Announced last Friday in Japan, JVC’s new powerful camcorder the GC-P100 is the sport oriented or action amateur filmmaker dream comes true! Indeed thanks to JVC’s Falcon Bird technology the GC-P100 is capable to shoot by default Full HD 60p videos in 36Mbps as well as stunning 600fps ones in 320×176! Announced at around 130,000 Yen and set to arrive in Japan at the end of May, the GC-P100 comes with a 12.76Mpix CMOS sensor, a JVC HD GT Lens with a 10x optical zoom, IS, Zoom Position Memory, a 3″ Monitor and additional 0.24 Viewfinder and support both SDHC and SDXC Cards. Finally one more interesting feature on the GC-P100 is its 4sec shutter speed function design to give you stunningly clear videos at night without suffering from too much visible noise.

JVC GC-P100

This week it’s American gas, Japan’s lack of startups, and J-tech to make horses happy!

Welcome to Japanese Technology from the Future Friday:
It’s already Friday west of the international dateline – here in Japan, it’s totally the future. The weekly JTFF is our somewhat technosnarky coverage of 2-5 particularly important, specifically Japan-related tech stories. Get yourself hip to the micro & macro that went down while North America was sleeping – check in with Akihabara News every Friday morning and BOOM! Ahead of the game, you win.

:: JTFF – May 17, 2013 ::

• Japan Wants American Gas (the natural kind – from the U.S. Shale boom, that is)
The combined monetary instruments of Mitsui & Co., Mitsubishi, and Nippon Yusen (a global shipping giant in Mitsubishi’s pocket), along with some French cash, have secured an almost 50% interest in a US $10 billion Louisiana LNG venture. The why of it is that, outside of nuclear expertise and reserves of favorable public sentiment toward cleaner technologies, Japan doesn’t have much in the way of domestic energy resources. As such, and as mentioned in the JTFF two weeks back, Japan’s very necessarily been making global rounds to secure energy deals & resources. Not much choice, really – since the 2011 Tohoku disaster allowed neo-J-Hippies to successfully monkey-wrench the nuclear energy industry, importing fossil fuels is pretty much all that’s keeping the lights on here.
[JAPAN INVESTS LOTS OF CASH IN U.S. SHALE GAS - FINANCIAL TIMES]

• Where are Japan’s Startups?
Very decent discussion/overview of why startups can’t (yet) get a lot of traction here in Japan. Both domestically and in the pan-mutally co-dependent economies of planet Earth, the question of J-startups comes up a lot because 1. basically every other advanced economy has a healthy startup culture, and 2. Japan is just not innovating like it used to. What makes the most sense is that the lumbering giants of J-tech, your Sony, your Sharp, your Panasonic, etc., have reached a point of monolithic immobility that makes them either oblivious to the need for or incapable of re-working a pervasive corporate culture that rewards staying the path and profoundly undervalues initiative and innovation. Decent read. It should be translated and printed on the front page of every major J-newspaper (yeah, they still have those here).
[IN SEARCH OF JAPAN'S MISSING STARTUPS - FORBES]

• How Much Human and Human Stuff Can a J-Horse Comfortably Carry?
Uhhh… reasonable question, if somewhat amusing. Like, remember back in the day when that American research team was totally belittled and ridiculed for studying cow flatulence – but then we learned that one single cow farts out more greenhouse gases than a full-sized truck left running all day? It is curious though, that until now no one ever bothered to get horses up on treadmills and do this kind of research. Even more curious that it was undertaken here; Japan ain’t exactly lousy with horses. Well, this J-tech development might not do much for global warming, but horses will dig it – and it goes to show that applying science & technology to stuff that might seem inane and ridiculous might just have some merit. Oh, and there was probably a “horse sense” pun to be used there, but the JTFF is better than that. See what just happened there? And also probably nobody knows what that means anymore.
[HOW MUCH WEIGHT CAN A HORSE COMFORTABLY CARRY? - THE HORSE]

That was the JTFF, and live from the future – that is all!

• • •

Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com, where the JTFF was born.

Tokyo at Night image via PhotoEverywhere.

Fujitsu has developed technology which can measure a person’s pulse in real time by analyzing video of their face.

“As blood circulates through the body, the amount of light absorbed by the face varies, depending on how much blood there is in it. The first point about this technology is, it identifies minute changes in light intensity on the face, and converts them to a pulse. Also, it accurately detects people’s movements, to distinguish noise. Consequently, it can make a measurement in as little as five seconds.”

When the user is sitting still, the system continuously detects changes in light intensity on the users face, as shown by the green waveform. The red waveform shows the resulting wave with noise associated with movement removed. Fujitsu has found that that accuracy of the system is within about three beats per minute.

“The main point about this technology is, it can make the measurements naturally. All the person needs to do is be in front of the camera, without operating a device. For example, when you’re working on a computer, you often stop moving for at least five seconds while you’re thinking. We think that, by detecting those moments and measuring your pulse rate, this system could be used to support health management, by recording changes throughout the day.”

