New Tech & Services
New Tech & Services

New Tech & Services

EU Presses Japan on Galileo GPS

In just four years, Europe will bring about a sea change in the world of car and man navigation, which has long depended on a single service source, the American global positioning system. As the continent prepares for the full operational launch of Galileo, its own version of GPS, the European Union and industry are watching with keen interest to see how Japan, a heavy GPS user, eventually positions itself. “Japan would be a very good test market for Galileo because there are many people using mobile phones and people who like gadgets,” Paul Flament, administrator of the Galileo Program at the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, said.

KDDI Seeks Banking JV

KDDI said on Thursday it was in talks with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ to set up a new bank that would allow shoppers to pay for their purchases electronically using their mobile phones. Among the possible options, KDDI’s “au” brand mobile phone customers would be able to have bank accounts linked to their phones and use the devices to spend money up to the account balance, a KDDI spokesman said.

Tokyo Taxis to Accept e-money

Tokyo taxi passengers will soon be able to start paying for their rides using electronic money, three taxi fleet operators said this week. The deals, which involve BitWallet Inc.’s Edy system and East Japan Railway Co.’s (JR East) Suica system, are the latest in a string of agreements from major retailers to accept e-money in lieu of conventional cash for purchases and services. They come as technology for the systems, which are both based on Sony Corp.’s Felica touch-and-go proximity smart card platform.

NEC Considers UWB Module

According to recent reports in the Japanese press, NEC Electronics Corp. has revealed it is discussing volume production of a Certified Wireless USB (WUSB) transmission module using ultra wideband technology based on WiMedia Alliance’s multiband OFDM specification as early as the end of June 2006. If all goes as planned, dongles and other WUSB compatible products are likely to show up on the local market by Fall of 2006.

Google Tests Mobile Ads in Japan

According to an article by Bloomberg, Google has successfully tested advertising on mobile phones in Japan, signaling a new revenue opportunity for the company. “Mobile internet usage is fairly high” in Japan, Deep Nishar, a Google product manager, said in an interview at the CTIA Wireless 2006 trade show in Las Vegas. “We’ve had a fairly successful trial of mobile text ads there.”

Update: See announcement posted at Google Press Center

NEC to Launch New TFT LCD Module

NEC LCD Technologies today announced that it will begin shipping samples of its new 3.5-inch (8.9-centimeters-diagonal) amorphous silicon thin-film-transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD), part number NL2432HC22-40A, in the beginning of June. The new LCD is extremely suitable for installation in various portable devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and portable GPS terminals as it can reproduce colors clearly and vividly even in indoor/outdoor environments with high ambient light.