Japan Only

Japan gets exclusive, super-cute Hello Kitty-Roomba

iRobot‘s Roombas have been enjoying brisk sales in Japan for a few years now. To further boost brand awareness, their sales agent in this country collaborated with Sanrio, the company behind Hel

It's an ionizing, MP3-playing thingy!

[photopress:handy_mp3_player.jpg,full,center] At 128MB, I’m not sure if I’d call this an acne-fighting MP3 player or an acne-fighting gizmo with MP3 capability, but it is what it is, sort

Hitachi brings e-ink to Japanese clamshells, we hope to see it here soon

[photopress:14445_large.jpg,full,center] We don’t see too many Hitachi-branded mobiles here in the states, but we might soon see the e-ink technology it used with this new Japanese handset. Esch

Wake Up Angel: Electronic No-Doze, Less Side Effecty

I’m hoping this little guy makes the jump across the Pacific, because it’s time for some of you suckers to go back to school! And if school for you was anything like it was for me, it&#821

Another Asian Power Suit: Why They'll Win the War

Maybe it’s not quite as uber-strong as the HAL-5 exoskeleton, the Tokyo University of Science’s Muscle Suit is still nothing to be laughed at. Exchanging actual muscle usage for gadgetry,

Japanese Pedal-Powered Roller Coaster: Exactly What It Sounds Like

I recall being on a field trip in DC as a kid and seeing some exhibit at the Smithsonian with similar physics, and at the time the thought in my mind was “no way in hell I’m getting on tha

Mouse + D-Pad – Other Languages

If your computer’s OS is in Japanese, and you want a four-way D-pad on your mouse, then Buffalo has something for you, friend! It’s a mouse with a four-way D-pad that only works with Japan

Emergency Bear: A Teddy For Catastrophe

Emergency Bear gives your kids more than a hug. Emergency Bear gives your kids things he or she will need while running away from the guy in the van that hangs out across the street from the school, l

USB, Optical Snow Globe Mouse

The only creature stirring on your desk this Xmas should be a mouse, a snowglobe mouse, really (haha!). It’s your standard optical USB mouse with scrollwheel, with the exception of the damned sn

USB WiFi Dongle with Integrated Hotspot Finder

. E-Let, a Japanese gear house, knows this. It also realizes that those of us who choose to be mobile require as little encumbrance as possible, thus the love of converged devices. That line of though

PlayStation 3 Games Get Pricey

. That’s a good move for Sony, as the Wii from Nintendo is poised to launch at under $300. What’s not so hot, however, is news that PlayStation 3 games could cost as much as $75 to $84 at

Buffalo Brings TV to Your USB

<img src="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/U2 TV tuner is a hardware dongle that gives your laptop or desktop TV via USB. The cool little device has support of external antenn

Geared Keyboard Prevents Typos?

Don’t you hate typos? Our editors like them – it gives them something to do – but the new Elecom TK-U09FG keyboard due for release next month in Japan might put them out of work. Ins

Ricoh Drops Two New Ruggedized Wireless Cameras

If you’ve got an 8.13 megapixel camera, and you want to improve on it, what would you do? You’d make it shockproof. And waterproof. And dustproof. Then you’d have a ruggedized, &#822

Panasonic D-Snap SD800N: Noise-Cancelling, Small

This is a Japan-only product right now, but it was worth mentioning. The D-Snap SD800N is a noise-cancelling MP3 player that stores music on SD cards – did that ever work for people? – and