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Toys

Assorted CEATEC Photos 55

Posted by CmdrTaco from the let-the-speculation-being dept.
An anonymous reader writes: "The folks over at Techdirt got their hands on a bunch of very cool pictures from the CEATEC show for advanced technologies in Japan." It's an odd smorgasboard of stuff, and several of the toys actually look extremely interesting: course there isn't a lot of data. Tons of color handhelds integrated with phones, remote controls, farm animals, etc.
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Assorted CEATEC Photos More

Assorted CEATEC Photos

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  • They choose to ignore the overwhelming statistics that show that gun related accidents, including those that resulted in death, are exponentially higher in the United States of America, than in countries with sensible gun control policies.

    Maybe you should check again. The Us is not any worse off then the UK or Austrillia, both of which have heavy handed gun control. Japan has different numbers, but the culture in the US is different so you can't look at them.

    As for your milita, most states define their milita as every able bodied male betwen 18 and 45. (Exactly details vary of course, the essentialls are there. Some include women, ages vary, and felons are probably excluded)

    Just remember, while your trying to take the rights from gun owners, others are trying to take your free speach rights, and still others are attacking: privacy, search warrents, and the right to secure your belongings. Since my speech does not include swearing, I'd want to be in favor of laws restricting your rights to swear, watch voilent (or sexual) movies, and so on - but I know that true freedom means that I conceede your right to do such stupid things, and you concede my rihgt to do stupid things - so long as nobody is directly harming others in so doing.

    Hey rob, can you put in a option for me to directly note this post is off topic and shouldn't get the loged in uses +1 bonus? Some topics are too inflamitory to leave untouched even when off topic.

  • Oh man... (Score:1)

    by pb ( 1020 )
    That is some UGLY crap!

    I'm *so* glad that the NES didn't look like this back in the day, or I *never* would have gotten one.

    P.S. Mad props out to post #25, the first Sneakers reference I saw! :)
    ---
    pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate [ncsu.edu].
  • Sorry, you lose. I can walk down to the local phone shop and pick up any one of a number of phones with color screens. There have been several models with large screens covering nearly the entire face of the phone. There are several phones available now with cameras (and yes, they are about the size of a phone button).
    As for not being available in any "significant volume", iMode phones here (many with color screens) have been so popular that DoCoMo actually had to restrict the number of applications they took... about 200,000 a month.

  • The latest phones are the equivalent of $US80-$US200. Slightly older phones can be had for virtually nothing. (No, I'm not kidding.)

    For example, looking at an advertisement in the paper today, a DoCoMo iMode phone with 256-color screen is around $US150. An au phone with 256-color screen and 16-harmonic tone generator is about $US90. A J-Phone model with 256-color screen is ~$US25. A 256-color screen J-Phone model that can display 72 Japanese characters (144 alphanumeric characters) at once is ~$US80.

    Looking at another advertisement, we have a Paldio PHS phone 4-harmonic tone generator that can run for 600 hours on one charge (plain LCD screen, though) for 1 yen. That's less than 1 US cent. An Astel PHS is ~$US27. A Tu-Ka digital phone with color screen is $US45.

    Convinced? ;)

  • I'm not sure if you mean people using pure data services (i.e. 9600bps packet transfer, etc.) or simply people who have phones capable of that, but if it's the latter, DoCoMo has more than fifteen million subscribers, with a majority able to use their iMode service.

  • I think you'll find that most of them are actually smaller than most of the phones you see around you. The most popular phones in Japan are those under 100 grams - I don't think these will try and break that trend.

  • Bottle Opener (Score:3)

    by BeBoxer ( 14448 ) on Friday October 13, 2000 @06:08AM (#708867)
    Anybody notice that green thing on page 6? What is that, some sort of digital bottle opener? Weird.

  • Too many secrets (Score:4)

    by sammy baby ( 14909 ) on Friday October 13, 2000 @04:53AM (#708868) Journal

    I'm really disappointed that we didn't see any pictures of the SEATEC Astronomy project. I've heard they're to die for.

    Wait - I'm sorry. CEATEC? My bad.

  • What is it with integrating things into a cellphone? Can't we see some different gadgets for a change? I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in watching TV on a 1" LCD on my cellphone. Where are the roll-up LCD's that we can stick in our back pocket? Where are the Terminator scanning/target aquisition glasses? Where are the jet packs?! THEY PROMISED US JETPACKS AND HOVERCARS!!!
  • So it's APPLE'S fault that nobody else has any imagination in design? Please.
  • Don't worry, I'm sure some boring American or Swedish company will keep you in dull, brick-shaped electronic equipment for many years to come. Me, I'm moving to Japan. They get all the cool toys over there!

