GW-66

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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. 66

Thursday, 18 July 2002
(Long URLs may break across two lines, so copy to your browser.)

Name: Sony PCG-GRX91G/P
Category: PC
Price: About 450,000 yen
Release date in Japan: Online reservations begin early October

The Gist: Less of a gimmick than Tosh's new DynaBook (below) and more
of a bona fide evolution in notebook capability, this new GR Note wins
the "most coveted" gadget prize this week.
Described as "aimed at the high-end notebook" (no kidding!), the
PCG-GRX91G/P is a Sony Vaio notebook with a built-in DVD-RW drive. NOT
CD-RW, but DVD, so now you can create your own DVDs, thanks to the
drag-and-drop Simple DVD Maker software.
Other nice features include the trademark jog dial, in this case
centrally located under the touchpad, more connection options than you
can shake a stick at and a USB-connected, optical remote control. That
super drive runs as a 16-speed CD-R, 10-speed CD-RW, 8-speed DVD ROM
and 24-speed CD-ROM. The GRX91G/P is powered by a 2GHz Mobile
Intel Pentium P4 chip and 512MB of RAM and has a 60-gig hard disk. It
also has a 1600x1200 UXGA display, a 32MB Mobility Radeon 7500 video
card and comes preloaded with Windows XP Professional. Battery life
isn't too clever, though -- it's claimed to be from two to three (read
"two") hours.
If that simply isn't enough for you, there's a separate port
replicator with hardware M-PEG2 encoder and TV tuner packed in the
box. But this is one of Sony's ultra sexy "slim type" Vaios, so leave
the replicator on your desk at home, otherwise you lose a massive
number of cool points.

More info:
http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Style-a/Catalog/02su/Grx91gp/index.html

================================EVENT=================================
LOOKING BEYOND: ASIA PACIFIC TOUR 2002 -- Tokyo July 19, 13:00-17:30
(Networking cocktail from 17:30)

Satyam Computer Services in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon Univ.
invites you to take part in 'Process Improvement: A Foundation for
Business Excellence'.

Dr. William E. Hefley, Associate Director, IT Services Qualification
Center of CMU, globally recognized for releasing the family of
CMM models (ex. SW-CMM, CMMi), will deliver the keynote on eServices
Capability Model-the new emerging process framework for IT enabled
outsourcing services

For a complimentary invitation, please contact:
CMUseminar@gmacjapan.com
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Name: TDK LCD-panel remote CDMP1215 New Mojo audio player
Category: Portable Audio
Price: Open (but about 18,000 yen)
Release date in Japan: Now

The Gist: So that's where Austin Powers' Mojo got to: TDK snaffled it
and stuck it inside the new CDMP1210 MP3 CD player.
The CDMP1215 is really only an update of the CDMP1210 released last
November and pretty much the extent of said update is the new
inclusion of a remote control with an LCD panel. These are all the
rage in Tokyo -- or at least most consumer electronics manufacturers
believe they are -- but happily, disgruntled CDMP1210 owners will be
able to buy the snazzy new remocon separately for 3,980 yen. The specs
of the CDMP1215 remain identical to its predecessor (8-320kbps bit
rate, VBR support and 10 hours of playback) and the only other change
is a purely cosmetic one, changing the body color of the machine to a
monotone silver (it was formerly silver and blue or silver and gray).

More info: http://www.tmac.tdk.co.jp

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Name: Sony MSA-M16A 16MB Memory Stick Duo
Category: Storage Media
Price: Open (but around 2,800 yen)
Release date in Japan: July 20

The Gist: One-third the size of a regular Memory Stick, the Sony Duo
is a teeny weeny version of the company's Memory Stick.
Good thing, really, considering the competition is, like, a million
times smaller and more convenient. The Duo is currently at 16MB (but
"should" be up to 128MB by the end of the year), but then you need to
put it in a Memory Stick Adapter so it'll fit in the MS Stick slot on
your notebook, camera or whatever. What's the point of that? But the
adapter comes bundled in the pack, so I guess it's not a big deal. Oh,
hang on, the point being that the Memory Stick brand can now be used
in ever tinier consumer electronics products, the first of which will
be the D251i cellphone from NTT DoCoMo.

More info: http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Press/200207/02-0712

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Name: Toshiba DynaBook P5/S24PME
Category: PC
Price: Open (but around 350,000 yen)
Release date in Japan: Now

The Gist: A 2.4GHz P4 notebook with a GeForce 4 440 graphics card,
the P5/S24PME is no doubt a powerhouse of a portable PC.
The whizz-bang gadgety aspect here is that the keyboard comes
right out of the notebook's surround and can be used wirelessly! And,
once wrenched clear of its housing, it will keep on going for up to 20
days. There's a wireless mouse included with the notebook too and
they'll both operate up to 1m away from the main unit. How cool is
that? Alternatively, how useful is that?
Other specs in case, for some unearthly reason, the detachable
wireless keyboard hasn't made you immediately rush online and reserve
one, are, a 16in SXGA (1280 x 1024) TFT display, 256MB of RAM, a 40GB
hard disk, a DVD-CD-RW combi drive and a floppy disk drive for the
more Luddite-inclined. The laptop runs Windows XP Home Edition and
weighs 4.4kg.

More info: http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2002_07/pr_j1201.htm

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Name: Kotobuki Systems Music Recorder MP3 for GBA
Category: Gaming
Price: 9,800 yen
Release date in Japan: Early October

The Gist: Kotobuki Systems, or Kemco, has come up with a nifty little
accessory for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.
The Music Player MP3 incorporates an MP3 encoder and decoder, clips
onto your little handheld and uses its sonic capabilities to play back
some Mad Toonz.
With miniscule, stand-alone players from the likes of Panasonic
already on the market and getting cheaper all the time, you got to
wonder why you'd want something this bulky as an add-on to another
machine. Anyway, those tunes are loaded into the player via a Compact
Flash card -- an 8MB one is included in the pack -- and you can use
Kemco's widget to record music too at 64, 96 and 128 kbps, thanks to
an external input. You can even use it away from your GBA with
headphones and there are five different equalizer settings for the
Normal, Jazz, Pops, Classic and Rock playback modes when you do. Best
of all, there's a Karaoke mode, whereby the original vocals are
canceled so you can croon along to the music yourself and record the
results ready to send off to Sony Music to secure your contract.
Kemco's MP3 player comes in black or purple casings and will give you
up to 10 hours of music while you walk, jog, pretend to work or
whatever on three regular alkaline batteries.

More info: http://www.kemco-games.com/kiki/mp3/music.html

Name: Hagiwara HPC-SD512M and HPC-SD256M
Category: Storage Media
Price: (HPC-SD512M) 50,000 yen, (HPC-SD256M) 25,000 yen
Release date in Japan: July 20, July 11

The Gist: A quick note to say that Hagiwara Syscom is forging ahead
with creating ever larger SD memory cards and has now produced these
two new versions that push the limit up to 512MB at an average
transfer rate of 10MB per second. 512MB in a 2g card -- way to go,
Hagiwara!

More info: http://www.hscjpn.co.jp/newsrelease/020713.htm

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Subscribers: 2,345 as of June 18, 2002

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

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