“In the case of a security camera, it might be possible to detect suspicious persons, based on the assumption that people about to do something risky have a high pulse rate. However, we don’t think that can be done using this technology alone. We think it might be possible through all-round analysis, by combining this with other technologies.”

“We’d like to release this as a device embedded in our products. Right now, we’re working to bring such products out this year, including smartphones as well as PCs.”

This Video is provided by DigInfo.tv, AkihabaraNews Official Partner.

In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the release of Nissin Cup Noodle Curry, “Cup Noodle Curry trio with a mini GUNPLA (GUNDAM plastic model)” will be out on May 27. A total of 3 commemorative curry packages and models will be available.

Gundam (Mobile Suit Gundam) is a very popular Japanese televised anime series, loved by many fans.

Kinds of limited edition packages:
- Cup noodle curry “mini GUNPLA Original Kettle Ver.” – GUNDAM
- Cup noodle red curry “mini GUNPLA Original Kettle Ver.” – GELGOOG
- Cup noodle green curry “mini GUNPLA Original Kettle Ver.” – ZAKU II

Each Gundam character is holding a kettle representing the boiling water used for the cup noodle curry.

1,000 winners selected in a drawing will be able to receive an extra special cup noodle curry original GUNPLA (“MG RX-78-2 Gundam”). You can have a chance to apply for it by buying one of those 3 cup noodles.

Nissin also started accepting advanced orders for a special gift case which includes 2 of each of the 3 special cup noodle curry packages. The gift case costs 3,500 yen.

One of the most interesting technologies we could try out at Fujitsu Forum 2013 was a device that can virtualize a production line and its process by combining Fujitsu’s “GP4 (Production line simulator)” and Canon’s “MR (Mixed Reality)” technology. MR is an advanced image technology made by Canon that fuses “reality” and “virtual”.

The person wearing the head mount display on his head is able to see a virtual production line of a CG video. When you reach your hands to the moving conveyer, you can grab parts and pull them closer. Even when you turn sideways, you can see things like people working next to you. Because it enables you to look not only at a front view but also any directions, we felt like we were really in the production line.

An advantage of adopt this technology before a real production line is built is that you can imagining the work or adjust distances between people or functions.

At “Fujitsu Forum 2013″ we saw various technologies for business solutions and we would like to introduce one of them: “Hada Memori (Skin Memory)”. The company calls it “self-counseling” for your skin.

“Hada Memori” is a technology that you can check your skin’s condition anytime anywhere by using an application and taking a photo of your skin with a smartphone while applying a dedicated color frame on your skin. The color frame calibrates the color of your skin in relation to the ambient light in the room.

Based on the photo you take, spots/pores/color of your skin are quantified and saved for you with the photo. This time, we measured “spots” and “Hada Memori” rated the condition of her skin based on a scale of 1 to 10. This data can be saved in a calendar, and you can compare with past photos and check how your skin has changed.

Fujitsu believes that if beauty care services introduce “Hada Memori” in their services, customers can check their skin condition by themselves and provide this information, helping beauty companies introduce the most needed products for customers.

Fujitsu started its 2-day “Fujitsu Forum 2013″ today with President Masami Yamamoto giving a presentation to a capacity crowd of 1,500 guests with reservations.

Under the title of “Co-creating the Future with Customers”, he gave a vision statement for the company and how it is working together with customers and stakeholders to plan the future of the company.

The topics he covered as part of this vision statement were:
- Changing societal trends
- How the company can help businesses address challenges
- Fujitsu’s initiatives for reshaping business
- Fujitsu’s intiatives for reshaping society
- A prosperous society brought about by our company

There are a total of 82 seminars provided by Fujitsu’s executive officers and guest speakers over 2 days.

After the presentation, we wandered around the hall seeing examples of Fujitsu’s technology in action. I will highlight a couple interesting examples that we saw in a some follow-up posts.

Samsung’s roadshow of the GALAXY S4 finally arrived in Tokyo a month after kicking off in London and hitting several other cities and continents on the way.

The late timetable may have been through coordination with exclusive Japanese partner, mobile provider NTT Docomo, which announced its addition to its smartphone lineup yesterday. Or it may have been out of sensitivity to giving the product enough exposure around the world to raise its credibility in Japan.

But better late than never and we see a real buzz here for its roll-out which will happen later this month.

