While ShiftEast posts usually cover the myriad of innovations, people, events and concepts that make up the Asia region’s dynamic creative and technological scene, we don’t often blog about some of the interesting events that happen on our doorstep, perhaps because they are held so close by. Our office is based at the Tokyo location of Impact HUB – a space that is part event venue, part share-office, and all about fostering a real community of people who want to make an impact. HUB Tokyo often hosts seminars, lectures and workshops with individuals and groups of people gleaned from their global network, and there is an upcoming talk by one of Soft Energy’s earliest advocates, Amory Lovins, that we would be remiss not to mention.
An environmental scientist, physicist, writer and recipient of a whole slew of various awards and accolades, Amory Lovins’ expertise, as well as his entrepreneurial spirit and persistence for over 40 years has seen him become one of the world’s leading authorities on the efficient use and sustainable supply of energy. In 1982 he co-founded the Rocky Mountain Institute, an independent, non-profit organisation that describes itself as not just a think-tank, but as a “think-and-do tank”. His knowledge has been sought after by leaders in both private and public sectors, and his list of clients include corporations like Rio Tinto, Wal-Mart, and Deutsche Bank as well as startups and governments in the U.S., Australia and Germany. He has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Fortune magazine, and in 2009 was named one of Foreign Policy’s top 100 global thinkers as well as one of Time magazine’s most influential people.
While the question of energy as a resource and how to best utilise it is currently a hotly contested and much debated about topic, one of the fascinating aspects of Lovins’ work apart from his ideas on Soft Energy is his involvement in pushing for energy to even be put on the agenda long before governments, corporations and the mainstream media were acknowledging the need for such discussion. HUB Tokyo’s event is intended as a conversation that will also focus on the successes, struggles and strategies Lovins’ has experienced and implemented as a changemaker with broader questions that concern anyone interested in understanding, and potentially changing people’s mindsets thrown in the mix.
We will be in attendance, and if this is something that interests you too the event will be held on the 7th of November. For more information please visit the event registration page.
Japan’s largest IT and electronics trade show has always been anticipated as an event that showcases some of the best that the country has to offer in consumer electronics. Compared to 2012, there were about 40% fewer exhibitors in attendance, as well as a couple of absences (noticeably KDDI, who was rumored to attend this year’s event), which may have contributed to the slightly subdued atmosphere this year.
The theme for this year’s show encouraged submissions of technologies, products and services aimed at making people’s lives both richer and more comfortable. Titled ‘Smart Innovation: Technology for Future Society and Lifestyles’, CEATEC 2013 was all about what was “Smart”. There were presentations on “smart community”, “smart networking”, and “smart devices”, and a lot of exhibitors displayed innovations that built on this idea of more seamless, enriched living facilitated by technology.
“Smart Devices” was a theme heavily repeated in the “digital display” category. Ultra HD, big screen displays boasting 4K or 8K resolution were presented alongside new display concepts, like Sharp’s IGZO “frameless” screen.
On the content side of things, exhibitors took advantage of these new developments and presented content management systems and services aimed at creating a user experience specifically designed for digital/”smart” TV. NHK showcased Hybridcast, a system that enables users to access interactive, information-rich content across multiple devices via a broadband network and HTML5 interface. Similarly, Toshiba’s REGZA TimeOn is a suite of services that uses the cloud to make the television experience more interactive. For example, viewers can enable a Twitter feed tied to a particular channel’s hashtag, which will then display what other viewers are saying about a particular program in real-time.
Mobility was also a big theme in this year’s conference, with mobility device demonstrations taking up a large area in Halls 7 and 8. Following an announcement that it would bring autonomous cars to the market by 2020, Nissan demonstrated its Autonomous Drive Vehicle (‘Leaf’). A three-lap course for the car to self-navigate through was set up, and required the vehicle to pass by parked cars as well perceive stop signs and handle crossing intersections. Although demonstrated in a restricted space, the car can drive up to speeds of about 70 km/h, and utilises a radar system to anticipate obstacles within a 80m perimeter.
