Body composition monitor with pinball game

Is it depressing to measure your body's data? If you are having trouble viewing the reality, how about playing in the game?
Tanita, the leading instrument maker announced the concept model of the body composition monitor for business "TANITA PINBALL" that can be played with pinball games.

It can measure 13 items such as your weight, body fat percentage and muscle mass. Then you can play with pinball game. They use their interdental composition composition meter DC - 13C for body composition measurement unit(DC-13C can measure data quickly and easily while wearing shoes and socks by flowing a weak current from the hands), users can easily measure data and play games without removing their shoes.
Because the effects of the pinball changes according to the result of the measurement, you can discover new pinball effects each time you measure the data. Their aim is to have their users continue their health care. Measuring weight and body fat percentage are melancholic for everyone, but they are trying to make them more fun by adding game elements to them.
Because this is still a concept model, they have not announced the release date and price yet.

All built-in light bulbs

Recently IoT appliances and IoT gadgets are full of society. However, when you actually use them, the usage and settings of the application are different for each product, and the designs are also different. If they all got together? stak is a light bulb type module expandable smart device that makes it possible.

With this "module expanded type" structure, smart homing can be easily performed according to the characteristics of each rooms. You can rearrange the main body and the modules, and you can use the functions by using the necessary modules for each room. For example, you can use only the lighting function of this at the entrance, and in the living room where you have the air conditioner you can remotely control the air conditioner by combining it with the remote control module.
Setting is easy. You can use this by just replacing this for the light bulbs at home. Because it supplies power directly from the bulb socket, you do not have to wire and it also harmonizes with the interior of the room. In addition, this can connect with Wi-Fi access points in your home, so you can operate it from the outside. For example, it is possible to turn on the power of the home air conditioner in advance before going home.
Also, it supports Google Home and Amazon Echo, you can operate it by voice. The size of main body is 56mm(external dimensions) × 66.5mm(height), the remote control module is 56mm(external dimensions) × 21mm(height), and the lighting module is 56mm(external dimensions) × 50mm(height). The weighs of main body is 75g, the remote control module is 35g, and the lighting module is 60g.
Currently this is a development project being disclosed at the crowd funding site Makuake, and have already raised the target amount, but you can still purchase this from 7000yen. The expected release date is February 14th.

Apps that adds visual effects to music

Do you want to edit videos of your own DJ play or dance easily and coolly? If so, Roland's iOS application Beat Sync Maker may be perfect.

This is an application that automatically adds impressive visual effects according to the video's beats on music shot by smartphones and makes it easy to make video in which video and music are linked like the music videos.

Usage is simple. You just select the effect you want to use while playing the video you want to edit in the application. There are 5 kinds of effects, and with the function "2-Video Mix" that can switch between two videos according to the beat, you can combine with 18 types of video that the app has in advance, or other video you have. Downloading the application is free, but in the free version you can only make video up to 30 seconds long. However, if you upgrade with in-app charge of 360 yen, the length of the video will be unlimited.
In addition, if you have Roland's audio mixer "GO: MIXER PRO" or "GO: MIXER" and you are connecting them to your smartphone, you can unlimited the length of the video without charge at Beat Sync Maker.

IoT lure with sensor

"I want to fish a lot more fish!" It is a common wish of people who interested in fishing. This IoT lure may make it happen. Smart Lure, the startup that provides information service for anglers has developed IoT lure "Smart lure α" and conducting field demonstration experiments outdoors now.

This is a prototype which made the shape and weight almost the same as the commercial lure, but it can measure acceleration, temperature, illuminance, etc. by built-in sensor in the test in natural lake and experimental tank. And, it cite the results of data conversion of detailed movement of lure which could not be confirmed without special equipment such as high speed camera in the past.
General purpose parts that can procure and manufacture at low cost are used for the sensor modules mounted on them. Using them, they developed the sensors themselves. They are preparing to release this in 2019 and are already consulting with several lure makers.
In addition, they raised 40 million yen in seed rounds in September in order to further accelerate development.

Find your own sound

Who decided that the design of the earphone must be a curve? The design of this earphone is linear, but it is very cool.

