Year: <span>2005</span>
Year: 2005

Year: 2005

HP Opens RFID Lab in Japan

Anticipating that a 950-MHz band will be assigned for RFID applications in Japan, Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd. will open a RFID verification facility in May in Japan with three partner companies. HP’s partner companies include Toyo Kanetsu Solutions K.K., IDEC Controls Ltd. and ThreeQ. Ltd., all of which are familiar with implementing logistics controlling systems in Japan. Designated an HP RFID Noisy Lab, the lab will be located in Toyo Kanetsu’s plant in Kisarazu, Chiba prefecture, similar to a U.S. lab HP operates in Omaha, Nebraska.

China's Exclusive Mobile TV Drama

China’s first TV drama to be shown exclusively on mobile phones will begin shooting on 27 March. Entitled “Appointment,” it will have five parts, with each only lasting five minutes. Catering to the interests of young people, who are more likely to watch TV plays on mobile phones, the drama is a romantic love story between a beautiful girl and two motorcycle riders, revealed Liu Hong, an official with the Beijing-based Leshi Media Group.

Mobile Media Partners With Kyocera for Asia Pacific

The Mobile Media Company, a leading independent provider of global wireless games, interactive entertainment services, and marketing applications, today announced an agreement with Kyocera Communication Asia Pacific Pte Ltd to offer its mobile entertainment services across the WebW@lkers platform. Kyocera Communication Asia Pacific Pte Ltd is a leading platform provider of information services, wireless hosting content, and consulting services for mobile operations and enterprises throughout the Asia Pacific. Through Kyocera’s directory portal, WebW@lkers, mobile users in the Asia Pacific region can receive information, mobile content, entertainment, and communication services, including news, wallpaper, ringtones, games, videos, and horoscopes.

Some of Japan's Cool New Apps

In a telephone interview with a research company in Toronto last night, I was asked for examples of the coolest new applications or services in Japan. Without a doubt, I answered, mobile music and the Chaku Uta Full song download services are really eating up packet bandwidth. The week before last, KDDI announced that the cumulative downloads for EZ Chaku Uta Full (provided via the CDMA 1X EV-DO WIN network) had surpassed 3 million as of 1 March 2005, less than four months after the 19 November 2004 launch. The company added that the 1 million and 2 million milestones were achieved on 5 January and 5 February, respectively.

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WiFi Wok — DIY 2.4-GHz Repeater Kit

The folks at the usb-wifi section of Orcon.net have assembled a super, step-by-step how-to guide, complete with photos, for making your very own wifi wok! The largest (300-mm diameter) provides a 15- to 18-dB gain, enough to extend the range to between three and five kilometers, costs about US$5.00 and comes with a user-friendly bamboo handle that suits WLAN fieldwork — if you can handle the curious stares! Complete with Chinese parabolic cookware and notepad by Stan, you gotta check this out.

Connextion by Boeing Price Plan

Connexion by Boeing today announced initial pricing and details for its new high-speed Internet service for the maritime market, scheduled for commercial availability this fall. The Connexion by Boeing service is available today on flights offered by Lufthansa, SAS, Japan Airlines, ANA and Singapore Airlines. In addition, China Airlines, El Al, Korean Air and Asiana have announced their intent to install the Connexion by Boeing system on their long-range aircraft.

Crossbow Establishes Japan Subsidiary with Sumitomo Precision Products

Crossbow Technology, Inc., the leading end-to-end solutions supplier in wireless sensor networks and the largest manufacturer of Smart Dust wireless sensors, announced today that it will establish a subsidiary in Japan. The subsidiary, to be named Crossbow Japan Ltd. (Crossbow Kabushiki Kaisha), is a joint partnership with Sumitomo Precision Products Co., Ltd., one of Japan’s leading companies. The subsidiary, to be established by April 2005, will be based in Sumitomo Precision Products’ complex in Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan. Crossbow will retain majority interest, with Sumitomo holding a minority interest.

Philips Unveils WLAN Mobile Solution

Philips Electronics announced a new low-power 802.11g wireless LAN semiconductor system-in-a-package (SiP) solution for the mobile phone market. The new low-power 802.11g solution enables consumers to access voice, data and multimedia content through WLAN networks up to five times faster than current 802.11b products on the market without compromising the battery life of the mobile phone.

Dilithium Networks Announces Joint Collaboration Agreement with NTT DoCoMo

Dilithium Networks announced it has concluded a joint collaboration agreement with NTT DoCoMo, Inc. to collaborate on the development of 3G terminal test cases to advance video telephony interoperability test solutions. Dilithium Networks will, with support from NTT DoCoMo, design a broad suite of IOT test cases. Dilithium Networks will incorporate these cases into its Dilithium Networks Analyzer (DNA). Using DNA, 3G terminal vendors and mobile operators will be better suited to test new handsets being developed, as well as testing terminals software upgrades to ensure high interoperability performance.

Samsung's SPH-4300 SmartPhone

Samsung Electronics continued its relentless stream of innovations on Monday by announcing it will put out a music phone [.jpg image] with built-in wireless LAN and a powerful sound system at the end of the month. Microsoft’s mobile operating system, Pocket PC 2003 Phone Edition, allows use of applications like Outlook, Word and Excel, while a 520-MHz CPU and 1.3-megapixel camera are also part of the gadget.