New tech on it's way to North America
Human Washing Machine
Why take a shower or a bath? Wouldn't you rather just step into a washing device that could zap you clean in less than a minute? Over in Japan, they've got a human washing machine that cleans up elderly nursing-home residents with the flip of a switch. It's true that the Sanyo elder-care washing machine costs about $50,000but that'll drop rapidly. In a few years, the shower as we know it will be all washed up!
High-Tech Toilet
New to the U.S. market is the Neorest, a smart toilet that flushes automatically, lifts the lid if you stand in front of it and remembers to lower the lid when you leave - "Picture of the Week" at ExtremeTech.com. It's from Japanese vendor Toto. But over in Asia, you can find even more advanced models. One version includes a tone generator to mask unpleasant noises, while others will actually massage your backside as you squat. And in Britain, Microsoft briefly planned on rolling out the iLoo, a public restroom where you could surf the Web while doing your business (but quickly killed the project after first saying it was a hoax).
Teeny-Weeny PC
If you're looking for computing on the go today, you're stuck with either a pokey little PDA or a full-sized notebook. Keyboards on PDAs sport Tic-Tac-sized keysif they have keyboards at allbut easily fit in a purse or pocket. Notebook computers feature full-sized keyboards but can't easily be carried to parties and picnics without a separate bag. In Japan, however, there's a computer to fill the gap. About a quarter the size of a standard notebook (that's twice as big as an iPod), a speedy internal processor runs Windows XP (news - web sites), and the hard drive's big enough for a few movies, weeks of music, hundreds of e-books and all of the software you use regularly. The screen on the 1.9 pound Sony Vaio U101 even swaps to verticalfor reading e-books on cramped Tokyo subways. These tiny computers are coming to the United States soon, though. OQO Inc. and Vulcan Inc. both will offer tiny yet full-powered notebooks later this year. OQO comes from a bunch of former Apple Engineers, while Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is behind the Vulcan device. Will they be successful here? While eWEEK.com columnist Rob Enderle says he thinks they'll eventually eclipse standard-sized notebooks and PDAs, I have my doubts. Things like them have failed here before, thanks to cramped keyboards and daunting pricesthese will start at $1,200.
Teeny-Weeny PC No. 2
Enchanted by the new crop of USB thumb drives, which hold a day's worth of work in a tiny package? Well, over in Japan, you can buy the Teacube computer, about the size of a diamond-ring jewelry box. It doesn't run Windows, but it will surf the Internet, hook up to a monitor and keyboard, and it has built-in storage. It's a full-featured PC in a tiny package. IBM Japan has its own version, the PC Core System, which is about the size of a deck of cards. This mini-PC runs Windows XP reasonably fast and includes a 40GB hard drive. No word yet on when the PC Core will be available here. If you want to carry your PC with you everywhere but don't need a notebook-style screen or keyboard, these tiny, portable systems are ideal. As miniaturization continues, you'll be able to carry it all around in your pocket or on your key ring. But today, you can only do it in Japan.
James Bond Digital Camera
Here in the United States, we're drooling over sub-$1,000 SLR cameras and tiny, 5-megapixel pocket cams. But in Japan, Sony has rolled out its new Qualia line of ultra high-tech devices, pushing the envelope in many different directions. A 6.2-megapixel digital projector and Super Audio CD system are on tap, but I'm most enthralled with the Qualia 016 digital camera. This tiny pocket camera may take mere 2-megapixel images, but it features an amazing technology designed to eliminate blur from shaky hands. The camera takes four pictures in rapid succession and then combines them into one. That is exactly what I need, but it probably won't show up in U.S. cameras for a while.
Tapeless Video Camera
When it comes to music, eight-tracks and cassettes gave way to CDs and hard drives. But even with digital camcorders, we're still recording on tape. Not for much longer! You can already buy the Panasonic SVAV50, a low-end digital camera that also records video to flash cards. But in Japan, there are more high-end tapeless cameras. I particularly like the D'zign DV4, a 2-megapixel still camera that can record hours of MPEG4 video onto a tiny flash card. With the advent of the tiny Cornice hard drives, we'll see video cameras that can record a whole day's worth of video as long as the batteries last. Fragile, expensive tape will finally be relegated to the video dust-heap.
Phones
Want to surf the Internet on your phone? Watch TV? Here in the United States, the options are limited. Unless you live in San Diego or Washington, D.C., you've been limited to worse-than-modem speeds for phone-based Internet access. And when it comes to video, Sprint offers MobiTV, a two-frame-per-second experience that's more like radio with pictures. But over in Europe, Nokia (news - web sites)'s been selling a TV phone that takes callsand picks up TV broadcasts. In Japan, mobile phones that do video are commonplace, and phones even do two-way video conferencing. And high-speed wireless Web browsing, faster than many DSL lines, is also much more common abroad than here. Even camera phones are better over there. Here, they're a gimmick. In Europe and Japan, the quality rivals low-end, standalone digital cameras. Later this year, we'll get two-way video conferencing ourselves, but only in DC and San Diego. We need super-fast wireless cell networks, which are rolling out slowly and today are only from Verizon. In a few months, we'll have megapixel or more phone cameras from Nokia, LG and others. But I doubt we'll have real TV on our phones until next year at the earliest. Want to know what's in store for us phonewise? Check out my photos and commentary from the recent CTIA Wireless trade show. Part one covers the S's (Samsung, Sony-Ericsson (news - web sites) and Seimens), while part two goes from K to N (Kyocera, LG, Motorola and Nokia).
TiVo (news - web sites) in Your Pocket
Speaking of TV, what about personal video players? We've got the Archos Jukebox and the RCA Lyra, with more to come this summer. But when it comes to watching and recording digital TV broadcasts, the Japanese have us beat again. Sony's tiny MSV-A1 is smaller than many cell phones but displays and records television broadcasts.
Personal Robots
When you first daydreamed about your very own robot, chances are it wasn't dog-shaped. Yet Sony's AIBO (news - web sites), first available in Japan, has owned the personal robot market. Not for long, though. Japanese companies ZMP and Mizano plan on releasing a $4,600 humanoid robot, called the Nuvo, later this year. Nuvo pads around your pad on two sneaker-clad feet, understands voice commands and beams video from its "eyes" to an NTT videophone. It's only 15 inches tall, but it's just the first of many new robots that will roll out over the coming years. Sales of domestic robots bring in almost $4 billion a year in Japan, and experts think that will grow to $14 billion by 2010. Maybe someday they'll actually do something useful, too.

Jim Louderback - ExtremeTech
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