Casio Referee World Cup Watch

Casio announced to start selling the "Official 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany Referee Watch Sporty New Timepiece PHYS RFT-100WC" in Japan from February 28. It was developed according to the opinions of FIFA and some referee dudes and selected as the first official referee watch for the World Cup. There are two stop watches on its LCD to make it possible to measure loss time only with this watch. In the timeless heat of the game the vibration function tells when 45 minutes are past. Don‘t have anybody living in Japan to get one for you? Casio is planning to sell it in selected sports goods stores outside of Japan from April 25. Price in Japan is about US107$.

News Release

Sega Lifestyle - Grand Pianist

**Update! Buy the Sega Grand Pianist HERE**

After the incredible success of the Homestar Planetarium, Sega Toys is continuing its new line of lifestyle products. At the Toy forum 2006 in Tokyo, a first prototype of the "Grand Pianist" was revealed. It is like a miniature grand piano, which can be placed on any shelf in your living room or on your big chief desk at work.

It seems to come with a memory card for midi files so I suppose you can let it play your very own music. Or how about playing a duet on a piano with your own recorded play? It is planned to be sold from October 2006. More details will be released later.

Japan Music Trend - 2000 songs on your mobile phone

Spring is coming soon, it‘s maybe time to think of getting a new mobile phone. The latest model of the W41 series from the Japanese mobile provider au, W41T, has 4GB HDD. This 6.5 oz. smart looking mobile phone saves up to 2000 songs! Toshiba made it possible. It is accessible to the online music services like "LISMO" and through connecting with an USB cradle, music data can be sent from a PC. It has Bluetooth, a FM radio function, a 3.2 mega pixel CCD camera and a big QVGA (Quarter VGA, means 240x 320 pixels) display for high quality image. Maybe it‘s not necessary anymore to mention: it has also a electronic dictionary function with total 136000 words. Appearing on the market from the February 9. onward. SKN

Product Page [au]
Product Page [Toshiba]

USB Trends in Japan - Lightspeaker

The same dudes that brought you the long-awaited USB slippers right before the frosty times are now back with yet one more device for your romantic hours with your beloved PC. Equipped with stereospeakers and in Japanese old-style design what more do you need to convince your PC of your feelings.

Owltech Chess keyboard

Love to play chess on your keyboard? Or rather some Othello. Well, with the "OWL-KB108WB" from Owltech this might be difficult but maybe it adds some excitement and confusion to you online game. There are 2 versions, black and white. Compatible to Windows 98SE/Me/2000 Professional/XP and USB�?PS/2 adopter. Coming on the market in Japan from the beginning of February.

for Gizmodo

MyMio - Multifunctional household use machine

2 high end models of the "multi functional household use machine" series "MyMio" series was announced by Brother. The "MFC-840CLN" (17.2x 14.5x 6.4 inches, 13.6 lb) and the "MFC-820CN" (14.6x 13.6x 6.4 inches, 13 lb) function as printer, color copier, photo media capturer, scanner, fax, PC fax and more. They feature a 2.5 inch color LCD, cabled LAN and work for both, Windows and Mac. There are slots for different memory cards to print images directly. The received fax can be read on the display without printing. The scanned data can be out put to a memory card as PDF form. The difference of the 2 models is either that it comes wither with a telephone function including one cable–less telephone or a wireless LAN on top of all the functions. Coming on the market on February 28. Estimated market price is between US315$ and US340$.

Product Page (Japanese)

for Gizmodo

Secret base right on your desk

When you have seen the report from WPC EXPO back in October 2005, you are maybe still wondering, when you can eventually become a commander of your own secret base. Takara now finally announced, that the first part of the series "Secret Base Station" will be launched on June 24　with its own theme music "Let‘s built a secret base !". Several items such as "Emergency Button" (for shutting down the PC), "Glitter Panel" (a LED panel to show mail receiving or state of CPU etc.), "Fire Launcher" (for starting and shutting down applications) and "Storm Bluster" (a USB fan with swing function) will be released. You have to install a software to customize applications.

Report Toy Forum 2006 (Japanese)

for Gizmodo

Happy, healing bath time

Pioneer presents a new model of the Happy AQUA series, the "AS-PS55", a hanging type water proof portable speaker (8.2x 3.3x 8.3 inches) and a portable light "Happy AQUA lumiin" (4 inches diameter x 2.4 inches), which can float with you in the bathtub. The portable, floating light has a rainbow color mode, which changes in 7 colors slowly (during your bathtub meditation sessions listening to healing music) and a timer mode, which flashes the light every 10 minutes. Just make sure that you do not throw your ipod in the water as well. Coming on the market in February.

for Gizmodo

Network camera from Evergreen

If you are looking for a simple and rather inexpensive way to show off your sexy body to the world, the "DN-NCM03SET" by Evergreen is the right gadget for you. It consists of a camera and a separate small camera server and allows simultaneous viewing of up to 30 people. The head can move 320 degrees vertical and 60 degrees horizontal and can be operated from a browser. Because the server has two USB slots, you can connect one more camera (the 2nd camera is not included) to get the image from another angle for example. Except for showing off, you can use it also as a live camera for your pet, when you go out or as a security camera with its moving object/body detecting function. The size of the camera server is 1.8x 0.8x 2.4 inches and the web camera is 4.3x 4.1x 4.4 inches.

for Gizmodo

Fly an airplane in your room

As a child or even now, you might have surely wished once a radio controlled airplane for your birthday. The "TOMITECH Aerosoarer" (6.7x 7.8 inches) from Tomy is a infrared controlled model airplane for indoors, coming in 6 colors and made out of styrene foam with a weight of only 0.12 oz. So from now on you can even navigate it through your villa without worrying about it crashing into your wife‘s favorite flower base. With the controller you can let it go up and down, take left and right turns and enjoy nostalgic feelings of your childhood. Appearing on the Japanese market from April 1.

for Gizmodo