Panasonic showed off a new tablet device at its CES 2013 keynote today. The Windows 8-based device is less than half-an-inch thick, with a 20-inch screen with 4K resolution for ultra-crisp images. The device is clearly aimed at the professional market, and a promo video Panasonic showed featured a photographer talking about how it can help him with his workflow. The tablet has pen input, and is… → Read More
Panasonic showed off a unique new kind of OLED TV today on stage at the CES 2013 keynote, which is manufactured using 3D printing technology. The 56-inch television is incredibly thin, at just half-an-inch thick, and weighs a fraction of previous generation LED sets. The use of 3D printing tech should also eventually help super high resolution OLED TVs come down to manageable pricing levels, as… → Read More
The Japanese consumer electronics industry continues to feel the squeeze in the economy, with mass layoffs of workers representing one of the more painful effects. In the latest development, Panasonic Corp. says it will reduce its workforce by 10,000 employees by the end of this fiscal year, which completes in March 2013. The company had already warned that it will post losses of $10 billion for… → Read More
Aggressive demonstrations in and near Panasonic’s and Canon’s Chinese factories have forced the companies to temporarily suspend operations. According to the French news agency AFP, demonstrators are motivated by nationalistic reasons and events that occurred over the past few days.
The Japanese Government bought a private yet critical archipelago in the East China Sea: the Japanese call it the… → Read More
On Wednesday, reports circulated that Panasonic was interested in injecting a $630 million capital investment into Olympus Corp, but Panasonic CEO Fumio Ohtsubo has stepped up to squash these rumors. According to Reuters, he said that “there isn’t any” plan to invest in Olympus.
This is unfortuante news for the beleaguered camera company, which is most definitely in trouble. → Read More
A return to form for Panasonic, and a M4/3 camera that photographers won’t be suspicious of. Its weaknesses are largely the weaknesses of its class of camera, but beyond those it’s solid, comfortable, and fairly powerful. Not recommended for fidgety and manual focusers, but most shooters will be able to have a lot of fun with it.
Read on for our full review. → Read More
WiGig, a multi-gigabit speed wireless communications technology, was first announced back in 2009, but it took companies like Panasonic quite a while to come up with applications that make use of it. Via WiGig, devices can communicate with each other at multi-gigabit speeds using the 60 GHz frequency band.
Panasonic has developed a prototype system, in which WiGig is embedded in a tablet that… → Read More
Panasonic isn’t just making TVs, phones, or cameras, they are also producing household appliances. One such appliance has recently been introduced by Japanese business daily The Nikkei, and it’s probably the first cloud-based device for growing fruit and vegetables at home out there.
Four leaf vegetables can be grown in one so-called “Smart Vegetable Garden” (which is sized at 100x50x30cm) at… → Read More
Panasonic has been partnering with Victor Co. of Japan, which in 2008 merged with Kenwood to become JVC Kenwood, since 1954. But yesterday JVC Kenwood announced [JP, PDF] that Panasonic, its largest shareholder and business partner, will go alone in the future.
Big P is apparently ready to sell 24,225,400 of its shares, a move that will make the company the seventh-largest shareholder in JVC… → Read More
Big news from Asia’s mobile market today: Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo (55 million customers, over US$50 billion in sales per year) is teaming up with five other tech powerhouses to develop chips for next-generation mobile devices. Docomo’s partners are NEC, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd., Panasonic, and Samsung.
The goal is to use synergies in the six companies’ expertise in… → Read More
It took them quite a while, but as reported, Panasonic is finally ready to re-enter the global market for cell phones. After 2005, Big P has been selling handsets almost exclusively in Japan. The company today announced [JP] it will start expanding its mobile business to Europe in March 2012, starting with a yet to be named Android device.
Technical details are scarce at this point, but it… → Read More
In the post-iPhone era, a lot of things changed in Japan, once the most admired country in the mobile world. The number of cell phone manufacturers, for example, has fallen from 13 to five after massive consolidation and re-organization, and all of the remaining players fight with a shrinking and rapidly greying domestic market.
That’s one of the reasons why Nippon’s cell phone makers have been… → Read More
Panasonic was one of the first strong competitors in the micro four-thirds camera arena, and we’ve been waiting on the next iteration of the G-series cameras for months. They’ve finally announced the GX1, aimed much more at enthusiasts than the simplified GF2 and GF3. Panasonic also announced a 3D-oriented point and shoot, which to be honest doesn’t look so hot.
The GX1 seems to improve on… → Read More
He hoisted himself up a 500 meter-cliff at Grand Canyon, did his magic on the Le Mans 24 circuit in France, and traveled 500KM from Tokyo to Kyoto last year And now, he completed the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, too.
We covered Panasonic’s plan to let its EVOLTA battery-powered mini robot start at the 230km race back in September, and now the company announced the little guy finished it on… → Read More
Panasonic Japan has announced [JP] two Android tablets for the domestic market yesterday, the so-called BizPad JT-580VT (with a 7-inch LCD screen) and the JT-581VT (with a 10.1-inch LCD). Both devices run on Android 3.2 and are specifically targeted at businesses (hence the name).
