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First Pics Of The World’s Thinnest Smartphone, The NEC Medias, Leak

Posted: 21 Feb 2011 03:56 AM PST

NEC is apparently to unveil the "world's thinnest smartphone" (7.7mm) on Thursday, if a "leak" covered on a Japanese blog today is to be believed. That leak, reported today by Akihabara News, is actually a few days old (see this Japanese blog post, for example). Read the rest on MobileCrunch.


Video: Real Life Mario Kart

Posted: 21 Feb 2011 02:43 AM PST

What can you do if you live in in provincial Nara in Japan, if you”re a 57-year old Japanese entrepreneur with a penchant for cars, and if you need a cool hobby? You can drive a real-life Mario Kart, just like Satoshi Imanaka, who is regularly dressing up as Mario and driving around town with his 7 friends on karts, does.

Needless to say, his friends are dressed up as Princess Peach, Wario and other characters from the game. The 50cc karts reach a top speed of 60km/h.

In the video embedded below (in Japanese), you can see the team driving around town and giving away snacks and other things to school kids:

Via Japan Probe

Panasonic Shows First Gesture-Controlled TV

Posted: 20 Feb 2011 11:25 PM PST

Panasonic today announced [JP] what it says is the world’s first gesture-controlled TV, meaning the device doesn’t require you to use the remote control or touch the screen (at least for basic operations). Instead, you can change channels by waving your hand to the right or left in front of the display (if you’re 5-10cm away), thanks to the 2 motion sensors the TV comes with.

It’s also possible to adjust the volume that way: just move your hand to the upper right corner if the TV is not loud enough or to the upper left corner if you want to lower the volume.

Panasonic says the gesture-based control is practical when users are in the kitchen to cook, for example. What’s also interesting is that the web-connected TV can be used to access a special recipe site [JP] run by Panasonic – again, by gestures only if needed.

Spec-wise, the VIERA DMP-HV200 is a portable, waterproof 10.1-inch α-Si TFT LCD TV with multiple tuners for Japanese TV, 1,024×600 resolution, Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11, an SDXC card slot, and a USB 2.0 port (buyers also get a remote control).

Panasonic will start selling the TV in Japan on March 18 (price: $640).

CrunchGear Week In Review: The Bat And The Bees Edition

Posted: 20 Feb 2011 11:20 PM PST

New MacBooks Coming In Next Month?

Posted: 20 Feb 2011 10:15 PM PST

There is no confirmation of this other than a vague email from a charming New Zealandee to his customers, but it seems that someone let slip that new MacBooks with SSD “hard drives” and Sandy Trail chipsets are in the offing in the next 20-25 days. Considering the guy who sent this presumably sells MacBooks in New Zealand, his advice to “place your order on hold, but also advise us of your plans so we can place you on our wait list” is pretty bold, pointing to either generally reduced stock or a real belief this rumor is real.

I always say if you’re in the market for cameras or Apple gear, buy what’s available and don’t wait for some nebulous possible upgrade, but this email points to a fairly solid change in hardware so I’d advise listening to this kiwi.

Read his note after the jump.

We have received notice that it is very likely that new MacBook models will be announced in the next 20-25 days. FYI: All Apple announcements occur on a Wednesday morning NZ time.

They are likely to be based on the new Intel chip series and have other upgrades like SSD hard drives available.

As usual, there will be very limited quantities of base model units immediately available. We are currently preparing a wait list as demand will be very high for the first month or two. There is also likely to be a 2-3 week delay following product announcement to ship date.

If you are thinking of purchasing any Apple laptops in the next few weeks, we would recommend you place your order on hold, but also advise us of your plans so we can place you on our wait list. We will then be able to jump the queue and source your laptop ASAP.

Video: Movilway Mobile Point Of Sale Terminal

Posted: 20 Feb 2011 11:03 AM PST

It looks like a mobile phone inside of a calculator (and that may be just about what it actually is). Regardless, Movilway, a payments platform serving the underbanked mostly in South and Central America, are further developing their self contained cellular POS system. It works mano-a-mano with their pre-paid system for money transfer in order to facilitate payments sans bank account or credit card. Think of it as being like a combination of paypal and western union, in that you go to physical merchant locations to deposit cash into the system, but then can carry that credit indefinitely inside the system and debit it anytime you want at select Movilway merchants. Their goal is to further deploy and make non-cash payments possible in developing markets where having a bank account or credit card may not be an option due to lack of infrastructure.

Video below.
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