921T: with OLED

Toshiba introduced new cellphone, 921T for Softbank Bobile yesterday. It’s the first cellphone with organic light emitting display for toshiba. OLED makes wider viewable angle and also can play speedy videos. Plus, the phone has light censor to adjust brightness of display and keys automatically. 921T is one of the best phones to watch TV or YouTube for Softbank Mobile users.

General Spec:

size: 51×106x19.4 mm

weight: 132g

continuous talk time: 180 minutes (3G)

continuous standby: 440 hours (3G)

outside camera: 324 megapix cmos camera with AF

external memory: microSD

main display: 2.8 inch wide QVGA(240×400 pixel) OLED w/260,000 colors

sub display: 0.6 inch mono-color OLED

main functions:Bluetooth, MP3 player, full-spec web browser, GPS, Felica, one-segment digital TV

Source:

Fudzilla

Toshiba website

Huge “speaker”

When you’re on the bus or subway, or anywhere that people tend to be sitting for long periods you tend to notice that many of them are listening to MP3 players. What’s more is that you can almost always pick out the ones rocking out to an iPod by their iconic white earbuds. Most people I know that carry an iPod still use the same earbuds that came with the player because they like the way they look and sound. Well if you’re one that likes the look, here’s a giant pair you can sit on your desktop.

Yes, these are extremely cheesy, but I suppose if you’re a huge Apple fanatic you might be proud to have them sitting on your desk. If you’re wondering, these are actually 500 times the size of your regular iPod earbuds. They draw their power from either your computer’s USB port or from a standard wall outlet. No word on pricing or availability.

Source: The Uber-Review

The world’s smallest and thinnest digital camera

The Casio Exilim EX-S10, while naturally offering significant enhancements in function and performance, focuses on style with a new body shape that keeps height to a minimum and exudes a sense of premium design quality. With this model, Casio sought to produce a camera with a high resolution CCD and a very bright Super Clear LCD featuring a high contrast ratio and a wide field of view. Both the picture taking and image viewing capabilities of this camera have been improved, and its design presence has been enhanced by keeping it as slim as possible.

Source: DigitalRev

Mobile DVD duplicator

I know mobility is the hallmark of any cool gadget, but a mobile DVD duplicator? Why not, I guess. The EZ Dupe Ultra Slim Single-Target Portable DVD Duplicator touts itself as “world’s first Ultra Slim Portable DVD/CD Lightscribe Duplicator.”

The RIAA is going to love this.

It comes with two drives, which allows for duplicating DVDs at 8x, and CDs at 16x (RW speeds clock in at half that for both formats). It’s also multi format, meaning that it’ll burn both plus and minus DVD discs, in addition to CDs, Multi-session Photo CD™, and VCDs (does anyone make these anymore?). In addition, those who love to make “mix tape” style CDs can give dupes the personal touch thanks to its Track Editing Function.

And although it connects to a PC via USB 2.0 (why anything that uses video isn’t automatically firewire I’ll never know) it can also duplicate discs directly without PC connection. This is great news for music pirates who can pretend to listen to CD demo stations while they’re running dupes out of their messenger bags.

The Light scribe labeling option, however, obviously requires PC setup since it relies on software to lay out the label design before burning the image into DVD.

Slim. Portable. Duplication. Lightscribe. And at a speed that isn’t too bad for an “ultra slim portable DVD duplicator.” However, hovering at a price of somewhere between $400-$500, it isn’t cheap.

Source: Oh Gizmo

Awesome gadget for students

Having a trouble with taking notes? These are what you want!!

Panasonic introduces new IC recorder, [RR-US950] and [RR-US750].

These voice recorders allow you to have up to 4x zoom mic using only one AAA battery.

The recorder has 3 mics which enhance a great function; Zoom mic. With zoom mic, you can record only prof’s lecture, rather than your friends’ talk about last weekend or something.

General spec:

Format: MP3

Capacity: up to 2GB

Record time: up to 145 hours (stereo), 290 hours (mono)

Recordable voice frequency: 180Hz~15000Hz

Interface: USB2.0

Size: 33.6×115.0×17.6mm

Weight: 56g

Source: 100Cute

Panasonic Pressrelease (in Japanese only)

Everything is becoming thin

I don’t know why but it seems like year 2008 will be “thin”. Sharp has launched new Aquos, X series. Sharp says that X series are the world’s thinnest production TV. Thank for those “thin” techs so that we have more space in home.

The new Sharp AQUOS X series are only 1.35 inches deep, which is thinner than their old IFA bags and, according to Sharp, makes them the world’s thinnest LCD televisions in production. All of them have full high definition resolution at 37, 42 and 47 inches. What is Sharp thinning trick this time? Among other things, all the tuner and in/out connections are in a separate box, which is connected to the panel by a single cable (Ed: like my old Philips Flat TV.) The rest of the specs look very good.

