Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Portable Audio, Robots

Oh Rolly… we know you’re an overpriced, 2GB dancing robot with convoluted controls and questionable sound quality. But dammit, your impractical, big-corporate ways have gnawed a soft-spot deep into the noxious cesspool we call a heart. Now this: Rolly model SEP-50BT with Bluetooth control from your cellphone or laptop. Shipping in Japan on November 21st for an expected ¥40,000 or about $427. Sold. Watch it all unfold in the video after the break.

[Via Impress]

Continue reading Sony’s Rolly learns the Bluetooth trick

Sony’s Rolly learns the Bluetooth trick originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

We had a chance to gaze through the wireframe of this 8.1 megapixel Casio W63CA Exilim cellphone back in August courtesy of the FCC’s finest. Now check it in high-gloss, plastic flesh. The latest Japanese super-phone squeezes 480 x 800 pixel into a 3.1-inch OLED display. Let that sink in for a second… the very same 384,000 pixels on a display smaller than the 3.8-inch LCD heralded by the Touch HD. The camera features a wide-angle lens, 9-point auto focus, face detection, anti-shake, and a YouTube video mode that records VGA video at 30fps to microSD. All this in a Japanese-only flip measuring 110 x 50 x 17.4 ~ 22-mm when it launches in early November.

[Via Impress]

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We’ve seen no shortage of unorthodox alarm clocks, but Bandai’s latest creation is nothing short of spectacular. Rather than making users defuse a bomb or catch a runaway helicopter, the appropriately named Gun O’clock actually forces heavy sleepers to aim a gun and successfully strike the bullseye to shut the undoubtedly obnoxious alarm up. Best of all, those who enjoy challenges can set it to “Hard” mode, requiring them to blast the center target no fewer than five times in order to hush it; after you’re satisfactorily awake, you can utilize the game mode to work on your aim. This magnificent wonder is all set to launch in Japan next month for ¥4,095 ($41), but we don’t see any obvious signs of it ever coming Stateside. Anyone feeling an online petition? We hear those work really well.

[Via UberReview]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Wearables

For shame. We know good and well engineers can concoct energy-generating garb that actually looks good enough to wear, but evidently those fashion-minded gurus weren’t hired for this project. Granted, we have all ideas the image you’re quizzically staring at above is NTT’s first go at a pair of power-packing sandals, but there’s clearly a good ways to go before these things are cute / safe enough to wear on the streets. Might we suggest shoving all that hardware inside of something? The “all hanging out” look just isn’t working here.

[Via TokyoMango, image courtesy of AFP / Getty]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops

Uh oh. ASUS just issued a recall for all Eee Box PCs sold in Japan due to a nasty pre-installed worm. The malicious code dubbed “recycled.exe” may attempt to download additional malware while attempting to replicate itself to attached USB storage devices at the first opportunity. Of course, this isn′t the first time that ASUS has been embarrassed by its image burns. Who could forget the the illegal keygen and confidential documentation shipped on those brand new laptops last month? Apparently, only ASUS who has yet to clean house.

[Via The Inquirer]

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Look, you don’t have to explain to us how weird this thing is. Trust us, we fully understand. But as gadget editors, we have a certain love for receiving surprise packages and ripping ‘em open as quickly as possible to discover what goodies reside within. Bandai’s so-very-Japanese Peri Peri keychain is apt to appeal to the unboxers among us, as it recreates the unmistakable feeling of tearing open a rushed FedEx envelope. If there’s a downside, it’s that there’s no new wares to be found after each opening, but on the other hand, at least there’s no big dent on your credit card each time you “open” something new. Expect this gem to hit your keyring for just under $10 next month. Bonus video hosted up after the break.

[Via BoingBoing]

Continue reading Bandai’s Peri Peri keychain lets you rip open shipping envelopes continually

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Portable Audio

Onkyo’s latest aren’t the most stylish headphones we′ve ever seen — far from it, actually — but those more concerned with audio fidelity and iPod compatibility may be able to overlook the pedestrian design. The wireless MHP-UW2 headphones transmit tunes over the 2.4GHz frequency and come bundled with a handy-dandy iPod adapter that should work with practically any dock-connecting unit out there. We’re told it can last around 8 hours before needing a recharge via USB (or AC adapter, should you choose), though it’s hard to say when it’ll ever ship to any market outside of Japan. Nevertheless, those in and around Tokyo can find the kit next month for ￥20,000 ($201).

