Peter Crookes - The Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Mar 11, 2009

Dust off your old records for one final play

Movie marvel: Just as the arrival of home video in the 1980s impacted heavily on the movie-theater industry, free-to-air TV is now being undermined by pay TV and movies delivered via the Internet. Television-set manufacturers are helping to widen channels for the new methods of movie distribution, and now Sony is making VOD (Video On Demand) services easier with two new series of Bravia LCD high-definition TVs, the W5 and F5.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Mar 4, 2009

Top technology comes in small packages

Touch and go: Asus virtually created the burgeoning market for netbook computers with its groundbreaking Eee PC lineup. Whether it can give the demand for touch-screen desktop machines the same sort of boost is open for debate. But the Taiwanese maker is giving it a shot with its Eee Top 1602, due out in Japan at the end of March. The new Eee, with its 15.6-inch LCD touch screen, looks like a miniature all-in-one desktop computer a la iMac.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Feb 25, 2009

Turn on, power up and relieve the pressure

On the big screen: Samsung has unveiled its latest response to the current challenge facing laptop-computer designers — how to get the smallest, lightest machines with the biggest, brightest screens possible. The truth is, getting both is not going to happen. Designers are overcoming this problem by hooking up a full-size monitor to laptops, as the practical benefits of a netbook screen of around 8-inches are limited. Using an extra screen has a number of benefits. For example, you can work from both screens at once or watch DVDs without having to strain your eyes.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Feb 18, 2009

A bigger, better netbook — and not quite an iPod killer

Touched up: Korean innovator iriver is firing off both barrels with its latest personal media player, the P20, a model it hopes will take some market share away from Apple's iPod touch. The P20 is a chunky device with impressive hardware credentials. Released in Japan as an 80-gigabyte model, the PMP has already turned heads overseas with its 4.1-inch, 480×272 resolution organic-LED display with touch-screen ability. The P20 backs up the imposing screen and spacious storage capacity with its ability to handle a variety of audio and video formats, including MPEG-1/2/4, Xvid, WMV, MP3, OGG, WMA and FLAC. Moreover, it can view Microsoft Office (but only up to Office 2003), PDF and plain-text documents. Photographers will be pleased with the P20's ability to view RAW files and the fact that it can read directly from memory cards, with a snap-on attachment. Rounding out the features are an FM radio tuner, voice recorder and games. It can also record from other media, such as a TV. The device can operate for up to nine hours while playing videos, or for 12 hours of audio playback. The P20 weighs about 300 grams and measures 80×130×20.5 mm.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Feb 11, 2009

Clearing up digital photography

Look sharp: In digital photography, cameras that are small and easy to use tend not to take good pictures in low light and to have a crimped dynamic range. A camera's dynamic range defines how much detail it can capture in shadowy areas of the picture and brightly lit parts at the same time. The better its range, the more details it will capture. A camera's ability to do this is due in large part to its sensors, and compact cameras use smaller ones that really limit what the devices can do.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Jan 28, 2009

Sony's new headphones mean you will never get your wires crossed

Knot again: Just how headphone cords manage to tangle themselves up without any outside interference is one of life's minor mysteries. Bluetooth-enabled devices, however, offer a solution to this problem.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Jan 21, 2009

Olympus gets tough with new cameras

Playing hard to break: Olympus is taking advantage of the delicate nature of modern cameras to craft a niche market. It has produced a range of compact cameras sold as much on their claims to toughness as their ability to create a pleasing image. The latest additions to the ranks are the μTough-8000 and its smaller sibling the μTough-6000. The former is a 12-megapixel snapper, which is waterproof up to 10 meters, can take the shock of a fall of up to 2 meters, is crushproof to a maximum of 100 kg and can handle temperatures down to -10 C. It has a 3.6× optical zoom, going from 28 mm to 102 mm, a 2.7-inch LCD, image stabilization and face detection. Moreover, navigating between menus can be done just by tapping on the camera's body, which is meant to make the camera easier for somebody using gloves. It also has an LED to illuminate underwater photos.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Jan 14, 2009

