New Tech & Services
New Tech & Services

New Tech & Services

Tu-Ka's Bone Cell Phone – Good Vibrations

The TS41 by Sanyo is a hot topic this month for one simple, you don’t have to press this small cell phone to your ear. Tu-Ka Cellular has the world’s first bone conduction cell phone. All you need do is put the top side of the phone on your jaw or any part of your head, and an installed vibration transmitter “Sonic Speaker” will transmit sound through the bone, enabling listening clarity even in noisy places such as a construction area, for example. Originally, this phone was designed for elderly people and others with hearing disabilities. Details in Japanese Here

JCB Launches Credit Card Trial for Mobile

JCB Co., Ltd., the international payment brand, is offering a trial service for Mobile OfficaTM, a contactless chip and mobile solution that offers corporations cashless payment and office access control functions through ‘NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode(R) FeliCa Preview Service’ for mobile phones. The trial service, available until July 2004, marks the first time that a credit card payment service has been made available for mobile phones with a contactless chip in Japan.

3G Mobile Solar Power Solution

3G Mobile Solar Power SolutionThe 3G Mobile Forum 2004 was held at the Hilton Tokyo Bay, January 13-16, and attracted over 70 top-class speakers in what we construed was an attempt to hammer out where they think 3G is going. With such a treasure trove sitting on our doorsteps across Tokyo Bay, we couldn’t resist bearing our cameras down on some of the leading lights of the show. The following preview will give you a taste of the upcoming programs we’ll running over the next few weeks. Also included in this clip is a demo of a mobile solar power source that was on display from Korean startup Soleitec, they have this sleek and working re-charger ready to keep your mobile device running when the batteries are dying, all for $30. The device should be ready to ship in 8 weeks and they are looking for partners to sell this product. Our only advice: Don’t save this one for a rainy day! Full Program Run-time 6:13

ANA and Connexion by Boeing Sign Mobile Internet Services Agreement

ANA (All Nippon Airways) and Boeing today announced that the two companies have signed a definitive service agreement for the installation of the Connexion by Boeing mobile Internet service on the air carrier’slong-haul fleet of aircraft. The announcement was augmented by an agreement with SESAMERICOM for satellite coverage over the North Pacific region, to be used by ANA and otherleading global air carriers. During a joint press conference in Tokyo, Connexion by Boeing President Scott Carson praised ANA and SES AMERICOM for their contributions and support in helping to make connectivity possible for people on the move in the Asia- Pacific region.

Emerging Mobile Business Applications

The mobile Internet may have gained popularity in Japan because of cool ring tones and text messaging, but now businesses are finding that using cell phones to track information increases productivity — and saves money. Just as entertainment has been an unexpected driver of growth and innovation in the overall mobile Internet, unexpected applications such as delivery, construction, maintenance and sales are driving business use in the mobile Internet. By Prof. Jeffrey L. Funk, this paper is a condensed version of a chapter from his soon-to-be-released book “Mobile Disruption.”

KDDI Develops Speech Recognition for PDAs

KDDI and its research arm KDDI Labs have developed a Distributed Speech Recognition (DSR) based application aimed at enterprises and sales forces, for example, that will allow users to download data from corporate databases by just talking to their PDAs. The voice recognition system employs a two-step voice recognition approach, first with the terminal and then on the center server, enabling users to access map data, photos and voice instructions.