These TVs will be released in March 1 in Japan. They cost approximately $3,500-4,800 Canadian.

source: Gizmodo

Want some pancakes?

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き)= Japanese pancake

Okonomi = as you like it
Yaki=grilled

Okonomiyaki is a simple dish to cook.
There are 2 types of Okonomiyaki, one is ‘Kansai style’,
and the other ‘Hiroshima style’.

Kansai style is more common way of cooking,
it’s mixing all the desired ingredients into the batter,
pouring it onto a grill and cooking it like a pancake.

Hiroshima style has yakisoba-noodles, layering all the
ingredients as well as adding a layer of noodles and
a fried egg on top of it.

Both quite easy to prepare and cook, so why don’t you try
at home?

INGREDIENTS:
(for 4 people, Kansai style)
Okonomiyaki flour or normal white flour: 200g
egg: 2
water: 200cc
thin sliced pork: 150g
cabbage: 1/4 small size cabbage
onion: 1/2

Extra ingredients:
beni-shoga (pickled ginger), shrimp,
squid, cheese, corn….as you like it!

How to make okonomiyaki
1. mix well okonomiyaki flour (normal white flour), water and eggs.
2. add chopped onion, cabbage, and extra ingredients you prepared
into a bowl of mixed flour 1.
3. heat up a pan or hot plate, put some cooking oil, then
grill all of ‘2′ in a bowl and make a circle shape.
4. after 3-4 minutes, put sliced pork on top of it and flip over.
5. wait few minutes until the ingredients are cooked.

Topping:
okonomiyaki sauce (Otafuku brand is popular)
mayonnaise
katsuo-bushi (dried bonito flake)
aonori powder (dried green laver powder)

Someone cooks okonomiyaki and records their process. Click here to watch “how to cook okonomiyaki”.

Decrease your productivity with the latest technology

What’s the easiest way to suck all of the fun out of your favorite activity? Just throw in a little exercise and you’ll be sure to hate it within just a few minutes. Now I’m not talking about things like the Wii which get you up and make you move a bit while playing your game, that’s actually kind of fun. I’m talking about the Gamercize, which makes you keep stepping or pedaling in order for you to keep playing your PS2. We covered the Gamercize for your PS2 when they came out back in September, but the creators have developed a new version that’s sure to make you hate your job or school assignments more than you already do. That’s right, Gamercize PC.

The concept is pretty much the same. You hook this stair-stepper up to your computer and it keeps track of your foot movements. You can set the required speed, and so long as you keep it up everything works fine. However, if you slow down too much, or stop altogether you’ll find that your keyboard and mouse stop responding. I seriously can’t think of a single situation where I would find this practical. I doubt that I would be able to give the kind of concentration that I’d need to do my assignments, or play a game. If you’re a glutton for punishment, you can pick yours up for $199 from ThinkGeek.

Source: GeekAlerts

It’s time to throw your digital camera away

When I was surfing the net this morning, I found an article about the latest mobile phone in Japan, which even I didn’t know about. NTT DoCoMo, which is a giant wireless network service company in Japan, is releasing a new cellphone for their network; SO905iCS. The main feature of this cellphone is “Cyber-shot”. It has 5.1 mega pixels with hi-def LED flash light and auto face recognition function, so although the object of shooting moves, it automatically chases their face and focus on it.

Click here to read the article I found

Specification-

size: H 113mm, W 50mm, D 24mm

Weight: 150g

Continuous standby time: 520 hours (3G), 300 hours (GSM)

Continuous talk time: 200 minutes (3G), 180 minutes (GSM)

Continuous video telecall: 130 minutes

Display: 2.7 inch VGA full-widescreen

Camera: CMOS 5.1 mega pix with x48 zoom (maximum)

External memory: microSD

face recognition function

This phone is locked to NTT DoCoMo so you can’t just buy it in Japan and use it in Canada. However, if you unlock it somehow, you can use SO905iCS in almost any country that uses WCDMA 2100 or GSM network technology.

Here is an additional article that I used to enrich information (in Japanese only)

Unlocking locked cellphones in Japan is still gray, which means it could be considered as illegal so please take full responsibility for your actions if you want to do it.

How to eat sushi properly

Every culture has their own manner. You don’t want to be such a deviant person in foreign places. But it happens sometimes. Learning other culture is not just for avoiding to been deviant but also enriching your life.

Well, if you were following this video, you became totally deviant person in Japan (although some tips in the video are true). I strongly recommend not to do so . Here is one kind of actual proper ways to eat sushi.

Just in case that you are still looking for the right track, this is the simplest instruction ever!

Phase 1. hold it (with either your fingers or chopsticks)

Phase 2. dip it (dip!! NOT soak!!)

Phase 3. eat it (hint: Japanese green tea is the best drink with sushi)

Now, you are professional sushi eater, so why don’t you go to sushi bar and try!?