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Cool Japanese Gadgets You Can't Have
CitizenC writes "C|Net is running a story on really cool gadgets that we don't get here in the US or Canada. (At least, not yet anyway.) Included are an in car, dashboard mounted DVD player (VERY bad idea), a digital camera that stores images on a MiniDisk, the PlayStation 2 (Although we WILL be getting it this fall), colour LCD cell phones for web-surfing, and finally (my personal favorite), a digital fish tank!"
Why would I want a digital fish tank when one of the few MS products I own that doesn't crash is the Windows 95 Plus Underwater theme?
My favorite was the solar battery powered vibrating teriyaki steak.
Take a vacation there? Why? To learn how life can become meaningless?
I keep real live fish in a 4 foot tank. They're expensive, they eat all the time, shit all the time, and die occasionally.
:-)
I saw the digital fish tanks in Tokyo (Akihabara) quite a few times on my last couple of trips there. They look remarkably good. They don't have the depth of the real thing, but presumably the AI fish don't die either
I liked them. I'd buy one if I was rich and stupid. As it stands, I'm stupid okay, but not rich.
I remember seeing an in-car DVD/GPS screen system in the Japanese Subaru cars. The screen was inserted between the center console and the dash.
One slight push, and the screen popped out like a cup holder so you either find your way with the GPS tool, or lose your way by watching a movie!
The Siemens S25 phone has a colour LCD screen, and that's been available for some time in the UK. It does have a web browser of sorts, but it's not a WAP phone. (I think it works by doing something clever with SMS messaging, but I haven't managed to set it up on my phone yet, so I'm not sure)
When you're crawling in bumper-to-bumper traffic, that's the only way your ever gonna catch the evening news.
I don't understand why Japanese drivers can have TV's in their cars but Americans can't....(well, Americans ARE pretty crappy drivers)
No, so you fucking arrogant Yank wankers can actually figure out your not the only people on the planet to use electricity.
This is fucking hilarious. I especially liked the bit about the "animated rubber dog feces" Please moderate this up.
Sure, but it's not a vending machine. I'm pretty sure you can buy used panties in the States too.
do you really give a fuck
The very first mobile phone with I-net capabilites was the Nokia N9000 of Finland.
Right now, everyone is holding out for the WAP telephones, supposed to be used for viewing specially-adapted webpages (If everyone were more conservative in their use of flashy images and attempts at layout through HTML, this wouldn't have backfired at them), and with colour displays, as shown on fairs.
Phones are free in most of Europe too, or go for the chocking price of one crown or mark. Japanese phones have bad coverage and sound, though, and are mostly for use in cities as opposed to more rigid systems like GSM or NMT.
As for email, that is available with normal GSM phones, by way of emailSMS gateways, offered by the providers.
As for freedom of speech, I dare say that Japan is ahead of Yankland in many ways.
I smell a JohnKatz "end of the world" article here....
Has anyone actually seen these things or are they some urban legend? I've been to Japan twice, actively looked for them both times, and could never find any.
Oog is as gay of a concept as "bacon shit" and the other grits-wannabes. Gay gay gay. Please stop.
I found such an in-dash mounted DVD player in a Specialy car audio dealer here in Dallas.
>that's the only way your ever gonna catch the >evening news.
Uhh,....ever her of this new-fangled gizmo called the RADIO???? Geez, use your head for more than a hat rack!
One word:
DAT.
Its used for storage and is also used to tape live shows.
I would say that the majority of live music tapers are using DAT (At least, that's the way it seems when Im taping shows) to record the shows. Because of this, alot of bands have stopped giving out soundboard access and only allow taping with mics.
I have yet to see an MD to tape a show.
There is nothing that would make a MD overtake DAT's
One word:
/. geeks who use it to backup their work, I dont have it in front of me but I think its about 1 or 2 gigs. Anybody know by heart?
DAT.
Its used for storage and is also used to tape live shows.
I would say that the majority of live music tapers are using DAT (At least, that's the way it seems when Im taping shows) to record the shows. Because of this, alot of bands have stopped giving out soundboard access and only allow taping with mics.
I have yet to see an MD to tape a show.
There is nothing that would make a MD overtake DAT's
I get most of my DAT's from other
Hey, we already have the MiniDisc cameras. For a mere $2200 you can buy a MiniDisc camcorder at Circuit City. It's the new Sony Disc Cam. It uses new MD View discs, which are high-density 650 MB mini-discs (they cost about $15) each. The camera is awesome--it has a digital editing suite built in, and stores MPEG2 video (at only 400 lines) at up to 15 mins. Also, it can record like 4.5 hours of video, or take a bazillion stills.
How actually READING the article you linked to? It's not a camera at all, but a SCANNER.
I saw an ad for that dashboard DVD player on one of my North Mercan TV feeds last night... it sure put driving with a cell phone in perspective :p
Here's some more kewl gadgets http://www.mindmachines.com
doesn't anyone get the crutchfield catalog?
Wow
From the country that brings you soiled japanese schoolgirl panties in vending machines comes these wonderful new toys!
Can't wait til they hit the states!
Cheers
the us recording industry didn't want people making digital copies. simple as that.
so, how do you know oog is gay...unless you let him pour hot grits up your distended ass. enough with the "this is gay" comments. or are you still in jr. high school. no run along, little shit.
There is another fishtank at http://www.aquazone.com it's a windows app, but should run under wine (i haven't tried yet) its basicaly a Virtual aquarium.. (only draw back is you hafta purchase new fish breeds)
I can't say i agree with your comment, the japanese have just as much freedom of speech as you do, so i don't think that is a valid point (what is this fascination with the whole freedom of speech thing, as if everyone elses mouths were nailed shut by the invasive and corrupt governments of foreign countries.) On another note the phones don't seem to have many new features compared with what we are used to in europe anyway, except for the colour screens, which are new features anyhow.
