We all knew this would come one day, especially since the basic technology has been around for some time, and now we have it: A brain activity-powered remote control that can be used without you having to lift a finger. The Hitachi device is unfortunately a prototype, but at least they’re planning to commercialize it within three to four years.
The technology is being developed not for lazy couch… → Read More
Folks, 2TB external drives are now coming out from everyone. Isn’t it grand? Hitachi has revised the look of the SimpleDrive external hard drive and it’s now available in a 2TB option. In fact, the rest of the SimpleTech lineup can now be had with a 2TB Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 hard drive. → Read More
Hitachi Japan has announced a total of four new video projectors [JP] specifically aimed at businesses today. The devices will hit Japanese stores on December 21, but Hitachi hasn’t said yet if the projectors will be sold outside this country as well. → Read More
No pictures for this yet, but Hitachi has reportedly developed a 3D projection system that allows viewers to watch 3D images from any angle, and perhaps more importantly, without the need for eyeglasses. While the first feature makes sure a group of people can see 3D images at the same time on a single screen, I am aware the second one isn’t the first of its kind for a 3D system. → Read More
How much energy do you think is wasted every day powering devices that aren’t actually being used? I’m not talking about stand-by power consumption, but actually on-and-in-use without a user there. I know a lot of people who turn their TVs on just as “background noise”, without ever actually looking at the screen. Hitachi’s cooking up a system to place TVs in power consumption mode if it detects… → Read More
The first rumors started spreading about two weeks ago, and it was officially announced yesterday: Major Japanese cell phone makers Hitachi, NEC and Casio are merging their mobile phone operations to become Japan’s No. 2 maker (following Sharp). The name of the new venture will be “NEC Casio Mobile Communications”. → Read More
Big news from Japan’s mobile phone industry today (Friday afternoon Japanese time). Various Japanese media are reporting that NEC, Hitachi and Casio are in talks to merge their cell phone operations to become Japan’s second biggest manufacturer, following Sharp.
Reportedly, NEC plans to integrate its cell phone business into a tie-up that already exists between Hitachi and Casio. According to… → Read More
Neither one of the companies involved have confirmed this officially so far, but the Nikkei, Japan’s biggest business publication is usually very reliable: According to that source, Hitachi and Toshiba are joining forces to take the leadership in the field of next-generation HDDs that have 10 times the memory capacity of models today. → Read More
There is a clear trend in Japan, where all the relevant new TVs come from, and that’s building devices to store programs into the hardware itself, i.e. HDDs or Blu-ray recorders. Mitsubishi appears to be especially radical in this respect, announcing a TV with both a built-in Blu-ray recorder and HDD just last week. And today Hitachi followed up by adding a total of two new LCDs and three plasmas… → Read More
Having the world’s only 7200RPM 2TB hard drive is a sweet position to be in. For a couple weeks, Hitachi will monopolize sales among people who need both space and speed — like me! I’ll actually be waiting a bit before making the jump, since “world first” hardware on the bleeding edge of manufacturing technology tends to have flaws. → Read More
It’s no secret the Japanese have a penchant for vending machines (even though there are – contrary to popular belief – no machines selling panties in this country). Now Hitachi made one step forward by developing a machine that doesn’t need to be fed with coins or bills anymore. Your finger will be enough. → Read More
Months after taking over Fabrik (SimpleTech), Hitachi unveiled today the fruits of their labor: SimpleTough, SimpleDrive Mini and the SimpleNet. → Read More
RFID technology seems to be on the rise lately. After Mitsubishi announced a super-efficient tag reader last month and NEC said it was able to dramatically cut production costs for RFID two weeks ago, it’s now Hitachi’s turn: The company has announced today that it has developed the world’s smallest RFID chip. → Read More
FED and SED are practically dead, Plasmas never really took off and OLED are still too expensive to produce. Now Hitachi Displays wants to change this by dramatically improving the good old LCDs, at least for mobile devices (even for these, OLED are far from being a regularly used). → Read More
Hitachi seems to have made a major leap forward in the development of “green” vehicles. The company claims it has developed the world’s most efficient lithium-ion battery for hybrid cars, topping previous Hitachi batteries by an impressive 70% in output density. → Read More
Ruh roh. Hitachi exec Sakae Someya along with other unnamed conspirators have just been charged in the global price fixing LCD scandal that rocked the tech world. OK, it didn’t really rock the tech world, but it was a pretty big deal and I’m sure Dell wasn’t too happy about it. → Read More
Hitachi Japan today announced the Ultrastar C10K300 [JP, PDF], a 10k RPM HDD that will be sold mainly to businesses as 147GB and 300GB versions starting today (worldwide). The 6Gbp/s SAS HDD boasts double the data throughput when compared with the previous model that featured 3Gbp/s. → Read More
Hitachi, for those not in the know, also makes parts and motors for cars and trucks in Asia. The new economy, however, has forced the company to split into consumer electronics and automotive and they’ve just fired their current president as all as reduce costs by $5.1 billion by cutting 7,000 jobs. Whomp.
