Wireless
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
RFID in Japan: Japan’s experience with RFID phones and contactless cash
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Japan | Wireless
11:57 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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felica
keitai
osaifu
pasmo
rfid
suica
Over the last few years, residents of busy metropolises like London and Hong Kong have grown used to the convenience – not to mention lower prices in London’s case – of transport networks that accept electronic payments. Handy pieces of plastic, like the Oyster Card, with chips onboard are clearly a part of life for many people, but the same RFID technology has a far greater reach in Japan, where it has taken the next step and migrated to mobile phones as well.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Mobile barcodes now speak to us – quite literally…
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Wireless | WTF?
03:14 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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qr codes
voice qr
Like many Far-Eastern technologies, Japan’s QR Code gets attention in the West more for being exotic than for any real benefit it brings, so we fully expect the latest all-singing version of the 2D barcode to follow suit.
/ Keep on truckin' ............................................... \
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Apple secures Japanese iPhone naming rights - 3G release all but certain now
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Japan | Wireless
01:50 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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A seemingly insignificant press release from a Japanese company we’ve never even heard of has suddenly set tongues wagging about everyone’s favorite rumor – the fabled 3G iPhone.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Japanese phone armada sets sail Westward, but does it have a map?
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Wireless
02:33 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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android
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The myth that Japanese mobile phones are the best in the world is typically perpetuated by overseas observers obsessed with the cutting-edge services on offer there and confusing those with what are typically very dull handsets.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
World’s first holographic RFID tag to stop Vuitton knock-offs
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Household | Wireless
02:21 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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hitachi
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toppan
RFID and holograms are two of our favorite technologies, so it’s a joy to see them form a double act and get together in one pretty little security device. The result is the world’s first hologram-toting IC tag, which arrives in Japan next month courtesy of Hitachi and the printing experts at Toppan.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Brethalyzer phone keeps watchful eye on Japan’s truck drivers
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Japan | Transportation | Wireless | WTF?
08:55 PM
J Mark Lytle •
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alcohol
brethalyzer
docomo
foma
Big tech companies like NTT DoCoMo come up with dozens of unusual applications for their gear every year, but most tend to end up consigned to glossy brochures that describe some anodyne ‘perfect’ future. One bizzaro contraption that is apparently out in the wild is Big D’s FOMA-based Videophone Alcohol Check System - as the above photo shows, it’s in use on at least one truck round these parts.
Mobile digital TV: What the West can learn from tiny TVs in Japanese pockets
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Film, TV, manga & anime | Video | Wireless
04:02 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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Regular readers will have noticed a fair sprinkling of the odd term ‘1-seg’ in news items over the last year or so, with all referring to Japanese products in some way. From Sony’s PSP and video Walkman to car sat-nav systems and mobile phones, this strangely named digital TV standard is popping up everywhere in the Far East, but what exactly is it?
Two new LiMo phones to challenge Android
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Wireless
02:07 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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705i
905i
docomo
We’ve already digested everything there is to know about Android, the Google-led open operating system for mobile phones and a little about LiMo, the other open-source challenger, but we’ll bet you didn’t know there are two spanking new LiMo phones on the market.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
DoCoMo using RFID cellphones to open doors, boot PCs and plenty more
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Wireless
09:28 PM
J Mark Lytle •
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docomo
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After years of waiting, DoCoMo has finally made good on its promise to deliver an office security system based on the RFID chips in its cellphones.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Samsung patronizes half world with rubbish ‘female’ phones
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Wireless | WTF?
12:50 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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Hey ladies – are our normal, well-specced phones too much for your pretty little heads? Thought so – you should try our new handsets made just for you. They’re rubbish, but y’know – they’re sparkly.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Study shows Japanese children are addicted to phones
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Household | Internet | Japan | Wireless
12:18 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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docomo
kids
The latest research on the mobile phone habits of Japanese children may be music to the ears of phone providers, but the depth to which the gadgets have penetrated the lives of the young there is bound to set alarm bells ringing elsewhere.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Bionic infrared transfers full CD in a second
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R&D | Wireless
10:50 PM
J Mark Lytle •
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infrared
kddi
Anyone remember the days before Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when we actually used those little dark plastic infrared windows on our phones and other gadgets? If you do you’ll also recall that IR transfers were horribly slow and prone to failure, so it’s intriguing to hear that a Japanese firm has upgraded the invisible light technology to make it fit for the modern wireless age.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Japanese cellphone operator gets Android up and running
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R&D | Wireless
01:11 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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android
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oha
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The Open Handset Alliance‘s Android may not exactly be the platform we all anticipated, but the flood of developers we’ve already seen working on it suggests it won’t be long before some half-decent hardware running the open-source Google-spawn emerges.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Bone conduction goes wireless with Bluetooth headset
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Audio | Peripherals | Wireless
12:46 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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bluetooth
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docomo
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We’ve seen a few bone-conduction devices before, including a cellphone, a sports headband and an industrial safety helmet, but this is definitely the first we’ve come across that sends the good vibes by Bluetooth.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Japanese geeks turn old cellphones into new PCs
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Desktop PCs | Displays | Laptops & PDAs | R&D | Wireless
05:56 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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dview
hokuto
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Next time you throw an old cellphone away, spare a thought for the engineers at Hokuto System in Japan, who have recycled their old handsets to make fully functional computers.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Disney drive for hearts and minds reaches mobile marketplace
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Toys | Wireless
01:48 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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A story like this just cries out for a headline about Mickey Mouse phone companies, but we won’t go down that road – instead we’ll point out that Disney’s new cellphone venture is bound to go down a treat when it launches in Japan next year.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
DoCoMo: We don’t really care about Android
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Interviews | R&D | Wireless
08:13 PM
J Mark Lytle •
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android
docomo
google
oha
After Monday’s announcement by Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) of their Linux-based Android platform for mobile phones there are more questions than answers about exactly what it means for the end user.
Roll-up solar panels power disaster rescue kit
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Household | Japan | Laptops & PDAs | Wireless
08:10 PM
J Mark Lytle •
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disasters
earthquakes
powerbanksystem
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The latest piece of disaster recovery equipment to come out of Japan is an ingenious feat of engineering featuring one of the most unusual applications of solar technology that we’ve seen.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Overrated Japanese phones: only a mother could love ‘em
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Wireless
11:07 PM
J Mark Lytle •
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905i
comment
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motorola
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I don’t know if I’m noticing it because I work in the field, but the last year or so seems to have seen an inordinate amount of coverage by the Western media of Japanese cellphones like the new 905i series from DoCoMo that was unveiled here in Tokyo yesterday.
Sony uses Wi-Fi to pinpoint noodle shops
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GPS | Japan | Software | Wireless | WTF?
01:59 AM
J Mark Lytle •
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petamap
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Sony’s a strange company - on the one hand it appears every inch the industry giant striving to return to its former glory yet, on the other, it produces really bizarre products like its latest piece of software that uses Wi-Fi to locate noodle restaurants.
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