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The Hottest Gadgets and Gizmos from Japan<br>
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Issue No. 292 Friday March 28, 2008<br>
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</div><br><br>This week's Gadget Watch takes a look at the KanaGTR audio<br>player, SoftBank's new mobile phone for stock traders, a<br>pen-shaped text scanner that decodes kanji, and two oddball<br>devices as well.<br>
<br>========================================================<br><br>GREEN HOUSE KanaGTR audio player with integrated FM transmitter<br><br>Name: GREEN HOUSE KanaGTR-2G <br>Category: Portable audio <br>Price: JPY8980 <br>Release date in Japan: Late March, 2008<br>
<br>Tokyo-based peripheral maker GREEN HOUSE announced its<br>KanaGTR-2G series of stick-type MP3 and WMA audio players.<br>Sporting 2G flash memory, the device will not only play audio<br>through headphones but can broadcast the same to your home or<br>
car stereo via a built-in FM transmitter. Add-on FM transmitters<br>have long been a popular gadget for those wanting to take their<br>tunes along on drives; GREEN HOUSE tosses in an auto<br>cigarette-lighter power adapter to further boost the<br>
drive-friendliness of its unit. Expect 7-hour playback on a<br>battery charge, 4 hours if using the transmitter. Additional<br>features include voice recorder, 7-way equalizer, and a variety<br>of play modes.<br><br>Dimensions are 29x83x12mm and 36g - very pocketable, if chunkier<br>
than the 1st-generation stick-type iPod shuffle. Intended for<br>use with Windows 2000, XP, or Vista.<br><br>More info:<br><a href="http://www.green-house.co.jp/products/mp3/kana_gtr/index.html">http://www.green-house.co.jp/products/mp3/kana_gtr/index.html</a><br>
(Japanese)<br><br>========================================================<br><br>SoftBank 920SH YK 'Stock Mobile Phone'<br><br>Name: SoftBank 920SH YK 'Stock Mobile Phone' <br>Category: mobile phone <br>Price: JPY95,520 for new account with White Plan <br>
Release date in Japan: March 22, 2008<br><br>Freeing stock traders from the PC, Softbank Mobile and SBI<br>E*Trade Securities jointly offer the Kabu Keitai (Stock Mobile<br>Phone) 920SH YK. One touch of a dedicated button launches SBI<br>
E*Trade's financial software that enables real-time (updated<br>every 5 seconds) portfolio checking, market and stock info<br>access, and online trading, all on a 3.2-inch horizontal VGA<br>screen. (You'll have to first set up an SBI E*Trade Securities<br>
account via PC, however.)<br><br>The W-CDMA + GSM phone shares other accoutrements of the popular<br>920 SH AQUOS upon which it's based: a 3.2 megapixel autofocus<br>camera, 1-seg tuner, 'o-saifu keitai' contactless IC card (S!<br>
FeliCa), microSD card memory, and web browser. The only<br>available color is black, but that's always been an auspicious<br>color in finance.<br><br>More info: <a href="http://www.kabukeitai.jp/holdings_top/index.html">http://www.kabukeitai.jp/holdings_top/index.html</a><br>
(Japanese)<br><br>========================================================<br><br>Quicktionary 2 Kanji Reader scanning pen<br><br>Name: Quicktionary 2 Kanji Reader <br>Category: handheld scanner/dictionary <br>Price: Open price (about JPY30,000) <br>
Release date in Japan: April 10, 2008<br><br>Thick kanji dictionaries have disappeared from many a desk,<br>replaced by computers (often weighing less than the<br>dictionaries) whose built-in software, or access to Internet<br>
search, makes tracking down a character's reading much simpler.<br>But what to do when you come across an eye-stopping character in<br>dead-tree text, with no guess at pronounciation to let you<br>search online, and no access to a helpful human at the moment?<br>
Time to dust off the Nelson or Spahn/Hadamitzky tome and try to<br>recall how to count radical strokes, right?<br><br>It's Quicktionary 2 Kanji Reader to the rescue. You can call the<br>handheld scanner by its nickname, 'Kanji-kun', though the full<br>
name is likable enough. (It's clearly not a SONY device, or we'd<br>have to call it the Q2-KR500SCN or such.)<br><br>Kanji-kun is a version of the WizCom Technologies Ltd.<br>(Massachusetts USA) Quicktionary 2 line of pen-shaped<br>
scanners/translators. Quicktionary II appears in a variety of<br>English-to-foreign language configurations; run the pen-like<br>scanner tip over a single word or line of text, and the device's<br>OCR software shows a target-language translation in the small<br>
embedded display. (You can get a text-to-speech reading of the<br>English, as well.) WizCom partners with a number of<br>foreign-language dictionary providers for its Quicktionary<br>variants, including Taishukan Publishing for its Genius<br>
