Proven brand: Picking genuine designer goods from increasingly sophisticated ripoffs is tough. So Hitachi and printing maestro Toppan next month bring to Japan a high-tech method for seeing beyond the label. The IC Hologram is an RFID (radio-frequency identification) tag with a special hologram etched onto it that will be attached to an item's packaging. The hologram is expensive to fake and the RFID computer chip data is encrypted and difficult to crack. Together, the two features are expected to be too tough for forgers to copy. In the future, such tags are also expected to be used to verify batches of medicine. But for now Hitachi and Toppan anticipate that proving the authenticity of luxury items will generate ¥4 billion in annual sales of the high-tech tags. More information can be found at: www.toppan.co.jp/news

Bluetooth tunes: Sony has unveiled its latest portable digital-media players. The 16-gigabyte NW-A829 and 8-gigabyte NW-A828 each use flash memory and play video as well as music. They also include Bluetooth modules, doing away with the need for wired connections to computer and headphones. Weighing just 39 grams, they play for up to 36 hours of audio and up to 10 hours of video. The pair support MP3, WMA, ATRAC, AAC, HE-AAC and Sony PCM for audio and mpeg4, H.264 and AVC for video. Slated for release March 20, they are priced at ¥37,800. Visit www.sony.jp for more details.

Hooking up: Sony will also release a new peripheral to hook its portable media players up to your home stereo. The new TDM-NW10 cradle, which connects to the stereo via a 22-pin WM-PORT connector or 18-pin digital media port, works with the above-mentioned Bluetooth models, as well as the A910, A800 and S700 series players, allowing users to play thousands of albums on their home system without going to the trouble of changing a disc. Costing ¥6,000, it is due out April 21. More information is available at www.sony.jp