Japan Business

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (SEL) Co Ltd, Sharp Corp and Advanced Film Device (AFD) Inc announced that they have prototyped a 3.4-inch flexible OLED display panel and explained its manufacturing method at SID 2013 (lecture number: 18.2).

Japanese Robot Art – It’s Good, Man! Illustration, product packaging, statues & sculpture, and even some transhumanist pin-ups; for decades Japan’s been pounding out the robot art like nobody’s business. Last week’s robotics piece examined the artistic legacy influence of giant Japanese robots on the upcoming film Pacific Rim, but this week it’s just cool robot art for the sake of looking at cool robot art. Some readers might just see the shiny, and that’s cool – some might find a new robo-wallpaper or screensaver, and that’s fun – or, as happens more than one might suspect, the exploration and enjoyment of sci-fi imagery and entertainment can result in actual factual inspiration. Art Can Make Science, The -Fi Drives the Sci- A guy named Martin Cooper, inspired by the communicators from the original Star Trek series (60s), went on to lead the Motorola team that invented the first mobile phone (70s). The Panasonic/ActiveLink exoskeletal Power Loader & Power Loader Light looks a whole lot like the safety-yellow power loader from Aliens. The 1959 novel Starship Troopers has been cited as a major inspiration for those working on real-life badass robot suits. Sikorsky’s helicopters & Lake’s early submarines were heavily inspired by Jules Verne. It goes on. Art & The Contemporary Robotics Revolution The social and economic significance of the ongoing explosion in practical robotics shows a lot of parallels to the communications boom and media upheaval centered around the rise of the internet – in all likelihood, it’s not going to slow down. At all. And one has to wonder how many Gen-X roboticists fell in love with their field as children playing, watching, reading the Transformers, Voltron, Gundam, Star Wars, etc. Certainly went that way with at least one dorky keyboard pounder, as well. Whatever the result, humans need art – and those of use with deep-seated robo-geekery proclivities, we need robot art. And so, enjoy the four forms below, and see the links at the bottom if you need a little more enjoyment, something that’ll look cool on your laptop or phone, and if the imagery below inspires you to invent, kindly link here when you go public, yeah?! Form #1 – Illustration Because Illustration: Doesn’t have to be a whole lot of practicality to robot art, just looking good is good enough. The main image above and the first work below is that of Toshiaki Takayama, who goes all kinds of robo-cyborgy on humans and dragons and other imaginary stuff: Another great illustration is this Gundam going all robo-rage on… something, via Concept Robots, artist unfindable: Form #2 – Transformers Box Art: Now, this is also illustration, but for marketing and product packaging, of course. These images, perhaps modern vintage, were included on the 80s Transformers packaging. With plastic & metal toy in hand, these were the mind’s landscape. In Japan it was this: And across the Pacific: Form #3 – Statues & Sculpture: The most well-known and pun-intended visible robot statue is the life-size, 1:1-scale Gundam that pun-intended pops up from time to time around Tokyo. Ironically, this is Gundam Suit is, well, Mobile. The attention to detail is fantastic: And just how big is the 1:1-scale Gundam? Could ask this dude: Form #4 – Japanese Robot Art for Big Boys & Girls (CAUTION – the link below will deliver some NSFW): For those who’d like a little more, ummm… nudity and sexuality in their robot art, a good place to begin is the work of nasty robot airbrush wizard Hajime Sorayama. His iconic and widely recognizable work was transhuman before transhumanism was cool, but his name isn’t exactly household. Below is a pretty mild sample, but if you’re like, you know, into that sorta thing, jump through the link down there – but not at work or in front of grandma: Thanks for viewing – if you’ve got

