ana airplanes to have hi-tech toilet seats

Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) will be the first airline to have Toto washlets in its airplanes. They'll be standard equipment in the new Boeing 787 Dreamliners ANA starts flying next year. The novelty is part of a larger battle, as airlines scramble to win customers, but it also corroborates what I wrote in a previous post, as this must be part of Toto's strategy to expand its customer base.
In-flight washlets will certainly bring more comfort for passengers. It will require some time for new users to get used to operating them though, but as ANA's chief executive well said (and borrowing from Heineken's classic slogan), the new equipment "will refresh the parts other airlines can't reach". (via Reuters)

toto is happiness

Toto, Japan's maker of hi-tech toilet seats (known as washlets) is trying to enter the American market. To me, it's a mystery why this hasn't happened before.
Whoever tries this comfy toilet seat will never forget the experience. Interesting to see how they're trying to sell a 'higher order' of cleanliness, if you will, and ultimately 'happiness'.
Check out their cheeky web page below.
And here, a shot of the control buttons. These icons always make me smile.

(link via cityofsound)

jane jetson's dress

Shape-changing dresses by Hussein Chalayan.Watch the YouTube video here.They remind me of Jane Jetson's dresses. Really cool.(via infosthetics)

for all rock & rollin' grandpas

Now that baby-boomers are fast approaching their mature years, gadgets such as the new TEAC bone-conduction headphone are set to become very popular.
Like Docomo's Sound Leaf, the TEAC headphone works by sending the sound's vibrations through the bones. As the diagram below shows, the TEAC is to be used over the temporal bone, instead of the usual ear-covering headphones, so that people with hearing impairment can keep enjoying music (and banging their heads). (via Japan Today)

jobs and gates share the stage

Only adulations and jokes between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, when they were interviewed at the "D5: All Things Digital Conference" in Carlsbad. Among some priceless stuff though: the awkwardness when they were asked about the Mac vs. PC ads, and Jobs saying that "...most things in life are either a Dylan or a Beatles song". Watch the video here.

a peek into the future

From time to time, NTT Docomo, Japan's largest mobile carrier, releases a video depicting its vision of the future. Docomo's latest video shows how mobile technology will make life safer, more convenient, and more comfortable. In their vision, among other things, people will wear glasses with GPS, tracking systems will prevent children from getting lost, security robots will take care of your house, and you will buy your veggie using your mobile (they seem obsessed with this idea).
Although all this could be quickly dismissed as corporate PR or an overly optimistic view of the future, I remember seeing one of these videos some years ago and saying 'yeah, right'. It was a video showing the use of video calls. Today video calls are pretty common over 3G networks, so don't dismiss this vision just yet as some of these features might very well become reality in the future. Who knows, one day you will even buy your veggie using your mobile. See the video here.P.S.: If you happen to be in Japan, you can arrange a tour to Docomo's R&D Center, in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. I haven't been there myself but they have an exhibit called WHARF (Wealth, Human Activity and Revolution for the Future) that looks interesting. I guess the name says it all.

connected life

It's been on the cover of a recent "The Economist" magazine (subscribers only, sorry).It's been tested in Tokyo's Ginza district (Tokyo Ubiquitous Technology Project). Now, what initially seemed more like a sci-fi story is one step closer to becoming a reality. The Japanese government announced last Saturday that it is setting up a test zone for what they're calling an 'IT lifestyle', where everything and everyone is connected wirelessly.
According to The Japan Times (reg. req.), "the government will set up a special zone next fiscal year to test "ubiquitous" Internet technology in situations as varied as providing medical services for the elderly, preventing car accidents and buying vegetables".
Using a mix of mobile, internet, and RFID technologies, senior citizens will have their vital signs sent to hospital where they'll be continuously monitored, cars will have their speed automatically reduced if a pedestrian crosses the road, and people will even be able to buy vegetables using their mobile phones, should they want to do so. The test will be carried out in an area still to be determined, either in Hokkaido or Okinawa, where there's less radio wave interference.

say it again? a dell store?

Dell's Founder and CEO Michael Dell has recently said that "the direct (sales) model has been a revolution, but it's not a religion".
Dell already opened a showroom in Dallas (only to display the models, not to sell them just yet).
All signs seem to indicate that we'll soon see a "Dell Store" out in the street.
This will be an interesting story to watch.

