Nikon Imaging Japan is releasing a robust and water-shedding high-end camera bag – the “Shooting Master Shoulder Bag L” on June 27. Its material is the same as that used in a bulletproof vest.
Inside of this camera bag, there is enough room for a digital single-lens reflex camera with a standard lens, a few interchangeable lenses, and a speed light, all carried together.
And although it holds a lot of things together, the shape is narrow-designed so that the camera bag looks very stylish.
When it starts raining, you can take out a rain cover that is built into the bottom pocket and put it on the camera bag.
Estimate price: ¥40,950 Size: (Outer size) W520 x H280 x D240mm, (Inner size) W420 x H250 x D180mm Weight: 2,600g Accessories: Name tag with the “Nikon” logo on, rain cover, large-sized shoulder pad
Pioneer is going to release 2 new AV amplifier models (SC-LX57, SC-2023) in late July.
They feature “Direct Energy HD Amp” that is capable of supplying high-revving power simultaneously while playing multiple channels so that they can play powerful sounds. They can play high-resolution sounds like WAV, FLAC, Apple loss-less, and AIFF and also play DSD file with a very high sound quality.
In particular, because of its new “Audio Scaler” functionality, “SC-LX57″ can upgrade all 2ch digital contents including CD and 96.kHz high-resolution sounds onto 192kHz/32bit and 176.4kHz/32bit. In addition to that, it has “SABRE 32bit Ultra DAC” manufactured by ESS Technology, Inc, which enables “SC-LX57″ to play rich bass sounds.
Both models are compatible with iPad/iPhone/iPod touch/iPod nano, MHL, HDMI terminal, AirPlay and wireless connection.
SC-LX57 Estimated Price: ¥187,000 Size: 435 mm × 185 mm × 441 mm Weight: 15.3 kg
SC-2023 Estimated Price: ¥120,000 Size: 435 mm × 185 mm × 441 mm Weight: 14.7 kg
“LINE” is an instant messaging application hugely popular in Japan and elsewhere in Asia for smartphones, tablets and PCs. As of April 30 2013, the number of LINE users exceeded 150 million. It’s a messaging application with a lot of unique cute stamps and new stamp collaborations with big companies. Through these collaborations, more characters get added often on LINE, further increasing its popularity.
Takara Tomy produces goods related to LINE’s major characters such as Cony (rabbit), Brown (bear) and Moon (human). We saw a lot of LINE goods at the International Tokyo Toy Show 2013 last week in Tokyo Big Site.
This new one that we haven’t seen before is called “LINE Town – My Touch”. It looks like a smartphone and kids can use it to write messages, send stamps, etc.
According to Takara Tomy staff who explained to us about the toy, the recognition rate of LINE by elementary school students is more than 30% and many of them have been longing to use LINE. Parents would be concerned if it was a toy that connects to the internet, however, “LINE Town – My Touch” is not internet compliant. It has NFC function built-in and kids can send messages to each other while they are hanging out together. After they return home separately, they are not able to exchange messages.
There is a function that kids can use to enjoy “LINE Town – My Touch” by themselves. If he sends a stamp on the messaging window, the character will send him a reply that matches the stamp he just sent. For example, if it is a smiley Moon’s stamp, he will hear “You always smile.” from Moon.
Price: 6,825 yen Colors: Green, Pink, Blue Release date: August 2013
Evergreen released a smartphone stand “DNSB-18630″ today (June 17th).
It is a robot-shaped stand, that comes in 5 colors and which can hold the smartphone by using a sanction cup on the bottom.
There are two 3.5mm stereo mini-pin holes when the head of the robot is opened. When the robot stand is plugged into the 3.5mm earphone port, it is possible to connect two separate earphones or headphones at the same time so that you and your friend can listen to music together.
Main body size: diameter: 33mm, height: 52mm. Weight: 10g Colors: red, blue, green, black, white
Toshiba is going to release tablet “REGZA Tablet AT703″ on June 21.