Audio manufacturer S'NEXT raised funds for development of their own earphone brand "Make" at the crowdfunding platform Makuake and developed three kinds of earphones.
They are already beginning to ship them. The characteristic of these earphones is that the users can make sounds by themselves. Unlike ordinary products, users must disassemble earphones themselves and tune them. These are new model earphone of IEM type, users can create their own sound by opening the screws of the earphone body and exchange the filters that adjusts the sound. Each model has multiple parts to exchange filters, and users can enjoy making various sounds by combining a plurality of filters with different densities packed with them.
The combination patterns of the filters are Make 1 is 77 kinds, and Make 2 and 3 are 847 kinds. Even if you are a DIY beginner, they have released a manual showing the actual tuning method on the official website, so if you look at this you can work with confidence. In addition, they have released graphs showing changes in frequency characteristics for each filters and graphs showing auditory changes.
Now they are shipping these to the crowdfunding supporters, but they plan to start these general sales from December. These main bodies are stainless steel, Make 1 weigh is 39g, Make 2 and Make 3 weigh are 34g, and the cable length is 1.2m. The general selling price is yet to be determined.

Let's show off your sports skills!

If you love sports and want to show your playing video to someone, what app do you use? Instagram? Tik Tok? But they already have many posts and your videos may be buried in them.

Miez is an application for iOS specialized in video to play sports. You can pick a drill provided in this, shoot and post videos of the drill you wanted to play.
The video that can be posted at once is up to 15 seconds, the videos are evaluated by users, and the more valuable videos are watched by more users. You can also watch videos of users who play better than you, and use them as a reference for your play, or you might find funny play videos and laugh. Of course, this has social features and editing features like other apps, you can add effects to the videos and communicate with other users through them. You may get new friends and rivals through videos, and they will bring new motivation to your play.
This is still a beta version and only for freestyle football, but more than 1,500 videos have already been showed. They are planning to deal with soccer and basketball during in this year, and aim to develop Android applications and global expansion. Download is free.

Add fragrance to games and movies

Asia's largest game trade show Tokyo Game Show 2018 was held in late September. Most of the exhibition booths are related to games, but Kyoto startup Aromajoin exhibited the gadgets they are developing. It is Aroma Shooter 1 which adds fragrance to games and movies.

This is a palm-sized miniature gadget, but it can instantly switch and release six types of fragrances according to the progress of the linked games or movies. When you connecting this to PC or mobile with USB or Bluetooth, it releases multiple scents from the built-in aroma cartridges. The advantage of this is that there are no remaining fragments. Existing aroma diffusers diffuse water and liquid perfume as the mist, so the fragrance drifts throughout the space, and it will never disappear. But Aroma Shooter 1's aroma cartridges are of a solid type and use air to release only aroma molecules like laser beams, so even if the interval of releasing multiple fragrances are short, they are not mixed. They use large numbers of patented technologies for development.
They have released APIs for Windows, iOS, Android, Java, NodeJS, Unity on the website, and developers can develop contents linked with Aroma Shooter 1.
Color variations are white and black, prices are USB version is 192,000yen, Bluetooth version is 240,000yen, and each aroma cartridges are 6,095yen.
Though they may be expensive, but they have not started full-scale mass production yet. If they establish mass production system it will be cheaper.

Speaker to chant Buddhist sutra

n mid-August, Buddhist customs Obon to honor the spirits of one's ancestors be held in Japan. It is a tradition with a history of 500 years in Japan, but the number of people who can chant Buddhist sutra gradually decreases. Therefore, Let's Corporation, who is engaged in hardware development released the portable speaker that supports Bluetooth to chant Buddhist sutra.

When you press this power button, this will play Heart Sutra's solo and repeat. Also, this body has an LED light that reproduces candle lights, you do not have to worry about accidents due to fire of real candles. Of course, if you pairing this with another gadget by Bluetooth, this can play sounds other than sutra.
The color variation of this are brown and pink, and they also start the service of shipping by recording the user's favorite sutra as an option. It is equipped with a built-in lithium battery, you can use it for about five consecutive hours. When charging, you can use the included USB cable. The size is 98 mm × 165 mm and the weight is 410 g. The price is 7,560 yen (tax excluded).

Summon a virtual family

If your favorite character appeared in the real world? If he or she talks with you everyday? They are just the future and the ultimate dream. IoT startup Gatebox has released a new model of summoning gadget that you can live with your favorite character.

They have already released the limited production model of it at the end of 2016, but the new model released this time is a slim body than that, the price is 162,000 yen (tax included) and it is 50% of the conventional price.
"Living together expenses" of 1,500 yen per month are required separately. This is a virtual home robot that can communicate by displaying virtual characters inside a box by projection technology and sensing technology. It has a dual microphone on the top, you can speak to the character from afar. In addition, it also has a camera and a human sensor, recognizing your face and movement, smiling for you when it find your face. For example, when you go home, this will auto detect you and talks "Welcome back". They will deliver trial version of their original character Azuma Hikari along with the release of the new model. You can enjoy voice dialogue, active action by face recognition, and chat linked with messaging application LINE with her.