Reference:
Darlin, Damon (2007). Dell's Founder Is Rethinking Direct Sales. The New York Times. April 28, 2007 (here)

uniqlo's non-transparent white trousers

Japan's apparel maker Uniqlo announced that it will start selling can't-see-through white trousers made of a special new fabric developed by textile maker Toray Industries. That will bring more confidence to women who like to wear white trousers, specially during summertime, as they won't have to worry about their underwear showing through.
Some men however are already complaining about the advancements in technology, saying that the new trousers defeat the whole purpose of wearing a pair of white trousers. What's your take on that? (via japantoday)

minority report-esque?

I guess some of you must've seen this already, but I only saw it yesterday. Jeff Han, of NYU, showing his multi-touch user interface. Notice how you move your entire body, much as in some video game that I'm becoming tired of writing about. So, do the iPhone, the Wii (oops), and this demo point out the future of computer user interface? Interesting that Mr. Han says that a 3-D interface would actually be a step backwards, definitely not "Minority Report" then, after all. The official wordless demo below (via Pogue's Post).

US$ 100 laptop

This is really cool. A prototype of the $100 laptop from Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child project (via How blog).

ted 2007

The 2007 TED Conference starts in Monterey, California. You can follow some of the action here. And wait for the presentations to be available here, sometime in the future. In the meantime, you can watch Wired Editor-at-Large Kevin Kelly, talking about the evolution of biology and technology (duration: 20:39), on TED 2005, below (or download it here).

wii winning the video-game battle

It's still a little early to tell but Nintendo's Wii seems poised to win the battle of the video-game consoles. According to the Financial Times (reg. req.), it "has soared past Microsoft's Xbox 360 in sales and opened a huge lead over Sony's premium-priced rival, the Playstation 3".
Still according to the article, a Merryl Linch analyst predicts that, "by the year 2011, almost a third of the Japanese households, and almost 30 percent of all US households will own a Wii". That's huge! If we take into consideration only the households with children, that percentage would increase considerably.
Wii's success is a great example of non-linear thinking, of winning the battle by playing a whole different game.
On Wii's website, there's a very interesting interview series with the team that created and developed the console. Hosted by Nintendo's president, Mr. Satoru Iwata, it gives a glimpse on the approach the team chose for the project. See this statement from Mr. Takeda, who led the project:
"...if we had followed the existing Roadmaps we would have aimed to make it “faster and flashier.” In other words, we would have tried to improve the speed at which it displays stunning graphics. But we could not help but ask ourselves, “How big an impact would that direction really have on our customers?” During development, we came to realize the sheer inefficiency of this path when we compared the hardships and costs of development against any new experiences that might be had by our customers... After speaking with Nintendo's development partners, I became keenly aware of the fact that there is no end to the desire of those who just want more. Give them one, they ask for two. Give them two, and next time they will ask for five instead of three. Then they want ten, thirty, a hundred, their desire growing exponentially. Giving in to this will lead us nowhere in the end..."
As I said in the beginning, the battle is still in its early stage, so let's see how it develops, but according to Credit Suisse analyst Jay Defibaugh “there has always been a strong concern that the Wii was gimmicky...but each passing month assuages that.”

Reference:

Lewis, Leo (2007). Nintendo's Wii Outsells Rival Consoles. Financial Times. February 21, 2007.

zapcode in singapore

I got the heads up about this from ag407's Fernando Barros (thanks Fernando), who told me about shotcode, a technology that resembles a barcode. Unlike the traditional barcode however, this technology allows mobile phone users to access more detailed information about a product, for example. Basically the code contains a link to a website, which people can access only by taking a picture of it. The applications are endless. It can be used to provide more information about products, events, movies, etc.
Now Singapore's SPH, publisher of The Straits Times, has launched a similar product called ZapCode.

about the future of gaming, computers

Some interesting bits on the blogsphere, dealing with trends in the computing and gaming industry. Somehow they're all interconnected, though I can't quite explain now.
- Steve Johnson muses about the Nintendo Wii (amazing how the Wii is bringing long lost consumers to the category)
- Momus writes about the age of the ubiquitous computing (and mentions the Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project)
- Mark Cuban discusses the future of computing and gaming, and the implications for Microsoft, Apple, Google, Sony, etc.

