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Oki shows off prototype LED-based HUD, coming soon to a jalopy near you
Currently, the only way you're getting a heads-up display in your whip is if you pay two arms and a leg for it. By and large, mid-range and low-end vehicles have been completely removed from the HUD fun, but all that could be changing thanks to a new effort from the crew at Oki Digital Imaging. Said outfit recently demonstrated a LED-based alternative that measures 1.1-inches in size and is constructed using the company's own EFB (Epi Film Bonding) process. Without getting too deep in the technobabble, the newfound process consumes less power, requires a simpler heat sink and boasts an all-around simpler structure. The end result? A far less expensive heads-up display, which -- if all goes well -- will begin sampling by the end of next year and could hit low-end cars, mobile phones and other handhelds shortly thereafter. Oh future, how we love thee.
Oki's robot chair heralds a new age of robot-aided seating
The chair is a tool of extreme simplicity and antiquity, and many would argue that it's foolish to mess with something that obviously attained perfection with the advent of air conditioned seat cushions. Of course, those people have never seen Leopard, the high-tech "concept chair" that takes technology originally developed for Oki's Robot Leg (an entire robot with design principles based on the human leg) and places it under your posterior for "seating comfort akin to being held in someone's arms." This is a chair that adjusts itself to your back, cradles your bum, and gives you a helpful little boost when it's time to stand up. Sound wasteful? Extravagant? How about totally awesome? Hit the read link for more details, and feel free to check out the fun little picture of the Robot Leg after the break.
OKI, Intel and Huashu develop next-generation hybrid set-top-box
Shortly after Onkyo teamed up with Microsoft to "enhance home entertainment," OKI, Huashu and Intel have collaborated to build a hybrid set-top-box to serve the "digital home market segment in China." As for Intel, it tossed in its CE 2110 media processor, which includes a 2D / 3D graphic accelerator and supports apps such as Flash, Java Virtual Machine and a browser. Furthermore, said box plays nice with HDTV decoders including MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and H.264, and it can be used for both digital video broadcasting (DVB) and IPTV. According to Zhou Hong, vice general manger at Huashu Digital TV, the STB will enable carriers "to promote home digitalization, enhance network intelligence and meet the needs of multiple home applications." Sounds good -- now, how's about a release date?
Your cameraphone -- an iris scanner
Japanese company Oki Electric has announced it is working on technology to turn any cameraphone or camera-equipped PDA into an iris scanner. Able to differentiate between photograph and actual eyes, and boasting an accuracy of 1 error in 100,000 scans, Oki hopes this will improve the security of cellphone payment systems. Though, you will have to wait until March of next year to get your James Bond on; and do watch out for Wesley Snipes, we hear dude's got a thing for gouging.
Oki Electric Industry intros "world's smallest MP3 chip"
As decreasing chip sizes seems to be all the rage these days, Japan's Oki Electric Industry isn't missing out on its own opportunity to go small. The company recently announced that sample shipments of the "world's smallest MP3 playback chip" were being dispersed, and that manufacturers of cellphones, PDAs, MP3 players (clearly), and essentially anything in which MP3 playback could be crammed into should take notice. The minuscule module -- dubbed the ML2011 -- packs an MP3 decoder and 650mW amplifier onto a 3.6mm x 4.2mm wafer, and can be conveniently paired with Oki's reference board and "SoundLib" software in order to bypass that whole headache-inducing "playback software development" phase. If you can spare just a tad more room, and want something that's instantly mountable, the 5mm x 6mm QFN-packaged version is also on the horizon. While pricing details were kept under wraps, Oki plans to ramp up full scale production by December, and will probably lobby mighty hard to get under the hood of Motorola's next cash cow.[Via CrissCross]
Oki to provide face recognition for Pantech handsets
Okay, okay, maybe we went a little rough on Pantech's SKY IM-R100 on the first go around, panning it for offering nothing of particular value in its bizarre pivot-slide form factor. It turns out we missed one important detail: the IM-R100 will be Pantech's first handset to integrate Oki's FaceSensingEngine, a relatively lightweight face recognition system that's supposedly well-suited to devices with limited memory and processor power. Oki claims that faces can be locked onto in 115 milliseconds and tracked in just 35 in a variety of indoor and outdoor lighting situations. For their part, Pantech is initially using the system to automatically center the camera when taking pictures, but we have to assume there are some gaming applications to be found here as well. So again, IM-R100, we're sorry for beating up on ya the first time around; lesson learned.[Via Slashphone]
