Crank up the music: Giving electronic devices mobility is the easy part. Empowering them to function for any length of time before you have to recharge them is quite another challenge. Local gadget whiz Thanko is helping out with its functionally titled Cranking MP3 Player, a new digital- music player that you can recharge with a hand-crank. One minute of physical exertion earns you 10 minutes of playing time. The otherwise routine player can also be recharged using conventional means: AC adapter or via USB. The player supports MP3 and WMA files and includes 1 gigabyte of internal memory. It also has a flashlight. The unit is available for ¥5,980, with details at www.thanko.jp/crankingmp3/
Electrons and ink: The art of applying ink to paper is not dead yet, and some of the more creative tech types are still trying to bring pens into the digital age. Computer-peripherals maker Taxan, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Kaga Electronics Co., has come up with the KG-DP1, a digital pen that allows you to transfer your handwriting directly into a digital document. While reminiscent of the innovative Bluetooth Anoto Pen released in 2000, the Taxan instrument uses infrared and needs no special paper or tablet. The writer's pen strokes are sent to a small communications hub that is connected by USB to a PC running Windows 2000, XP or Vista. The pen, which looks like a fancy, rubber-gripped ball-point, can do extra duty as a stylus mouse or drawing tool. It comes out April 15 priced at ¥14,800. www.taxan.co.jp/info/index.htm
A handful of knowledge: The Quicktionary 2 Kanji Reader may look like an oversize digital thermometer, but this straightforward tool developed by U.S.-based WizCom Technologies Ltd. and Japan21 Inc. promises to help you breeze through translations. Run the tip of this hand-held scanner/ electronic dictionary over a word or line of text and it gives you a translation — Japanese-to-English or vice versa — on its small LCD screen. It can handle romaji, hiragana, katakana and more than 3,000 kanji, but it works best on machine-printed words, so handwriting may throw it off. It will read out English words as well, offering an on-call pronunciation aid. Two models will be released April 10: the Quicktionary Genius 2 costs ¥31,290 and offers 95,000 translation entries; the Quicktionary EE Pro 2 costs ¥36,750 and handles 200,000 entries. More information at wizcomtech .jp21.jp/product/qt2j.html