Accusations of price fixing like those now being filed in New York are nothing new, but as it turns out, the penalties don’t really stick. LG and Sharp paid hundreds of millions in a settlement back in 2008, Hitachi had its own scandal in 2009, and Sharp is already the defendant in a Dell lawsuit also alleging price fixing. Samsung seems to be the new kid on the block, but I think they can probably hold their own. What does it mean to the consumer? Probably the same it meant the last three times: very little. → Read More
Hitachi has recently shown a new version of its humanoid robot EMIEW2 (Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate2), which can scoot around on broken ground (the robot handles bumps that are up to 1.5cm high), recognize and distinguish between different human voices and converse with people. → Read More
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced the Travelstar Z5K320 today, a new line of 2.5-inch mobile hard drives that are just 7mm thick. The HDDs will be available in capacities of 160GB, 250GB or 320GB. Hitachi says the new HDDs are the slimmest, lightest, and fastest in the industry (at least in this combination). → Read More
Mind-reading devices are nothing really new, but Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) apparently sees a huge potential for that market in the near future. The MIC will join forces with selected private tech companies to develop and commercialize robots and consumer electronics that can be controlled through thought. The project kicks off this fiscal year and is supposed to end by 2020. → Read More
Sony, Panasonic, NEC and now Sharp: All of these Japanese tech powerhouses are playing the 3D game now, but what about Hitachi? The biggest (sales-wise) of them all has been working on a glasses-free 3D projection system and sells a 3D cell phone in Japan (pictured), but Hitachi has been relatively quiet in terms of 3D.
Today, however, Hitachi Displays announced [JP] the development of a new 3.1-inch 3D LCD, which is – you guessed it – specifically designed for mobile devices. → Read More
Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere, powering small gadgets, cars or even buildings. It’s not a surprise to see a number of companies currently working on improvements. Just a few weeks ago, we reported about Japan-based Eamex, which claimed their prototype battery can be charged and discharged over 10,000 times and can be used for about 20 years.
And now Hitachi is claiming a new material they developed could double the life span of lithium ion batteries. The company has partnered up with Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery, saying batteries based on the material could be used in smart grid applications (Hitachi says that segment alone will be worth $32 billion by 2020). → Read More
We last blogged about EMIEW2, a two-legged robot made by Hitachi, in July 2008. The main selling point was (and still is) an array of 14 microphones integrated into his head, enabling him to identify three different human voices simultaneously.
But up until now, EMIEW2 tended to easily fall over on bumpy surfaces, which isn’t really ideal for a humanoid that’s supposed to one day serve as a receptionist and “walking” guide. That’s why Hitachi has been working on a sophisticated suspension system for his wheels that helps the new version maintain its balance in certain situations. → Read More
Last week it was Sony, and today it was Hitachi announcing [JP] a flood of new flat-screen TVs for the Japanese market. Hitachi does sell TVs outside this country, too, so chances are the four plasmas and seven LCDs find their way into other markets as well. (Some models will be offered in different colors, which is why you see more than 11 TVs in the picture above.)
The company has divided their new line-up of Woo TVs into three series (XP05, HP05 and H05). → Read More
Major Japanese oil wholesaler Nippon Oil and Hitachi subsidiary Hitachi Plant Technologies are developing a technology that’s supposed to make it possible to mass-produce eco-friendly jet fuel from Euglena, single-celled organisms that live in ponds and lakes.
To be more exact, both companies are cooperating with and acquired shares in a Tokyo-based venture called Euglena, Inc., which is trying to find a way to extract oil from these organisms to produce fuel. → Read More
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 potatoes but for something that actually makes a lot of sense: Hitachi says they would like to see physically handicapped people to use the remote control in the future (think about how many times a day you push buttons on your remote when watching TV). → 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 that the viewer isn’t actually viewing the screen. Click on through to see it in action. → 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 rumors, NEC wants to take a majority stake in the new entity, which would then control about 20% of the Japanese cell phone market. → 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 [JP] to their Wooo TV series, with all models featuring a built-in 500GB HDD. → 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
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