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Rick Martin
LIFE / Digital
Mar 23, 2011
Volunteers translate quake data into visuals
Over the past week we've seen a stark contrast in how the Fukushima nuclear disaster has been reported. "Panic" read the New York Daily News. "Get out of Tokyo Now" said The Sun. One expects that of tabloids, yet more credible media also described an "exodus" from Tokyo, neglecting to mention that it...
LIFE / Digital
Mar 16, 2011
Sorting through information after the quake
In the wake of the tragic earthquake and subsequent tsunami last Friday, people in Japan — and indeed all over the world — have been scrambling to sort through the news in search of information they can trust.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Mar 9, 2011
New toys that really put sound and vision at your fingertips
Last month we brought you a double feature from toy giant Takaratomy. This month we look at another pair of fun products, courtesy of Thanko — the most notable of all the wacky gadget-makers in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 23, 2011
Asian Android tablets stand out at Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona
The Mobile World Congress (MWC) was held in Barcelona last week, and besides the usual fancy phones on display, an abundance of shiny new Android tablets were unveiled at the event as well. And now that the tablet-specific Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS is in the wild, we can finally get excited about these...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 9, 2011
Go fishing in the digital ocean while the kids get outdoors and go for a run
As someone who grew up in a small Newfoundland fishing town, I was instantly intrigued when Japanese toy giant Takara Tomy announced one of its latest products recently. The company's Virtual Masters Real is a digital fishing-simulation device. No joke.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jan 26, 2011
Sony's 3-D Bloggie and Casio's TRYX bring innovation and lower prices to pocket camcorders
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011 was held in Las Vegas earlier this month, and as always every major tech company in the world brought their latest and greatest products.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 19, 2011
'Tokyo Control': Sony launches its first 3-D drama into the air
If 2010 was supposed to be 3-D's coming-out party, then in 2011 the party is poised to continue as manufacturers do their best to make this trendy technology truly stick.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jan 12, 2011
A tiny digital camera, video memos made easy and a cat-shaped hand warmer
A tiny camera for tiny photographers. From the folks over at Green House comes a fun new toy camera. With a classic design available in three colors (black, brown and white) the new GH-TCAM30C (right) is the latest of the company's diminutive Mini Digi cameras. This could be a perfect camera for kids,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Dec 29, 2010
Living in Japan: There's an app for that
As 2010 draws to a close, smartphone use in Japan has risen to an all-time high, accounting for around 50 percent of all handset sales here. Yet it shames this columnist to admit that I'm still rockin' an old Windows 6.1 phone — insofar as a Windows 6.1 phone can be rocked at all — because as someone...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Dec 22, 2010
Sony shows off flexible e-paper prototype; Google's CR-48 is a glimpse of PCs in the cloud
At the Eco Products 2010 show last weekend, Sony proudly displayed a new 13.3-inch plastic substrate e-paper prototype.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Dec 8, 2010
Christmas lights at your fingertips
It's never easy searching for the right Christmas gift for your geeky friends or family members. But when in doubt it's always safe to go with a practical option. And if it happens to be fun too, then all the better! In keeping with that spirit, Japanese electronics company Century is making its LED...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Nov 24, 2010
Apple TV, iTunes movie rentals come to Japan
The second-generation Apple TV that Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced back in September has finally hit the shelves here in Japan. Despite the fact that it looks like little more than a hockey puck, the new digital-media receiver from the folks at Cupertino should satisfy users who consume most of their...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Nov 10, 2010
Ninja USB clip defends your data's honor ; Bandai's hovering X-Flyer feels like mini-UFO
Japan has produced a number of fun USB storage devices over the years ("humping dog" memory stick, anyone?) and now there's another to add to the list thanks to the good people at Cut n' Paste.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Oct 27, 2010
Paint the town red for Mario's 25th birthday celebrations
Usually, if someone tells you their Wii is all red, you'd suggest they see a doctor. Thankfully, Nintendo's new red Wii is more cause for celebration than medical scare.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Oct 13, 2010
Takara Tomy's Love Digi continues evolution of purikura
Most readers in Japan will be familiar with the local phenomenon of purikura. Translated as "print club," they are small, user-decorated photographs with sticker backings. These personalized stickers are quite popular among young girls in Japan, who will often plaster them all over notebooks and mobile...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Sep 22, 2010
Japan iPad competitor offers up some luv
While this columnist is admittedly upset that Mouse Computer named their latest product after my old college dorm room without attribution, it's certainly very exciting to see an Android-based competitor for Apple's "revolutionary" iPad coming out of Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Sep 8, 2010
Shinkansen chopsticks add dash of otaku goodness to lunch
One of the more popular items to come out of Japan last year was Kotobukiya's "Star Wars" Light Saber Chopsticks, which made the rounds on popular tech blogs such as Gizmodo, Wired and TechCrunch's CrunchGear. And while they might not have "the force" (nor the brand power) of any "Star Wars" product,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jul 21, 2010
Ustream goes mainstream
From high atop the summit of Mount Fuji last summer, despite miserable weather and poor visibility, 32-year-old tech enthusiast Joseph Tame sent video coverage of a spectacular solar eclipse live to the Internet from an impromptu mobile-broadcasting studio. With little more than a laptop and a Web connection,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 27, 2010
Japan's techies strive to bridge culture gap
In November, more than 100 people met in Yokohama for a daylong "unconference" on technology and the Internet. Attendees addressed each other on topics of their choosing — the roster of speakers determined solely by whoever signed up fastest for time slots on a whiteboard.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Oct 14, 2009
Sekai Camera's new reality
Speaking on the sidelines at the CEATEC technology conference in Chiba on Friday, Takahito Iguchi made a bold statement: "We will make a new environment."

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