Cell phones to surf the web have been around for a while. Nokia released the 7110 wap phone awhile back - it's the first phone I've had that you can actively surf the web on. But the 9110 communicator (and it's predessor) could do this (sort of, not using wap) even before so it really isn't something new.
From the article:
Now you can work your way through the Godfather trilogy during your daily commute, all the while blasting the soundtrack through your minivan's Dolby Digital Surround Sound system.
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I'm more envious of the fact that they have the Godfather Trilogy on DVD and we don't, than any of that other crap. Ok, they don't really, the article was written by someone who didn't take the time to pick one of the many movies that was actually available on DVD.
That's funny, I just went last week to buy new speakers and subs for my car, and the place I went had a head unit that would play dvd's and display them on a small LCD (I think it was about 4 inches) Who says you can't get that here?...
Artificial fish tank? Let's just hope the instruction booklet includes a piece which tells the Japs what they're supposed to feel when they look at it. Hey why stop with fish tanks? How about an artificial spouse? Or a wall-sized artificial LIFE!
Yes, this is true. They were also available in the UK about two years back. They cost about £5.
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Behind my PC table
There was a piece of glass
I tried to slit my wrist on it
Except I slit my
ASCII's not my problem
It's Slashdot's stupid mods
So, moderate me down right now
So I can go to
Hello moderator...
no.... in other parts of the world you can buy albums on md
3)They can be read/written using the same technique as usual M/O discs
usual mo disks don't exist... there are grips of standards for them. for practical intents and purposes, md's *are* mo disks.
i used to be a delivery driver for the coca cola company, here in the united states. however, after being brought up on charges of indecent exposure, i was given the choice of being fired or taking up the new route in a small village near the serenghetti.
i'll never forget my first delivery. two small native boys were standing there waiting for me like i was santa clause. the younger one asked his older friend, "what do you think it tastes like?!"
the older boy smiled, "my dad says it's like kissing a girl!"
the boys giggled and watched as i unloaded the first coca cola products to ever make way to their village.
eventually, i finished that particular delivery and readied the truck up for the next one. i looked in my rear-view mirror as i drove away. i'll never forget the heart-warming vision i beheld.
the boys had already run into the store and gotten one bottle of coca cola apiece. the younger one took his first drink and smiled. he plunged his toungue into the long neck and moved it passionately around in the top of the bottle.
his body spasmed with euphoria as he passionately caressed the dripping wet bottle of delight. the older boy watched with excitement.
the young boy dropped to the ground and began rolling around in the tall grass. the last thing i saw was an animated piece of rubber dog feces approaching the boys to ask for directions.
i wiped a single tear from my eye. it's those moments that sustain me as i lay here dying from that hideous ebola virus. somebody should really keep those monkey carcasses out of public areas.
thank you.
My impression of Japan has always been that it's on the cutting edge of existing technology, not new technology. Countries like the US come up with the later.
Unless I'm in Japan. Some of us are you know.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
There a difference between being a Luddite and stopping and thinking about technology from a rational perspective.
Show of hands: How many people have been almost killed by people who were so distracted by the conversation they're carrying on that they failed to notice something simple? Red light, checking a blind spot, the list goes on and on - I've seen them all.
Now you're talking about in-dash DVD players as being a luddite issue. Uh huh. So when your eyes are on the screen, what happens when I brake hard in front of you to avoid some idiot who just changed lanes without checking his blind spot?
Allowing yourself to be distracted while driving is one of the most dangerous things you can do. I don't care if you're carrying on a heated conversation with a passenger or watching Pulp Fiction - it's dangerous to yourself and everyone else on the road.
While you can rattle on and on about how stupid it is for folks to be against radios, I've been in situations where I took one hand off the wheel and my eyes off the road to tune in a station at the wrong time. No accident, but close enough to make me more careful.
So you can continue on in your nice cushy Navigator, watching DVDs and talking on your cell phone. Just don't expect to get an easy sentence when you take someone's head off in an accident.
Moof!
These phones use packet based networks so you only have to pay for data transmitted, not air time, so they are cheaper to cruise the web. NTT-DoCoMo has a micropayment system so people can make money ( US$1 - US$3 ) a month just by letting people read your websites. And a lot of websites are free.
It is REALLY popular. 5 million users so far for NTT-DoCoMo, and they all can send e-mail and cruise the web.
Also, talking on the phone in the subway is considered rude, so people cruise the web or send messages on the long commutes.
-- I doubt, therefore I might be.
Yeah, I saw one in Nashville last week. 7" LCD screen, something over $1,000 if I recall...
The independence of the United States is a myth! It's really just a buffer zone, protecting Canada from the rest of the world.
... and today's pet project has
Yup, bits of it all exist.
Now I want the whole enchilada in one comprehensive, compatible, co-operative package.
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Go yo your local car audio shop and look at the dash mounted DVD LCD stereo players. Also, goto Circuit city and look at the MD video cameras. Color cell phones are just a coming attraction. Well, and OF COURSE the PS2 is going to be making an appearance at my house :)
Does the GNOME Fish count? Mine's called Wanda. She's swimming in my panel as I type.
No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.
My highschool, in new hampshire, bought a digital video camera, which records onto mididiscs, a few months ago, I think.
-rozzin.
It's the cute invasion!
Lets just pray it hits the States before us Canucks have to deal with it.
"I build my canopy of steel.. it fulfills my sense of real.. a chrome protection" - Catherine Wheel
Apparently Apex is doing just that. The MD-100 -- which fits in a standard dash -- plays DVDs, cds, and mp3s.
