Sony Headphone’s official new promotion in Japan is movies on its YouTube channel. Not sounds new? But 47 girls from each prefecture dancing with the headphone at tourist places and/or with local products.
The Headphone Joshi(girls) 47 meets Extra Bass.
Recap
Tokyo girl / Tokyo Sky Tree
Wakayama girls / Wakayama Catsle
Kanawgawa girl / Yokohama Yamashita Park, near Chinatown
and more and more if you like them.
Thanks to @buru
Panasonic’s new SR-SX2 Series (SR-SX102-RK black, SR-SX-102-W white, SR-SX182-RK black/large, SR-SX182-W white/large) is the Japan’s first, and I believe the world’s first, smartphone-controlled rice cooker.
On top of the all high-end features such like “200 Celsius degree steam”, “Great-power dancing boil(Dai karyoku odori-daki)”, “Diamond Furnace(Daiyamondo Kamado)”, it newly supports settings-by-smartphone. Holding your FeliCa supported Android over the blue mark on the rice cooker sets rice type, cooking variations and timer. You may pre-set maximum 6 patterns of your family’s favorite steamed rice as well.
You may also connect your Android to the Panasonic’s cooking receipe cloud server [J], search and touch to give the cooking instructions to the cooker. In reverse, you may keep 100 of your recipes on the cloud server.
Felica is Japan/Sony’s contact-less RFID system, used in Japanese cellphones and e-money, also a part of NFC specification. Most of Android handsets sold in Japan by Japanese manufacturers support it under the name “Osaifu Ketai”(cellphone wallet).
The market price of the former model SR-SX101 is about 50,000 yen (US$600) according to the web.
via release [J]
Sony has been running an ad campaign to promote their computer product brand Vaio since the beginning of this month, which is titled Vaio Assist Torch Project[J]. In the campaign, the company started to project words of people’s thankfulness and encouragement to a chimney of a public bath in Tokyo. After the sun sets, the projection starts at 5pm every day and shows bath guests and neighbors the wishes tweeted through the campaign site (integrated with Twitter).
Naminoyu[J], the publish bath, is located 20-minute away by train and foot from Shinjuku. The chimney is likened to a torch illuminating the town. The neighborhood children cheer of joy and frisk every evening. The chimney’s illumination was designed and developed by Rhizomatiks, a digital designer unit who has introduced a series of new marketing experiences.
Note: The campaign site mentioned above contains a page showing you live picture of the illumination.
Via: Rocket News 24[J]
At the end of last month a rumors had spread that Apple would buy Sony and Sony stocks had moved up.
If Apple buy Sony we might be able to see Sony Pictures’ movies on iTunes, more games on iTunes and Sony Music artists’ songs on Japanese iTunes store ( and Japanese iTunes music store is not rich on song lineup so this might be a great benefit for Japanese iTunes lovers).
It was just a rumor but Google has more reasons to buy Sony than Apple does.
Sony recently release Google TV and being the best partner to spread Google TV against little Apple TV set top box. Although Sony is not shinning as it was on 80’s, Sony is being a top leading company and known brand for TV.
Sony’s first Android handest Xperia is the second best selling smartphone in Japan. 2.2 million smartphone was shipped in the first half year of 2010 in Japan and while Apple iPhone occupied 60.1 % of the market, Sony covered 20.6%, shipped 460 thousand Xperia handsets.
Sony can provide hardware for Google, and Google can provide software for Sony. This might be a best combination. Apple is not making hardware by themselves but selling hardware is their main business.
Former president of Google Japan, Koichiro Tsujino was president of Sony’s personal computer division, where he led VAIO PC brand before joining Google.
Of course this is just a speculation but Google might work to buy Sony if Apple is really thinking to buy it.
Whilst Apple reported to kill the CD in U.S., there are two big Japanese companies turned out to kill other legacy products.
SankeiBiz reported [J] that Sony said on 22nd that they had finished domestic shipment of cassette tape Walkman at the end of April 2010. The last 5 models (WM-EX651, WM-GX410, WM-GX788, WM-GX202 and WM-EX202) can be purchased only when they are in stock. Outside of Japan, Sony will keep selling the consignment products made by Chinese makers.
The newest model seems to be WM-EX651, was shipped on October 2004.
Sony also terminated 3.5 inch Floppy Disk sales in April 2010 in Japan [J].
Asahi reported [J] that Sharp disclosed yesterday 21st October that they had discontinued PC development in 2009, two years ago.
Sharp keeps No.1 position in Japanese cellphone market with 26.2%, over 9 million set [J]. They also are aiming at e-book market with a new brand Galapagos, the first model of which will be sold this December, 2010.
Source Next takes USB Memory Software Package from CD-ROM – since 2008, they switched some of their software packages to USB memory based.
Sharp Mebius (Note PC brand) support page pulldown list only shows until 2009. [J]