In the same space, Toyota and Honda both demonstrated smaller-scale personal mobility vehicles: the Winglet , and the Uni-Cub respectively.
A number of the bigger exhibitors, including Mitsubishi, Toyota and Toshiba used the Lifestyle and Society Stage to showcase displays promoting smart grid systems for the home, or HEMS (Home Energy Management System). HEMS collects real-time data on power usage and presents it visually, enabling consumers to easily track, monitor and ultimately adjust their energy consumption levels accordingly.
In a similar vein, “Smart Homes” were concepts presented as part of next-generation living. “Smart Appliances” such as washing machines which could send consumers status-updates, and air-conditioners which could be controlled outside the home through smartphones, were often presented as part of a networked web of devices that functioned with HEMS to not only ensure a more pleasant living environment, but a more energy efficient lifestyle as well.
Healthcare was also a category that garnered a lot of attention. Building on the increasing popularity of using quantified data to self-monitor aspects of daily life, Omron showcased a series of inter-connectable devices that helps an individual keep track of their body weight, temperature, sleep patterns, heart rate and blood pressure. A majority of the products were designed with the ability to wirelessly send collected data to a central location, which also makes it easier for third parties, such as doctors, to monitor an individual and intervene if necessary.
While several other companies, including Nordic Semiconductor, Goo Karadalog, as well as Korean exhibitor Dae Kyoung Ind.Co. (above) also offered their own personal health monitoring devices, the most noticeable of these was Sharp’s Healthcare Support Chair. A rather futuristic-looking take on the traditional doctor’s examination chair, Sharp’s spherical contraption can measure a person’s weight, blood pressure, heart rate and temperature all in one sitting. In addition, it can also determine how healthy a patient’s blood vessels are and assess their body balance. All of this information is displayed on a shield of multi-paneled screens, and the information can also be sent straight to your doctor.
Other products and services which made use of wireless data transmission and cloud storage were SFK Medical Company’s “suisui Nurse”, an application that allows nurses conducting home visits to directly send vital information as well as pictures to a doctor, and Fujitsu’s “Petcloud” which collects health-related data about your pet throughout its lifetime. There were also a number of “babysitter” robots that provide companionship and in extreme cases monitor an individual in need of care such as the elderly or young children such as NEC’s PaPeRo or Fujisoft’s “Palro”.
And like any type of fairs CEATEC makes no exception to the award giving practice with twenty-four awards being given out during the five days event. The CEATEC organizers selected eleven grand-Prix winners and semi grand-Prix winners in Products, Network & services, key technology and core technology categories as well as a Review panel special award that went to Keio University’s Katsura laboratory part of the department of system design engineering. Two special awards were given out by the Ministry of Internal Affars and communication and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to in the same order, NTT docomo for its Next-generation mobile communication system (5G) and Kyocera corporation for Piezo film speaker “smart sonic (R) sound”. Finally an independent panel of journalist versed in either I.T. or consumer electronics gave out awards to companies for innovative product or concepts that would have the most influence on the U.S. market the grand-Prix of that award was given to Nissan motors co.,ldt for its Autonomous drive vehicle.
Apple is holding a second fall media event Tuesday, and we’re expecting a boatload of new products and announcements. The company even admitted as much in its “We still have a lot to cover” invite. Here’s what we know — …
The Open Mobile Summit including Appcelerate (12-14 November, 2013, San Francisco), connects the most influential and innovative in mobile, Internet, media and commerce (www.openmobilemedia.com/san-francisco)
This is a powerful gathering of market leaders and entrepreneurs driving a fundamental redefinition of the mobile Internet ecosystem. From device manufacturers and carriers through to Internet and media giants, commerce and retailers, electronics and PC manufacturers, market innovators and app publishers.
