GW-160

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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. 160
Monday, September 13, 2004
(Long URLs may break across two lines, so copy to your browser.)

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Name: Casio QV-R61
Category: Digital camera
Price: Open Price, estimated around 45,000 yen
Release date in Japan: September 16th, 2004

The Gist: As a successor to the "QV-R51" released in January by the
same company, Casio announced the new and improved "QV-R61" last week.
As the "6" in its name implies, it features a 6MP recording resolution.
But perhaps more exciting than 1 million extra pixels is the inclusion
of the "Exilim Engine," as premiered by Casio in August. This allows
for a startup time of 1 second, shutter release lag of 0.01 seconds
and approximately 280 pictures of battery life.

This camera isn't without more conventional photographer-friendly
features. You've got your 3x optical zoom, 2" TFT LCD display, SD card
support, 10~70cm macro mode focus, and the rapid-recording mode that
will record three images in just one second.

More info:
http://www.casio.co.jp/release/2004/qv_r61.html

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Name: SII IC DICTIONARY SR-T7100
Category: Electronic dictionary
Price: 56,700 yen
Release date in Japan: Late September, 2004

The Gist: Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII) will be releasing the
"IC DICTIONARY SR-T7100" electronic English-to-Japanese dictionary
later this month. You may think they need to lay off the CAPS LOCK in
their branding -- but hey, this dictionary's body is magnesium alloy.
Wouldn't you put your name in all caps if you had a magnesium alloy
body?

Users will be pleased to find no less than four English-to-Japanese
dictionaries, three English-to-English dictionaries, and one Japanese-
to-English dictionary.

One feature that struck me as particularly nice is the PC-like QWERTY
keyboard. More electronic dictionaries need these -- follow the
"More info" link below to take a look at the images on the press
release.

More info:
http://speed.sii.co.jp/pub/corp/pr/newsDetail.jsp?news=998

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Name: Logitec LUB-PTPU2
Category: USB data transfer cable
Price: Open Price, estimated around 5,000 yen
Release date in Japan: Mid-September, 2004

The Gist: In an attempt to simplify the crazy game that is PC-to-PC
file transfer, Logitec will be releasing the "LUB-PTPU2" cable around
the middle of this month.

Those of you with experience in home networking will fully understand
that with Windows, things don't always go as planned -- particularly
file-sharing. And you may have tried just getting a USB cable to
connect two computers, but soon found out that doing so really isn't
any simpler.

But I can't imagine a solution easier to set up than the one Logitec
will be releasing here. You connect one end to one PC, and the other
end to another PC, and you're all set. No installing drivers (providing
the machines are Windows ME or above), no worrying about software issues.
In fact, a utility to transfer files is stored inside the cable itself;
it will autorun when the cable is connected. A few other conveniences,
such as USB 2.0 support (meaning faster file transfers), a wind-up
mechanism and USB-port power-sharing should make this a good investment
for those looking for a quick way to transfer files between
computers ... without the headaches of networking.

More info:
http://www.logitec.co.jp/press/2004/0902.html

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Name: Rio Carbon
Category: Portable audio player
Price: 29,800 yen
Release date in Japan: Mid-October, 2004

The Gist: Rio Japan follows in the footsteps of the rest of the world's
"Rio"s by announcing the Rio Carbon for Japan. The Carbon is the world's
first player to contain Seagate's 5GB one-inch hard drive, apparently
giving Rio liberty to call the player the "lightest in its class."
The silver-colored design of the Carbon is strikingly similar to that
of the Rio Nitrus, but that's about the end of the similarities. MP3,
WMA (with DRM, too) and Audible files can all be played back, and
files can be transferred via a variety of methods.

Of these methods, the most "anti-Apple" would be the iTunes plugin;
MP3 files can be transferred using said software. But due to licensing
restrictions (I assume), AAC files cannot be copied over. Other
specifications include a 5-band equalizer, mono microphone, and 20-hour
battery life on the internal lithium-ion cell.

More info:
http://www.rioaudio.jp/company/pressrelease/2004/008_CarbonForge.html

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STAFF
Written by: Liam McNulty
Edited by: Roland Kelts (editors2@japaninc.com)

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