Microsoft has unveiled the Xbox One, which the company is hoping will be the system in the center of all home entertainment for people everywhere. It was unveiled in Redmond with a full press release distributed by the company. Here in Japan, we also received a Japanese version of the official company press release, and we are looking forward to the chance to get a closer look soon. It combines gaming, viewing, sports, online functionality, photos, videos, etc., and is an aggressive roll-out by Microsoft in an area where many competitors are trying to gain dominance – being the control console for all household entertainment and digital activity. Official Press Release: REDMOND, Wash. — May 21, 2013 — A new vision for the future comes to life today as Microsoft Corp. unveils Xbox One , the all-in-one gaming and entertainment system created for today and the next generation. At Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., the company showcased how Xbox One puts you at the center of all your games, TV, movies, music, sports and Skype. “Xbox One is designed to deliver a whole new generation of blockbuster games, television and entertainment in a powerful, all-in-one device,” said Don Mattrick, president, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Our unique, modern architecture brings simplicity to the living room and, for the first time ever, the ability to instantly switch across your games and entertainment.” Introducing Xbox One With Xbox One, games push the boundaries of realism, and TV obeys your commands.[1] Say “Xbox On” to launch your personalized Xbox One Home screen, discover what is popular on TV or see friends’ latest gaming achievements all using the most natural interface — your voice. The more you interact with Xbox One, the more it gets to know you and learns what you like. Some of the breakthrough Xbox One features that put you at the center of your living room entertainment include the following: • TV on Xbox One.[1] Navigate and watch live TV from your cable, telco or satellite set-top box through your Xbox One. Microsoft is committed to bringing live TV through various solutions to all the markets where Xbox One will be available.[3] • Home. Turn on your entertainment system with two powerful words, “Xbox On,” and a custom-tailored Home dashboard welcomes you with your favorite games, TV and entertainment. • Snap. Do two things at once on the biggest screen in your home. Use Snap to jump into a multiplayer battle while watching your favorite movie, talk with friends on Skype while watching live TV, or track your fantasy team on TV as you watch the big game and more. • Skype for Xbox One. Specially designed for Xbox One, talk with friends on your TV in stunning HD, or for the first time ever, hold group Skype calls on your TV. • Trending.[1] Stay on top of what is hot on TV by discovering the entertainment that is popular among your friends, and see what is trending within the Xbox community. • OneGuide.[1], [2] Find your favorite entertainment easily, searching by network or name, all with the sound of your voice and presented in a tailored program guide. To create the most advanced Xbox system ever designed for games, TV and entertainment, Microsoft created a state-of-the-art gaming operating system and fused it with an equally amazing entertainment platform, so you will not have to switch inputs to watch TV or play a game. An eight-core, x86 processor and more than 5 billion transistors helps make lag and load times a thing of the past, so you can instantly jump between a game and your entertainment at lightning speed or run a host of apps right alongside your game with no loss in performance.Introducing Xbox One titles and exclusives Gaming on Xbox One immerses gamers in cinematic worlds that look like real life, with characters that feel more human than ever before. AAA blockbuster titles unveiled for Xbox One include the following: • “Forza Motorsport 5” from Turn 10 Studios is the latest edit

From Takara Tomy comes the must have accessory for summer fun – The Dancing Face-Stand for iPhone – it is an iPhone stand that looks like a robot. It will dance with the music you play from your iPhone. Download the dedicated app “Face sing” to your iPhone and you will be able to display your friends or family member and watch as they enjoy the dancing and singing. The Dancing Face-Stand was seen previously at toy shows but will finally be available on June 27. Check out the video on Takara Tomy’s site. You can mount an iPhone with a charging cord on the stand. It is self-powered through batteries, not through the mounted iPhone. Price: 3,465 yen (including tax) Colors: White, Red, Blue Compatible with: iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPod touch (4th generation or later) Size: 170 x 130 x 105mm Weight: 280g Battery: 2 x size AA battery (sold separately)

If you are like a lot of guys, not only might your computer or touch panel need some cleaning, but your stuff may not be smelling as fresh as it could. Now, there may be something for you. Elecom is releasing a touch panel cleaner with fragrance in late May. There are 2 kinds: - “Spray type” (P-FCS) - “Tissue type” (P-FCT5P) These cleaners remove finger prints, dirt, etc. from screens, tablets, smart phones, etc. and also add some refreshing scent to your screen. 10 kinds of scents are available. Fragrance types: rose, lavender, grapefruit, lemongrass, fresh fruit, musk, fruity vanilla, green tea, wood, soap Spray type (P-FCS series) Price: ¥1,323 (including tax) Tissue type (P-FCT5P series) Price: ¥640 (including tax)