[Via UberGizmo]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Even with today’s wireless video game controllers, you can’t stay untethered forever. After a few hours of gaming on the PlayStation 3, you′ll have to plug in that SIXAXIS or DualShock 3 USB cable to charge. Starting December 18th, Sony Japan will offer an AC adapter intended for PS3 controllers at a price of ¥2,800 (just under $30). Like third party solutions we’ve seen, it has two USB ports so you’ll be able to do two controllers or toss in a Bluetooth headset. Nothing yet on availability outside of Japan, but if we get word we’ll be all over it, ‘cause we feel slightly guilty for leaving the PS3 on overnight to charge — what with the world’s dwindling energy supply and all.

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Original post by Samuel Axon

Filed under: Home Entertainment

About this time last year, Yamaha treated us to its CD-S2000 SACD player and A-S2000 amplifier, both of which sported that timeless look that was just too dazzling to hide away in some AV cabinet. This year, the outfit is keeping with the trend by introducing the equally stunning (and even more silver) A-S700 amplifier and CD-S700 CD player (pictured after the break). The former features 90-watts x 2 of RMS power and gold-plated RCA inputs, while the latter includes a Burr Brown 192kHz/24bit DAC and a USB port for playing back MP3 / WMA files. Both units are destined to hit Japanese audio shops next month for ¥73,500 ($730) and ¥60,900 ($605), respectively.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

Continue reading Yamaha brings the style with A-S700 / CD-S700 audio components

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Kyoto-based company Rohm impressed us at last year’s CEATEC with a mega-tiny OLED display but it didn’t rest on its laurels. A larger prototype exhibited this year emitted ambient light at 3,000 to 4,000cd/m² and a brief flash at 100,000cd/m² — that’s respectively 10 and 250 times the brightness of a typical LCD display. But the impressive bit is this: nothing illuminated cast a shadow. Obviously a light like that is a poor match for haunted houses or a romantic restaurant, but surgeons use shadowless lamps at the operating table, so there are applications. The short shelf life of OLED materials is still a nagging disadvantage, but as Dr. Eldon Tyrell would say: “the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very, very brightly.” Then again, he was talking about cybernetic killing machines, so, maybe not such a great endorsement.

[Thanks, Erik]

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Original post by Samuel Axon

Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

Imagine this — you, sitting in a dingy airport terminal waiting on your flight with a lifeless laptop and just 10 minutes to spare. You’ve got oodles of spreadsheet work to do before 8:00AM tomorrow, and unless you get it done on this flight, you’re fubared. Toshiba is looking to make said scenario seem like one that’s not so grim, as its prototype SCIB (Super Charge Ion Battery) purportedly has the potential to get 90% full in just 10 minutes. The battery was unveiled at CEATEC 2008 in Japan, though little was known about its eventual availability. Shame development cycles can’t be fast tracked in a similar manner, huh?

[Via UberReview]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Betcha didn’t see this one coming, did you Philips? No sooner than the aforementioned company unveiled a rather striking 56-inch Quad Full 3D HDTV over on the left coast of the US did Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and JVC Victor one-up that with a 72-inch prototype of their own. Revealed at CEATEC 2008, the Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) set doesn’t even require viewers to sport those face-consuming glasses to experience the effect. In essence, the display utilizes multiple projectors to really emphasize that elusive third-dimension, but the viewing angle is understandably limited. Oh, and we hope you’re not too geeked up about this — NICT stated that we probably wouldn’t see these in the commercial realm before 2011. Ah well, at least there’s IMAX to hold us.

[Via Gearlog]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Japan is drenched in arcades with female-only purikura (photo booth for you gaijin) corners in which aflutter girls take pictures, bless them with sparkly decorations, and print them to book cover friendly stickers for all to see, for better or worse, to the horror of their moms, to the delight of their potential boyfriends. Let’s say Sharp was to take the purikura phenomenon and fuse it with to the teenage girl’s number one obsession: the cell phone (keitai for our Japanese readers). That’s exactly what it did with this concept phone and software, complete with a shared art space that can be collectively decorated over wireless networks. Scary? Perhaps. Cool enough to snap some video in awesome disbelief? Most definitely.

Continue reading Sharp’s tegakichat concept phone brings the purikura booth to girls’ pockets

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Original post by Joshua Fruhlinger

So there’s this place called Japan where they have all sorts of electronics, gadgets, televisions, arcades, izakayas, and a mega conference called CEATEC 2008. We′re here, on the other side of the date line, inhaling coffee, and you had best stay tuned for the latest from the land of the rising sun.

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Original post by Joshua Fruhlinger

So there’s this place called Japan where they have all sorts of electronics, gadgets, televisions, arcades, izakayas, and a mega conference called CEATEC 2008. We’re here, on the other side of the date line, inhaling coffee, and you had best stay tuned for the latest from the land of the rising sun.

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Original post by Joshua Fruhlinger