Flowerpot- Shaped USB Speaker

It's USB. It's a flowerpot. It's a speaker. Enough said, really.

Thanko will release the flowerpot-shaped "USB FlowerPot Speaker" via their "Rare Mono Shop" direct sales website on 29 November. It will be priced at 2,980 yen.

The flowerpot speaker unit connects to a computer via USB and contains a stereo speaker (1W x 2ch output). It is USB bus-powered so an AC adapter is not necssary.

Supported operating systems are Windows 98/Me/2000/XP and MacOS 9 or later (including MacOS X). External dimensions are W120 x D120 x H400 mm and weight is 620 grams.

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20041126/thanko.htm

Product information:
http://www.thanko.jp/flower_speaker.html

source: http://www.techjapan.com/Article707.html

Bird Electron Speaker Cube

Here's a rather bizarre passive speaker from Bird Electron. It's basically just a cube with a 3.5mm audio plug sticking out.

Bird Electron announced the "Dice Speaker," a small ampless speaker, and began selling it o­n the same day. It costs 3,000 yen, and is available in black and white colors.

At 45mm high, wide, and deep, it features independent left and right channels. It has a 3.5mm stereo pin jack, and is used by inserting it directly into the audio player. The base has ruber stoppers so that it won't be unsteady when set with an iPod shuffle, Walkman, or other audio player.

Because it has no amplifier, the volume is about the same as a music box, so the company recommends it be used for light background music.

Inspired by:
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/lifestyle/articles/0601/17/news078.html

Product Information:
http://www.bird-electron.co.jp/item.html?code=EZ9WB

source: http://www.techjapan.com/Article1221.html

Tamagotchi Plus

Bandai has announced that more than 10,000,000 "Tamagotchi Plus" will have been sold by the end of July. Are these things really that popular still? Guess so...

Bandai announced o­n the 21st that they worldwide sales of the portable digital pet game, "Tamagotchi Plus," to break 10 million before the end of July.

The figure represents combined sales from the "They're back! Tamagotchi Plus" released in March of last year, and "Yuwai Keitai Kaitsu-! Tamagotchi Plus," released in November of last year.

Of these, 6 million units have been sold overseas. English versions of Tamagotchi Plus were introduced in 44 countries throughout Europe and Asia in May of last year.

The company indicates the reason for the device's popularity is its ability to use an infrared communication function. They stated that in a recent survey of 500 elementary school children, it was found that what they enjoy the most is communication games and exchanging gifts with their friends.

The first generation of Tamagotchi was released in November of 1996. Sales of this unit broke 40 million worldwide, to the point that counterfeit units started appearing. After the boom, Bandai's management faced pressure because of gross overstocking of the product. To bring about the revival of the Tamagotchi, the company elected a CTO ("Chief Tamagotchi Officer"), in charge unifying a development and sales strategy. The company thus was able to product another hit.

Inspired by:
http://www.itmedia.co.jp/mobile/articles/0507/21/news045.html

Press Release:
http://www.bandai.co.jp/group/news/2005072101.html

source: http://www.techjapan.com/Article1082.html

Silent Mouse

Click. Click. Click. The sound of your mouse is probably o­ne you don't even notice anymore. But what if someone is trying to sleep in the same room? What if you need to click o­n something with your mouse, but need to be clandestine about it?

Then, Thanko's new "Silent Mouse" is for you.

Thanko Corporation has released the "Silent Mouse," a mouse that is setup so that it makes no clicking sound. The price is 2,480 yen.

Silicone is used o­n the click part of the mouse, so the click sound and wheel sound have been reduced. It also is designed with a soundproof shape that prevents resonance of the buttons, making the noise level about 1/5th that of a conventional mouse -- the mouse operates at about 4.9dB.

The interface is USB. Supported operating systems are Windows 2000, XP, and Mac OS X. The optical sensor has a resolution of 800dpi. The body size is 60 x 105 x 35mm (W x D x H), and the weight 90g.

Inspired by:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/0315/sanko.htm

Press Release:
http://www.thanko.jp/silent_mouse/


source: http://www.techjapan.com/Article1289.html

JVC HA-FX34 and HA-F140 Headphones Match iPod Colors

JVC presents the HA-FX34 Marshmallow in-ear headphones and HA-F140 Gumy earbuds that comes in iPod-matching colors. Both HA-FX34 Marshmallow and HA-F140 Gumy come in white (Gumy), silver (Marshmallow), black, blue, purple, green, yellow, orange, red and pink.

JVC’s HA-FX34 features super-soft inner-earpieces and a tangle-resistant 3.28-foot (1.0 m) cord minimizing friction-noise that can occur when the cord is brushed against clothing. It will be available in January for $19.95.

On the other hand, JVC’s HA-F140 Gumy earbuds have a soft rubber body and a tangle-resistant 3.28-foot (1.0 m) cord. HA-F140 will be available in February for a price of $9.95.

source: IT Tech News

Twendy one Japanese Maid Nurse Robot

Twendy One, is a Japanese maid nurse robot developed by the engineers last year at Tokyo’s Waseda University. Though it doesn’t look like the sexy nurses or maids that we’ve featured on our site, the impressive robot can actions such as picking up small item, assisting old or disable people getting in and out of bed or a wheel chair and delivering food on a tray.

Twendy One took seven years to create, has 241 pressure sensors on each robotic hand and is expected to ready commercially by 2015, for $200,000.

For the commercial release, we hope the otaku engineers find a way to feminize Twendy One like with the Simroid (dental robot).

Source: Japan Sugoi