Yes, everything is small in Japan but this is extreme! Thanko released an extremely small functional camera that looks like a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. Despite it’s super small size (38x33x28m, 17g), it is capable of taking photos and movies. Photos and movies can be saved on a microSD card. Battery charge is done via a USB port. It also features a strobe that detects darkness and flashes automatically and a “Motion-sensing” function that starts taking about 2 minutes of video by detecting body movement. It’s a more useful camera than expected. Price: 5,980 yen (including tax) Size: 28 x 33 x 28mm Weight: 17g Accessories: USB cable, strap, small bag for the camera Saving format: Movie – AVI, Photo – JPEG Resolution: Movie – 1280×720, 1 mega pixel, Photo – 2560×1920 The Thanko miniature camera can be ordered here.

Sony has developed an A4 sized equivalent 13.3″ digital paper notepad. The display is the first in the world to use E Ink Mobius, a new flexible electronic paper display technology developed by E Ink in collaboration with Sony. Technology developed by Sony for forming high precision thin film transistors on plastic instead of glass has been used, making the display flexible and light. It is scheduled for mass production this year. “We’ve succeeded in mass-producing these large flexible panels, by combining E-Ink’s flexible paper technology and Sony’s mass-production technology.” “Usually, devices are made by sandwiching TFTs between glass sheets. But these panels use plastic instead of glass, so they’re much lighter. Another feature is that, unlike glass, these panels are very durable.” This prototype digital notepad weighs 358 g and is 6.8mm thick, with the 1200×1600 pixel display itself weighing around 60g, 50% less than if glass was used. The prototype also features a battery life of approximately three weeks. “This is a PDF document. You can page through it with your finger. Of course, you can also write comments and draw lines in the PDF document. Also, if you choose the marker, and move your finger over text, you can highlight text like this.” “This is still at the prototype stage. But we’re designing it to work smoothly. Also, with paper, you can rest your hand on it while you write, but with a tablet, you can’t always do that. This digital paper makes it possible to write while resting your hand on the panel.” “We’d especially like this to be used in universities. From the second half of this year, we’re planning to do trials with Waseda, Hosei, and Ritsumeikan Universities. We also plan to release a commercial version during this year.” Event: Educational IT Solutions Expo This Video is provided by DigInfo.tv, AkihabaraNews Official Partner.

Toshiba Corp will announce the details of its transmissive OLED panel at SID Display Week 2013 (SID 2013), an academic conference on display technologies, which will run from May 20, 2013.

Fourteen years from now, when Japan’s magnetically levitated, approx. 300MPH/482KPH Chu? Shinkansen comes online, it’ll be among the world’s coolest people movers – maybe even top of the list. And the world’s most fantastic train should have equally fantastic train stations, yeah? Maybe not. While the existence of this train is old news, released just last week were Japan Railways’ design proposals for stations on the initial Tokyo to Nagoya route (with eventual extension to Osaka). Suffice it to say, as proposed these supertech trains would be stopping at stations that aggressively bypass any notion of post-modern minimalism and instead land somewhere in the vicinity 1970s Soviet chic. They’re basically elevators, stairs, automated ticket counters, toilets, and tracks. Those interested can see the plans here & here (PDF; Japanese only). Train Stations are Not Just Train Stations (in Japan) For one who’s never traveled here, this might not seem like such a big deal. Because it’s just a train station, for a very fast train at that, so who’s looking to linger? Well, the thing is, in Japan even medium-sized and smallish train stations can be the nuclei of entire neighborhoods or city wards, and they’re often social & economic ecosystems unto themselves; think variably sized multilevel shopping malls where trains happen to stop. This is particularly true in places like Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka where rail stations serve literally millions of passengers on a daily basis. Japan Railways is calling the designs “modern” and “revolutionary,” but here in rapidly aging, often techno-contradictory Japan (yes, the rumors about ongoing fax machine usage are true), dispensing with the niceties and familiarities of strongly analog and strongly full-service rail travel culture might be too tall an order – the natives might revolt… which basically just means they’ll demand that their local municipalities cocoon the stations with restaurants, convenience stores, souvenir shops, coin lockers, and little out of the way cubbys with those stand-up irons to press your pants. That’s probably what’ll happen, but we’ll keep you dialed in as things unfold. Addendum on Nomenclature: Oh, by the way, the ultra utilitarian stations aren’t the only thing that could use a bit more thought: “Chu? Shinkansen” might sound exotic and Japanesey, but it really just means “Central Shinkansen.” And, though the name’s gained a domestic and international cache of high-tech coolness, “shinkansen” just means “new main line.” Sure, a dead-sexy maglev bullet train is a concept that sells itself, but let’s hope the name gets some polish. Calling this thing the “Central Shinkansen” would be like naming the latest Ferrari “Red Car.” • • • Akihabara News Contributor Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com. Via RocketNews 24 via IT Media (Japanese)

