GW-107

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J@pan Inc Magazine Presents:
G A D G E T W A T C H
The Hottest Gadgets and Gizmos from Japan
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Issue No. 107
Thursday, July 10, 2003
(Long URLs may break across two lines, so copy to your browser.)

Name: Elecom USB cables
Category: PC peripherals
Price: "Swing" cables: 0.5m cable, 1,250 yen; 1.5m cable, 1,450 yen;
3m cable, 1,550 yen
Magnetic cables: 1m cable, 1,600 yen; 2m cable, 1,700 yen
Release date in Japan: mid-July 2003

The Gist: Many things the Japanese make are ingenious simply because
they're a marvel of miniaturization. And then some are ingenious
because we'd never have thought of doing it ourselves. These new
widgets from Elecom fall squarely in the second category. There are
two types of USB cable on offer here ・ the "swinging USB cable,"
which, you may not be excessively surprised to hear, swings through 90
degrees in either direction. As you do. And then there's the "magnetic
USB cable," which makes metal stuff suddenly fly towards you at great
speed. Or sticks to the sides of metal cabinets and such, if you
prefer. The point of the swinging cable, for our less switched on
readers, is to make them far easier to manipulate without being forced
to bend the actual cable itself and thereby risk damaging it. I know
I'm always very concerned about damaging my cables and you should be
too. Both extension wotsits use the new, high-speed USB2.0 standard,
allowing communication up to 480Mbps.

More info: Swing cable
http://www.elecom.co.jp/news/200306/usb-swing/index.html
Magnetic cable
http://www.elecom.co.jp/news/200306/usb-extension/index.html

============================ EVENT ==================================
THIRD INTERNATIONAL JAPAN AUTOMOTIVE ROUNDTABLE
Mapping the road ahead
July 17th 2003, Tokyo
http://www2.economistconferences.com/doc/ap/jpauto03/i.htm

Join senior decision-makers and discuss the best strategies for
reversing the slide and to debate new directions for the industry.
Meet industry leaders from Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan Motor,
BMW Japan, Volkswagen Group and many more...

A special 10% discount is applicable for J@pan Inc readers.
When you register, simply quote "E3C" when you receive your
J@pan Inc discount. Register online at:
http://www2.economistconferences.com/doc/ap/jpauto03/r.htm
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Name: Apple G5
Category: PC
Price: from $1,999
Release date in Japan: n/a

The Gist: As the second biggest market in the world for Apple, Japan
is bound to get all excited about this one ・ the new Power Mac G5.
Just in case you're not really a Mac man (or woman, of course), here's
the skinny: It's the world's fastest PC (that's personal computer,
folks, and not some damning insult against Mac fans) and the first one
in the world to break the four-gigabyte barrier. It does this by
running two 2GHz processors in tandem and, thanks to the adoption of
AGB and PCI-X for massive bandwidth (PCI speeds from 33MHz to 133MHz
and throughput from 266MBps to 2GBps), means you're looking at a mean
machine that doesn't just look mean, but plays mean too.

Said to outpace any Pentium 4 Intel would like to chuck at it, the new
G5 desktop AGP 8X Pro bus allows throughput of 2.1GB/sec, allowing
Apple to stick megapowered graphics cards such as the ATI Radeon 9800
Pro and NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra in the systems.

The connections are souped up too, with a FireWire 800, three USB 2.0,
a Gigabit Ethernet, optical digital and analog audio ports. There are
three models available (1.6GHz, 1.8GHz and that dual 2GHz model), all
boasting the DVD-R/CD-RW Superdrive, three PCI slots, ADC and DVI
connectors. The models are ready for Airport Extreme and can also be
configured to chat with your Bluetooth gadgets if you like.

More impressively still, the G5 is a study in design. It looks
amazing, it's impressively efficient in the use of space inside the
box, and it's easy to upgrade. Who isn't going to want one?

More info:
http://www.apple.com/
http://www.apple.co.jp

======================= SPECIAL AUTOMOBILE ===========================
J@PAN INC magazine -- the journal of business, technology and people
in Japan -- invites you to participate in our special, comprehensive
advertorial section on the AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY in JAPAN scheduled for
the OCTOBER 2003 issue.

What will you get?
- Priority advertising space in the special Automotive section.
- Prime Exposure at the Tokyo Motor Show 2003.
- Interview and select quotations in the feature story.
- Directory listing containing all of your corporate contact
information.
- Exposure in both the print magazine and the www.japaninc.com Web
site (OVER 550,000 page views/month).
- Access to J@pan Inc's Executive readership and to all members of the
American Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

J@pan Inc will team up this year with JAMA (the Japan Automobile
Manufacturers Association, Inc), the official organizer of the
Tokyo Motor Show 2003 -- the most highly anticipated automobile
exhibition in Japanese history, to be held starting October 24.
This alliance will provide you with stellar visibility at the event,
appealing to more than 1,000,000 visitors for a period of two weeks.

For more information please contact:
Fabien Brogard on 3499-2175 ext: 1709 or email fabien@japaninc.com
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Name: Leica R8/R9 DIGITAL-MODUL-R
Category: Digital cameras
Price: n/a
Release date in Japan: TBA

The Gist: Here's one for the Luddites. The "DIGITAL-MODUL-R" is a
"digital back" module for 35mm cameras, perfectly suited, they tell
us, to the R-System Leica R8 and R9 SLR cameras. Stick one onto the
back of these pro snappers and you've got yourself the best of both
worlds ・ analog and digital ・ with the convenience of digital photos
and the versatility of a manual, including being able to swap in any
Leica R-lens. The digital module houses a 10 megapixel CC (allowing up
to 3,876x2,584-pixel RAW, TIFF or JPEG images), can handle from 100 to
800 ISO and records to an SD memory card. The battery is a lithium ion
rechargeable cell, transfer takes place via Firewire (IEEE 1394) and,
size and weight-wise, it's about the same as sticking a motor drive
onto your base R8 or R9.

More info:
http://www.leica-camera.com/produkte/rsystem/digitalmodul/index_e.html

======================= HOT PRODUCT =============================
ANALYZES COMPLEX JAPANESE POSTAL ADDRESSES TO ENSURE DATA QUALITY
Basis Technology has developed Japanese Postal Address Analyzer
(JPOST), a library to be used for data cleansing systems or GIS
applications.

JPOST parses, normalizes and validates Japanese postal addresses so
that it helps your system process address data correctly even if there
are duplicate or incorrect inputs.

For more information, URL:http://www.basistech.com or
contact us at tokyo.marketing@basistech.com
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============================= EVENT ==================================
"Informal business networking event over drinks and light buffet.

Date: Friday July 18th 7PM

Share Ideas and Resources. Look for Cooperation/Partnership.
Meet the creators of www.TokyoNOOK.com (a creative way to target
businesses in Tokyo). Meet innovative companies such as
http://www.Dynamicweb.jp, a content management solution from Europe
which is splashing into Japan.
Earlybird discount. http://www.international-promotion.com or
contact paul@next-unit.com - 03-5774-1456
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Subscribers: 3,674 as of July 10, 2003

STAFF
Written by: Max Everingham (max@everingham.net)
Edited by: J@pan Inc editors (editors@japaninc.com)

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