GW-38

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J@pan Inc Magazine Presents:
G A D G E T W A T C H
A Free Newsletter Covering the Latest Cool Stuff in Japan
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Issue No. 38
Thursday, November 22, 2001

Name: Sony Clie
Category: PDA
Price: Open (all)
Release date in Japan: (handhelds and modules) December 8, 2001

The Gist: Beefing up its popular Palm OS "Clie" line of "Personal
Entertainment Organizers," Sony has announced two new handhelds
and, at last, a couple of spiffy expansion modules that take the
form of the company痴 Memory Sticks and slot right into the top
of the machines to add great new features. There痴 a camera
expansion module -- the PEGA-MSC1 -- and a GPS unit, the
PEGA-MSG1. The camera module is a 100,000-pixel CMOS image sensor
that transforms your new Clie into a digital camera and ・ this
is nice ・ has a rotating swivel lens like Sony's DSCF digicams.
This, my friends tell me, is fantastic for taking clandestine
shots. But I wouldn't know. Obviously, the image software loaded
onto the Clie also means users will be able to do things like take
a snap, add text, and email the results off to a friend, or add
photos to their phone book, for example. The MSG1 GPS module uses
proprietary "Navin' You Pocket" map viewing software but, sadly,
owners of previous Clie models (the PEG-S500s and S300s) won稚 be
able to use the modules on their mobiles. Bah!

The two new Clie handhelds differ in that the T600C has a color
screen capable of displaying 65,536 colors, and the T400 has a
monochrome screen, but both feature very slim (12.5mm and 9.9mm,
respectively) and sexy aluminum casing. Also, both machines are
loaded with "Documents to Go 4.0" software that permits MS Word
and Excel documents to be transferred from a computer to the
handhelds and manipulated. There's even software (Clie Remote
Commander) that'll turn the PDAs (PEOs, sorry) into remotes for
controlling your TV, DVD player or VTR!

The T600C will be available in Royal Blue or Satin Silver, and
the monochrome T400's aluminum case comes in either Satin Silver
or a limited black. There's also a communications adapter
available separately, the PEGA-CF60, which allows the use of any
Compact Flash comms card for wireless Internet and can either tap
into the Clie's main battery or use an external source.

More info: http://www.sony.co.jp/sd/CorporateCruise/Press/200111/
01-1119/

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Name: PriusView
Category: AV
Price: Open
Release date in Japan: December 10, 2001

The Gist: Hitachi's digital media group has released details of its
new, "super pure color" 15-inch LCD television, the PriusView
C15-LC2100. And it's a television, not just an LCD panel, thanks to
an internal TV tuner. Part of the company痴 Prius range and intended
to complement the consumer Prius Deck series of desktop PCs (and
meaning PCs in the traditional sense, not Macs), the LC2100 comes
with a screen that is an acrylic "Raster Panel," giving very bright,
detailed images. And, says Hitachi, its in-house developed "Super
Pure Color LCD" technology gives the screen display qualities that
are far superior to previous TFTs. The best news, though, is that the
PriusView is capable of progressive scan, which as everyone knows by
now is the Next Big Thing in display technology that provides a much
clearer, sharper picture. There are connections aplenty, including a
digital D4 connector for a BS digital tuner as well as ones for video
(S-video, composite, analog RGB, DVI-D interfaces), your PC, speakers
etc, so it痴 totally multimedia ready.

More info: http://www.hitachi.co.jp/New/cnews/2001/1114/index.html

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STAFF
Written by Max Everingham (max@everingham.net)
Edited by Bruce Rutledge (bruce@japaninc.net)

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