iPad cover made by Japanese metal-workers - ARMOR for iPad

Tokyo International Gift Show Spring 2011, Takeda Kanagata Seisakusho exhibited ARMOR for iPad, a special-purpose metal cover for the iPad.

"We've designed the curves to match the image of Apple products. This cover protects the iPad while it's not being used, and when the iPad is being used, the cover goes on the back."

"We've made the cover out of metal, so it can protect the iPad's screen, while having a design consistent with Apple's image on both sides."

Because there's a slight tolerance in the iPad's dimensions, each cover is adjusted manually by professional metal-workers. For this reason, the cover is deliberately designed to feel tight when you attach and remove it when you start using it for the first time.

"We specialize in metal dies, so we wanted to make a product that exemplifies "metal." The first feature we aimed for was slimness. Our goal was a simple, stylish design that appeals to businesspeople."

"The aluminum version of ARMOR for iPad is available for 6,300 yen ($75). The titanium version costs 13,000 yen ($160). The titanium version has been the most popular by far."

Takeda plans to release magnesium and duralumin versions.

"We want these products to epitomize "Made in Japan." It's quite hard to make them in large quantities. So to start with, our goal is to sell 1,000 covers, just as the first step."

2012 Honda Gold Wing

Honda displayed its new North American model Gold Wing at its company showroom in Aoyama. The company plans to launch sales of the 2012 model in America in May with a Japanese release slated for this Autumn.

"This model is characterized by strengthened front drive and toughness, while the rear mounts a new combination taillight, for a stylish design. The seat is now made of urethane material for more a comfortable ride. The audio functions are also greatly improved, improving usability."

It has a powerful and quiet 6-cylinder 1800cc engine, the chassis is based on a highly improved aerodynamics with an elegant flow line from front to rear, for individualistic styling befitting the flagship touring model. and it also includes a sat-nav and trip planner, and a surround sound audio system with iPod connectivity.

"The main users are anticipated to be people who buy it to replace older Gold Wing models, especially in their 40s and 50s. We have not decided yet, but we want to price it boldly lower than models up until now, so that more customers can learn the attractions of the Gold Wing."

3D iPhone Display - i3DG

i3DG, which was exhibited as a Jury Recommended Work at the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival, is a device which enables 3D content to be viewed on the iPhone and Pod touch.

To display pictures in 3D, three images are combined using three half-mirrors. Content is produced in a unique format that divides the screen into three parts.

i3DG uses a different approach from current 3D devices, which emphasize realism in 3D. With this approach, viewers can perceive depth in abstract images using planes and lines, as well as a unique worldview.

Also, because this device makes it easy for anyone to create 3D content for the iPhone, the developers believe it will create a new era where people don't just watch 3D content, but produce it themselves.

Sharp IS03 Android Smartphone : DigInfo

KDDI and Sharp have announced the IS03, an Android smartphone which supports all the features traditionally found in Japanese mobile phones.

The IS03 runs Android 2.1 on a 3.5-inch 960x640 pixel display and features a 9.57 megapixel CCD camera with autofocus. It also has all the capabilities expected of a mobile phone in Japan, including the Osaifu Keitai mobile wallet service, mobile digital TV, infrared connectivity, and Decoraion Mail.

"Now that the Japanese market is quickly shifting to smartphones, we thought we also needed to offer a smartphone. As overseas makers have taken the lead in this area, we thought the most important thing was to distinguish ourselves from them. In developing this smartphone, we gave top priority to specs and features that are easy for Japanese customers to use."

The IS03 also supports au's LISMO! music service and the au one Navi Walk navigation service, bringing all the mobile capabilities people want into one handset. In addition, it supports multi-touch and Flash Lite 4.0.

"The camera is a 9.6 megapixel CCD model. Most mobile phone cameras are CMOS models with 5-8 megapixels. The IS03 delivers higher resolution and sensitivity with a very similar body size. So it takes beautiful photos even in dark locations or with fast-moving subjects."

In addition, the IS03 has the industry's first "combination LCD," with a large screen and a memory LCD. So users can always check the clock and battery life, even while the main display is switched off.

The IS03 will be available in three colors: orange, white, and black, and it's scheduled for release from late November 2010.

Docomo P-07C Fashionable Android Smartphone #DigInfo

NTT docomo has announced the first Android smartphone from Panasonic, the P-07C, as one of its 2011 summer models.

This smartphone runs Android 2.3, and features a 4.3-inch 854 x 480 pixel display. This model supports mobile TV, infrared data transmission, and tethering.

"This smartphone is mainly targeted at women, so it features a great design. The sides have a layered structure, making this model look really cute. And the rear of the phone is rounded, which helps it fit snugly into the hands."