  • *sigh* (Score:3)

    by j_d ( 26865 ) on Friday October 13, 2000 @05:03AM (#708872)
    once again, there's a gap in the tech curve.
    We're still obsessing about trivial crap (your laptop looks like a toy, wah wah wah), and the Japanese are trying to figure out how to plug a video phone directly into my optic nerve, as illustrated below --
    J Tech : I've completed testing on the new brain transmission device!!
    J Manager : Fantastic, now to create prototypes for design!
    J Tech : I would like the prototype to look like a small, red puppy, which, when not on, will appear to be sleeping. When activated, it will transform into a cat, holding a cherry blossom and a pail of milk, while singing brain transmission theme song in kitty kat voice. Shutting down will make the cat say "No more brain transmission makes kitty sad, nya nya!" and will transform back to dog.
    J Manager : But it reads brain waves and transmits?
    J Tech : Yes, of course.
    J Manager : Fine.

    USians would get upset over any ergonomic feature at all, preferring a 4x8x12 block of beige (or to be hip, silver or black) plastic with no redeeming ergonomic features so that people know 'it's a serious device!'

  • I don't understand these video phone things - fdon't they just send a close up of your cheek bone to the person on the other end. And, anyway they havent got an eye on the side of their cheek so they could'nt see the picture anyway. Or am I missing something?

    The one that looks like a make-up compact is fun though...Very Lady Penelope.

  • Remember when people said that the Japanese are only good at copying?? This March, when I was in Turkey, I ate breakfast with a German woman (a fabric buyer) who insisted that the Turkish people are only good at copying.

    Hehe.
    -russ

  • the link says 'cool pictures' so i'm thinking, y'know, holographic displays, things levitating, AT LEAST a plasma monitor...

    but no, it's just a bunch of bulky, over-done cell phone gadget things.

    if the dad from 'gremlins' taught us one thing it's that you should leave well enough alone ;)

    (though i'm all for a colour lcd display on my cell, i don't need a tv there :P tv sucks.)
    ...dave
  • Glad to know somebody else noticed the bluetooth - enabled beer opener. Now my life is complete!
  • That's a *bluetooth* bottle opener, buddy.
  • I agree with you there, AC. One thing you brought up, using two displays for 3D, and as well as the price being cheap for small LCD displays:

    Why aren't we seeing small, high-res, cheap LCD displays? Imagine a 1280 x 1024 display in a 1 inch display - what good would this do?

    A lot, if you magnafied the image, to get a large FOV - use them in lightweight HMD's, for a 3D immersion that (should be) cheap.

    It is said that the cost of high-res, large displays is due to the large "die" size of large LCDs, and getting high enough production yields with few flaws - hard to do with that size of a display. So, the solution would be to shrink the display, and wear it! Squeeze the rest of the laptop down to the size of a larger Walkman, add a twiddler (or a controller similar to this [mit.edu] and a virtual keyboard), some kind of mouse - and you have an EXCELLENT product. And it should be cheap (one would think, since the LCD isn't the factor, now). Plus, it would consume less power, for longer battery life.

    We could have this TODAY - but we are being denied it for some reason...

    I support the EFF [eff.org] - do you?
  • Am I the only one that thinks that picture in the middle looks like two Birth control cases?

    Now, because every part of your life needs to be immersed in video, we present Video Birth Control. Guaranteed to provide you with excellent, thought-provoking entertainment the entire time you're swallowing your pill.

    Or maybe it just shows video of babies crying. That would be pretty good birth control.


    _______________
    you may quote me
  • The new "shark fin" antennas [smartshopper.com.cy] make cell phones look like even more like a marital aid. Add the vibrate-on-ring feature, and there can be little doubt.
    --
  • Sorry, I couldn't resist. Excepts from the above link:
    • it is small phone that fits in the pocket and has all the features

    • the phone's features, functions and accessories have been carefully developed to fit an adventurous lifestyle.

      The outside of the R310s is reinforced with rubber inlays to withstand harsh treatment and to provide a good grip that prevents the phone from becoming slippery when wet.

      One of the first things that might strike you when you see the phone for the first time is the Shark Fin antenna. It is moulded in a flexible rubber material

      To avoid getting dirt in the system connector of a phone, a protective rubber cover has been developed. The cover can be opened to facilitate easy mounting of accessories.