Featuring world leading speakers from across the mobile ecosystem including:
Bill Malloy, CMO, Sprint
Trip Hawkinsm Founder, Electronic Arts
Tom Bedecarre Chairman, AKQA
Gibu Thomas, Head of Digital and Mobile at Walmart
Rich Riley, CEO of Shazam
Rick Osterloh, SVP Product Management, Motorola Mobility, LLC
Robert F.X. Sillerman CEO Viggle
Brendon Kraham, Product Strategy, Google
and Google, Sony, LinkedIn, ESPN, Dropbox, Macys, NBC, Box, Wells Fargo, Sephora, Square, CBS Interactive and more.
After touring over a dozen cities worldwide, internationally renowned startup conference FailCon returns to San Francisco! We’re inviting 12 founders and innovators from the startup community to share mistakes with team development, product design, scaling, funding, marketing, and other lessons learned as the grew (and often lost) their startups. You can’t replicate the success of others, but you can reach it more quickly if you avoid their failures. Join 400+ startup founders as we share our failures to better reach success.
Tickets close in ONE WEEK! If you want to learn from startup stories of failure and escape the startup “facade-of-awesome” for a day, make sure you reserve your seat now! Learn more at http://thefailcon.com and get $40 off with our exclusive discount code “ubergizmo“: http://failcon2013.eventbrite.com/?discount=ubergizmo
ad:tech is the leading digital marketing event for marketing and technology professionals from all over the world – a marketplace for buying and selling, a community for networking, a forum for exchanging ideas and an opportunity for contributing to industry trends and initiatives. ad:tech brings industry thought-leaders together to share best practices and to discuss what’s next in digital marketing.
Ubergizmo readers get a 20% discount on the registration fee with promo code NY13UBER20
DoCoMo R&D: users can interact with virtual objects like in a Virtual Reality environment
CEATEC, the largest electronics show in Japan is opening its doors in a few hours and Ubergizmo is in Tokyo to report about the latest gadgetery and technologies being shown there. We have already had an opportunity to try out some of the wearable technology concepts from DoCoMo, including a few smart glass user interface concepts, but there is much more to come. You can expect to see a new crop of 4K TVs and monitors, along with ultra-high resolution displays for smartphones and of course some unexpected designs found only in Japan. (more…)
Organized by Systematic Paris-Region, the Open World Forum is the first European Forum summit to gather political representatives, decision-makers and experts, in one place, in order to debate the technological, economic and social impacts that the Free and Open-Source technologies bring to the market. The event is coming back for its 6th edition between the 3rd and 5th of October 2013.
The Open World Forum 2013 is being held in a global climate where the Free and Open Source Business is unaffected by the crisis, still in strong growth.
On September 30th, Ubergizmo and StainedGlass Labs will host Digital Fall, a Tech Fashion Show that will feature wearable technology devices.
Sponsored by Lenovo and produced by Y’Anad Burrell – Glass House Communications, the fashion show will feature the following designers: Manic Designs by Rachel Riot, Roc Rio by Rickie Lee, Christina Morgan Cree and SENSOREE.
Digital Fall will be the closing party of the GLAZED Conference, a 1-day conference dedicated to wearable technology where the world’s top tier investors, press, developers and entrepreneurs will gather to celebrate fashion, art, and technology duringa fashion show that will showcase the latest innovations.
It’s that time of the year: a new wave of cool technologies are coming to the market and the next-generation is being built by a host of visionaries right now. To celebrate the conclusion of the GLAZED conference, Ubergizmo and Stained Glass Labs will host Digital Fall, a technology & fashion event in San Francisco, with Lenovo as the main sponsor.
If you are close by, get a ticket and come party with the finest people in the wearable technology space, including startups, investors and journalists. Enjoy our fashion show, and the lively mix of models, designers and technologists.
Since our readers are located all over the country, Lenovo and Ubergizmo would like to give you a chance to participate by giving away one Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro laptop (with qHD 3200×1800 display!), which is coming to the market next month. You could be among the first people to get one. (more…)
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It’s that time of the year: a new wave of cool technologies are coming to the market and the next-generation is being built by a host of visionaries right now. To celebrate the conclusion of the 