They say it'll be out next month for about $499.
e;
I've thought about the troll issue too. IMHO, a good troll does not deserve to be moderated down (or up, because then it would be marked as a troll, ruining the joke) and a bad troll is better described as flamebait. I suggest the "troll" option be retired.
--
grappler
Vidi, Vici, Veni
I've seen these things in ads in Asahi. Its more normal in Japan than anywhere I know of. The thing is the ones I've read about aren't purely DVD. its closer to a computer with a DVD drive, so, what the hell, lets have a player. PS2 probably got it for the same reason. all the hardware was there.
The big thing about these though, they are called "Car Navi". Yes, this is short for navigator, but knowing this and watching 'Lain', you must realize that the term "Navi" is not geek. its a normal adopted word, and that Car Navis seem all the less techno and more normal. A world where kick-ass computers are not geeky, but just another appliance. 'Lain' looks all the more disturbing now, doesn't it?
êá
Lycestra
Well, since everyone else has pointed out that the MD camera is available in the US, I guess I'll point out that there is a car DVD player available, too. I wasn't able to find the manufacturer, but a local car audio chain stocks it. I'll stop by after work today and post the manufacturer/model when I get home.
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
One of my favorite geek attractions over here is the holographic Buddhist (Shinto? I still can't tell the diff...) Shrine near Yurakucho station. It's on the ground floor of Hankyu Department Store and has a 2ft*2ft holographic religious image...
There's even a little coffer for you to toss coins when you say your prayer.
It's a short walk from Sony Plaza in Ginza, which is another Mecca of geekdom. You can walk through the building and see the prototypes of many of Sony's products, built with clear plastic cases, so you can see the innards.
Akihabara is just too extreme to describe here - Let's just say that if they decide to film Neuromancer there, they won't have to change anything...
Cheers,
Jim in Tokyo
-- My Weblog.
It's funny that they mention watching the godfather series, considering it is one of the major missing series of movies not on DVD.
http://www.geocities.com/keitaishashin/
Quick Spec:
I want one!
People have beem modifying Alpine CVA1000's (their in-dash navagation system) for over a year now. By default they're supposed to be installed so that the parking brake must be engaged to operate, but there are several hacks to get around this.
However, there are important distances being ignored here:
Radio vs DVD:
Audio cues while driving are not as important as visual cues. There have been cases where people have not heard sirens, and have caused problems as a result, but the frequency with which you must respond to audio cues is sufficiently low to make driving with a radio relatively safe.
Visual cues are fairly important. If you are driving in bumper to bumper traffic watching a dvd, and don't notice the brakelights, you have trouble. If you are driving in bumper to bumper traffic listening to the radio, and don't hear the brakes squealing in front of you, hopefully you notice the brake lights.
Radio vs handheld cell phone:
With radio, you take one hand off the wheel, and press buttons. This can lead to accidents, and occasionally does. Statistically though, the odds that you'll reach out to change channels at a critical moment are reasonably low.
With a cell phone, you may have your hand off the wheel for the entire commute. In urban areas, that can often be in the 30 minute to 1-hour range. In addition, unlike with a radio, most people won't feel free to jerk their hand back to the wheel in an emergency, for multiple reasons:
a) you'll drop your phone (you won't drop your radio).
b) you're holding your phone in a grip (you don't hold your radio the same way).
c) you're more involved with your phone (in the midst of conversation).
Even more serious is the likelyhood that you won't put your hand back on the wheel during moments you need to make steering adjustments in non emergencies. This can lead to an increased statistical risk that you'll be the cause of an accident.
I'll allow people to have hands-free phones in their cars with no complaints, but just like with motorcycle helmets, as a public policy, it just makes more sense to legally force people to not have dvd players distracting the driver, and not have phones or other electronics occupying the driver's hands.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
I can't get to the site because I'm doing a big download.
Is the fish tank digital or just electronic? If the later, you can get the same thing a lot cheaper (probably) here in the States and have been able to for many years. Just pop a tape in your VCR and you can have fish, a fireplace, forest scenes, etc.
--
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If you are in Silicon Valley, you can see an NEC "FishClub Jr." in the lobby of Accrue Software, in Fremont. It's an HTDV monitor. The fish programs are on some kind of flash card that looks like PCMCIA -- it's definitely not laserdisc or DVD. You can turn on/off the bubbles. This is particularly useful if you want to plug in your laptop to the video input, say to give a presentation (although nobody at Accrue uses it for presentations). The remote control is very cute .. it's in the shape of a fish.
There's an optional carousel that holds multiple cards -- I think five or six. The 'tank' is currently programmed to rotate the fish program every hour throughout the day. Also, it's programmed to shut itself down between about 7pm and 7am, since there usually isn't anyone in the lobby.
The 'new tank every hour' routine can be confusing for visitors who see the fish tank on the way in to the building, and see a different set of fish (and backgrounds, etc) on their way out. Only then do they go close enough to the tank to realize it's an HTDV monitor.
I've seen the dash mounted DVD player for sale in the U.S., at a high end A/V store over 6 months ago.
xfishtank on a laptop. Cats can see an LCD screen and they will be interested for a while...but make sure they can't reach it with their claws.
See MiniDisc.Org for a list of sources. There's also a page on MD data devices.
On another note the phones don't seem to have many new features compared with what we are used to in europe anyway, except for the colour screens, which are new features anyhow.
Really? I thought we had some pretty hot stuff in Japan...
Docomo has their I-Mode phones, that have internet access as well as NTT's information network (things like movie schedules, train schedules, weather information, entertainment guides and such).
Tsuka has their own network called SkyWeb which is fairly similar.
Most phones now offer internet e-mail, as well.
The color phones just came out at the end of last year and they are pretty cool, though a bit expensive (like almost $40!! ouch!). I'd rather get a free phone, myself. They're a bit older and bigger (mine weighs in at a hefty 7x15x1.5cm!), but they're free so what the hell.
