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Japan Inc Magazine Presents:<br>
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<p>The Hottest Gadgets and Gizmos from Japan<br>
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Issue No. 276 Friday October 5, 2007<br>
Subscribers: 9467<br>
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Name: Sony XEL-1<br>
Category: Home Audio/Video<br>
Price: 200,000 yen<br>
Release date in Japan: December 1, 2007</p>
<p>The Gist: Say what you will about Sony's reputation,<br>
restrictive proprietary technologies, and treatment of<br>
customers, but few would argue that the company isn't one of<br>
the top innovators in consumer electronics. At least in Japan,<br>
Sony has consistently been a powerhouse when it comes to<br>
offering technology on the absolute bleeding edge. You'll<br>
certainly pay for this privilege, and maybe your friends will<br>
make fun of you, but Sony never seems to 'hold back' on<br>
releasing a product solely because it may hard for customers to<br>
justify the purchase price. </p>
<p>Sony's XEL-1 is an excellent example of this fact, as it's the<br>
world's first TV to make use of organic EL display technology.<br>
The result is impressive on a number of technical dimensions.<br>
Since an organic EL display essentially works 'similar to a<br>
lightning bug' (according to Sony), the XEL-1 has achieved a<br>
contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. In other words, the blacks of<br>
this TV are literally as black as night. On the product's<br>
webpage, Sony flat-out tells us that nothing on the internet<br>
will do the set any justice. What the internet can do justice<br>
to, though, is the 3mm thickness of the TV's screen. Since it's<br>
an organic EL display, Sony doesn't need a backlight as is<br>
required on LCD screens. There's no telling how only 3mm of<br>
screen will stand against impacts, but hopefully you won't be<br>
throwing objects at your screen anyway. Presuming development<br>
of the technology can at least continue at its current pace,<br>
organic EL displays are likely to replace LCDs in a number of<br>
applications. </p>
<p>Sony has separated the tuners and other various electronics from<br>
the screen itself, so there's a base that features the screen's<br>
various connectors. An arm holds up the screen. Even so, the<br>
entire package weighs a mere 2kg.</p>
<p>Since this technology is still in its infancy, the XEL-1<br>
definitely has some drawbacks. The first is the resolution: it's<br>
only 960x540 dots (a quarter the resolution of a 1920x1080<br>
screen). It's also only 11 inches. And the price tag? 200,000<br>
yen can land you a 46 inches Sony Bravia LCD with Full HD<br>
resolution. </p>
<p>But that's not what this product is about; surely Sony doesn't<br>
expect to sell a whole lot of these given their low resolution,<br>
small size, and high price tag. No, this product is sort of like<br>
Russians placing a metal flag underneath the North Pole: they<br>
did it solely because they can and wanted to lay claim to<br>
an area of increasing importance. Sony is making a statement to<br>
the world. They wanted to be the first to lay claim to the<br>
organic EL display TV market. Given Sony's history with TVs, it<br>
only makes sense for them to be the first to dive into the<br>
market. We certainly welcome Sharp, Panasonic, Hitachi, Toshiba,<br>
JVC, and other manufacturers to show Sony up.</p>
<p>More info: <a href="http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/oel/index.html" title="http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/oel/index.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/oel/index.html
</a><br>
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Name: Sony Walkman NW-A910<br>
Category: Portable Audio/Video<br>
Price: 4GB: 30,000 yen, 8GB: 35,000 yen, 16GB: 45,000 yen<br>
Release date in Japan: November 17, 2007</p>
<p>The Gist: We normally try to avoid featuring two products from<br>
the same company within each issue of Gadget Watch, but we're<br>
going to have to make an exception this week for Sony's new<br>
NW-A910 series of Walkman portable audio players.</p>
<p>There's always ongoing debate about whether companies should<br>
adapt locally or standardize globally when it comes to<br>
globalization, so it's interesting to see how companies like<br>
Sony and Apple take different approaches to marketing their<br>
products in foreign countries. Apple has certainly done an<br>
excellent job in Japan, but their global standard approach<br>
sometimes make you wonder if they aren't missing opportunities<br>
in countries where customers have different demands.</p>
<p>Sony's new NW-A910 is like someone taking Apple by the collar<br>
and yelling 'LOCAL ADAPTATION!!!!' in its face. While Toshiba<br>
has already released a number of different 'gigabeat' models<br>
with 1-Seg support, the NW-A910 is Sony's first Walkman device<br>
to do so. Available in capacities from 4GB to 16GB, the NW-A910<br>
looks like some of Sony Ericsson's mobile phones. The NW-A910s<br>
feature a 320x240 LCD screen, 74g weight, and integrated noise<br>
cancellation functionality.</p>
