Gadgets: Mini Disc Player
Thu, December 22 2005
Victor Co. of Japan Ltd.'s (JVC's) latest MiniDisc player has something to be proud about. The compact XM-C37 player can manage up to 55 hours of playback or 105 hours in long-play mode. And when the battery does eventually run down, things aren't so bad: a 20-minute recharge will provide enough power for a further 15 hours of play! It will be available in Japan from Feb 2, 2006, and will cost about US$166 (C$190).
There are at least three digital cameras that can wirelessly connect to a printer by Wi-Fi and print snaps without the hassle of booting up PCs, plugging in cables, or pulling out memory cards. The latest, Canon's Ixy Digital Wireless, can also fling photos to, and be remotely controlled by, a computer. The 5-megapixel camera has a pretty standard 3x optical zoom and comes with an adapter to teach your printer how to speak wireless, although it needs to already be fluent in a jargon called PictBridge.
It's a sad fact that Japan isn't as safe as it used to be. Abductions and murders of children are occurring with alarming frequency, and parents are worried about the safety of their kids while away from home. NTT DoCoMo Inc. will answer these concerns with a new phone and tracking service. The basic service allows parents to find out the location of their child’s cell phone and, presumably, the location of the child. It works with any 3G phone on DoCoMo's network. The carrier is also launching a new handset, the SA800i, that goes a step further. It has a panic alarm that when activated will automatically call as many as three pre-registered numbers with a voice message and has also been child-proofed: The phone will keep switching itself on and reporting its position even if the child switches it off, and a tool is required to remove the battery.
Toshiba Corp. continues to challenge Apple's iPod with its Gigabeat range of digital music players. The latest are the P5 and P10 players, which combine a bright 1.1-inch OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display with distinctive design and enough space for several hundred songs. The P5 has a capacity of 512M bytes and the P10 has 1G byte. Also included are a voice recorder and an FM tuner, and the player is compatible with Windows Media Audio, MP3 and WAV files. The interface language can be switched between English and Japanese. Both are due on sale in Japan in December and will cost US$115 (C$132) and $149 (C$171). respectively. There’s no word on international sales.
So, it's not exactly going to impress your friends, but a new laptop from NEC Corp. aimed at business users is notable for what it's lacking: a hard disk drive. The 'PC Parafield' has been developed as a replacement for existing thin client systems and combines both high data security, all your important data is stored on a network server or USB memory stick, with the ability to be used anywhere. Software is stored in ROM, so it can be used without a network connection. It has 3G bytes of ROM space for the operating system and other software and 512M bytes of main memory. Aside from these changes, everything else in the machine is standard. The computer is available immediately in Japan for US$3,742 (C$4,300). At present, there are no plans to sell it overseas.
Seiko Watch Corp. is claiming a world‘s first technology coup with a new wristwatch it plans to put on sale soon. The SVRD001 watch incorporates a flexible display, so it curves with the shape of the watch around your wrist. Such displays are just beginning to appear in products, so while this may be the first it’s unlikely to be the last. If you want one, you’d better hurry to order: Seiko is making just 500 of the watches, of which 300 will be available outside of Japan. You’d also better get saving. The watch will cost US$2,175 (C$2,500) in Japan, which is almost as impressive as that flexible display.
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