I'm waiting for them to get the navi systems small enough that they can fit them on the phones. Now THAT will be cool!
As far as freedom of speech goes, we have a lot more of it in Japan than the USA does.
Hoo-rah, more pocket philosophy.
A thought-free way to promote regularity.
Wanna know something really funny?
It's illegal to talk on a cel phone while driving in Japan, but it's not illegal to watch TV while driving =)
I've always whanted to store data on MiniDiscs.
Think of it:
1)7x7cm (2x2 inch.) could store 100-150MB worth of data*
2)The discs come in a plastic case which is (mostly) dust and scratch-proof
3)They can be read/written using the same technique as usual M/O discs.
I'd rather store data on my smartmedia cards.
Think of it:
1) 2x2cm (and 1.5mm thick!)
2) the cards are solid state, so they are dust and scratch proof
3) They are flash storage, so access is almost instantaneous
I'm thinking of buying one of the new 120MB versions so I can load that much more music into the mp3 player I bought in Akihabara for $80.
usual mo disks don't exist... there are grips of standards for them. for practical intents and purposes, md's *are* mo disks.
They do in Japan, and have for years.
There's one in the machine right beside me at work.
They are now up to 640MB MO drives (you can get 640MB disks for about $30 and the player is about $350).
The standard for MO drives in Japan is called (surprise) MO
Ex: Toyota has a car that has a electric/gas hybrid engine called the Prius that gets something like 70mpg in town. This vehicle has been available in Japan for at least five years.
The Prius was released in Japan at the beginning of this year.
I should know, since I'm building the ECU reprogramming system for it.
Get your head out of the sand.
Precicely, and it's a real bitch to meet up with the nitpicking requirements of the US govt.
Take CARB for instance. We had to develop a special on-board-diagnostics protocol (CARB-OBD) specifically for California before they would let Toyota continue selling cars there.
Fortunately, they later agreed on the OBD-II protocol.
I was at Hi-Fi Buys last week, and they have an in dash dvd player in stock. It fits in a normal stereo slot and has a movable flat panel lcd display on the front of it. I don't remember how much or who made it, but it is available.
-- Segmentaion Fault (core dumped)
heh heh heh, I wonder if there is a market for such a service outside of Japan?
Lord, I hope not. If I have to hear just one more pager playing Pachelbel's Cannon I'm going to scream.
Could you imagine going to a mall filled with teeny-boppers with all their cell phones tuned the the latest boy/girl band of the minute? The sheer horror of it is hinted at in the article by the mention of the most popular song being that godawful thing from "Titanic." Over and over again no matter where you go. AAAAAA!!!!!!
By the way, did anyone else get the pun in DoCoMo? ("doko mo" == Japanese for "everywhere")
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
1. If you've ever been stuck in a Golden Week traffic jam (over 100km long to the resorts or back to Tokyo), then you'd realize why even drivers need DVD players.
2. I'm not so excited about MD used as a recording medium. It only stores about 140MB and you need special DataMDs that are hard to find. If they free up the specs so you can use cheap $2 music MDs, then they're great.
3. PlayStation 2: in regards to all the bugs in the first revision, perhaps its good we're getting them a bit behind the times. Although the $169 Apex DVD player does take the edge off of buying a PS2 just to watch DVDs in my bedroom.
4. The color LCD cell phones are a toy. Only 256 colors and a tiny screen. They are also harder to read than normal ones. But they're rev 1, so we should hope to see better ones in the future. The great thing about them is that they're so small (half the size of american cell phones) and cheap.
5. Digital fish tanks are tres cool. They have some at subway stations in Tokyo. They also sell some great fishtank software for Macs. I've wanted to get one, but they're expensive (about $90 + more for the fish). But they'd look great on my LCD display. Fish are certainly more calming than looking for aliens!
Sigh, I wish I were back in Japan. :(
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GAT d-- a? C++ UX+ L++ P++ E--- W+++$ N++ o-- !K !w O---- M++$ !V PS++
I've always whanted to store data on MiniDiscs.
Think of it:
1)7x7cm (2x2 inch.) could store 100-150MB worth of data*
2)The discs come in a plastic case which is (mostly) dust and scratch-proof
3)They can be read/written using the same technique as usual M/O discs.
*) Iv'e heard that MiniDiscs uses a compression algorithm similar to mp3 (lossy), altough 4:1 not 12:1, makeing it able to hold 650/4=162.5MB (~150).
Geek rants since like... 2000 or something.
Here in the US you can already get in-dash DVD players for GPS navigation or movie watching. Check out Alpine's website I've seen them at a local car electronics shop, very cool and very expensive. ;->
"Listen: We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different!" - Kurt Vonnegut
go oog go...
what we need now is an OOGAL...
its called SCMS, or Serial Copy Management System. Some sheilded Monster cables and do analog norm-speed rip and no SCMS. Theyre are stripper boxes tho.
1. Well, you can do double-speed playback in mono extended-play (74min * 2). No quality lowering, however. ($200 for a Sharp MD-MT15 search E-Bay. $2 per MD at MiniDisco.com)
2. Car Audio decks exist, although dunno where (check Sony?) (Probably $300-$400)
3. Sharp and Sony both make component decks, and Panasonic makes boomboxes. ($300-$2000)
4. MD cameras exist. See this discussion and one is mentioned somewhere, but cant remember, sorry. ($400 i think)
5. RARE! Sony made one MD-Data deck. Discontinued, and uses much more expensive (but holding the same) MD-Data discs. Search EBay. (Saw one on EBay for $200)
This kind of thing is done on purpose. The Japanese don't let us have these things until they have been in use there for several years and we are behind the curve, so to speak (and as it's their products that's their right). It's one way to keep American industry behind Japanese and was done really bad back when Japan had their economy ramped way up.