<p>It seems Sony wasn't slacking with their implementation of 1-Seg<br>
on the device, as it not only displays program info for 10<br>
channels simultaneously, but you can schedule recording of those<br>
programs. With 16GB of space, you're really getting a portable<br>
1-Seg video recorder (about 100 hours). The convenience of 1-Seg<br>
is in full force with such an implementation. A few mobile<br>
phones allow 1-Seg broadcast recording, but even Sony's own<br>
1-Seg tuner for the PSP doesn't have this. Captions are<br>
supported, and you can choose to display captions in list-style<br>
if you don't feel like actually watching the shows you recorded.<br>
Unfortunately, there's no telling what you can or can't do with<br>
those shows after you record them; it would be nice if you could<br>
archive them on your PC somehow.</p>
<p>The NW-A910 is a fully featured portable media player as well,<br>
with support for MPEG-4 AVC and MPEG-4 videos, as well as MP3,<br>
WMA, ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus, ATRAC Advanced Lossless, Linear PCM,<br>
AAC, and HE-AAC audio. Additional features include a 'Digital<br>
Sound Enhancement Engine' for restoring compressed audio<br>
frequencies, a WM-PORT for all of those fancy Walkman<br>
accessories, album cover-based searching, and 36 hour playback<br>
time for music. </p>
<p>More info: <a href="http://www.sony.co.jp/walkman/" title="http://www.sony.co.jp/walkman/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.sony.co.jp/walkman/</a><br>
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Name: Hitachi CP-A100J<br>
Category: LCD Projector<br>
Price: 504,000 yen<br>
Release date in Japan: Mid-January 2008</p>
<p>The Gist: Hitachi brings us the CP-A100J, a rather unique<br>
approach to the standard LCD projector. It's equipped with what<br>
the company calls a 'Free Curve Lens Mirror' that allows for<br>
projection of an 80 inch image to a screen when the projector<br>
is only 63cm away.</p>
<p>Traditional LCD projectors blast light directly through LCD<br>
screens to project their images, and as a result, they generally<br>
need to be placed a quite distance from the screen to project an<br>
image of respectable size. With Hitachi's new CP-A100J, however,<br>
the image is first projected onto the surface of a bendable<br>
mirror, which of course causes the light to bounce once again to<br>
the screen or wall. The key here is the bendable mirror: it can<br>
bend such that the projected image does not appear to be<br>
distorted. The result, of course, is that you can place the<br>
projector much closer to the screen itself. Hitachi supposes<br>
this is useful for storefronts, projecting presentations onto<br>
meeting room tables, and of course video games. For the meeting<br>
room table situation, the projector supports vertical<br>
operation; it can project a 45 inch screen onto your meeting<br>
room table from this distance. </p>
<p>The specs of the projector are 'corporate', so the LCD projector<br>
has a resolution of 1024 x 768. It's equipped with a monaural<br>
speaker, Ethernet port, D-Sub 15 pin jack, Component input,<br>
S-Video input, Composite input, and it weighs 5.8kg. </p>
<p>More info: <a href="http://www.hitachi.co.jp/New/cnews/month/2007/09/" title="http://www.hitachi.co.jp/New/cnews/month/2007/09/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.hitachi.co.jp/New/cnews/month/2007/09/
</a><br>
0927c.html<br>
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STAFF<br>
Written by: Liam McNulty<br>
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Start a Company in Japan</p>
<p>Entrepreneur's Handbook Seminar 6th of October, 2007</p>
<p>If you have been considering setting up your own company,<br>
find out what it takes to make it successful.<br>
Terrie Lloyd, founder of over 13 start-up companies in Japan,<br>
will be giving an English-language seminar and Q and A on<br>
starting up a company in Japan.<br>
This is an ideal opportunity to find out what is involved,<br>
and to ask specific questions that are not normally answered<br>
in business books.<br>
All materials are in English and are Japan-focused.</p>
<p>For more details: <a href="http://japaninc.com/terrie_lloyd/" title="http://japaninc.com/terrie_lloyd/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://japaninc.com/terrie_lloyd/</a><br>
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<p>Japan's First Family Social Network is here! <a href="http://www.piqniq.jp/" title="www.piqniq.jp" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">www.piqniq.jp</a></p>
<p>Are you raising a family in Japan? Do you speak English?<br>
Would you like to meet other English speaking families in<br>
your area? Piqniq is a Social Network Service tailored<br>
specifically for you!<br>
Our concept is "Families helping Families" and we invite<br>
anyone that wants to meet other families, help other families,<br>
or discuss family-related issues pertinent to life in Japan<br>
to come and join the Piqniq today!</p>
<p>For more information: <a href="http://www.piqniq.jp/" title="www.piqniq.jp" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">www.piqniq.jp</a></p>
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