hitachi Archive

  • Video gallery: Hitachi’s humanoid robot EMIEW2 in action

    Video gallery: Hitachi’s humanoid robot EMIEW2 in action

    Posted on June 21, 2010 | No Comments
    Hitachi has recently shown a new version of its humanoid robot EMIEW2 (Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate2), which can scoot around on broken ground (the robot handles bumps that are up to 1.5cm high), recognize and distinguish between different human voices and converse with people.

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  • Hitachi working on cheaper, higher quality IPS touchscreens for cellphones

    Hitachi working on cheaper, higher quality IPS touchscreens for cellphones

    Posted on June 1, 2010 | No Comments
    In case you haven't heard, IPS panels are making inroads into the lucrative mobile market this year, and Hitachi's been working behind the scenes on something that should keep that momentum going. In the mainstream, touchscreen IPS displays are currently only available on Apple's iPad (and expected to show up in its next-gen iPhone), but should Hitachi's new production technique pan out, we might be seeing this screen tech in much more affordable devices as well. The company has fiddled with the arrangement of the touchscreen elements inside the panel, which it argues has made them cheaper and easier to produce and replace. All good news, but these things do take a while to filter through into reality, until which time you might wanna sate yourself with the latest desktop IPS displays, those ain't too shabby or expensive either.

    Hitachi working on cheaper, higher quality IPS touchscreens for cellphones originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Hitachi unveils super-fast, super-slim HDD for laptops

    Hitachi unveils super-fast, super-slim HDD for laptops

    Posted on June 1, 2010 | No Comments
    Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced the Travelstar Z5K320 today, a new line of 2.5-inch mobile hard drives that are just 7mm thick. The HDDs will be available in capacities of 160GB, 250GB or 320GB. Hitachi says the new HDDs are the slimmest, lightest, and fastest in the industry (at least in this combination).

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  • Japanese government believes in future full of mind-reading devices

    Japanese government believes in future full of mind-reading devices

    Posted on April 27, 2010 | No Comments
    Mind-reading devices are nothing really new, but Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) apparently sees a huge potential for that market in the near future. The MIC will join forces with selected private tech companies to develop and commercialize robots and consumer electronics that can be controlled through thought. The project kicks off this fiscal year and is supposed to end by 2020.

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  • For the Nintendo 3DS? Hitachi develops glasses-free, mobile 3D display

    For the Nintendo 3DS? Hitachi develops glasses-free, mobile 3D display

    Posted on April 12, 2010 | No Comments
    Sony, Panasonic, NEC and now Sharp: All of these Japanese tech powerhouses are playing the 3D game now, but what about Hitachi? The biggest (sales-wise) of them all has been working on a glasses-free 3D projection system and sells a 3D cell phone in Japan (pictured), but Hitachi has been relatively quiet in terms of 3D. Today, however, Hitachi Displays announced [JP] the development of a new 3.1-inch 3D LCD, which is - you guessed it - specifically designed for mobile devices.

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  • New Hitachi tech to double lithium-ion battery life

    New Hitachi tech to double lithium-ion battery life

    Posted on April 6, 2010 | No Comments
    Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere, powering small gadgets, cars or even buildings. It's not a surprise to see a number of companies currently working on improvements. Just a few weeks ago, we reported about Japan-based Eamex, which claimed their prototype battery can be charged and discharged over 10,000 times and can be used for about 20 years. And now Hitachi is claiming a new material they developed could double the life span of lithium ion batteries. The company has partnered up with Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery, saying batteries based on the material could be used in smart grid applications (Hitachi says that segment alone will be worth $32 billion by 2020).

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  • EMIEW2: Hitachi updates its cute humanoid robot

    EMIEW2: Hitachi updates its cute humanoid robot

    Posted on March 18, 2010 | No Comments
    We last blogged about EMIEW2, a two-legged robot made by Hitachi, in July 2008. The main selling point was (and still is) an array of 14 microphones integrated into his head, enabling him to identify three different human voices simultaneously. But up until now, EMIEW2 tended to easily fall over on bumpy surfaces, which isn't really ideal for a humanoid that's supposed to one day serve as a receptionist and "walking" guide. That's why Hitachi has been working on a sophisticated suspension system for his wheels that helps the new version maintain its balance in certain situations.

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  • Nippon Oil and Hitachi aim at mass-producing microbe-derived biofuel

    Nippon Oil and Hitachi aim at mass-producing microbe-derived biofuel

    Posted on March 8, 2010 | No Comments
    Major Japanese oil wholesaler Nippon Oil and Hitachi subsidiary Hitachi Plant Technologies are developing a technology that's supposed to make it possible to mass-produce eco-friendly jet fuel from Euglena, single-celled organisms that live in ponds and lakes. To be more exact, both companies are cooperating with and acquired shares in a Tokyo-based venture called Euglena, Inc., which is trying to find a way to extract oil from these organisms to produce fuel.

