Nov 18

Panasonic GF2 shipping December 3rd in Japan, turning gringos green with envy

Posted in: Japan, launch, lumix, micro four thirds, MicroFourThirds, Panasonic, price, pricing, release, Release Date, schedule, Today's Chili

As far as we know, the western hemisphere should still have the mirrorless GF2 from Panasonic penciled in on its January 2011 must-own list, but Japan is (predictably) getting the party started a little early. Panny has shot out a brief statement this morning to say that its home nation will receive the GF2 — alternately attired in red, white or black — on the 3rd of December. That’s a good couple of weeks before we expected to even have pricing for North America and Europe, leaving the rest of us to just pout and stare at the calendar with disdain. And if pricing is what you need, Impress has some of its usually deadly accurate estimates to offer you, with the GF2 body set to cost ¥60,000 (about $720) by itself, ¥80,000 with the F2.5 14mm pancake kit lens, or ¥90,000 if paired with the 14-42mm glass. We’d advise not taking straight currency conversions as indicators of pricing anywhere outside Japan, however, due to the atypically high value of the yen at the moment. Wistful sighs, on the other hand, are free everywhere.

Panasonic GF2 shipping December 3rd in Japan, turning gringos green with envy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 02:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Impress Watch [translated]  |  sourcePanasonic  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 16

Panasonic’s 103-inch 3D plasma hits for massive $100,000 price

Posted in: Japan, Panasonic, plasma, Today's Chili

Incredibly, Panasonic’s been the proud parent of a 103-inch plasma since January 2006. Here we are almost five years later learning off a 3D variant, model TH-P103MT2. The Full HD 3D plasma with 5m:1 native contrast ratio is expected to cost about 8.5 million yen or a bit more than $100,000 when Panny begins taking orders tomorrow, November 18th — and that still doesn’t include the cost to ship, handle, and install the 439 pound TV onto the wall of your country estate. At least it ships with one pair of active shutter glasses.

Panasonic’s 103-inch 3D plasma hits for massive $100,000 price originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 01:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Impress [translated]  |  sourcePanasonic [translated]  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 16

Panasonic says it will start selling Android-based smartphones in Japan next year, overseas in 2012

Posted in: Android, Google, Japan, Panasonic, smartphone, Smartphones, Today's Chili
Panasonic may not be new to cellphones, but it has sat out of the smartphone explosion of recent years — an oversight that it’s now apparently looking to correct. Speaking at a news conference today, the head of Panasonic’s mobile division, Osamu Waki, said flatly that the compmany “misjudged the speed at which smartphones would be taken up in the Japanese market,” and that “with the rapid shift to Android, we want to catch up quickly.” Exact details on how it plans to catch up are expectedly still a bit light, but Panasonic’s phones will indeed be based on Android, and it apparently hopes to differentiate them by emphasizing their networking capabilities with other Panasonic products. As for when the first ones will roll out, Panasonic plans to kick off sales in Japan sometime next year, with overseas markets set to follow in 2012.

Panasonic says it will start selling Android-based smartphones in Japan next year, overseas in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Crave  |  sourceReuters  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 16

Hitachi displays a capacitive screen capable of accepting stylus input (video)

Posted in: capacitive, concept, Japan, prototype, research, screen, Today's Chili, touchscreen, video

Can someone ring up Lucifer and check that his heating’s still working? Hitachi has achieved the unthinkable in bringing together the high precision and input flexibility of resistive touchscreens with the finger friendliness of capacitive panels. It’s graced this year’s FPD trade show with a new prototype that offers the capacitive functionality we’re all used to by now, augmented with the ability to recognize input from a stylus or, perhaps more importantly, gloved hands. We’re sure we can hear the sound of cheering coming from the chilly shores of Scandinavia right now. If all goes well, Hitachi should be able to bring them (and you, and the rest of the world) this finger-saving innovation at some point in late 2011, after production gets going in the second half of that year. Video demonstration after the break.

Continue reading Hitachi displays a capacitive screen capable of accepting stylus input (video)

Hitachi displays a capacitive screen capable of accepting stylus input (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 05:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceDigInfo.tv  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 15

President Obama takes a minute to chat with our future robot overlords (video)

Posted in: Japan, RobotApocalypse, Today's Chili, video

President Obama recently took some time out of the APEC Summit in Yokohama to meet with a few of Japan’s finest automatons, and as always he was one cool cat. Our man didn’t even blink when confronted with this happy-go-lucky HRP-4C fashion robot, was somewhat charmed by the Paro robotic seal, and more than eager to take a seat in one of Yamaha’s personal transport robots. But who wouldn’t be, right? See him in action after the break.