This is Samsung’s flagship mobile product and I thought the company did a great job to raise the level of excitement during the presentation. The President and the Executive VP of Samsung Japan as well as the Deputy President from Headquarters all gave great talks about the S4 and the vision for what Samsung is doing. They were joined by some famous Japanese Talento, who together with Samsung people very effectively illustrated the cool features on the S4:

1) The world’s first 5 inch full HD organic EL display
- It’s 8mm thin (1mm thinner than the previous model), but the display size got bigger than the previous model because of their slim bezel technology.
- 2,600mAh large capacity battery (500mAH more than the previous model)
- 1.9GHz Quad Core CPU

2) Various camera related functionality
【Sound & Shot】
- Enables you to record 9 seconds and associate it with photos

【Dual Shot】
- Take a photo of your subject and yourself on the same pic using the main and sub cameras at the same time

【Drama Shot】
- Takes continuous photos of a moving object and compose them to a single photo, which creates a photo that looks like a line-up of stop motion photos

【Story Album】
- Allows you to create a photo album by using photos saved in the S4

【Keshigomu (Eraser) Mode】
- Takes continuous photos and enables you to remove a walking person accidentally appearing behind your subject in the photos

3) Evolved handleability
【S Preview】
- Enables you to preview your photo albums and schedule, etc. by moving your finger close to each item above the screen

【S Gesture】
- Enables you to control the phone when your hands are dirty (flipping the page you are looking at and answering a phone call, etc.) by moving a hand above the screen
- Even use your elbow to navigate when your hands are full
- When you answer a phone call by using an S Gesture move, the phone call setting automatically shift to “Speaker Mode”. It will be very helpful when both hands are busy

【Smart Pause】
- Detects when your look away from the screen and video is paused automatically

【Glove Friendly】
- Enables you to control the touch panel in gloves

【Group Play】
- By using Wi-Fi tethering function, you can share music, photos and games with your friends

【S Health】
- Track you health by, for example, counting your steps and amount of exercise, monitoring the temperature and humidity around you, and recording calories or your weight etc.

【Kantan (Easy) Mode】
- Easily changes the home display from the regular one to a very simple looking one that is for smart phone beginners or elderly people. Each item is displayed in bigger size
- Good for smart phone beginners. Once they get used to use a Galaxy S4 with Kantan Mode, they can change the home display to the regular one

4) Notable accessory
【S View Cover】
- A smart phone cover for Galaxy S4.
- When you open the cover like a book, it shows the regular home display on Galaxy S4.
- There is a window in the cover so that when you close it, you can still see important information like the clock
- When you get a phone call, you can answer the phone by touching the window part and speak through the cover

The “talento” who discussed the S4 were:
- Kouji Imada
- Kyoko Uchida
- Ueske Yamamoto

Samsung’s “GALAXY S4 SC-04E” was highly featured at NTT Docomo’s 2013 summer lineup roll-out.

It’s 8 mm thick – 1 mm thinner than its previous model. In its slim body, it’s got a large capacity 2600mAh battery and the world’s first 5 inch full HD organic EL display. 1.9GHz Quad Core CPU and 2GB RAM are built-in giving it serious processing ability and quick response.

The camera is 13.2 million pixel. Several interesting functions are included in the “GALAXY S4 SC-04E”: “Sound and Shot” that records sounds while taking a photo, “Keshigomu (Eraser) Mode” that allows you to erase anything you don’t want to include in a photo (like people in the background), and “Dual Camera” where you can use the outside camera and inside camera at the same time.

Other interesting functions include “S Gesture” that enables you to control the phone by moving a hand above the screen and “Smart Pause” that detects when your way of looking at the screen changes and pauses the video that you are watching.

Regarding colors, “black mist”, “white forest” and “blue arctic” are available. Blue arctic is a special color that was not included in the GALAXY S4 global model that was revealed in March.

Release date: May 23 (black mist and white forest), mid-June (blue arctic)
Size: 137 x 70 x 8mm
Weight: 134g
Display: Approx. 5 inch, 1080×1920 dot, full HD, organic EL display, 16.77 million pixel
External memory: microSD (2GB), microSDHC (32GB), microSDXC (64GB)
CPU: APQ8064T (1.9GHz Quad Core)
OS:　Android 4.2

“XPERIA A SO-04E” is a smartphone designed with round edges to fit in your palm well with an approx. 4.6 inch (720×1280 dot) LCD. It’s Docomo’s version of XPERIA’s global model “Sony XPERIA ZR”.

If you say XPERIA, you might remember its highly-functional camera. Sony’s CMOS image sensor “Exmor RS for mobile” is featured with “XPERIA A SO-04E” and that makes it strong against backlight. When it’s in sleep mode, it will shift to camera mode instantly by pressing a small bottom on the side so it is harder to miss the moment than with other smartphones when you want to take a photo. This is functionality that we’ve only seen with XPERIA.

It is waterproof and dustproof, and it’s compatible with NFC, infrared data communication, Bluetooth, and wallet phone function.

Release date: May 17
Colors: white, black, pink, mint
Dimensions: 131 x 67 x 10.5mm
Weight: 141g
Display: 4.6 inch, 720×1280 dots, HD, TFT display, 16.77 million colors
External memory: microSD (2GB), microSDHC (32GB), microSDXC (64GB)
CPU: APQ8064 (1.5GHz Quad Core)
OS: Android 4.1