"As this phone has a big, 4.3-inch screen, to enable ladies to hold it in one hand, we've given it a UI called a touch speed selector. This makes it easy to select applications, even when only using one hand."

The size of the on-screen keyboard can also be varied, so users can adjust it to fit the size of their hands. Even keys that are hard to reach when typing with one hand, can be pressed by making the keyboard smaller.

As an integrated application, this smartphone includes Future Plus, which provides users with a range of information pulled from a variety of sources.

"For example, you can use a single application to show the weather, news, and nearby restaurants, as well as Twitter, mail, and incoming calls, in order of the time the information arrives."

This phone also lets users decorate the home screen and keypad.

The P-07C is available in two colors, black and white and it will be released in July or August 2011.

SHOT NOTE - Next-generation Notepad for Smartphones

At Tokyo International Gift Show Spring 2011, King Jim exhibited the SHOT NOTE, a notepad for storing handwritten notes in digital format. This product will be released on February 7.

"Everyone's gotten used to using smartphones like the iPhone, and some people make notes on their iPhone. But many people think that paper notepads are easier to use. Although it is easy to write on paper notepads, paper notes can also be lost. And if you have a lot of them, it's hard to search for particular notes. So we wanted to make a product that combines the advantages of paper with smartphones, to make writing, as well as searching and organizing easy."

The SHOT NOTE is used with a special-purpose, free iPhone application. When you start up the application and take a photo of your handwritten notes, the application recognises the markers in the corners of the SHOT NOTE and automatically compensates for perspective distortion, color, and size, enabling the notes to fit into the screen precisely.

"Handwritten text can be imported as-is from the photo, and if you write in the No. and DATE boxes, on the top right of the notes, they get read using OCR. You can use the number and date to search your data and re-arrange your notes."

"Of course, you can just put your iPhone photos in the camera roll. But lots of iPhone owners also use Evernote, and they want to keep all their e-mails, pictures, and information together in Evernote. So to meet that need, we've made it possible to send notes made using the SHOT NOTE to Evernote."

Currently, the SHOT NOTE supports the iPhone only. But King Jim is thinking about providing applications for other smartphones.

The notepads are available in small, medium, and large sizes, and is priced from 320 to 600 yen. King Jim intends to sell 150,000 notepads in the first year.

Compact Fuel Cell Charger - Aquafairy AF-M3000

Compact Fuel Cell Charger - Aquafairy AF-M3000




At FC Expo 2011, Aquafairy exhibited the AF-M3000, a compact fuel cell for charging smartphones. This product will be released in April.

"It's called a fuel cell, but it's actually a generator, producing electricity using hydrogen and oxygen as fuel. It's a ubiquitous generator, providing power anywhere that doesn't have an AC supply. In particular, we've developed this fuel cell to match the specifications for charging mobile devices like smartphones."

The power output is about 3 W, and the capacity is about 3-4 W-h, so actual running time is about 90 minutes. The module weighs 128 g and the fuel cartridge weighs 17 g.

"In concrete terms, this product can charge a smartphone that's run out of power back up to 60% capacity. And it can charge an ordinary cellphone up to full capacity."

"A feature of our fuel cells is that they produce hydrogen on demand. The hydrogen is released from the hydrogen source material, and reacts with oxygen in the air to generate electricity. The hydrogen source produces hydrogen when water is added. The water and the cartridge are for one use only."

This product is currently manufactured in a limited quantity. Consequently, the module costs 25,000 yen and the cartridges cost 500 yen each.

"This price is beyond the reach of ordinary consumers, so the next step will be to start mass production. We'd like to provide the module for less than 10,000 yen and the cartridges for less than 200 yen each."

From now on, Aquafairy plans to develop fuel cells for other devices as well as smartphones.

"As this version is for smartphones, it's slightly large, but a version for regular cellphones only could be made smaller by using four cells instead of the current eight. We're also considering a larger version that delivers more power, for digital cameras, video cameras, and notebook PCs. As we're a venture, we can't release both types at once, so we'd like to decide on our next step by seeing what feedback we get from presenting this here."

Ultra-Fast Charging Smartphone Battery Charges In 10 Minutes #DigInfo

Docomo has developed a prototype supplementary smartphone battery which can be charged in just 10 minutes, and integrated it into a smartphone jacket.

"This jacket contains a battery that can be charged super-fast. There's one battery built in, and this charges fully in 10 minutes. You can attach the jacket to your smartphone while you're on the move, so the phone gets charged from the jacket."

"I think everyone's had the experience of getting up in the morning and finding they've forgotten to charge their phone. We expect that in the future, there'll be charging counters in all kinds of places, such as convenience stores and restaurants, so people can fully charge their smartphone very quickly."

