HAKO-ANI (Box Sister) is a holographic display designed for use with iPad and other tablet devices. It allows users to enjoy 3D images projected from their tablet to a pyramid shaped holographic display. This means fans of virtual idols, such as Hatsune Miku can use it to enjoy tiny “live” performances from the comfort of their home. The tablet version of HAKO-ANI will be available on August 1st and will cost ¥36,750 ($467 US).

HAKOANI via Asiajin

Finally got some video of DoCoMo’s transparent touchscreen smartphone prototype at Wireless Japan 2012. As mentioned before it’s not suitable for bright areas, though the visibility is surprisingly not bad at close range. The touchscreen response was great and I can see how having two surfaces would make it easier give more complex commands, e.g. while playing a game. Looking forward to seeing this technology on the market. When they tackle to visibility factor and give us a bigger display, transparent touchscreen could be the next big thing.

With the last year’s disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, it’s no surprise that the world’s first  radiation detector smartphone is from Japan. Mobile service provider SoftBank has recently announced their Pantone 5 smartphone in an attempt to address the concerns of those who worry about threat of high doses of radiation.
The radiation detector is activated when it user presses a button on the front of the phone. A meter appears and a read-out is given.  But we’re not sure exactly how accurate this reading is. Smartphone blog Japan Mobile Tech has stated …

Guys, it’s happened to all of us. The weird looks you get from strangers after leaving the bathroom. Maybe you’ve got something on your face? Nope, your fly is open and to your horror you realize that girl wasn’t smiling at you because you look so sexy in those jeans.
Probably frustrated by this happening over and over again, a resourceful Nico-Nico Douga user created a device to prevent forgetting to zip up. It’s pretty simple, if your zipper is open, an LED lights up making it easier for you to …

NTT DoCoMo has developed a portable device that not only has a transparent display, but is also touchscreen, touchscreen on both sides! Apart from being really cool, the ability to operate both sides of the screen allows the user to input more complicated gestures. Being able to input gestures on the opposite side of the screen means the user’s fingers would not obscure their view of the display. DoCoMo demonstrated the accuracy this input method by showing a Rubik’s puzzle being solved on the device. One downside of the transparent …

Fujitsu Ten has just released an app that takes video from an iPhone camera, displays it on the screen of a car navigation system and superimposes icons on the video. The augmented reality application can provide useful information about the surroundings to help with giving directions.
The “Driview” application which is available for free download, works with Fujitsu Ten’s “Eclipse” brand of car navigation systems ( ‘AVN-ZX02i’ or ‘AVN-Z02i’ ). The iPhone is connected to the navigation system using a separately sold cable.
The company has previously released smartphone integrated systems …

Though this may look like a pair of colorful oversized hipster glasses, it is actually a 2 mega-pixel spy camera called MEGANE-CAMERA. This stylish camera allows you to discretely take beautiful retro-looking daytime pictures and videos without arousing any suspicion.

Taking a picture is as simple as clicking the small shutter button on the top right of the glasses’ frame. The pictures (2048 × 1536 px) and videos (720p, 30fps with audio) are stored on a micro SD card. Data can be transferred from the camera via USB, which is also …

This is a sensible and convenient use of android technology, a smart mirror. Japanese company Seraku recently demoed their mirror at the Smartphone and Mobile Expo. The exhibit featured a display which you could use to check the weather and your weight. The smart mirror consists of a pane of semi-transparent glass in front of an LCD monitor. Users interact with the display by placing their hands close to areas of interest as RF proximity sensors detect this motion. This is all powered by an android tablet in the background.

Though …

Panasonic presented a stunning art installation in which hundreds of LED lights drifted along the river. The small floating orbs represented a dance of fireflies with an accompanying light show by the enormous Tokyo Sky Tree in the background.

Creating natural poses for 3D models by using traditional input devices is difficult and time consuming. Now it can be as easy as playing with dolls… I mean action figures. Qumarion is a miniature mannequin which 3d artists can use to easily manipulate the pose of onscreen characters in real-time.

“Until now, handling 3D models was in some ways non-intuitive and difficult. Also, depending on the software, dragging can make movements unnatural. So we wanted to handle models more intuitively, by moving a mannequin. That’s why we’ve made QUMARION.”
Qumarion is a …