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 Apple iPod mini
Gadget fans are very fickle creatures -- or maybe that's just me. Most of us go crazy with desire over the latest gadget one day, only to forget it the next and move on to the Next Big Shiny Thing as soon as some clever consumer electronics marketing department thinks it up. For instance, how many of you leapt on the "MUST buy an iPod" bandwagon, filled it up with tunes and are now wondering what's next to look forward to? Go on, admit it. And thanks to Apple's canny marketing gurus, you now have something to genuinely lust after, with the arrival of the new iPod mini. Try and guess what it is. I'll put you out of your misery -- it's a 4-gig version iPod, but it's much smaller, with dimensions of 50.8 x 12.7 x 91.4mm and weighing only 102g (3.6oz in real money). But you can still stuff an amazing 1,000 songs on it, it has 25 minutes of skip protection, the battery lasts eight hours and it comes in five colors: silver, gold, green, pink or blue. Belt clip and earbud headphones included.
More info: www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20040107/apple1.htm
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 Sony HMD1G
MD champion Sony has just announced a trio of brand new MD Walkmans that are compatible with the new "HiMD" standard (also announced recently by Sony at the International CES 2004 exhibition, held in Vegas this January).
This new-fangled HiMD format slam-dunks the capacity of the good old regular MD flavor, allowing a huge 1GB of digital space for your recording pleasure and a maximum of 45 hours of tunes. HiMD allows for better quality recordings, increased capacity, improved compatibility with PCs and copyright protection technology. On a regular 80-minute disc, you'll be able to squeeze 13 and a half hours of 48kbps recordings, or about 300MB of data.
Still capable of playing back discs in the old MD format, Hi-MD players use ATRAC3 (65,105 and 132kbps), ATRAC3plus (48,64 and 256kbps) and Linear PCM Codecs, representing a genuine step forward for the format. As for the three new models, there's the playback-only MZ-EH1 model; the recordable, USB-compatible MZ-NH1; and the USB playback-only MZ-NH3D. And they all look great.
More info: www.sony.co.jp/Products/Hi-MD/
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 San Disk Cruzer Micro MP3 Companion
Hailing from California-based memory and peripheral manufacturer SanDisk, the Cruzer Micro MP3 Companion is a cuddly friend for the SanDisk Cruzer Micro, which we know you're already planning to buy. Actually, it's not all that cuddly, finished as it is in the ubiquitous super-cool silver metallic casing that nearly every gadget wears these days. Built to accommodate the Cruzer Micro USB flash drive (which we're told is about half the size of a stick of chewing gum and just slips into the slot provided), the MP3 companion instantly converts into a portable MP3 player. Good for music, data and any other digital files you can think of, the memory sticks themselves come in 128, 256 and 512MB capacities, and the docking station-type MP3 player has a backlit LCD readout so you can identify what you're playing. The battery (a single AAA) should last for seven hours.
More info: www.sandisk.com/pressrelease/20040108a.html
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Sharp DV-RW200
Seems every great piece of kit these days costs about JPY100,000, so if you have that kind of spare cash lying around, and you've been thinking about getting all your old VCR tapes transferred onto DVD but can't be bothered with buying a DVD recorder then messing around with cables, Sharp has just the thing for you. The new DV-RW200 is a DVD and VCR recorder in one neat, single unit, allowing the simultaneous recording of programs on both DVD and videotape -- even if they're showing at the same time. And you can very simply dub from a tape you insert in the machine onto DVD. Happily, the machine itself is not the ugliest thing you've seen since Temptation Island. In fact, it is quite tastefully finished in silver. For those of you in Japan, the DV-RW200 has an internal BS tuner. Plus there's a DV input for hooking up digital camcorders. All very neat indeed, so come on you Luddites, get hooked up and get with the 21st century!
More info: www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/040115-2.html
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Sharp PW-9300
You might not have any interest in learning Japanese, but if you do, an electronic dictionary is an absolute godsend. Personally, I find it hard to get excited about an electronic dictionary -- in the world of gadgetholics, it's the technological equivalent of a vacuum cleaner: functional and necessary, but not terribly exciting. But I must admit, the new models are incredibly small and slim, and contain a massive number of dictionaries. Most impressively, though, is that the screens are now fantastic. They're bright, clear and very easy to read. Comparing these sexy new machines to my old Wordtank is like comparing Pioneer's incredible new DVD recorder/HDD combos (http://tinyurl.com/3fbpe) to the first ever Betamax VCR (www.betainfoguide.com/7200newa.jp). Of these new dictionaries, the Sharp ones seem to have the best screens. So feast your eyes on the PW-9300: 22 dictionaries' worth of wordage for your delectation and delight. This machine's claim to fame is that it's actually the world's biggest electronic dictionary reference for the examination hell that young Japanese folk have to trawl through each year. But if that's not up your street, get over to Laox or Yodobashi and have a look at the range for yourself.
More info: www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/pw9300.html
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 Sony HMD1G
Sony has released a funky new Airboard and, even though I'm quite sure you're too busy to even care what this bit means, it's compatible with IEEE 802.11a, g and b flavors of wireless protocols. Even more startlingly, the model name actually make sense! The LF bit of Sony LF-X1 actually stands for "Location Free." The LF-X1 can free you up from having to put the thing in a single location and use it only there. Astonishingly, by connecting the base station to the Internet via Ethernet, you can leave it and the source unit (e.g. DVD player) at home but take the display itself and then view whatever it's showing in a completely different city. The screen is an 800 x 600-dot TFT touch panel, which owners can use to surf the Internet, check their mail, watch TV and download music while in the bath. All sorts of image-source machinery can be connected to this Airboard's base station, then get wirelessly transmitted to the portable display itself, including a VCR, DVD player, DVD recorder, satellite receiver and even the PSX.
Now, I was messing around with a handheld TV from Casio in the o-furo (bath) the other day up in Sendai (don't ask -- you really don't want to know the details) and have decided that portable TVs totally rock. They're brilliant. Shame Japanese television is such utter trash. Apart from the sumo, obviously. And NFL transmissions on Gaora that cut out the advertisements.
More info: www.sony.co.jp/Products/Hi-MD/
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