Ex: Toyota has a car that has a electric/gas hybrid engine called the Prius that gets something like 70mpg in town. This vehicle has been available in Japan for at least five years. It gets released next year in the United States. Honda is releasing the Insight which has the same tech as the Prius this year. Go here and enter a search for the Prius for information about it.Go here for information on the Insight.
In summary... this is nothing new and will continue as long as the Japanese feel that we need to be kept behind them in these things. Nothing evil about it. Just business.
When I was in Fukuoka, (on Kyushu, Japan's southern island)the taxi cab we took from the airport had a tv and dvd in it that the driver was watching. It was terrifying. There were no traffic lights, just mirrors at each intersection, and the driver was driving very fast and WATCHING TV!!!
One of the other things you forgot is bathroom technology. Japan is decades ahead of us in bathroom technology. The toilet seats were HEATED. The mirrors were fog proof, there was a television in the huge bath tub! With a remote control! (Waterproof of course.) Not to mention the many different alternatives to bathroom tissue. You can BLOW DRY YOUR ASS WHILE YOU ARE STILL ON THE TOILET!!! I wanted to stay in the bathroom the whole trip. I wanted to cry when I had to come home to my cold toilet seat and tiny tub with no tv.
Become a FIST.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fists_of_Righteous_
The Horror, The Horror: Seamen
It'll give you nightmares...
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
If a fish tank doesn't do it for you, you can buy a tape of a fire to put in your TV. It adds a really great atmosphere to any room without a fireplace. em hm.
You can buy Albums on MD. Just go to Best Buy, they have an album MD section.
Diehard
I think the first out were amazing ideas on how to get Hi-Vision (HDTV) sets into the market. But you also get a lot of just digital NTSC with top trimmed off for wide tube. In train stations in Tokyo you sometimes see *real* fish tanks with information/advertising display in ordinary ntsc behind it so you have to watch tv if you want to look at the fish. Some let you navigate.. personally I'd rather just see the live fish.
Available today are:
Panasonic CX-DV1500
Alpine DVA-5200
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Oh.. buy the way, the cellphones, you think that we have lots of models, well they have 100's of models.. walls filled with cellphones in every shape and colour, and not one bigger then the smallest phone we have here.
Akaihabara is the gadget-ophile's wet dream, if you ever go to japan, this is a must see for slashdot readers.
b
My cat gets wound up enough with the tv, no way am I getting one of those digital fishbowls.
Definitely proves Japan makes it as one of the top geek heaven countries though, up there with Finland and Antarctica...the Japanese keep producing these most excellent mad technotoys.
The implementation and availability of MiniDisc in the US is the same as everywhere else. Hell, the price is lower than in Europe. And yet the format has really taken off in some parts of the world. I'm afraid your "argument" doesn't really hold a lot of water...
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
My Dad works for a subsidary of NEC Australia, its offices are off the NEC .au headquarters. They've had the NEC digital fish tank - FishClub - there for as long as I can remember there (at least 2-3 years). I spent the first 9 months trying to work out if the bloody fish were actually real or not.
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I rather like cows.
It depends. I hang around the DJ scene and I've seen many an MD recording of a live set.
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I rather like cows.
Actually, it's not really anything like the Fish Club, I can easily tell the difference between Mopy and real fish. The only thing that set the Fish Club apart from real fish was the fact that a fish tank wouldn't be about 2cm deep.
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I rather like cows.
if you read the one about the MD scanner, you'll notice a bit of background info..
apparently, many stereos have one-button CD-ripping capability to facilitate piracy, and if you go to a CD-rental place, a common line is 'would you like some MiniDiscs with that?'
ahh, it must be nice to live in a country without a damn RIAA. now, if we could only get CD-players that could also do mp3s, i could burn a CD with 650 of music...
Then again, I could be wrong.
If you're looking for a copy of Michael Jackson's Thriller or The New Kids on the Block's most recent release, Best Buy is the place to go (based on my experience in Phoenix Arizona). If you want something released in the late 90's, the only place i've found is Sony's Online Store. I haven't looked that hard, though, so there are probably one or two other places to get pre-recorded discs..
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
Minidisco.com imports a lot of cool new minidisc players and gadgets from Japan to the US. Now if only they imported some of the other items mentioned!
But for a huge wow-factor, check out this mini-tower computer. I nearly fell over when I saw this a couple of weeks ago.
In case you're wondering, the three slots on the front panel are for slot-in DVD, 3.5", and MD. As far as I could tell from the demo model, the MD cannot be used for digital data recording from the computer (only audio); but it's still a pretty cool piece of work.
Can you still get one? I want it....
DAILY ROTATION
I saw one being demoed in a local A/V store here in Colorado. I assumed it was available for sale, but didn't check, because why in the world would I want that? :)
some sort of paper-eating fish
:)
Yeah. And I think it lives better when you print a four-page poster in full color on your HP Laserjet 5000c color laser printer.
And don't forget to make copies for your friends!
Welcome to Slashdot. Please do not feed the trolls.
Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
I suggest that trolls get negative karma scoring, while the positive karma scoring remains the same, and then all other truly useless stuff just get scored absolutely down to zero. If it's a good troll, the karma point get more negative. If it's insightful and interesting positive. Then we can set our thresholds for absolute of the karma point to get either really insightful posts or really artful troll posts. There have been some really classic ones, we need to have a best slashdot troll posts of all times contest or something. All that creative energy go to waste - it's a shame, I tell you.
Can you imagine what freeways would be like if people running off the road because they were watching the TPM dvd? Hmmm, ok maybe that would never happen :) But it's nice to hope.
