GW-134

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J@pan Inc Magazine Presents:
G A D G E T W A T C H
The Hottest Gadgets and Gizmos from Japan
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Issue No. 134

Thursday, March 4, 2004
(Long URLs may break across two lines, so copy to your browser.)

============================= EVENT ==================================
Discover MIYAZAKI
Enhancing the Miyazaki Biotech & IT Industry Cluster
Date: March 18(Thu) - 19(Fri), 2004

This event is targeted for foreign affiliated companies to inspect the
business investment environment of Miyazaki prefecture.

To find out more, visit:
http://www3.jetro.go.jp/iv/cybermall/seminar/seminar_20040318-1.html

For more information, please send an email to jab@jetro.go.jp
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Registrations start at $12.95 per year.

http://www.domains-japan.com
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Name: Pioneer PCR-CF10-W
Category: PC
Price: Open (but approx. 3,000 yen)
Release date in Japan: March 2004

The Gist: What on earth?!!!! This first gadget certainly earns a place
in the "What did they do that for?" category. Announcing this as a
world first -- a fact that will surprise no-one at all, I imagine --
Pioneer has released info on its PCR-CF10-W "CD File System." The
PCR-CF10-W is what amounts to a CD carry case with built-in speakers.
Don't ask me why. Capable of holding six CDs, the plastic case has
stereo mini plug and headphone jacks to accommodate your portable CD
player or other music-producing widget and 57mm speaker units with an
impedance of 8 ohms. The twin speakers have a maximum input of 2W
before they blow up. Or something.

More info: http://www.pioneer.co.jp/

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Wakayama offers software development divisions, cheaper offices, lower
personnel costs, and subsidies and support from the prefectural
government. To find out more, visit

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=====================INFORMATION SESSION==============================
Temple University Japan will hold an information session for its
top-ranked Executive MBA program at its Minami-Azabu campus on
February 28 at 11 a.m. This will be the final information session for
classes beginning in May 2004.
Applications are due April 1. The Financial Times ranks Temple as one
of the top EMBA programs in the world.

For more information, please call: 0120-86-1026, or e-mail:
business@tuj.ac.jp
Web: http://www.tuj.ac.jp/emba
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Name: Logitech LHD-EA300FU2
Category: PC
Price: 54,000 yen
Release date in Japan: end Feb. 2004

The Gist: The LHD-EA300FU2 is a massive 300GB external hard drive from
Logitech that's making the 20-gig unit on my ailing desktop PC feel
very inadequate indeed. The drive can be password protected to
restrict access and defend against "data leaks" -- activated by a
"lock" button on the unit. Get the password wrong, and the unit won't
boot up, and if you try and move it to another PC, it'll come up as
"unrecognized format" -- so make sure you write your password down
somewhere handy when you set it up (note: this is a joke. Not serious.
Obviously, you're not supposed to write your password down anywhere).
Tech-wise, the new drive spins up at 5,400rpm, is IEEE 1394 and USB
2.0 compatible, has dimensions of 35x215x120mm and, just in case you
want to use it as a dumbbell for a bit of impromptu weight training,
weighs 1kg.

More info: http://www.logitec.co.jp/press/2004/0224_2.html

==========================EVENT=======================================
Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo - March Seminar

Ms. Ruriko Nomura is the President of Hopes Inc., a frontier company
aiming to establish an educational consulting field. Her presentation
is entitled, "Starting a Business Without Capital." Come out and learn
about the opportunities in the Japanese business world that she
discovered.

Date: Tuesday, March 2nd Language: English
http://www.ea-tokyo.com Email: info@ea-tokyo.com
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==========================ADVERTISING ===============================
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http://www.pmp-japan.com
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Name: IBM PC Core System
Category: PC
Price: n/a
Release date in Japan: Spring 2004

The Gist: IBM is finally releasing its small-sized "PC Core System"
unit for home PC users, launching under the company's modular "Meta
Pad" concept that was announced about a million years ago. OK, maybe
one year. The idea being that you have a single core system containing
the important computing bits, which can then be paired with any number
of "accessories" to transform its function -- a monitor, keyboard and
mouse to become like a regular desktop PC, a tiny LCD to become a PDA,
and so on. Your basic Core System engine block has dimensions of
8x16x2cm and weighs 300g, housing a 1GHz Transmeta TM5800 CPU, 256MB
of RAM (expandable to 512), a 20-gig hard disk drive (expandable to
40GB) and runs Windows 98, 2000 or XP. Users then decide what to plug
into the core unit, mix and match their choice of display, mouse and
whatever else.

More info: http://www-6.ibm.com/jp

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STAFF
Written by: Max Everingham (max@everingham.net)
Edited by: J@pan Inc editors (editors@japaninc.com)

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