Kyoto-based Murata has developed the world’s first piezoelectric speaker that not only is waterproof but also ultra-thin (0.9mm). The devices are meant to be mainly used with mobile phones, which makes sense, given that almost 25% of the 50 latest cell phones released (on the Japanese market, at least) are actually waterproof.

Needless to say, Murata IPX7-compliant speakers, dubbed VSLBG1914E1400-T0, can be used for other mobile devices as well – for example, cameras, portable music players or mobile TVs. Murata says they boosted sound quality by doing away with conventional waterproof sheets that cover sound output holes in similar products.

The company also says not using those sheets helps pushing production costs down, too. Buyers can already order samples for $2.73 each, with Murata planning to churn out one million units monthly from now on.

Japan-based gadget maker Strapya is offering the so-called Music Card MP3 Player (the link leads to their English store), an MP3 player that houses a speaker and an earphone plug but is still just 5mm (0.20″) thin. Sized at 5.4×8.6cm, the player weighs 20g.

Strapya says the headphone jack is just 2.5mm and ships fitting earphones with the player itself, but they’ll also give buyers an adapter so they can use their 3.5mm headphones as well. You can connect the player to your PC or Mac via USB and store MP3 or WMA files in its 2GB internal memory. If you don’t use the built-in speaker, you can listen to music for about 15 hours before the battery needs to be recharged.

Strapya is selling various versions of the Music Card (gold credit card, three chocolate bar-type models, vintage camera (?), and cassette tape). The player costs $26.40, with Strapya shipping ready to ship it worldwide.

Here’s the weird – but official – promo video for the device (subbed in English):

The new product line is available in both 42 and 47-inch models, both of which are only 5.9mm thick. The catch is that Shinoda released their prototype displays this week, which are only 1mm thick, obviously a huge improvement over the bloated and oversized LG.

The LG units do have a weight advantage, however, coming in at 13 and 16 pounds respectively. The Shinoda weighs a Oprah-sized 200 pounds. That’s quite a difference. To be fair, LG only claims the title of thinnest LCD screen, but that’s like saying “I’m the fastest man on earth… who’s wearing this hat.”

[via Tom's Hardware]

Sony’s 2009 CES booth is showing off some sick, like sickly sick, thin sets. Primarily are these OLED Proof of Technology models that are dead sexy even to me. Chances are none of these will ever see a Euro snob loft. They are just concepts and there is nothing wrong with that. That thin TV, it’s .9 millimeter thick – or is that thin? Hmmm.

Apparently Sony has more OLED news at the CES keynote tomorrow evening. Interesting…Photo gallery after the jump.

[PSGallery=1ky3qb6g9l]

By raise of hands, who else thinks that all these anorexically thin HDTVs are dumb? LG’s latest set measures only 6.5mm thick and Sony’s isn’t that much more thick. (pictured)

Who the hell cares Though? Why is HDTV’s latest cockfight over TV thickness? This also applies to Blu-ray/DVD players too, btw.

I have never heard anyone complain that their flat screen is too thin? Most measure in around 1.5-2.5-inches and that’s fine with me. I have absolutely zero desire for a TV that’s measured in millimeters.

What are you suppose to do with it? Hang it on the wall and make it look like a poster? Generally, when teenagers grow into adults, the posters taped to the wall come down and are replaced with framed paintings. That frame gives the painting depth and character that simply taping the same picture on the wall cannot. 

The same thing will happen if you hang an HDTV millimeters from the wall. It’s going to look like crap on the majority of walls. Unless you’re style runs along the same lines as Moby or your deco is modern techno-crap, an HDTV that has depth and character will look so much better. 

This CES is sure to be full of ‘Thinnest ever!” and “Thin is in!” slogans, but I could care less. A flat screen that’s 3-inches deep has the same value to me as one that’s 3mm deep. This is one pissing match I could care less about. (that doesn’t sound right…)

The company claims it takes 50% less material resources and 10% fewer LCD module parts to manufacture the display. There is no information about features or the model name of the screen available at this point (other that it offers full HD resolution).

The display will go on sale in Japan (and possibly outside Nippon) within this year.

Sony’s razor-thin OLED display (thickness: 0.3mm) was one of the most spectacular products of the CEATEC 2008 exhibition that took place just outside of Tokyo last month. Now Samsung, after having the tech world impressed with its “flapping OLED display”, showcased a similar device during the FPD International 2008 in Tokyo.

Samsung’s 15 million-color display boasts a screen size of 6.5 inches and a resolution of 480×272. The company said it didn’t use conventional glass for the substrate and decided to go for low-temperature polysilicon TFT for the drive element.

Via Tech-On

Sony unveiled a spectacular OLED display (curved, 0.3mm thin) at the CEATEC 2008 exhibition earlier this month, only to be followed by a product from Samsung, which the company calls “flapping display”.

The Samsung display is just 0.05mm thin (yes, that’s millimeters) and currently being showcased at the FPD International 2008 in Tokyo. According to the company, the 4-inch panel could even be made thinner (even though its thickness already comes close to that of paper). The display features a contrast ratio of 100,000:1, a luminance of 200cd/m² and 480 × 272 resolution.

Via Tech-On

Here’s another phone that’s destined to be bought by dozens of people, the Pantech Slate. This AT&T-branded device, which is due for release later this month, comes with all the normal (for 2006) fixings: a 1.3-megapixel camera, e-mail, IM, yada yada.

Supposedly it’s the thinnest QWERTY device out there. You really do wonder, though, as everything these days is thin to one degree or another, how much traction can Pantech, AT&T or whomever get out of calling a device the “thinnest.”

She should cost $50 with two-year contract.

In addition to the Slate, Pantech also has the Matrix up its sleeves, and this one, I think, looks a hell of a lot nicer than said Slate. It’s a dual slider, as the photo shows, and fully compatible with AT&T 3G network. She’s $80 with the same two-year contract.

Are phones commodities yet? They’re all starting to blur…

At CEATEC 2008, Hitachi is displaying a full HD LCD TV whose thinnest part is just 15mm thick. The 37-inch screen is the successor model of a 32-inch TV (thickness: 19mm) the company showcased at last year’s exhibition.

At this point, the new TV with a response time of 6ms and a color reproduction range standing at 152% of the HDTV specifications is just a prototype (as are many CEATEC products). But Hitachi actually plans to commercialize its new TV as early as next year.

Yet another Mac rumor has graced the front page of Digg. This time, word is that a toned down version of the Macbook Pro will be coming out soon. This ultra-portable version of the Macbook Pro will have a 12-inch widescreen display capable of 1280×800 resolution, 2.16 or 2.33GHZ Core 2 Duo CPUs available, SATA 120GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM standard, expandable up to 3GB, all the ports available on a Macbook Pro, an ExpressCard 34 slot, mini DVI out, and a bitchin’ battery with up to 8 hours of juice. No word yet on price.

That leaves us with our jaws dropped and drool in our mouths! This is totally a possibility too with Macworld 2007 coming up in January. This new Macbook “Thin” should also have all the standard features that the Macbook and Macbook Pro come with: iLife, iSight, Bluetooth, etc. Let’s just hope it comes out soon and we don’t have to wait several months.

Macbook Thin Rumor [Mac OS Rumors]

Are you read for the new hotness. LG Philips has unveiled a new LCD-TFT display that sort of redefines thin. It measures just 1.3-millimeters thick with no image degradation.

There haven’t been any orders for it yet, but that doesn’t mean anything. Expect to see these in cell phones everywhere in 2007.

Getting the skinny on mobile displays [News.com]