The Japanese consumer electronics market is much more competitive, while the US market is more value-oriented. Take walkmans: in Japan they have expensive tiny high-tech walkmans, but in the US people want a cheap walkman for $30 or less. Also, Japanese companies are wise to test market their products so by the time they put up the money to market them in the US, they have already been successful in Japan. Thirdly, it takes a while for manufacturing volumes to ramp up, especially in Japan where they are concerned with ensuring the quality of their products before they sell them. It's natural that they would sell only in Japan until the factories can produce at full capacity.
It's simple economics and practical business strategy, not some conspiracy to deprive Americans of the best technology.
easy really
.oO0Oo.
check the files is creates and watch the one that changes date every time you print.
Do a quick diff on a couple and you will work out what to do.
I can't tell you explicitly because it was a couple of years ago and it's been long since deleted and forgotten btu i just remembered how we cracked it.
The things you buy it are bit crappy for all that supposed printing you would have done.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
About summer '96 I tried to get some prices from NEC UK for LCD's - they sent me instead some beautiful brochures offering HDTV widescreen aquariums. £25,000 (c$40,000?) Ouch! I really wanted one
they must be getting updated these days to DVD - IKNA DVD but isnt DVD line resolution *much* less than a laserdiscs i.e. DVD just tries to be VHS+ not 500 lines + Anyone?
yep, they were definately using laserdisc then. I think these things must have some particular importance or something - check out this picture on NEC's Annual Report which is proud of the electric fish!.
I didn't say it was a good idea. Just that it existed, outside of Japan.
HP has a piece of free software you can download that has the same basic features as the digital fishtank. Here's the link. http://193.129.255.102/mopyfish/ You have to feed it or it dies, and if you click on it too many times it freaks out and goes to hide behind a rock. Last time I was there you could download a couple of creatures besides the fish.
What CNet said about cell phones in japan isnt really new. Email/Short Message Service is available worldwide, so is voicemail (though not locally on the phone), and voice recognition/dialing, and special ringtones etc etc can all be found in most GSM cell phones made by Nokia and Ericsson. Whats new are the i-mode phones by NTT DoCoMo. These have 256 color vdeo capable displays and other neat features.
- ~wandie
Neeeeh! It already has. There are websites and newsgroups for those who want britney spears on their phones. I have Robert Miles's Children myself
- ~wandie
I go to European sites that talk in a way that excludes other countries. It is because of the writers perspectives that cause this. I doubt it's a slam on Europeans.
Just like you defended the europeans, but didn't bother to mention the myriad of other place that weren't mentioned.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
There are in dash DVD players. You can get them at almost any high end car stero place. You can hook a playstation 2 that you baught of ebay from japan to it too and have all that fun in your car. HA HA HA!
ha ha, does "special ringtones" include all of the nice melodies I can automatically set a phone to play instead of normal ringing?
For those who don't know, first came the ability to set your own melody into phones, by punching in notes and rests via the keypad. This became so popular there were tons of books made to help you set your phone to play the popular songs of the time.
Now the cell phone companies maintain a database of tons and tons of songs, and you can keep your phone updated to playing the latest hits by downloading new songs when ever you want. Add to that the latest feature, which is 2 or 3 or 4 note melodies, and it's really interesting hearing some of the strange songs people have their phones set to play.
heh heh heh, I wonder if there is a market for such a service outside of Japan?
Joe
>MDs are cool, but they're not that well suited to using as general purpose storage devices.
Yeh, but they look *just* like the data cassette things that they used in Star Trek Classic.
Cheers,
Simon B.
If you moderate me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
Well here's one we have in the US that they don't have:
freedom of speech.
And I like that one more than a digital fish bowl.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Could you misstate this any more? They're talking about using the DVD for a giant GPS database.
Otherwise it's no different than other in car, dashboard mounted dvd players, like they sell at Car Toys here in Redmond. How is this different than the in car, dashboard mounted dvd player I see at the car stereo store here (car toys?).
OOG ALREADY SICK OF IDIOTS DRIVE CAR WHILE TALK ON CELL PHONE!!! OOG AFRAID WEB CELL PHONES AND IN CAR DVD PLAYERS PROVIDE MORE DISTRACTION!!! THESE EVEN BIGGER DEAL THAN CAR AUDIO BECAUSE DVD AND WEB REQUIRE FULL VISUAL ATTENTION!!! IF STUPID PEOPLE USE GADGET AND NOT LOOK AT ROAD MANY MORE ACCIDENTS!!! OOG WONDER IF COMPANIES MAKING POINTLESS PRODUCTS GIVE SHIT ABOUT POTENTIALLY RAISING CAR ACCIDENT RATE!!!
OOG THE OPEN SOURCE CAVEMAN!!! OOG BREAK HEAD WITH OPEN SOURCE CD!!!
I live in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and I have seen DVD dash players on display at two different Car audio shops for about 6 weeks now. One of them was A&B sound at the Local Mall (Metrotown). It was part of a large Pioneer display with their amps and speakers. Not only are they availible, they are also on display.
If you actually read the article about the in dash DVD players then you would have noticed that they were talking about a DVD navigation system. This is a system that will store maps on a DVD to give you directions. This is NOT in the US yet, but I believe that Mercedes is going to put it in cars very soon. I have an in dash DVD player, and I must say that it is one of the nicest touches to my auto. The console was made custom so that the screen is towards the bottom of the dash. If you are driving it is a pain to look at it. However, when me and my friends decide to pull over for a few rounds of mortal kombat on my playstation it is a plus (seats back and reclined). I have only personally watched about three DVDs on it, but when my friends get in the car, my music mysteriously disappears and DVDs come out of the woodwork.
For the past two years, I've been dying to buy a MiniDisc package.