    --
  • Okay, perhaps things are different in japan (how much do they cost?) Here in the states, the most popular cell phone game is a slow black and white snakes game.
    --
  • Almost convinced enough to move to Japan. All the coolest and fastest stuff in cell phones happens over there first, I just didn't know they were so far ahead of the US.
    --

  • Concept Phones (Score:4)

    by interiot ( 50685 ) on Friday October 13, 2000 @05:29AM (#708884) Homepage
    I think these are called "concept phones". Very few of the cell phones now being released to customers have any of these features:
    • Large screen size
    • Color screens
    • Oval screens
    • Touch screen
    • Motion video
    • Cameras the size of a phone button
    It's the type of features that everyone wants but nobody wants to pay the prices for because the technology just isn't there yet. (there are a few commercial phones with some of these features, but not in any significant volume)

    Links to other concept phone galleries:

    ZDNet - Road to 3G [zdnet.co.uk]
    FutureZone - Telecom 99 Photo Gallery [futurefonezone.com]
    CeBIT 1999 [pipex.com]
    Wireless Review - Future Phone [wirelessreview.com]
    WSJ - Staying in Touch [wsj.com]
    BW - The Latest Web-Phone Wonders Are...Still Out of Reach [businessweek.com] "Clearly, somewhere between the trade fairs and the marketplace, Ericsson runs into troubles"

    If you look hard enough, you can find references to all sorts of fantastic phones that won't exist for quite a while.
    --

  • The story header said:
    Tons of color handhelds integrated with phones, remote controls, farm animals etc.

    I looked everywhere, and I couldn't find any pictures of color handhelds integrated with farm animals. What's the deal anyway?

  • ooo, lookit all the shiny plastic. (Score:3)

    by AugstWest ( 79042 ) on Friday October 13, 2000 @04:48AM (#708886)
    And look, there's a shiny red button....

    Really, I understand that /. is a bastion of gadgetry, but doesn't it eventually all start to look the same?

    Do all of our electronics now have to look like some 13 year-old's WinAmp skin?
  • With all of that technology they'd be taking pictures bigger than 100x200 heh.
    Oh well, spiffy pics. You know American's are all about colorful plastic things that look high tech, they definetly have their market figured out.
  • I thought it was making candy with garlic?
    --
  • More than likely these gadgets are hollow boxes. Companies love to put these types of pictures out for marketing purposes to try to boost their stock and position. You see this type of stuff all the time with some of the cellphone makers putting out these wild phones with huge displays and massive transfer rates, well where are they? They don't exists except as hollow boxes...

    FoonDog
  • Comm'on!!!! Japan is so far ahead of the West in terms of gizmos and gadgets, that these could be real.

  • Phoney Devices... (Score:3)

    by goodbot ( 128541 ) <bb@NOsPAm.goodbot.com> on Friday October 13, 2000 @04:52AM (#708891) Journal
    Comm'on! These devices aren't for real! Don't you think we'd have already seen or heard of ANY of these things ? My speculation is that these gadgets are good-quality mock-ups from a college student hi-tech industrial design competition... a contest/exhibit specifically on the topic of "future tech hand held devices". All of this stuff is likely just empty-shell mock-ups... the true purpose here is the form, not the function. So if you're a REAL tech company, you can pick & choose among these talented student designers with a touch for the greatest eye-candy appeal. Right ?
  • there is one thing europe and japan is really far ahead of the states and thats wireless communication. Just look for any UMTS Devices in the USA, they are coming in England in May 2001 and in Germany in 2003...so these things could be real...

  • Re:FP (Score:1)

    by Lispy ( 136512 )
    This hurts! This man is really a poor fellow...but wasnt it a "Script Kiddie"??
  • Actually, it seems the vast majority of true advances in technology are achieved in the US. The Japanese excel at consumer electronics, but how many truly innovative things have come out of Japan technology-wise? Of course, this may be in part because of their decade-long economic recession in part.
    --
  • Built in breathalyzer uses Bluetooth to disable your car keys above a certian blood alcohol level.
    Can also tell if soda is flat.

  • Well, the wrist phone one is a working prototype at least:
    http://www.thest and ard.com/article/display/0,1151,19264,00.html [thestandard.com]

    And that wireless earpiece towards the end looks like the Bluetooth headset that Ericsson already has out.

  • Thanks to the iMac, it looks like everyone feels the need to make every product translucent, candy colored and curvy. While I highly respect Apple's design dept., does it seem to anyone else that they've set back design 20 years?
  • You know... everytime I read about companies packing more and more features/gadgets/gizmos into handhelds, it makes me wonder...

    First off... do manufacturers actually expect people to use these things (Beyond the PDA/Email features already available in any hand held worth its salt) It seems to me that the average consumer is not interested in a 2.5"(diagonal) Bernard Shaw while waiting for the bus.