“REGZA Tablet AT703″ features Toshiba’s original handwriting notebook application “TruNote”, that enables you to take a maximum of 1 million pages of notes, using any colors or kinds of lines you like, categorize them and keep them in order. Also, those notes can be convertible to the text for emails and Microsoft Office files, etc. easily.
Toshiba says users will definitely enjoy the feel of writing and says that it feels as if you were writing on paper.
With the “TruCapture” app, you can take a photo of a note on a whiteboard with “REGZA Tablet AT703″ after the meeting and digitize the note.
It features a high-resolution WQXGA (2560×1600 dot) 10.1 inch LC display, and famous European audio manufacturer harman/kardon’s stereo speaker to bring powerful sounds.
Price: Open price Size: 260.7 x 178.9 x 10.5 mm Weight: 671 g Platform: Android 4.2 CPU: NVIDIA Tegra 4 mobile processor Memory: 2GB Communications: IEEE802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE802.11ac (Wi-Fi, WPA/WPA2, WEP, AES, TKIP), Bluetooth Ver.4.0 Interface: USB2.0, HDMI output terminal. 3.5mm mini jack Charging time: 4.5 hours Battery life: 9.5h Accessories: Bluetooth keyboard, Digitizer pen, micro USB cable, AC adapter, Power cord
The massive Tohoku earthquake that struck Japan on March 11, 2011 was a reminder of the seriousness of seismic activity in Japan. It can, and does, strike anywhere in the country, and in fact, many experts predict that the next big earthquake may hit in the middle of the east coast of the country, near Tokyo.
So, as one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, it should be no surprise that truly remarkable technologies have been developed and put to use, here in Japan, to protect people and assets from the effects of earthquakes.
Earthquake Countermeasure Technology
There are roughly 3 primary technologies employed to combat the effects of earthquakes, with many variations and combinations of these:
Resistance – Engineering a structure to improve the ability of pillars and beams to withstand seismic force – basically architecting structures to absorb the force of an earthquake.
Damping – A number of methods are employed here such as rubber fittings or “viscous dampers” under structures to help absorb the force of shocks.
Seismic Isolation – Here, systems are put in place between buildings and their foundations, eliminating direct transmission of earthquake shocks to buildings by compensating for the movement of the ground below, passing on literally little to no movement to buildings or mounted objects above.
Seismic Isolation
I had the good fortune of seeing, first-hand, a demonstration of Seismic Isolation technology recently at the 23rd FINETECH JAPAN convention at Tokyo Big Sight and I was absolutely impressed.
The demonstration was given by THK Co., Ltd. of Nishi-Gotanda, Tokyo. On display was their Seismic Isolation Table (Model TSD). It was a platform of about 1.5 square meters with a server rack on top of it. The plate under which the table was sitting was moving to simulate the magnitude of the Great Tohoku earthquake of March 11, 2011, in the area of the greatest shaking. The Isolation Table was absorbing virtually all of the movement below, illustrated by a bottle of water mounted on the table – there was virtually no sloshing of the water inside.
This isolation table showed how this technology is put to use to protect important delicate machinery, robots, server racks, computer systems, etc. It is also used by wine collectors to protect their collections and by art museums to protect priceless artwork.
THK Seismic Isolation Table
THK’s technology is also put to use in Seismic Isolation foundations for new buildings. The idea is the same, on a large scale. Whole buildings are isolated from the shaking below on a series of seismic isolation mounts. This technology is optimal for structures up to 10 stories high, and is effective, in conjunction with Damping Systems, in protecting high-rise buildings.
THK’s Seismic Isolation for buildings
Seismic Isolation – How it works
THK’s core expertise is using ball bearings to develop “Linear Motion Systems” – converting a mechanical component’s linear motion into a “rolling” motion, which greatly improves the fluidity and smoothness of movement.
They have developed high-precision rolling tracks, using ball bearings, in various combinations, to allow for motion in any lateral direction as dictated by an earthquake. Vertical motion is also compensated for as the table or foundation provides a solid base to be anchored to as motion continues. Once movement has ceased, the systems have springs that are used to restore original positioning.