One (1) MiniDisc Recorder/Player -- capable of recording compressed voice at AM, FM and CD quality (so that I can get 1 to 10 *hours* transcription recording) with variable-speed playback
One (1) Car Audio deck -- capable of playing back my audio MDs
One (1) Home Audio deck -- capable of ripping CD to MD, with options for AM/FM/CD quality. If I'm out downhill skiing, I frankly don't really care if I'm getting CD quality sound... I'm not actually gonna be listening all that closely to the music!
One (1) megapixel Digital Camera -- saving its pix to the MD.
One (1) Computer Interface -- capable of storing data and creating music MDs... and reading my pix, playing my transcriptions, playing my music, whatever.
Hell, I'd be happy to pay a fair schwack o' change for that package.
--
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Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Jeesh, that's one of the FIRST things I ran on linux, must be 5 or 6 years ago already. Of course it's not as good as the modern one's ....:)
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
You've never come close to being killed by some asshole on a cell phone. I came off a light one day and some jerk ran the red and sped right in front of me. He was wearing a shirt and tie with a cell phone on his ear and looking over in his passenger seat at something (papers I suppose). Had I gotten off the light faster I would have had a Lexus symbol embedded into my skull. Lets analyze the phrase "watching a DVD". You are "watching" which is defined as paying attention to. What are you watching? A DVD movie in the dash of your car. Now correct me if I'm wrong but it is generally good form to "watch" the road in front of you rather than your dashboard. I would assume one wants to watch the area in front of your car being that the dangerous things are out there and not on the DVD screen. Geeks like gadgets, not being crippled from car accidents.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
you can already get dashmounted dvd players in australia, i saw one at the car stereo shop while buying a cd player, i think the dvd holds 6 disks and goes in your boot, i dident get to see it, only the screen
For now we will just have to live with Mopy fish and Aquatica.
Combine these with the tv-out feature on many video cards to display the fishtank on a TV set and Voila! Instant fishtank, no hardware needed. You could feed the fish and change things (background, fish, "treasures") via the computer.
Who needs those "Cool Japanese Gadgets You Can't Have", anyway!
For that matter, why didn't the minidisc take off here in the states?
The same reason that Beta died.
Hint: Both are made by Sony and both have restrictive licensing.
Update: To continue the long line of Dumb Sony Things, Sony has released their Memory Stick, with restrictive lisencing, and in the face of Compact Flash and Smart Media! Way to go, Sony!
In other news, I just bought a scsi reader for my 32MB smartmedia and compact flash cards...
And people said the same thing about radios being dangerous and distracting in cars 80 years ago.
It's relatively obvious that people learn to adapt to higher information bandwidth, and have been doing this successfully for decades now. We know that people are capable of correctly processing volumes of information orders of magnitude larger than the most geekified car could provide because we see jet pilots do it every day. Certainly the amount of information to be processes in a modern fighter's HUD (head up display) is considerably greater than what would be in a DVD HUD. (I do agree that it's necessary to see where one is going, so HUDs beat in-dash screens badly. [grin])
"The future's good and the present is nothing to sneeze at." - Roblimo's last
I'm really surprised at the number of people on /. that are so adamantly opposed to the use of personal electronics while driving. (You sound more like Luddites than geeks...)
Seriously, there was a huge debate early in this century about whether or not *radios* should be allowed in cars because they were so distracting to the driver and would surely lead to hair, teeth, and eyeballs all over the road. After all, who could possibly concentrate on driving while they were listening to music?
A recent issue of American Heritage's Invention and Technology magazine (required reading for geeks, IMHO) carries a story on the numerous technical problems involved in getting radios to work in cars and a reference to the anti-car-radio) forces. There were even laws passed in some locales prohibiting car radios in an effort to prevent the inevitable roadside carnage. Fortunately cooler heads and the eventual availabilty of factory car radios prevailed. (It was the radical idea of a factory car radio that Bill Lear (later the father of the Lear Jet, and the 8-track tape) used to start a company you may have heard of: Motorola!)
In spite of the doomsayers, we've managed to survive reasonably well with not only radios, but also tape and CD players in our cars, and few people consider this to be an undue hazard. Hopefully, this attitude that bashes cellphones and other personal electronics use in cars will die off just as did the bias against radios. In a few years, the idea of not being able to talk on the phone while driving will seem as ludicrous as not being able to listen to your tunes while driving. (And to many of us, it already does...)
"The future's good and the present is nothing to sneeze at." - Roblimo's last
More than that: It has a built in IP stack for that Ethernet (actually in the battery replacement power supply) and...wait for it...a Web Server!
I know, because I demoed this unit for an audio-video store in Kansas City. You can set the IP to anything you want, and serve an intranet with the sucker. Works passably well, though I wouldn't want to actually put it on the big, bad Internet (H3y d00D!!!! I 0wN y3r Cam3ra!!!!!!!)
It's one of those "what the..." products that the Japanese seem to come out with as trial balloons. It's a poor choice for a video recorder, but a killer video-res still camera...2600 stills on one disc should keep even the snap-happiest happy. The idea purchaser is a person who needs to shoot loads of 640 x 480 images and share them quickly. A real estate agent is a logical buyer.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
somebody please tell the RIAA! It is obvious that the in dash DVD Player is used to smuggle DVD's out of the region for which they have been manufactured.
we definitely need DVD checkpoints at all major metropolitan areas to make sure that the in dash dvd player has no dvds in it.
extending on the same logic, it is obvious that the in dash dvd player is actually used to copy and pirate DVDs and it is mounted in a car so that you can escape from the RIAA!
...my 2 yen
You can order your very own Iron Chef to cater parties. That's ok...we have Emeril.
Hates people who have stupid little sigs
At least in the state of Oregon, it is explicitly illegal to have a television screen within view of the driver, even if turned off. In-dash displays would definitely illegal to drive with, and probably even illegal to sell. IANAL, but it's in the Oregon Driver's Manual. Similar laws probably exist elsewhere.