    Call me a techno-peasant if you must... but it seems to me that current handhelds provide most of the access/features that a peson would EVER need. (Email, Messaging, News Services)

    Do we really need to take handhelds to the level of Laptop/Desktop computers? (Intell intends a 600MHZ PIII for micro notebooks in (I believe) Q3 2001) Is this not just another example of us getting carried away with the latest trend?

    Web access anywhere is a pretty powerfull thing, but so is a Cummins Diesel Engine, and no one has had the need to integrate a VCR into one of them.

    Just some food for thought.

  • Re:FP (Score:1)

    by Pru ( 201238 )
    As he proves IN OUR FACES this person is the dumbest man alive, and definatly a script kitty.
  • I bet you would.
  • Ugly? Yes.
    In production? Probably not... yet.
    No such models exist? Er... excuse me?

    I'm not just picking at this post - I see many people continually say something to the extent of, "It's not like this stuff really exists, technologically." Er... excuse me? Look at the phones from just one company that they have in production now [nttdocomo.co.jp] and tell me what concepts they're missing? Japan has had phones with PDA's, GPS's, large-screen, color screeen, e-mail, web capability, etc... since I was last there in January of 1999! Now yes, video is a recently installed technology there, so only one or two models have the feature.

    Still, I guess I just wanted to, in a non-flaming way, point out that a lot of you underestimate the insane amount of technology the Japanese have in their phones.

    Do I bring this up to boast about them? Heck no - I just want to make sure everyone else sees this, and sees what they're missing out on. I'm quite sick and tired of every other friend of mine showing me their "top-of-the-line" Nokia with ooooh, a built-in calculator. Cm'on folks, there's better stuff out there!

    Disclaimer: Yes, I realize there is a difference in economy, customer retention rate, model recycle rate, antenna output, etc... between the U.S. and Japan. My point is that too many people have the mentality of "This stuff is impossible." Check again.
  • you don't believe me just go out and talk to your local uni poly sci prof.

    If ALL of them agree on this then I don't trust them.

    In fact, an ammendment that people should be allowed to carry firearms for any purpose was considered and rejected. This was not because they had a fear that the people might rebel against them (since in this enlightened new form of Government, they would not have the power to be oppressive), but because they were concerned that weapons were dangerous.
  • I like the hightech beer bottle-operner, hum..wonder how it works.. Can't make out the make, but it seems to be Heinenken.
  • AA's don't go here.. http://www.techdirt.com/ceatec/ceatec6.shtml
  • They look too small to be PDA's, yet too big to be telephones. If I'm correctly interpreting them anyway. Very cool, but in terms of usefulness? I guess with a hands-free set you could hold one out in front of you, but in all they seem to defeat both the small form factor and the convenience of a mobile phone.
  • That's convergence. Forget TV's embedded in cell phones.

    I also have available- for a very limited time, a clock embedded in a hunk of laquored driftwood with a picture of Elvis on it.

    Thanks to Zero Click, it's already on its way to you.

    www.ridiculopathy.com [ridiculopathy.com]

  • All that high-tech gagetry and we still get crummy looking pictures for the website. Hmph.
  • They went to Japan for a CEATEC show and all I got was this stupid Tamagotchi.
  • Tons of color handhelds integrated with phones, remote controls, farm animals, etc.

    Okay, so in the future, cows and horses will have a Handspring on the back of their neck? Weird.

    Actually, that wouldn't be too bad for cowboys and cattle ranchers. However, what happens when slaughtering time comes?

  • Some of those displays seem to be the genuine article, while others look like photographs stuck in place of a true display. I wonder if any of this stuff is using OLED technology yet?

    On the other hand, what's with the shaping of those remotes? Looks like some kind of new combination TV remote/dildo. Never lose the remote control again!
  • Nothing but props. These things, each and every one of them, look like rejects from the decor department of Voyager: the aqua Generation. Call me old fashioned, but I like my tech goodies to be black and matte. I do not want them to look like chemical filled, cavity inducing candy. Set mock-ups to stun!

    On a less critical note, I tried to find some info on this j-phone thingie, but couldn't find anything in English. Nor could I find any product images. Could anybody take the time to have a look at www.j-phone-west.com and give us some BG info?

    TNX,

    Daikiki

  • What's with all the pictures of young women on the video phones?

    I can see it now:

    "No Honey, I'm just checking my E-mail, and she's the postmaster."

    "No, I don't think she's prettier than you.

  • Maybe we'll see televisions embedded in our cell phones fifteen years from now! I can't wait!
  • Oh yeah! I wish we were all using computers with operating systems derived from CP/M. Oh wait! WE ARE!

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