What the tablets also have in common is that they are shock-, dust-, and water-proof. For example, Panasonic says… → Read More
We’ve already shown you Panasonic‘s cool hair-washing robot on video, but the company is currently showcasing two more robots at the CEATEC 2011 tech exhibition in Japan: one is the so-called HOSPI-Rimo (an assistance robot that we covered two weeks ago), the other model is aptly named RoboticBed.
The video below shows the HOSPI-Rimo (Remote Intelligence and Mobility/pictured above) in action… → Read More
Panasonic took the wraps off a new version of it’s super-strange (and awesome) hair-washing robot at the CEATEC 2011 tech exhibition that currently takes place in Japan (the first version is about one year old). The robot handles the entire process of hair washing autonomously: wetting, shampooing, conditioning and drying.
The new version washes your hair with a total of 24 (instead of just 16)… → Read More
Sharp’s AQUOS PHONE 102SH wasn’t the only cool Android phone to hit the Japanese market today. Local carrier SoftBank will also start distributing the so-called LUMIX Phone 101P [JP] as part of its fall/winter line-up of new cell phones in November.
Made by Panasonic, the Android device is designed to be a mix between a phone and a digital camera (and it sure looks like it). → Read More
Panasonic Japan announced [press release in English] the development of the so-called HOSPI-Rimo yesterday, a cute “Communication Assistance Robot” specifically designed for medical use. HOSPI-Rimo (Remote Intelligence and Mobility) is supposed to make it easier for bedridden patients to get in touch with doctors or family members living far away (“virtual visits”).
Technically, the mobile… → Read More
Panasonic sure knows how to promote their EVOLTA brand of rechargeable batteries: first, a cute mini robot powered by the batteries hoisted itself up a 500 meter-cliff at Grand Canyon, then an EVOLTA robot took on the Le Mans 24 circuit in France, before traveling 500KM from Tokyo to Kyoto last year.
And now Panasonic announced [JP] plans to let the little guy start at the Ironman Triathlon in… → Read More
If you like consuming media on your iPhone or iPod touch that’s stored elsewhere, you might want to take a look at what Panasonic has announced [JP] for the Japanese market recently. The so-called DY-PS10 is a “pocket server” that wirelessly streams videos, music and pictures from an SD/SDHC/SDXC card to these devices. → Read More
Two weeks ago, during an exhibition in Tokyo, Panasonic showcased an Android-based e-book reader/tablet hybrid without revealing too many details. Fast forward to today, and we have the complete spec list of the device (now named “Raboo”) plus price and availability (in Japan, at least). → Read More
Camera makers like to announce things randomly – no method at all. We might get ten in a night, or one a week for ten weeks. Sometimes they drop in twos, like these from Panasonic: a new super-zoom and a point-and-shoot, neither of which sets itself apart too much, but maybe one will have the right combination of features for you. → Read More
The Toughbook has always been a tough sell. It’s always looked like a cross between a robot turd and the chest-plate for dirt-bike armor. It looks like they’ve improved this design considerably this time, offering a 1.7GHz Intel Core i5 processor with 2GB RAM and 160 GB hard drive with an optional 128GB SSD. → Read More
Panasonic is prepping an Android 2.2-powered e-book reader/tablet hybrid [JP] that’s specifically designed for the Japanese market. The device will offer e-books through a store set up by Rakuten, the country’s biggest e-commerce company, with the initial line-up including a total of at least 10,000 titles. → Read More
Japan is probably one of the biggest markets for portable TVs in the world, but because the digital standard used in those devices (1Seg) has only been adopted by Japan and a few South American countries so far, I usually don’t cover new models coming out. But Panasonic’s SV-ME970, announced [JP] today, is different: it has Android 2.1 on board and lets users surf the web. → Read More
We will see more of these devices coming in the next few years, I am sure: Panasonic today announced [JP] the BG-BL01, a portable and solar-powered LED light that doubles as a charger for USB gadgets. The device is sized at just 152×104×24mm, weighs 150g, can house two AA batteries and is splash proof. → Read More
Panasonic’s compact micro four-thirds GF series has received an update, and yes, it’s the one we saw last week. The GF3 is lighter, smaller, and simpler than its predecessor. It also forgoes a hot shoe in favor of a pop-up flash, something which may anger serious photographers but makes sense given the direction in which they’ve taken the camera line. → Read More
Panasonic Japan announced [JP] a special Lumix camera yesterday, the LUMIX DMC-FP7D (where the “D” stands for Disney). Unlike many other cute special edition cameras from Japan, the design on this model is rather subtle. → Read More
We liked Leica’s V-Lux 20, but could never really recommend it over its cheaper, nearly identical sibling, the Panasonic ZS7. Now we have the V-Lux 30, which appears to have the same relationship with the ZS10 announced in January. Looks like the same 14.1-megapixel sensor, the same 16x zoom lens, the same LCD, GPS, and so on — but different badge. The Leica costs $750, the Panasonic… → Read More
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