Here is the daily roundup from Japanese consumer tech and tech business websites for November 24, 2014.

KDDI opens new au flagship store at Shinjuku
au KDDI has just opened a new flagship store at Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, the au Shinjuku. The company is currently holding an opening celebration campaign for the store’s first 5,000 customers.

NTT now offers new telepresence system packages
NTT West will now be offering various telepresence system packages for small to medium business enterprises in Japan. The system will be able to connect at least four different areas/offices/branches for long distance conferences and meetings.

Hitachi initiates contract for Singapore’s railways
Hitachi opens a development contract with Singapore’s Sentosa Development Corporation, to create a wireless communication and long distance control system for the country’s rail transport network. The system will include communications hardware, as well as two new monorail units. The company expects the new system to be in operation as early as 2017.

Tokyo University develops ‘slap-on’ bioelectric pads
Researchers at the University of Tokyo announced their development of a flexible IC that can generate energy by sticking or applying it on a person’s skin. This new bio electric pad is made from silicon gum and hydrogel, and uses the body’s enzyme reactions as its energy source.

Mitsubishi Electric launches new IC for PV systems
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation unveils its new hybrid SiC transfer-mold dual in-line package intelligent power module (DIPIPM). The new module is designed to reduce the size and energy consumption of future PV inverters. It is slated for a commercial release by the end of November.

Sharp strengthens solar PV business with new panel
Sharp had just announced its new upcoming Black Solar monocrystalline solar panels. The new panels offer a 3.5% direct improvement over current monocrystalline panels, and hold a maximum conversion efficiency of 18.2%.

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Here is the daily roundup from Japanese consumer tech and tech business websites for November 14, 2014.

Send someone a gift easily with LINE’s new service
Japanese mobile service provider LINE Corporation opens a new feature for its EC service LINE MALL, the LINE GIFT. The new feature will enable users to send gifts to registered friends without the need to manually input an address using only a smartphone app.

Mouse introduces two new HD notebooks
Mouse Computer Japan has just released two new models for its high-end m-Book P notebook PC product line. These new laptops feature a 15.6-inch display, with the MB-P930 using a 4K IGZO screen, and the MB-P920 a standard full HD 1080p screen. The laptop models will be available at a base price of about $1,500.00 (MB-P930) and $1,200.00 (MB-P920).

Japan Cybercrime Control Center takes off
Japan establishes its own version of the NCFTA, the Japan Cybercrime Control Center (JC3), to combat the increasing security threat of criminal and illegal activities in Japan’s local webspace.

Hitachi doubles Li-ion energy density with new tech
Hitachi has developed a new technology that is claimed to be capable of doubling the current energy density of Lithium-ion batteries. The technology is primarily aimed at electric vehicles, which would significantly increase its maximum effective driving distance.

Iwatani sells cheaper hydrogen
Iwatani Corporation is now selling hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles at a new adjusted price, which is equivalent to only about $0.85 per cubic meter.

Toshiba to build clean energy system at Kawasaki City
Toshiba joins forces with officials at Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture to develop a sustainable renewable energy system using solar energy and hydrogen. The clean energy system will be used at the Kawasaki City harbor promotion hall, where it will be set as an emergency system for natural calamities.

Sharp gives away the gift of 4K this Christmas
Sharp opens an early Christmas promotional campaign for its Aquos 4K TV products named “Send a child the gift of your fantastic future”. Members signed-up in the campaign will receive an exclusive 4K video ‘letter’ from Santa Claus, and a random 300 participants will be given a special unique video based on their registered profiles.

The post Japan Cyberpolice, Hitachi Batteries, 4K Christmas: The Headlines in Tokyo for November 14 appeared first on VR World.

Last year, Hitachi (TYO: 6501) demonstrated how its ultra-resistant and ultra-long lasting quartz glass data storage technology could be designed as a replacement for the DVD. Today, with the cooperation of Kyoto University, the company has once again made it past its own milestone, with the development of a 100-layer medium using the same technology.

Quartz glass data storage is one of the currently known breakthrough tech concepts predicted to (at least in theory) eventually supersede traditional data storage media. With an estimated functional longevity of about millions of years, a quartz glass data storage medium can vastly outlast any device or gadget today (which only follows a regular development cycle of about a few years or decades).

The current breakthrough details the achievement of successfully writing data and reading the exact same data with no errors using the mentioned 100-layer design.  The development team was able to achieve this by using a custom optical microscope that is equipped with Cs corrector lens. By constantly adjusting the reading laser as it goes layer by layer, they were able to prevent data ‘spot’ distortion, and it provided a way to reach deeper layers without the need to increase the laser’s intensity. The entire medium is only about 60 micrometers in length, divided into two with 50 layers each. The data density of the medium is equivalent to about 1.5 GB per inch, or about the same as a standard blu-ray disc.

Adding data layers to the quartz glass material is challenging, due to the fact that reading and writing data on it becomes increasingly difficult and risky as more layers are added. Noise, or data impurity is one factor, but reading errors also increase as the intensified laser distorts the data ‘spots’ at the upper layers of the medium.

Hitachi first announced the quartz glass concept way back in 2012, when the company first introduced the technology as a way to preserve data for a very long time. It was estimated back then that with sufficient development, commercial distribution of the technology could be feasible by the year 2015. With its achievement last year, and its latest achievement today, we can now see this prediction as more or less accurate, although it’s still quite a bit early to expect quartz glass compact discs and SD cards soon.

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