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Sharp's e-reader ready to 'rival the iPad' by year's end, may have a 3D future
Sharp is going to launch its brand new e-reader in Japan this fall with US retail availability to follow by the end of the year. Riveting stuff, isn't it? Well, the company's President Mikio Katayama does his best to spice things up by proposing this device will aim "to rival the iPad," and it may well sport a color LCD if earlier indications still hold true, but what's really got us hot under the collar is the potential for 3D down the line. Katayama claims to have witnessed great enthusiasm for 3D -- particularly when it comes to games -- and posits it as a likely future direction for this new ebook reader. Multifunctional devices are what people want, he says, and since Sharp already has a 3D smartphone in the pipeline and a glasses-free 3D tablet display in the lab, we can't see many technical hurdles to the realization of his vision. Let's just hope his depth perception is accurate when it comes to measuring the interest in three-dee.
Koban's SP-220E plays music, detects earthquakes
Around his time last year the world received the Mobile Tsunami Detector, however, this Christmas season seems to be all about Earthquakes. For those of us not sporting white lab coats but still hoping to be in the know, there is Koban's "Super Multifunctional Earthquake Detecting Device." One part earthquake detector, many parts survival tool, this waterproof gadget features an LED flashlight, AM/FM radio, multiple phone chargers (Japan specific), and panic siren. It also has a hand-crank for those in a jam who neglectfully forgot to charge it. Though we are a bit skeptical on how it works, it claims to detect a "seismic intensity of 4" -- ironic, considering that people can feel earthquakes as small as magnitude 2. Despite this, it does provide the basic technologies you need in an emergency and is available for 6,648¥ ($56). [Via Crave]
