japan

India overtakes Japan as third largest smartphone market

India is now the third biggest smartphone market in the world.

During the first quarter of 2013, smartphone sales in India jumped by 163 percent over the prior year's quarter, Strategy Analytics said on Wednesday. In comparison, smartphone volume over the same period rose by 86 percent in China, 24 percent in Japan, and 19 percent in the United States. The global average came in at 39 percent.

India's surge in smartphone use helped it swipe the third spot from Japan for the first time ever. It now ranks behind the U.S. in first place and China … Read more

Samsung scores another win versus Apple, this time in Japan

Score one for Samsung in the company's long-running patent battles with Apple.

A Japanese high court upheld a lower court ruling that Samsung did not infringe on an Apple patent related to synchronizing music and video on Galaxy smartphones and tablets with servers, according to a report from Bloomberg.

The Intellectual Property High Court in Tokyo backed an August decision by Tokyo District Court that Samsung's mobile devices don't infringe on Apple technology. Following that ruling, Apple filed paperwork in October to appeal the decision.

Samsung gave us the following statement:

We welcome the court's decision, … Read more

Apple wins patent case against Samsung in Japan

A Tokyo court has ruled that Samsung infringed on Apple's patent covering a "bounce-back" feature used on the latter's smartphones and tablets.

Reuters reported Friday that Apple had alleged Samsung copied its "bounce-back" function, in which icons on smartphones and tablets quiver back when users scroll to the end of an electronic document. Samsung has already changed its interface on recent models to show a blue line at the end of documents, the report noted.

The court's decision comes after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in April said Apple's patent … Read more

Cuddly toys let your smartphone love you back

We've always thought smartphones needed to be more cuddly. When we all got our very first models, we were majorly disappointed that we couldn't give them a big ol' hug and have them whisper sweet-nothings in our ears.

It's OK, though. A team of graduate students led by Yuta Sugiura at the Keio University Graduate School of Media Design in Japan have our backs. The students have created a series of stuffed toys that you can put your phone inside. Give it a squeeze, and your phone will respond by talking or flashing lights. … Read more

Dress to kill in this synthetic spider silk outfit

Spider silk is about four or five times stronger than steel, but it is remarkably lightweight. So, what would it feel like to walk around in a suit woven of the stuff?

Spiber, a startup in northern Japan, is showing off a dress made from synthetic spider silk. The firm is one of several groups looking into how to make and use artificial spider silk, a task that has proven to be very challenging for scientists.

The electric-blue dress was created from a material Spiber calls Qmonos (from kumonosu, or "spider web," in Japanese). The material is extremely strong and more flexible than nylon. … Read more

13.3-inch Sony tablet is like Etch A Sketch on steroids

If you love doodling with a pen but hate accumulating paper, Sony and E Ink are coming out with a tablet/digital notepad that's large and relatively light for its size compared to big e-readers.

The 13.3-inch Digital Paper touch-panel display was recently shown off at Educational IT Solutions Expo (EDIX) in Tokyo. Sony is planning to try it out at Japanese universities and bring it to the general market this year.

It incorporates the E Ink Mobius electronic paper display, announced earlier this month. Mobius is based on thin film transistor (TFT) technology developed by Sony and is being billed as the first large-format flexible display to enter mass production.

Built on a plastic substrate, they can be much lighter than glass-based TFTs, with 13.3-inch screens weighing only 2.1 ounces. … Read more

First wind-current power system to be installed off Japan's coast

We may be closer to harnessing the power of the sea and air. The world's first hybrid wind-current power generation system will be installed off the coast of Japan later this year.

The Savonius Keel & Wind Turbine Darrieus (SKWID) power generation system being developed by Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Company (Modec) is a floating system that shares a vertical floating axis. On the company's Web site (PDF), Modec says the concept will generate double or more power from the same sea surface area as a conventional wind turbine. … Read more

Bad breath? This robot girl will tell you straight

We've all known people who, let's face it, have a bit of a pong, and not the cool video game kind. The trouble is that no one wants to be the impolite person who lets them know about it. Well, two companies in Japan have designed a pair of robots that do it for you.

The robots, designed by robot manufacturer CrazyLabo in collaboration with the Kitakyushu National College of Technology, are in the shape of a girl's head and a rather lumpy-looking dog, and they can detect the aromas emanating from your breath and your socks, respectively.

The girl, called "Kaori-chan" (which means perfume or fragrance), analyzes a person's breath when they exhale into her open mouth (ew). A commercially available odor sensor quantifies the components on the breath and give it a rating on a scale of one to four: … Read more

Working robot mecha suit is built for kids

What do you get the kid who has it all? A robot mecha suit wouldn't hurt.

Japan's Sakakibara Kikai has a new crushworthy robot exoskeleton that would turn a few heads at school.

The bright green Kid's Walker Cyclops is an 800-pound, 7-foot-tall drivable mecha suit with a cockpit and moving arms.

The front of the machine opens to become a ladder to the cockpit. As seen in the vid below, one hand has a hook to grapple foes and the other has a power drill to smite obstacles. … Read more