New cameras aim to make kids more than just a blur

Focused product: Gadgets can help transform the difficult into the routine and make the impossible possible. In the world of home movies, the current challenge is developing the technology that drives autofocus in video cameras. This is tougher than it seems, because the average camcorder user makes home videos that feature children, who never stay in one place for long. This often means blurry footage of the little ones.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Jan 7, 2009

Hybrid storage to put new spin on netbook choices

Flash wonder: Netbook makers seem to be particularly keen to shatter the axiom that size always equals power. Their shrunken portables put a premium on being small and light, both in terms of bulk and price, for only a slight tradeoff on performance. Certainly they would also like people to stop describing their mini machines as toys.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Dec 31, 2008

Puny netbook hard drives no problem for Logitec

Data box: Designing electronics these days is as much about deciding what to leave out as what features to include.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Dec 24, 2008

Who says you can't buy a friend?

Your new chum: Gadgets are by definition small mechanical or electronic devices with a practical function that typically are thought of as novelties. Widgets, on the other hand, have until recently been merely hypothetical gadgets, handy for illustrating hypothetical examples.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Dec 17, 2008

E-mail back if the Earth moved for you too

Call me: Fixed-line telephones used to be a lot like refrigerators: dull but essential. These days they are more akin to microwave ovens: more buttons than dials, and still useful, but not a must-have item. Marketing the humble phone is similar to promoting any commodity that consumers can live without — you need a gimmick.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Dec 10, 2008

Sony brings home the convenience of FeliCa

Smart money: Japan's old-fashioned notions about money are evaporating one innovation at a time. Although people are getting used to carrying around cash that they can't see, managing those funds often involves a trip to a convenience store or a bank. Sony Corp. will relieve some of that hassle next month when it releases the PaSoRi RC-S330 smart-card reader/writer.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Dec 3, 2008

Preholiday offerings speak of sensibility

Ahead to basics: Pentel is not ready to write the eulogy for the humble pen. Rather than killing off the ages-old device, it is intent on bringing it into the digital age. Its latest effort is the airpenMini digital pen.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Nov 26, 2008

Yamaha makes a stand for television sound

Audiovisual support: It is surprising how TV-makers seem to deem sound- reproduction a secondary concern behind dressing up the features — much like makers of portable music players.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Nov 19, 2008

Be a walking drive-in with mini projector

Marketing 101: Make use of a brand, even if it is not your own. Electronics pioneer Texas Instruments does so with its DLP Pico projector, the PK-101. Sold under the Optoma brand, the PK-101 is said to be the world's smallest and lightest projector. It goes on sale from Dec. 1 at the Apple Store in Japan with an iPhone/iPod kit and dock connector.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Nov 12, 2008

iPhone accessory gives you TV on the go

iPhone TV: Apple's amazing iPhone does just about everything, right? Nope. It's come up short in Japan for various reasons, including its lack of the TV function available on the newest generation of mobile phones.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Nov 5, 2008

Bare-bones cube fancies itself as media center

Let's get small: Computer makers are pursuing a bloated form of minimalism. Stripped-down, shrunken machines such as the Asus Eee PC subnotebooks are the great new trend. Less is more and small is the new big.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Oct 29, 2008

Bandai robot keeps eye on your home

I, robot: Bandai's robot designers must be fans of the iconic sci-fi movie "Forbidden Planet." While Sony has forsaken its line of Aibo robot dogs, it solidified the spirit that Japanese robots should have a high cuteness factor.

LIFE / Digital / IGADGET

Oct 22, 2008

Apple lightens, brightens lineup

Pick an Apple: Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of the hat, Apple Inc. always conjures up a buzz out of its product announcements. In its latest trick, the technology maestro has unveiled a much-anticipated lineup of new MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air notebook computers that are already triggering excited debate. Along with some innovative technology, the new creations basically trumpet Apple computers' traditional selling points — style and ease of use.

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