Hitachi Maxell have announced a set of noise-cancelling iPod earphones that require no batteries. Instead, the Apple-only earbuds rely on the iPod’s own battery. The HP-NC20.IPs have an iPod dock connector rather than a 3.5mm headphone plug, and use a separate volume slider on the plug itself as the PMP’s own volume control will not affect the headphones.
Hitachi Japan have announced two new projectors, the CP-X809J and the CP-WX410J. Intended for business use rather than home entertainment, the projectors still could appeal to individual users not least because of their brightness levels. The WX410J comes in at 3,000 lumens, while the X809J raises the bar even further at 5,000 lumens.
Hitachi have announced a 500GB 2.5-inch hard-drive that combines optional Bulk Data Encryption (BDE) for hard-drive-level data security with environmentally-friendly features such as halogen-free design and the industry’s lowest read/write power specification. In fact, Hitachi are so pleased with the 5K500.B that they’ve awarded it their new EcoTrac classification: the label describes devices that minimize the eco impact of product design, manufacturing, operation and disposal.
Panasonic’s takeover of Sanyo could be days away from a full announcement, according to the latest rumors from sources close to the deal. While Panasonic would only say that no official statement of the takeover bid had been made, three sources speaking on condition of anonymity have claimed that Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo and Sanyo President Seiichiro Sano met last month and agreed, in principle, to the deal.
Hitachi at CEDIA 2008 showcases a concept digital camcorder that is capable of streaming HD video to a TV display wirelessly. The prototype video camera captures video on its HDD in HD MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format, and has an SDIO standard IEEE802.11g module to transmit live feed or captured video to TV via an access point.
At CEATEC 2008, Hitachi demonstrated an Alpha IPS 32-inch WXGA LCD panel with 19mm at its thinnest part. A year later, the company has rolled up a new prototype with thinner profile, bigger screen at Full HD resolution. As reported last week, the new 37-inch IPS LCD panel has 15mm at its thinnest part. It also features an RGB backlit LCD panel with Full HD resolution of 1920×1080.
Netbooks made their typical strong showing this week, with ASUS announcing their intention to put 3G HSUPA into the Eee PC 901. Meanwhile their N10 was reviewed and deemed the first netbook “suitable for serious gaming“, a promising title indeed. Lenovo’s S10 also hit reviewers’ benches, making a strong – if at times warm – case for the smallest IdeaPad, while Packard Bell unveiled their ‘dot’, targeted much more at the budget end of the scale. They’ll have a fight on their hands, though; SlashGear reviewed the Acer Aspire One this week too, and when it comes to value for money it’s a tough one to beat.
Arguably the biggest news of the week, however, has been T-Mobile’s G1 – the first Android-based handset to be officially announced. Our sister-site AndroidCommunity.com ran a Live Blog of the whole event (and gave away a G1 to one lucky forum member), and we’ve got the photo galleries and hands-on video to show for it.
At the CEATEC show in Japan next week, Hitachi will show off their latest technology which works to improve the resolution of standard-def to nearly 1080p quality. The up-converting tech will convert DVDs and SDTV to almost-HD and could even make HDTV broadcasts look better.
Hitachi has today announced an ultra thin LCD display prototype at CEATEC Japan. Measured at a mere 15mm in depth, the new WOOO is 58% thinner than current production of Wooo UT series. The 37-inch prototype replaced IPS panel with newest and better RGB backlit LCD model and also boasted a huge color gamut of 150% wider than HD Rec.709 color space.
Netbooks returned to the top of the page this week, as Dell finally confirmed their first entrance to the budget ultraportable market. The specs of the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 may not be all that surprising – given both the regular leaking pre-announcement and the fact that all of these machines are pretty similar – but the brand name will likely make it the netbook to beat. In a way it’s a shame, because there are far more exciting devices – such as the Raon Digital Everun Note – that, by virtue of being less well known, will struggle to make themselves heard.
SlashGear Japan
