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Peter Crookes
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Mar 11, 2009
Dust off your old records for one final play
Movie marvel: Just as the arrival of home video in the 1980s impacted heavily on the movie-theater industry, free-to-air TV is now being undermined by pay TV and movies delivered via the Internet. Television-set manufacturers are helping to widen channels for the new methods of movie distribution, and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Mar 4, 2009
Top technology comes in small packages
Touch and go: Asus virtually created the burgeoning market for netbook computers with its groundbreaking Eee PC lineup. Whether it can give the demand for touch-screen desktop machines the same sort of boost is open for debate. But the Taiwanese maker is giving it a shot with its Eee Top 1602, due out...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Feb 25, 2009
Turn on, power up and relieve the pressure
On the big screen: Samsung has unveiled its latest response to the current challenge facing laptop-computer designers — how to get the smallest, lightest machines with the biggest, brightest screens possible. The truth is, getting both is not going to happen. Designers are overcoming this problem by...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Feb 18, 2009
A bigger, better netbook — and not quite an iPod killer
Touched up: Korean innovator iriver is firing off both barrels with its latest personal media player, the P20, a model it hopes will take some market share away from Apple's iPod touch. The P20 is a chunky device with impressive hardware credentials. Released in Japan as an 80-gigabyte model, the PMP...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Feb 11, 2009
Clearing up digital photography
Look sharp: In digital photography, cameras that are small and easy to use tend not to take good pictures in low light and to have a crimped dynamic range. A camera's dynamic range defines how much detail it can capture in shadowy areas of the picture and brightly lit parts at the same time. The better...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jan 28, 2009
Sony's new headphones mean you will never get your wires crossed
Knot again: Just how headphone cords manage to tangle themselves up without any outside interference is one of life's minor mysteries. Bluetooth-enabled devices, however, offer a solution to this problem.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jan 21, 2009
Olympus gets tough with new cameras
Playing hard to break: Olympus is taking advantage of the delicate nature of modern cameras to craft a niche market. It has produced a range of compact cameras sold as much on their claims to toughness as their ability to create a pleasing image. The latest additions to the ranks are the μTough-8000...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jan 14, 2009
New cameras aim to make kids more than just a blur
Focused product: Gadgets can help transform the difficult into the routine and make the impossible possible. In the world of home movies, the current challenge is developing the technology that drives autofocus in video cameras. This is tougher than it seems, because the average camcorder user makes...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jan 7, 2009
Hybrid storage to put new spin on netbook choices
Flash wonder: Netbook makers seem to be particularly keen to shatter the axiom that size always equals power. Their shrunken portables put a premium on being small and light, both in terms of bulk and price, for only a slight tradeoff on performance. Certainly they would also like people to stop describing...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Dec 31, 2008
Puny netbook hard drives no problem for Logitec
Data box: Designing electronics these days is as much about deciding what to leave out as what features to include.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Dec 24, 2008
Who says you can't buy a friend?
Your new chum: Gadgets are by definition small mechanical or electronic devices with a practical function that typically are thought of as novelties. Widgets, on the other hand, have until recently been merely hypothetical gadgets, handy for illustrating hypothetical examples.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Dec 17, 2008
E-mail back if the Earth moved for you too
Call me: Fixed-line telephones used to be a lot like refrigerators: dull but essential. These days they are more akin to microwave ovens: more buttons than dials, and still useful, but not a must-have item. Marketing the humble phone is similar to promoting any commodity that consumers can live without...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Dec 10, 2008
Sony brings home the convenience of FeliCa
Smart money: Japan's old-fashioned notions about money are evaporating one innovation at a time. Although people are getting used to carrying around cash that they can't see, managing those funds often involves a trip to a convenience store or a bank. Sony Corp. will relieve some of that hassle next...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Dec 3, 2008
Preholiday offerings speak of sensibility
Ahead to basics: Pentel is not ready to write the eulogy for the humble pen. Rather than killing off the ages-old device, it is intent on bringing it into the digital age. Its latest effort is the airpenMini digital pen.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Nov 26, 2008
Yamaha makes a stand for television sound
Audiovisual support: It is surprising how TV-makers seem to deem sound- reproduction a secondary concern behind dressing up the features — much like makers of portable music players.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Nov 19, 2008
Be a walking drive-in with mini projector
Marketing 101: Make use of a brand, even if it is not your own. Electronics pioneer Texas Instruments does so with its DLP Pico projector, the PK-101. Sold under the Optoma brand, the PK-101 is said to be the world's smallest and lightest projector. It goes on sale from Dec. 1 at the Apple Store in Japan...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Nov 12, 2008
iPhone accessory gives you TV on the go
iPhone TV: Apple's amazing iPhone does just about everything, right? Nope. It's come up short in Japan for various reasons, including its lack of the TV function available on the newest generation of mobile phones.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Nov 5, 2008
Bare-bones cube fancies itself as media center
Let's get small: Computer makers are pursuing a bloated form of minimalism. Stripped-down, shrunken machines such as the Asus Eee PC subnotebooks are the great new trend. Less is more and small is the new big.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Oct 29, 2008
Bandai robot keeps eye on your home
I, robot: Bandai's robot designers must be fans of the iconic sci-fi movie "Forbidden Planet." While Sony has forsaken its line of Aibo robot dogs, it solidified the spirit that Japanese robots should have a high cuteness factor.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Oct 22, 2008
Apple lightens, brightens lineup
Pick an Apple: Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of the hat, Apple Inc. always conjures up a buzz out of its product announcements. In its latest trick, the technology maestro has unveiled a much-anticipated lineup of new MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air notebook computers that are already triggering...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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