They will release her official version in December. In the official version, you can use features like celebrating your anniversary with her. It costs 1,500 yen (tax excluded) per month to live with her, but it is free until the end of March 2019. The size of this is 210 mm x 277 mm x 549 mm, weighs about 5 kg, and power supply is AC100V ~ 240V. They have already started reservation reception and delivery is scheduled for October or later.

via https://gatebox.ai/home/

Next Generation Fish Picture Book

It is the best season to play at the sea and river right now. You may go out to there with family or friends. What would you do if you saw fish that did not know names? Although Google image search is also good, but mobile application "fish" making use of AI is easier.

This app uses AI to analyze the photos of fish in your smartphone and tells their name, You can not know the names of the fish, but also their types, characteristic, and which recipe is suitable for them. If the fish were a dangerous kind with poison, that information is also displayed.
B.creation, who released this brought the fishing boat reservation site, they asked their users to cooperate, and gathered about 3 million fish photos and made a database. They added the tags of the fish kind to the each photos and let AI learn. They increased the accuracy of AI by letting one kind of fish learn various photos with different conditions such as brightness and angle. Now, the application corresponds to 80 kinds of fish. Application download is free(iOS/Android).

Speaker making a bathroom into a studio

Sing in the bathroom --- it may be experienced everyone. If you use bathCAPSULE, a bath speaker accessory, your bathroom will be studio and you will have more fun singing.
Gadget company BoCo sells the bone conduction speaker docodemoSPEAKER which radiates sound by vibrating places and things that placed it. They started selling bathCAPSULE, the bath accessory for docodemo SPEAKER for supporters only at the crowdfunding platform Makuake.

When you attach docodemoSPEAKER to bathtub with bathCAPSULE, the whole bath vibrates and becomes a speaker. According to the developers, it is particularly good for bass reproduction, and the sound of the acoustic wood bass that is difficult to play with ordinary speakers is wonderful. It is common to use at the edge of a bathtub, but when you sink it into a bathtub, you can feel the vibration of the sound throughout the body. Of course bathCAPSULE is waterproof and you can easily put docodemoSPEAKER in it.
The size of docodemoSPEAKER is 77 mm × 54 mm and weighs approximately 360 g, if you charge it for about 3 hours using a micro USB cable, it will run for about 7 hours continuous.
You can purchase a set of docodemoSPEAKER and bathCAPSULE at 20,700 yen ~ 42,851 yen. In addition, they have released color variations of Silver Black, Violet Blue, Royal Burgundy and Chrome Yellow.

 

Let's make mahjong play easier

Mahjong is a traditional table game developed in China's Qing dynasty era and is now familiar all over the world. Because it is a game played by four people, it will deepen friendship, and is a psychological warfare game that requires logical thinking and fingertip action, so it is also used as a preventive measure for dementia in Japan. On the other hand, Mahjong has many types of tiles and their combination patterns, it is very difficult and troublesome to calculate the score of the players by remembering them. As a result, not only beginners, as well as players enjoying mahjong from day to day, there are not many people who can calculate scores perfectly, which is a barrier to the expansion of Mahjong players.
So, Creative Agency North Shore has released iOS application Mahjong Camera which can calculate the score of Mahjong by image recognition technology.

If you launch the this and hold the iPhone or iPad camera over the Mahjong tiles, the application recognizes each tiles and calculates the score of Mahjong soon. For its development, they adopted KDDI's image recognition library. It is known for recognition accuracy of the world highest level. In addition, they are planning not only to calculate the score, but also to add a suggestion function that recommends an efficient combination of tiles and respond to Mixed Reality head mounted display. The application download is free.

Body odor measuring instrument

Finally summer has come. Summer in Japan is hot and humid, so it's uncomfortable, it's as if you are in a sauna wearing clothes. Especially this year the rainy season is over earlier than usual, the temperature has exceeded 30 degrees since late June. Health gadget company Tanita released an odor checker ES-100 to check own body odor and perfume scent on July 1.