The company hit a $7 billion loss last year and will slow investment over the next year. → Read More
Whoops. Hitachi is the latest manufacturer admitting to LCD price fixing and another win for the U.S. Justice Department. Last year, LG and Sharp also plead guilty on similar charges and paid $520 million combined in fines. Hitachi’s case involves fixing prices of LCD that were sold to Dell between 2001 and 2004. So that means if you purchased a laptop of LCD monitor between those times from Dell… → Read More
When can we call plasma officially dead cause the flat screen tech doesn’t have much going for it anymore? Pioneer and VIZIO just announced they are getting out of the market and now LG is contemplating the same thing. → Read More
Hitachi announced today [JP] it has developed a methanol-based fuel cell, which is 45% smaller than the company’s existing fuel cells. Hitachi also claims its quieter and “greener” than power generators fueled by gas or diesel. The 100W prototype can generate power for about 1.5 hours on 0.45 liter of methanol. → Read More
Fabrik.com offers cloud storage for a number of hard drive manufacturers including a few we’ve reviewed in the past. They’ve just been bought by Hitachi who is adding the service as well as Fabrik’s own hard drives to their mix of goodies. As a 20 year storage veteran, Mike Cordano, Fabrik CEO and co-founder, will join Hitachi GST as a key member of the executive management team. → Read More
Hitachi’s CinemaStar HDDs have been available for sometime but the latest in the pedigree boosts a 2.5-inch form factor while maintaing a high storage capacity. The C5K500 500GB drive is meant specifically for video as the drive only consumes 1.3W while idle. Hitachi even built-in its proprietary SmoothStream technology into the drive which improves video streaming. Hopefully with the small(er)… → Read More
Hitachi in Nippon today announced a new series of high-end projectors [JP], which will be available over here on February 23 (the company hasn’t said yet if the rest of the world will get the devices as well). → Read More
Isn’t this fun? At this rate we’ll have CES covered before the whole team is even on the ground.
Hitachi has announced that they will be showing ultra thin prototype TVs this year at CES. Yay! More uber thin prototype TVs just like last year. Please excuse my sarcasm, I really can’t wait to get to CES and see the rest of the gang.
Anyway, Hitachi will have a 50-inch 35mm plasma prototype (which… → Read More
There was a time when the term plasma TVs meant expensive and power hungry electronic, but those days are fading. Three of the largest players in the plasma world now have Energy Star Certified models which is a big feat. This means that a 42-inch PDP cannot consume more than 208 watts while on and less than a watt in standby mode. LCD were once the champion of tree-hugging hippies, but they… → Read More
To the point: A nice plasma that offers a quality image, good colors, and a great scaler. Too bad it’s overpriced. → Read More
Short Version: A versatile HD camcorder that’s perfect for home videos, but not so much for budding video professionals. → Read More
Hitachi Japan today unveiled two new projectors [JP] aimed at businesses, the CP-WX410J and the CP-X809J. Both devices go on sale in Nippon December 1. Hitachi hasn’t said yet if the projectors will be sold outside the country as well. The CP-WX410J features WXGA resolution (1,280×800), a 230W lamp, a brightness of 3,000 lumens and a 10W mono speaker. MSRP in Japan: $3,700. → Read More
What happens when two companies announce almost the exact same product on the same day, each company making claims that it’s got the “first” of certain features? Nothing much, I guess. It’s sort of amusing if you’re into poking holes in techno-jargon. Today Fujitsu announced a 500GB notebook drive, as did Hitachi. Hitachi promises 1.4W read/write power consumption, “which is lower than… → Read More
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