"This battery is the same as previous ones in the sense that it's a lithium ion battery. But we've used a new material, titanium oxide lithium, for the negative electrode, and this enables fast charging. Here's an actual demonstration. The bottom value is the current during ordinary charging, and the top value is the current during super-fast charging. As you can see, the current is over ten times higher during fast charging."

This prototype jacket is only for the MEDIAS WP smartphone from NEC Casio, and as it requires such a high current, it doesn't support charging via a USB port.

"There's a great need for fast smartphone charging. A lot of customers say their batteries are big and take a long time to charge. To meet their needs, we'd like to utilize this exhibition to speed up commercial development of this jacket."

Smartphone Jackets With Built-In Sensors #DigInfo

Docomo has presented a range of prototype smartphone jackets which not only protect the phone, but add extra functions through the use of various sensors.

These hardware accessories, being developed by docomo, add a range of functions not normally accessible in a regular smartphone. The three jackets on display contained a UV and breath odor sensor, a radiation sensor, and a health management jacket which can check the users body fat and muscle ratios after exercise.

"There are various sensors on these smartphone covers, this one here has a radiation sensor. You slide the cover onto the smartphone like this, and start up a special-purpose application. Now you can measure the radiation level in the environment."

Jackets containing the sensors can be changed depending on the situation, so, for example, an office worker could check their breath before a meeting.

"When sensors are built into a smartphone, the problem is that the phone becomes thicker. And people don't always need sensor capabilities every time they carry their phone. So we think it would be better if customers who want to use sensor capabilities can buy sensors and attach them to their phone."

"Regarding commercial release, we're still considering this product, so we can't give a precise date yet. This prototype is being used as a sensor jacket for the MEDIAS WP from NEC Casio. We're still considering whether we need to provide a sensor jacket for each model, and whether we can make a jacket that can be attached to any model."

55" 4K Glasses-Free 3D Regza LCD TV #DigInfo

Toshiba has unveiled its flagship model in the Regza series. This new model features a 4K 2D display with four times the resolution of Full HD, as well as supporting glasses-free 3D. This will usher in the era of 4k TVs in the consumer market, and it'll be released in Japan in mid-December 2011.

"This TV has a 55-inch screen, so compared with the previous 20-inch glasses-free 3D model, it's impressively large. With the glasses-free 3D, even if several people are watching side-by-side, everyone sees a 3D picture. So with this model, you don't need glasses to enjoy 3D."

To produce a natural 3D picture, the 55X3 has a built-in face detection camera. This determines a suitable viewing range from the positions of people's faces in front of the TV, and makes the required adjustments.

"Toshiba's glasses-free 3D system produces nine pictures, so easy-to-see zones alternate with hard-to-see zones. What the face tracking does is, it moves the picture left and right on the screen, so people's field of view coincides with the easy-to-see zones."

As opposed to 3D, where there are nine "parallax" pictures with 1,280 x 720 pixels, in 2D mode, the picture has four times the resolution, at 3,830 x 2,160 pixels. To input 4K pictures like that, you need to use an adapter, which is available separately, and connect it to a PC. In this demo, video and photos taken with a 4K camera were displayed in this mode.

"We also use ultra-resolution technology for current Full HD content, like TV broadcasts and Blu-ray, to get more vivid colors. So this feature is effective even if you're only watching the content you've had so far."

"This model will be released in mid December. We expect it'll be priced around 900,000 yen."

Sony's DEV-3: 3D Full HD Binoculars #DigInfo

Sony has developed digital recording binoculars that can shoot Full HD video in 3D.

"One feature of these binoculars is variable zoom. These are ten-power binoculars and they have autofocus, which was hard to achieve with optical binoculars, as well as optical shake compensation. The autofocus and shake compensation work automatically while you're zooming. So you can capture a whole series of movements in Full HD, which hasn't been possible with binoculars before."

These Sony binoculars have twin back-illuminated CMOS sensors and BIONZ image processing engines, so they can record video for the left and right eyes in Full HD. As well as vertical and horizontal shaking, rotational blurring can also be compensated through image processing. So these binoculars enable observation and recording even at high levels of magnification, where shaking made it difficult with optical binoculars.

These binoculars have been designed so they can be easily operated while you are looking through the finder. They have two separate record buttons on the left and right hand sides as well as a manual focus dial. As the only part that lights up is on the back of the binoculars, you can easily blend into the field while bird or animal watching, so you don't attract unnecessary attention. They have a simple clean design with a focus on usability.

"Compared with a Handycam, binoculars let you record while you're watching. When you record with a Handycam, you're looking at a screen, so you can't enjoy looking at the subject itself. We think these binoculars are good for watching sports, children's presentations, birds, and animals, as you can capture the action while you watch."

They will be released on November 1, 2011 for 210,000 yen or around US$2,700.