ASUSTOR will be attending Computex 2013 and exhibiting a brand new series of NAS devices featuring the latest Intel® Atom™ processor along with its new-look ADM 2.0 operating system and 2 new mobile apps, AiData and AiMaster. ASUSTOR sincerely welcomes everyone to visit them at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, 4th Floor, Booth L0404, from June 4th – June 8th, 2013. Taipei, Taiwan, May 8th, 2013 – ASUSTOR Inc., a leading innovator and provider of network storage solutions, has announced today that it will be exhibiting at Computex 2013, the second largest consumer electronics show in the world. At the exhibition, ASUSTOR will be showcasing its award winning high performance AS 6 Series NAS devices (AS-602T/ AS-604T/ AS-606T/ AS-608T/ AS-604RD/ AS-604RS/ AS-609RD/ AS-609RS) as well as introducing a brand new series of NAS devices designed for home and SOHO users, the AS 3 Series. The new 3 Series uses the latest Intel SoC (System on Chip) which is designed for home multimedia use. It also features an HDMI interface along with a built-in infrared receiver that allows for it to be used with a remote control. The available models in this series are the 2-bay AS-302T model and the 4-bay AS-304T model. ASUSTOR will also be unveiling its newly styled ADM 2.0 operating system along with 2 new mobile apps. These 2 apps are AiData, which can be used to remotely browse and access data on an ASUSTOR NAS and AiMaster, which can be used to remotely monitor and manage a NAS. The 6 Series All of ASUSTOR’s AS 6 Series devices come equipped with an Intel® Atom™ 2.13 GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of DDR3 memory (expandable up to 3GB). The devices also feature SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and eSATA ports along with support for SATA III and SSD hard disks. Dual GbE Ethernet ports provide support for link aggregation and blazing fast transfer speeds of over 200 MB/s. All devices in the series are also verified as being VMware, Citrix and Hyper-V ready. Business-ready features such as two-way transfer support, AES-256 bit shared folder encryption, and video surveillance make the 6 Series an optimal choice for small to medium sized businesses that are looking for a flexible and cost-effective virtual storage solution. The 3 Series The 3 Series features a new platform that is based on the latest Intel SoC (System on Chip) which integrates a dual-core Atom™ processor with a handful of media processing units and communication interfaces. The devices also feature an HDMI interface that provides HD audio-visual output which allows the NAS to become a high quality multimedia player. The built-in infrared receiver allows users to use a remote control to control the multimedia playback on the NAS. Further pairing the NAS with a stereo amplifier truly allows users to create a one-stop home entertainment center. Users can also download any NAS Apps of their choice from ASUSTOR’s App Central. App offerings include: Download Center, iTunes Server, Surveillance Center, Dropbox, SABnzbd and more. In addition to being used as a digital entertainment center, the 3 Series can also be used as a full featured private cloud storage server that is able to safely store all of the users’ ever-expanding digital multimedia content.   ADM 2.0 ADM (ASUSTOR Data Master) is an operating system designed exclusively for use with all ASUSTOR NAS devices. Different from traditional NAS operating systems, ADM was designed using an App-based concept that provides a user experience closely resembling the simplicity that can be found on most tablet computers. It features an elegant web-based user interface that is intuitive and easy to use, bridging the gap between user and machine. ADM provides users with a bevy of convenient features such as Dr. ASUSTOR which performs health checkups on the NAS, automatic firmware updates, and Cloud Connect technology which allows users easily connect their NAS to the internet, creating their own personal cloud. Newly updated version includes: Fresh