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Aska Electron promises to add data transfer to wireless power systems
Try to get past the mess of wires in the prototype above for a minute; you might just be looking at the future of wireless power -- at least if the folks at Aska Electron have their way, that is. They've developed a new system that not only wirelessly charges your gadgets (a la Powermat and others), but wirelessly transfers data at the same time at speeds up to 120Mbps. While complete details on how that's possible are still a bit light, the system does apparently use the same coils for both charging and data transfer, but different wavebands for each. The real kicker, however, is that while it's seemingly still just in the prototype stage, Aska says it expects the first commercial applications to hit the market by the end of this year. Exactly what those products might be isn't clear, but Aska says the technology could eventually lead to thinner, waterproof devices that don't need ports of any kind.
ASKA intros HD32F PCMCIA hard drive
ExpressCards may have stolen their thunder, but all those PCMCIA slots out there are far from useless just yet, as evidenced by this latest product from Japan's ASKA Corporation. Its new HD32F portable hard drive will let you put that slot to use for some extra storage (either 20GB or 40GB), although you will have to put up with a rather large protuberance as a result (which you can pretty up a bit by sliding a picture into the drive's built-in picture frame). For non-PCMCIA use, the drive can also simply be plugged in using a USB cable. Look for this one to set you back ¥14,700 or ¥27,825 ($124-$235) depending on the size -- in Japan only, of course.[Via Akihabara News]
Aska intros Tripper V photo viewer / PMP
Japanese manufacturer Aska is beefing up its line of Tripper portable storage aimed at photographers, increasing the size and screen real estate with its new Tripper V model. Available in 40, 80, 120, and 160GB varieties, each comes equipped with SD and CompactFlash card slots for transfers direct from your digital camera, and a pack a sizable 4.3-inch 800 x 480 LCD to view all those photos on. Of course, you don't have to save all that space for photos if you don't want to, with the device also able to function as a PMP, supporting MPEG-4 video and MP3 and AAC audio. Look for the 80, 120 and 160GB models to be available first on March 12th, with the 40GB unit following in April, retailing for between $340 and $680 depending on the model -- all available in Japan only, of course.[Via Akihabara News]
ASKA's 20GB Tripper Light: autonomous HDD for photographers
We're fully aware that digicam sensors are getting incredibly large (sometimes unnecessarily so) these days, and it seems like alternatives to carrying around an assortment of flash cards are popping up everywhere. Even if you aren't shooting with a camera that produces 78MB RAW files with each shutter click, high quality images can churn through megabytes with ease, and ASKA's 20GB Tripper Light is looking to lighten the load on your poor memory card(s). Similar in function to Polaroid's autonomous HDD, Axxen's renditions, and SavitMicro's HyperDrive, this device handles your CF, SD, MMC, MD, MS, and MSPro cards and copies all files to the handy drive with the press of a button. It boasts 20GB of internal space, on / off button, Mac and Windows functionality, USB charging capability, 2.49Mbps transfer rate, and USB 2.0 connectivity. So if you're frustrated with carrying around oodles of half-filled flash cards, you can pick up the Tripper Light for ¥19,950 ($165) and save yourself the trouble.[Via AkihabaraNews]