THK’s technology is used under new buildings built in Japan and other seismically active areas. Based on the company’s ball bearing and high precision movement technology, building positioning literally compensates for various lateral and vertical movement of the ground, dramatically dampening the perceived movement and shaking caused by earthquakes and reducing potential damage.
A couple high profile examples of this technology in use:
The National Art Center, Tokyo
Aichi Prefectural Office, Nagoya
Current Use and Future Potential
Earthquake countermeasure technology is in use in modern construction in Japan, and the rule-of-thumb is generally that the newer the building, the more sophisticated the employed technology.
There is no doubt that this technology made a difference during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Sendai, the largest city in Tohoku, and quite close to the center of the earthquake had relatively little structural damage among its office and residential buildings.
Resistance and Damping technology are by far the most employed earthquake countermeasure technologies, however Seismic Isolation is gaining ground quickly after having proved itself as particularly effective in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.
Meanwhile, many areas of the world share the same fate as Japan, with disastrous earthquakes hitting recently in New Zealand, Italy, China, Chile, Iran, Indonesia – with more to come.
Seeing the amount of destruction around the world from earthquakes that are often of much lesser magnitude than those in Japan, I think that use of Japanese earthquake countermeasure technology could see an increase in the future around the world. This is an area of Japanese technology that should have a lot of future potential, but whether the market overseas can be properly developed remains to be seen.
Special thanks go to Toshio Saiki and Tomoko Kayaki of THK Co., Ltd. for assisting me with information and pictures as I assembled this story.
Based on the dynabook V713, the V713/H is nothing more than an “Bluid To Order” convertible PC oriented for businesses and comes with the same basic features. However, unlike the V713, the V713/H comes with Windows 8 Pro 64Bit and the ability to downgrade to Windows 7, a selection of Core i5-3439Y, i5-3339Y and Celeron 847 CPU, 2 or 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, a Full HD 11.6 IPS LCD, WiFi ABGN, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI Out, USB 3.0…
Announced for the end of June, the V713/H will be sold at a starting price of 230,790 Yen in Japan
Good lord I am happy to be a Geek today and thank you JVC for making something the we all dreaded for : a compact 4K Camcorder supporting DSLR lenses! Featuring Nikon’s famous F-Mount the JY-HMQ30 is not your average camcorder and will shot 60fps AVC/H.264 4K Video on four separate SDHX/SDXC (each SD will shoot a 1920×1080 portion of the 4K video) at 144Mbps or if HD is still your thing, 1080/60p Videos at 28Mbps. Of course the JY-HMQ30 comes with Apple’s ProRes422 Codec via JVC’s 4K Clip manager as well as featuring 4K Time Lapse recording, Focus assist XLR and even nice 3.5″ touchscreen!
Available this month in Japan, the JY-HMQ30 is far from being the most affordable 4K Camcorder on the market and it will cost you at least 1.7Million Yen without lenses
“Next Generation World Hobby Fair ’13″ is taking place in Makuhari Messe in Chiba on June 29 and 30.
It’s the biggest game and hobby event in Japan and you will be able to do a lot of things such as playing the latest games, buying limited-sale items or new items before they arrive in stores, and join fun events like an autograph session.
It is an event for kinds, however, adults, in particular, dads will be able to have a lot of fun with their kids as well. Entrance fee is free.
Thanko released a mouse called “Flick Finger Mouse” – put it on your index finger and control your PC through the air by tapping your thumb to the unit to click and by moving and rotating your wrist to move the mouse pointer.
By inserting the attached USB receiver to the PC and changing the mode selector switch on the mouse to “Air”, you will be able to start using “Flick Finger Mouse”. The USB receiver is also used as a connector for charging up the mouse. “Flick Finger Mouse” is also usable as a tiny regular wireless mouse by changing the mode selector switch to “Laser”.
It is compatible with Windows and Mac OS as well as Android, so you can use “Flick Finger Mouse” for smartphones and tablets, however, if you want to do that, a USB adopter, sold separately, will be necessary.
Price: ¥6,980 (including tax) Size: 56 x 22 x 10mm Weight: 13g Compatible with: Windows7, Vista, XP, and Mac OS Charging time: 90 minutes Life battery: Approx. 24hours
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