I'm involved in a project to distribute music over fiber or isdn to kiosks where they are written on minidisc. It is Linux based with a (don't ask why, it just is) lisp-based custom VRML browser, and is in operation.
We developed a faster MD writer and liscensed it back to Sony. For the U.S. I wanted to get a CD version (2 yrs ago) but MD was done first. MD is actually a very good medium, there is even another gadget probably not yet in the U.S. a boombox with LAN connection so you can edit your MD title data on your computer easily. I believe there is a computer peripheral.. MD Data format. My guess is Sony is pushing their own secure music initiative standard with DVD instead now.
Coolest gadget I've seen so far are the magnesium versions of Sony products (MD player, camera, etc). You should be able to order these things from web shops in Japan though you might need someone who can read kanji characters.
Its sort of ironic to see mention of "in dash
DVD players" when about an hour ago a friend of
mine called me on the phone to vent about his
problem...
Today some hooligan threw a brick through his
car window and stole his CD player while he was
at an apointment.
Yes, I would imagine in dash CD players can be a
very bad idea.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
I heard a while back that one device available for sale in Japan (which was in fact a best seller) was a little electronic jammer that you could turn on to disrupt all cel phone traffic within a range of about 100 feet. Great for restaurants (and obnoxious gabbers) or for driving.....
DAILY ROTATION
technology is progressing faster than mans capacity to fully understand the consequences of its use. only in retrospect do we notice the damage technological progress has inflicted on the world at large. Japan is out there...on the very cutting edge of technological development. I can only hope that their discipline and responsibility plays a major role in further development of technology.
These peripherals DO exist. Unfortunately, they are outrageously expensive.
MDs are cool, but they're not that well suited to using as general purpose storage devices. MD music sounds so good, because it is ATRAC compressed - an MD only holds about 150MB of information.
Other disadvantages:
- Throughput/latency isn't that good, either. I think it's aproximately equivalent to a 2-spin CD drive.
- The media is expensive. To store general purpose data, you need higher-quality minidiscs that cost more than 5 times what regular music MDs. ATRAC encoding can compensate for bit errors, wheareas to store general purpose data, bit-errors are not tolerable.
--
--
#include <malloc.h>
free(your.mind);
I've often wondered why there are no minidisc peripherals for computers. They would make great data storage devices if a standard format could be decided on. For that matter, why didn't the minidisc take off here in the states? If you've ever tried one you know that they can record incredible digital audio, they're rewritable, you can insert track markers and tap in your own labels for each track. It's also compact. Maybe someone else has more information.
(Offtopic): It seems many moderators misunderstand the meaning of "Troll". Many of you mark a post as Troll when it is really "Flamebait". To quote the Jargon file: "The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. "
Moral: Don't dignify a stupid post by labeling it a troll unless it really is subtle and clever enough to deserve it. Mark it flamebait or offtopic instead.
-JD
Having lived in Japan for three years, I know this list is DRASTICALLY understated. There were things out in Japan before I arrived there which STILL are not available in the States. Take a vacation there sometime, I think you'll be very surprised....
In the article please read "Are not available anywhere in this world except Japan" instead of "Are not available in .us and .ca".
.us, .ca and .jp.
:)
The europeans have nukes too! Try to comprehend that the world is round and bigger than
Someone give CmdrTaco a map
1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
Very often, historically, U.S. invents or creates some very useful or cool technology, and Japan put its touch on it - basically ultra-commercialize it for consumer use. They add a bunch of really cool features, switch a few more things around and come up with some pretty innovative stuff. Then it gets copied by the other Asian mass-producing copy-without-regards-to-anything countries like Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong. These countries have creative energies of their own, but is strongly influenced by Japan. And then everything is Made In China (nowadays), because it's so cheap and there are so many people there.
Japan has tremendous cultural influence in the world of commercial technological consumerism. The way it most often played out is in the gadgets and appliances. They keep some of the most outrageous or cool stuff in Japan, because very often, they are the only ones who can really appreciate it.
If anything, I would expect Japan to come out with very cool Internet gadgets, because that is what they are great at. They are a force to watch in the rapidly moving world of Internet technologies, because they can commercialize and consumerize anything.
A lot of Japanese products may seem utterly frivolous and useless, but nothing is ever really totally useless. There's always a lesson to be learned in creating completely computer generated fish tanks, etc.
Sony has recently released a second gen minidisc format. It stores 640 Megs (like a cd-rom) but keeps the small minidisc form factor.
It also has built in ethernet. For a camera it's pretty cool. Although the video capture is only crummy at best.
Sony has released a special Digital Camera that uses the format. (In the US even). Check it out at http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/mddiscam
I have a quantum CD evaporator. (Note use of quantum here because it just *has* to enahnce the coolness factor of whatever your talking about!) Alright im sitting there installing FreeBSD munching some Oreo's mudding and doing some C code for binary tree's thinking this is great!.
,after a 2 hour unsucesful CD hunt you tend to de devolve with prejduice.
:p
Then my CD player evolved without telling me. Suddenly the FreeBSD install stops and goes "I/O error, there was an error parsing some binary information" or something like that. So I scratch my head and pop the CD open and low.. the CD has disappeared. Im like hmmn maybe I took it and did something with it. So I gather up my posse (my cat's) and send them on a CD hunt. No such luck so I break out my devolution tools (screw driver) and begin to de evolve my cd drive
So I peek at my highly demolished CD drive and there it is! The Golden FreeBSD CD. I gently lift it out and with the casing off of my CD drive I pop it back in.. My cat seemed to find it highly entertaining to SLAP a cd spinning in a 40X drive. *mutters* Anyways its not really a quantum CD evaporator thingie but it was damn frustrating!