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  • Hitachi’s develops brain signal-powered remote control

    Hitachi’s develops brain signal-powered remote control

    Posted on January 4, 2010 | No Comments
    We all knew this would come one day, especially since the basic technology has been around for some time, and now we have it: A brain activity-powered remote control that can be used without you having to lift a finger. The Hitachi device is unfortunately a prototype, but at least they're planning to commercialize it within three to four years. The technology is being developed not for lazy couch potatoes but for something that actually makes a lot of sense: Hitachi says they would like to see physically handicapped people to use the remote control in the future (think about how many times a day you push buttons on your remote when watching TV).

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  • New Japanese cell phone maker NEC-Casio to go America in 2010

    New Japanese cell phone maker NEC-Casio to go America in 2010

    Posted on December 21, 2009 | No Comments
    As MobileCrunch reported back in August, three of Japan's eight top cell phone makers, namely NEC, Casio and Hitachi are going to merge their cell phone businesses next year. Under the agreement, NEC plans to integrate its handset division into a tie-up that already existed between Hitachi and Casio starting April 2010 (the begin of the new fiscal year under the Japanese business calendar). In the meantime, the companies involved decided on a name for the new venture: NEC Casio Mobile. The company's capitalization stands at a relatively modest $55 million, with NEC holding a 71% stake, Casio 20% and Hitachi 9%. And as I speculated in my previous article, that new company plans to enter the global market in a (relatively) aggressive way.

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  • Nokia sues LCD manufacturers for alleged price fixing (update: joins AT&T)

    Nokia sues LCD manufacturers for alleged price fixing (update: joins AT&T)

    Posted on December 1, 2009 | No Comments
    Price fixing is nothing new in the LCD panel business. Hell, collusion is pretty common across the entire consumer electronics industry though it's difficult (and costly) to prove. Now Nokia, the world's largest maker of cellphones, is suing a who's who of Asian LCD manufacturers alleging a ploy to fix prices on handset LCDs. The November 25th filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco division, names Samsung Electronics, LG Display, Sharp, Hitachi, and Chunghwa Picture Tubes as co-conspirators. Nokia, of course, is seeking cash and injunctive relief to remedy damages incurred and has the dubious honor of following another high-profile move launched against Apple just last month. With Nokia's high-margin smartphone sales waning against stiff competition, it's easy to understand why its execs would be miffed if they paid artificially high prices for panels considering the sheer volume of lower-priced handsets Nokia sells at razor thin margins.

    Update: Just dawned on us that this lawsuit (which we now know claims an 11 company cartel operating from January 1, 1996 until Dec 11, 2006) joins the AT&T action kicked off in October. Pile on! Nokia has also filed suit in the UK against both LCD and CRT

    Nokia sues LCD manufacturers for alleged price fixing (update: joins AT&T) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Hitachi redesigns the SimpleDrive and ups the capacity to 2TB

    Hitachi redesigns the SimpleDrive and ups the capacity to 2TB

    Posted on November 16, 2009 | No Comments
    Folks, 2TB external drives are now coming out from everyone. Isn't it grand? Hitachi has revised the look of the SimpleDrive external hard drive and it's now available in a 2TB option. In fact, the rest of the SimpleTech lineup can now be had with a 2TB Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 hard drive.

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  • Hitachi Japan to roll out four new projectors

    Hitachi Japan to roll out four new projectors

    Posted on November 4, 2009 | No Comments
    Hitachi Japan has announced a total of four new video projectors [JP] specifically aimed at businesses today. The devices will hit Japanese stores on December 21, but Hitachi hasn’t said yet if the projectors will be sold outside this country as well.

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  • Hitachi develops eyeglass-free 3-D projection system

    Hitachi develops eyeglass-free 3-D projection system

    Posted on October 8, 2009 | No Comments
    No pictures for this yet, but Hitachi has reportedly developed a 3D projection system that allows viewers to watch 3D images from any angle, and perhaps more importantly, without the need for eyeglasses. While the first feature makes sure a group of people can see 3D images at the same time on a single screen, I am aware the second one isn't the first of its kind for a 3D system.

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  • Hitachi TV watches YOU!

    Hitachi TV watches YOU!

    Posted on October 7, 2009 | No Comments
    How much energy do you think is wasted every day powering devices that aren't actually being used? I'm not talking about stand-by power consumption, but actually on-and-in-use without a user there. I know a lot of people who turn their TVs on just as "background noise", without ever actually looking at the screen. Hitachi's cooking up a system to place TVs in power consumption mode if it detects that the viewer isn't actually viewing the screen. Click on through to see it in action.

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