Continue reading President Obama takes a minute to chat with our future robot overlords (video)

President Obama takes a minute to chat with our future robot overlords (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrunchGear  |  sourceNECN  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 14

Titanium Blue PS3 hits Japan on November 25th, long-awaited racing game in tow

Posted in: blu-ray, console, Japan, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, Today's Chili

November 3rd came and went without a Gran Turismo 5 game to play, so as you’d imagine this gorgeous Titanium Blue PS3 launch bundle also failed to see the light of day. However, now that we’ve got a totally plausible and twice-confirmed November 24th release date for the little uber-realistic racer that could, it’s probably fair to take Sony Japan at its word that we’ll see the commemorating console appear without further delay. Tell your Japanese importer to line up on November 25th if you want one with your name on it, and be sure to hand him at least ¥35,980 (about $436) of your rainy day fund.

Titanium Blue PS3 hits Japan on November 25th, long-awaited racing game in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 13:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Engadget Japanese  |  sourcePlayStation.Blog, Gran Turismo 5  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 13

Japan’s Ministry of Defense shows off flying surveillance drone

Posted in: Japan, robot, Today's Chili, video
It may not be quite as menacing as some other surveillance drones, but this new flying contraption recently unveiled by Japan’s Ministry of Defense should at least get the job done for what seems like a somewhat limited purpose. That seems to be primarily for short treks of less than 30 minutes into dangerous areas, where the drone can take advantage of its GPS tracking and “high power” cameras to relay information back to the pilots on the ground. Unlike plane-style drones, this one can also move up and down and in every direction, much like a quadrocopter. Head on past the break to check it out in action courtesy of Japan’s NHK network.

Continue reading Japan’s Ministry of Defense shows off flying surveillance drone

Japan’s Ministry of Defense shows off flying surveillance drone originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Nov 2010 02:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceCrave  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 12

Beseto Japan’s PCM audio recorder runs for one week off 4 AA batteries

Posted in: audio, Japan, Music, Today's Chili
For old Dead Heads like ourselves, there is nothing sweeter than sleeping in a tie-dyed t-shirt for weeks at a time and living on the road, in search of that great lost chord. We only wish we had one of these new-fangled digital audio recorders while Dylan was rockin’ out with Jerry Bear and the gang back in ’87. Due out in March 2011, Beseto Japan’s DP1000 handheld features three mics (right, left, and center) for either mono or stereo recording, 2GB internal memory, support for microSD and SDHC cards up to 32GB, both Linear PCM (16bit / 44.1kHz) and MP3 recording, and while it holds two AAA batteries (for up 168 48 hours of use) you can attach an external battery case which will give you an entire week of operation with only four AA batteries. Just imagine a week long guitar solo! Your mind would like, melt, dude. Also includes a 300Hz low-cut filter, ten second pre-recording (just in case), and USB 2.0 jack. Open price, but it’s estimated retail is ¥15,000 (about $180).

Beseto Japan’s PCM audio recorder runs for one week off 4 AA batteries originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAV Watch  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 08

Sharp Touch Wood concept turns real with limited run of 15,000 handsets on NTT DoCoMo

Posted in: cellphone, Japan, phone, Sharp, Today's Chili

You might have expected Sharp’s pebble-shaped Touch Wood concept to remain just that, a concept, but the eclectic Japanese market has found a spot in its heart to fit 15,000 units of the curvy, wood-trimmed cellphone. Built from locally sourced cypress timber, each handset will have its own unique pattern and color, while the innards will be filled with a five megapixel imager, a 3.4-inch (854 x 480) display, a MicroSDHC expansion slot, and your usual GSM and 3G wireless radios. You can get yours through NTT DoCoMo some time around February or March.

Sharp Touch Wood concept turns real with limited run of 15,000 handsets on NTT DoCoMo originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 05:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Engadget Japanese  |  sourceNTT DoCoMo, Sharp  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 08

LG L-03C has 3x optical zoom, 12 megapixel CCD sensor, Xenon flash — and it can make phone calls!

Posted in: 720p, camera, digicam, digital camera, DigitalCamera, Japan, LG, point and shoot, PointAndShoot, Today's Chili

Dear Nokia and Samsung, please come to reception to collect your old and busted 12 megapixel cameraphones. The new king of the phonecamera heap, in appearance at least, has arrived in the shape of LG’s L-03C. It comes with a retractable 3x optical zoom lens from Pentax, a 12 megapixel CCD sensor, a Xenon flash, and a 720p movie recording mode. The L-03C is also intentionally styled to remind users of the more timeless compact camera designs of the past (and present) and it’s only by entering the NTT DoCoMo OS and hitting up the dialer that you discover that it’s also a cellular phone to boot. In spite of its 3-inch display and 800 x 480 resolution, this is still strictly just a featurephone, but it’s sure put in a lot of work to make sure one of those features stands out. Look out for it in Japan from this January.

LG L-03C has 3x optical zoom, 12 megapixel CCD sensor, Xenon flash — and it can make phone calls! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 03:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Engadget Japanese  |  sourceNTT DoCoMo  | Email this | Comments

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