marketing + technology

Couple of technology enhanced marketing moves in Japan:
The first is this interactive projection advertising technology by a company called Catchyoo (via CScout). I saw a similar technology being used at some museums in London but this is the first time that I've seen it being used in advertising. It can be projected on floors, on walls, on tables, etc. In many ways, it feels like a video game, and the Wii comes to mind. See video here.
The other example is this virtual make-up booth, a joint project developed by Mitsukoshi, Shiseido and Fujitsu.
I'm no make-up expert, but I guess most women will be pleased to be able to try as many variations as they like without going through the mess of having to apply the make-up, then having to wipe it off, then applying another option and so on. Eventually they'll still want to try out the real stuff, but at least they can make a previous selection.
The machine scans the woman's face and through an LCD screen, she can try as many variations as she wants to (by waving products with RFID tags on a tag reader). The screen shows how she'll look, and better yet, she'll be able to see the before/after effect.
The project runs through Feb. 12th at the Mitsukoshi store in Ginza (via Wired Blog).

no more 'mystery photos'?

I once wrote about how technology will help us in creating more context and meaning in the photos we take. See post here.
Last week, I came across this article in The Guardian (reg. required) about a new company called Polar Rose, which promises to bring face recognition technology to the web. Basically it's a mix of social network tagging (e.g. del.icio.us) and facial recognition software. Read the company's pitch below:
The Polar Rose plug-in for Firefox and Internet Explorer lets you discover who's in a picture on any public photo. The plug-in detects people in online photos and places our signature rose approximately where the pinhole of their shirt would be. A click on the rose will bring up a tooltip with relevant information, including name and other photos found of the same person. As a user, you help train our engine by tagging names or verifying the data generated by Polar Rose or by your fellow users.

"hello, where are you?" - a question of the past?

It seems that the Tokyo Police has listened to my friend Michell.
A while ago he had expressed his wish that mobile phones showed the caller's location (in addition to the ID they currently show). Well, that's an information that the Tokyoites won't need to provide anymore (at least when calling the police). According to the Japan Times, calls to the emergency number will be tracked automatically. The report says that "...the system will shorten the time it takes for officers to reach the scene. Callers often do not know their exact locations and, if they are panicking, cannot give clear descriptions of their surroundings for police to find them."
This will indeed be far more efficient, but at least in one aspect this technology will not be welcomed. I guess most movie buffs will agree that police thrillers are going to lose a little bit of drama. No more scenes of victims desperately trying to tell the operator their whereabouts.
PS: speaking about location, I'm blogging from myhotel in London on my way to Singapore.

tokyo ubiquitous network project

A long, complicated name, which represents the latest marketing effort to be launched this month in Tokyo's glitzy Ginza district.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, "stores in central Tokyo are set to beam news of special offers, menus and coupons to passers-by in a trial run of a radio-tagging system (RFIT). The Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project...sends shoppers information from nearby shops via a network of radio-frequency identification tags, infrared and wireless transmitters... Shoppers can either rent a prototype reader or get messages on their cell phones. The tags and transmitters identify a reader or phone's location and match it to information provided by shops."
See below a diagram that explains how this will work (still in experimental stage).
The project's website is recruiting participants for the experiment, which will last from January until March 10th.

michelin gps

Have you ever unknowingly driven through a major landmark or a nice restaurant only to find out about it when you return back home from your trip? Well, it happened to me a couple of times and I can tell you I was not exactly happy about it (you usually become aware of it only when a somewhat amused friend says "don't tell me you didn't go there!").Now Michelin, the European map and guide company, has launched a GPS that contains information from their guides and maps. Currently it's available only in Europe and in the US. The European version lists 51,000 establishments (29,000 restaurants and 27,000 hotels). Plus it has a feature called POI (Point of Interest) Alert. They claim to put "the pleasure back into driving". I think what it does is bring more context and meanings to our trips. As we drive, suddenly the GPS flashes, "One-star Michelin restaurant 2 km ahead". No more missed opportunities!

Reference:
Biggs, John. Electronic Navigation With the Michelin Touch. The New York Times. December 14, 2006. (here)