrow over time as steel prices continue to rise, it said.

The NEDO spokeswoman said the government is also researching the further use of aluminium and other metals to replace some steel use on vehicles. Some cars already have an aluminium body to reduce weight but the cost is still prohibitive.

The companies also plan to develop technology to recycle carbon fibre to reduce production cost, the paper said.

Toray ended the morning session at 591 yen, up 29 yen. Mitsubishi Rayon was at 360 yen.

Nissan gained 0.1 percent to 833 yen, while Honda rose 2.7 percent to 3,800 yen. The Nikkei average .N225 was up 1.3 percent. ($1=107.93 Yen) (Reporting by Sachi Izumi and Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Michael Watson)

via reuters 

Deep within the tony district of Kichijoli in Tokyo, there is an annual exhibition on display that makes NES fans hearts go a flutter. The Famicase Exhibition is a collection of NES cartridges with designs for games that never really existed. Instead they are the cartridges of fictional games inspired by fans love for NES  other and existing games. For geeks like us, this exhibition is the kind of art we can truely wrap our heads around, it’s just a shame that the exhibition hasn’t been brought state-side.

via chipchick 

The iPhone 3G in Japan has a special feature unique to that country: The camera always makes a conspicuous “shutter” sound when a picture is taken, even when the phone is set to “silent” mode.

The loud shutter sound is supposed to deter voyeurs from taking sneaky pictures up women’s’ skirts — or down their tops.

In Japan, upskirt and downblouse shots have become increasingly popular with the advent of high-resolution camera phones.

As a result, all cell phones sold in Japan make a conspicuous shutter sound, or say the word “cheese” when a snap is taken, according to Nobuyuki Hayashi, a tech reporter based in Tokyo. On almost all new cell phones, the camera shutter sound can not be muted, Hayashi says.

“Some manufacturers have even put louder shutter sound,” he reports.

The shutter on the first iPhone sold in Japan could be muted in silent mode; an anomaly that many wondered whether Apple would correct in the iPhone 3G, Hayashi says.

Apple did: The shutter sound cannot be turned off, even in silent mode, Hayashi says.

Are pedometer-based toys the next big thing? Now that the “brain trainer” craze has died down, and all of this stationary game playing is making us fat and lazy, games are now forcing us to get off the couch and go somewhere.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Jinsei Game (otherwise known as the Game of Life), Takara Tomy is releasing a toy that mixes the exercise qualities of the Lap Around Japan toy with the tamagotchi-like interactivity of Takara Tomy’s other “jinsei series” products.

The Jinsei Game Puchi is a pedometer-based game that doesn’t let you play unless you get some exercise! With every 300 steps you take, the wheel gets a single spin to move you through the game. Get a job, make money, have kids, buy a house, and live your life…as long as you keep walking.

via kilian-nakamura 

Robot developer tmsuk has unveiled a remote-control robot that promises a new way to shop from the comfort of home. A prototype of the telerobotic shopper — a modified TMSUK-4 humanoid robot that incorporates a variety of cellphone communications technology — was demonstrated on July 10 at the Izutsuya department store in the city of Kitakyushu, Japan.

In the demonstration, an unwell grandmother unable to go shopping with her granddaughter sent the robot in her place. Using an NTT DoCoMo video-capable cellphone, the grandmother was able to control the robot and enjoy the shopping experience through the robot’s camera eyes. As curious shoppers looked on, the woman maneuvered the robot to the hat section, eyed what was available on the shelf, and had her granddaughter model a few for her before deciding which one to purchase.

According to tmsuk, this innovative type of “3D communications” technology brings us a step closer to a future in which telerobotic shoppers roam the fashionable areas of cities like New York or London.

via pinktentacle 

The Japanese government will team up with several Japanese companies to develop key-technologies for producing large-size OLED panels. The aim is to cut the development cost for the Japanese companies, to be better able to compete against Samsung and LG, and the Japanese government will pitch in around 32$M. 

The project will also try to make the displays more efficient and have longer lifetime.

One report says the project will run till 2013, another that it will run until 2015, and the aim is to produce 40" OLED TVs by then. We'll have to wait and see...

The companies include -

• Sony
• Toshiba
• Matsushita
• Sharp
• Idemitsu Kosan
• Sumitomo chemical
• Dainippon Screen Mfg
• Shimadzu
• Hitachi

Interesting to see Sharp in there, after having stated that "OLEDs will not threat LCD for at least a decade".

via oled-info.