English-to-Japanese dictionary.<br><br>Quicktionary 2 Kanji Reader is a Quicktionary II with<br>Japanese-language OCR, co-developed and sold by Tokyo-based<br>purveyor of overseas technology Japan21 Inc. Run the tool over<br>
those questionable kanji, and wait two seconds - voila,<br>Kanji-kun offers a text reading. Dictionary functions are of<br>course built-in as well, thanks to three Sanseido Daily Concise<br>dictionaries: English-Japanese, Japanese-English, and Japanese.<br>
Japan21 says Kanji-kun will read Romaji text, hiragana,<br>katakana, all 2965 JIS Level 1 kanji, and about 20% of the 3388<br>JIS Level 2 kanji. (Text-to-speech output remains limited to<br>scanned English text only.) Japan21 warns that Kanji-kun prefers<br>
nicely printed text; don't expect much when scanning trickier<br>originals like handwriting or faxes.<br><br>I wonder how much my old kanji dictionaries will fetch at Book<br>Off.<br><br>More info: <a href="http://wizcomtech.jp21.jp/product/qt2j.html">http://wizcomtech.jp21.jp/product/qt2j.html</a> <br>
(Japanese)<br><br>========================================================<br><br>BANPRESTO GUNDAM Series Core Fighter Transforming Card Holder<br><br>Name: GUNDAM Series Core Fighter Transforming Card Holder<br>Category: um... transforming card holder? <br>
Price: the price of an arcade game, plus luck and skill <br>Release date in Japan: Late April<br><br>BANPRESTO has a new prize for 'UFO Catcher'-type crane games in<br>game arcades throughout Japan: a meishi (business card) holder<br>
themed after the giant robots of Mobile Suit (Kidou Senshi)<br>GUNDAM cartoon fame. The GUNDAM Series Core Fighter Transforming<br>Card Holder changes configuration, all robot-like, to reveal<br>your hidden business card to awed onlookers.<br>
<br>Sounds like good fun for the kids!... but wait, kids don't have<br>business cards... which means...<br><br>Ah, BANPRESTO spells it out: the card holder is aimed at salary<br>men in their 20s and 30s. The novelty will let the fellows take<br>
their GUNDAM fandom out of the house for some fresh air, says<br>BANPRESTO, and act as a conversation starter in business<br>situations. (That, I don't doubt.)<br><br>Coming to game centers in late April. Get yours in time for that<br>
next big job interview, guys!<br><br>More info: <a href="http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/3566857/">http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/3566857/</a><br>(Japanese)<br><br>========================================================<br>
<br>RoboMop x Hello Kitty floor cleaner<br><br>Name: RoboMop x Hello Kitty <br>Category: 'robotic' floor cleaner<br>Price: JPY5880 <br>Release date in Japan: April 1, 2008 (March 1 at Tokyu Hands)<br><br>'Robot' is stretching things; a Roomba it's not. Nor is it a<br>
Japanese invention. Norwegian Torbjorn Aasen was inspired by a<br>battery-powered rolling toy ball to create a really simple<br>duster for hard floors: place a bowler-like 'hat' over the ball<br>with a dust-catching pad under the 'brim', let the ball run<br>
crazily all over, and presto, clean(er) floor. There's no fancy<br>brain in the patented RoboMop; the ball reverses or changes<br>direction randomly upon hitting an obstacle, theoretically<br>covering key spots throughout the room during a 30-to-90-minute<br>
run. But what it lacks in Roomba-like cleaning strategy it makes<br>up for in a toy-like price: currently under $10 on <a href="http://Amazon.com">Amazon.com</a> in<br>the US (sold as RoboMaid), versus a couple hundred bucks or more<br>
for various Roomba models.<br><br>What's new in Japan? The RoboMop x Hello Kitty 'special<br>collaboration' model sold by importer Daisaku Shoji. The sassy<br>red 'hat' and ball, sporting Kitty-chan designs in black, will<br>
zoom around a largish (12-jo) room in 30 minutes, for a power<br>recharge cost of under 1 yen. With a height of less than 9 cm,<br>it'll sweep under any furniture with a little clearance. But<br>while Daisaku Shoji touts the cleaner for tile, wood, or<br>
linoleum floors, there's no mention in the web page of<br>performance on tatami mats. And the company sells a dull grey<br>RoboMop for only JPY4980, so you pay JPY900 extra for Kitty. (I<br>say it's worth it, to see her finally get a job.)<br>
<br>More info: <a href="http://www.robomop.jp/robomop_kitty.html">http://www.robomop.jp/robomop_kitty.html</a> (Japanese)<br><br><p>================================================================<br>
STAFF<br>
Written by: Timm Tuttle<br>
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