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Video Round-up: Ultra-cool Mobile Tech at Tokyo's CEATEC 2006

Video Round-up: Ultra-cool Mobile Tech at Tokyo’s CEATEC 2006Last week, Tokyo’s annual CEATEC show (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies) was once again a showcase for some of the coolest mobile technology on Planet Earth. Today’s video round-up features audio QR, Fujitsu’s ‘UB Wall‘ – an ultra-high-tech, one-to-one customized video advertising display – and FP codes, and – not to be missed – NTT DoCoMo’s 3G mobile-based ‘Drunk Driver’ detector, apparently in high demand by bus companies and trucking firms.

Organizers said that the consumer electronics event drew 550,732 during the public days, 4-7 October, while WWJ ducked in out of the torrential rain during the press & industry day on 3 October, when the crowds weren’t quite as waku (wild).

WWJ thinks the FP codes (essentially, invisible barcodes) and audio QR technology stands a pretty good chance of fast adoption, given the masses of rabid advertising agencies out there trying to capitalize on the growing popularity of (a) camera phones that grab info via QR code and (b) digital broadcasting. An audio QR code is simply broadcast as metadata in a digital audio signal, such that the browser displays text, a clickable URL or other advertising message while you listen to a radio or tv program on a suitably enabled mobile phone. But for sheer outdoor-advertising-meets-mobile marketing genius, the UB Wall can’t be beat!

SoftBank Announces 5-Megapixel Cameraphone

SoftBank Mobile announced yesterday it will begin sales of the Sharp 910SH [ .jpg ] 5-megapixel cameraphone in October. According to the specifications, the new model touts a 2.4-inch VGA view finder with blurring correction and a multi-point auto-focus system. Also noted, it has a 3-speed optical zoom feature, bluetooth and QR barcode reader along with face-recognition capability for its embedded FeliCa osaifu ketai (wallet-phone) function.

McDonald's Using QR Codes

This tid-bit has been around for awhile now, but in case you missed it: “In their ever continuing effort to re-educate the world about the wholesome nutritional value of their produce, McDonald’s have taken a step forward in Japan and applied a clever bit of technology to bring the nutritional label into the 21st century. Each burger now comes equipped with its own QR code printed on the wrapper which navigates you to an online site where you can see the amount of calories and fat you are consuming.” Information is available both for individual items and full-meal deals.

DoCoMo Shows Sound QR Technology

DoCoMo labs has demonstrated that they can insert audio data on broadcast signals – in music and voice – which can be translated by enabled mobile phones into text messages and URL links. The so-called “Sound QR” uses OFDM modulation technology which is transmitted in parallel by using two or more frequencies at the same time to suppress the influence of area noise and address the potential tone quality deterioration.

Another Smartphone Soon Via Willcom

Willcom, Microsoft and Sharp have introduced their next generation smartphone. The Zero3 [es] is powered by Intel’s PXA270 CPU at 416MHz, with 128MB of flash memory and 64MB of SDRAM. In addition to the Windows Mobile 5.0 (Japanese) operating system, the phone also comes with the Opera mobile browser and Flash pre-installed. It has a 1.3-megapixel camera, miniSD removable memory, a USB 2.0 port and QR code reader. According to the press release, they are working on seperate W-Fi, Bluetooth and 1Seg TV tuner cards to be released at a later date.

Desirable Mobile Services for the Future

Info-Plant has issued a very interesting report on mobile-phone usage in Japan focusing on ‘Desirable Mobile Functions and Services’. Data was collected via a nationwide survey of mobile phone users from the networks of NTT DoCoMo, KDDI/au, and Vodafone and valid responses were received from 7,905 users. Questions asked what mobile phone functions or services were used regularly and respondents were asked to list the services or functions they would like to see added to mobile phones in the future (log in for details).