There are hundreds of substances that cause body odor, ES-100 measures components contained in sweat, estimates the amount of each odor component using its own algorithm, and calculates body odor at the level indicate. In addition, it corresponds not only to body odor but also to fragrance of perfume and aromatics.Tanita uses the detection algorithm by the semiconductor gas sensor for this, they applied the know-hows of breath checker and alcohol checker of their hit products.
Usage is simple. When you open the sensor part of this, the power supply turns on automatically, and the measurement is completed only by bringing the sensor close to a parts where odor such as neck, head, and armpit are concerned for about ten seconds.

This determines the odor in 11 steps from 0 ~ 10. According to them, if you beyond level 5, you need some care.
The size of this is 94 mm × 52 mm × 25 mm, the weight is about 60 grams. The color variation is only black. Semiconductor sensors are cartridge type and need to be replaced after using 2000 times or one year. The price is an open price, the direct sales price is 13,824yen (tax included) and the optional cartridge is 5378yen (tax included). The main target of this is businessmen of 40s ~ 50s who begin to be aware of body odor, and Tanita aim to sell 10,000 units a year.

Retro style electronic cigarette

Toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the new tobacco laws and regulations are now being discussed at the government in Japan. On the other hand, the popularity of smoke-free electronic cigarettes is increasing. So Numata-Chaho, who sells electronic cigarettes and their goods, has announced a new electronic cigarette "electronic Kiseru" in a retro form.

Kiseru is a traditional Japanese smoking pipe. It began to be used around the 16th century and became a common daily necessity in the Edo period, but as people enter the modern era gradually become obsolete, few people currently using it.
This is a gadget that revived Kiseru to the present age.

As a tool for coordinating with kimono and immersing them in emotion, they aim to appeal this to a wide range of tobacco lovers as nostalgic contents. And They are planning to sell this to overseas tourists as well. Although Kiseru has a very long and narrow shape, all parts such as constant voltage output system, air flow detection sensor, and battery are stored in this. Battery is rechargeable with lithium ion battery, and you can charge this by placing it on a charger like a cigarette tray.

The USB cable is unnecessary, and the LED emits during charging. Also, it does not have a power button, when you suck it, automatically works by the airflow sensor. They have not yet announced the release date and price of this, but they are planning to start sales in this year.

The robot of a most famous character

Japan already has many home robots and robot toys, so Takara-Tomy chose one of the most famous characters in Japan to counter them. Pikachu-shaped robot toy "HelloPika" is a new product focused on speaking behavior.

It has a sound recognition function, and when you talk to this, it responds variously with the voice of Pikachu, but they are all expressed as "Pika". In addition, it sings, activates skills, nods, laugh and makes the cheeks flash. If you titillate its sides, this may tickle and laugh. It's almost like interacting with pets.
The size of this is only 75mm × 115mm × 45mm and both arms have a clip-like structure, so you can put this in a shirt or bag pocket and take it outside. It works with two AAA batteries, the price is 3,229yen (including tax), and they release this on August 4th. Further, they plan to release this not only in Japan, but also in nine countries including Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. 

(c)Nintendo・Creatures・GAME FREAK・TV Tokyo・ShoPro・JR Kikaku
(c)Pokemon

Tutoring school in the pocket

In present day, only real textbooks are not tools of study and rather, those numbers are decreasing rapidly. On the other hand, it is mobile apps for studying that are increasing instead of them. Educational services company EduLab has released a free learning video application "Study Gear" for primary school and junior high school students.

They noticed that many of the existing learning mobile applications are aimed at university entrance examinations and many of them are charged. So, they provide learning contents optimized for the low age group in Study Gear for free. The subjects handled by this application are national language, mathematics, society, science, and English, and you can learn them at your own pace with original short animation of one and a half ~ two minutes. If you are good at a particular subject, you can also learn by skipping. They cooperated with ONE MEDIA in video production to produce high quality learning contents, and publishing company Obunsha was responsible for providing and supervising the questions. In addition, this application is supposed to be used by parents and their children, the more they learn by using this, the parents can obtain Study Gear Point, and can exchange them for NTT DoCoMo's point service d-point. Now, there are 500 kinds of contents showed in this application, and they are aiming to increase these to 3000 kinds in one year. Downloading and using the application is free(iOS/Android).

Toys to help studying

INTERNATIONAL TOKYO TOY SHOW 2018 was held this month, many toy companies released interesting new products accordingly. Among them, there were a lot of digital gadgets for kids reflecting the present day.
Sega-Toys will release a tablet Magical Me Pad for girls tied-up with Disney in August 9.

It has a camera for face recognition, video shooting function, translation function, Game development application touch pen and AI. For example, when users talk something to it in Japanese, Mickey Mouse translates it into English and talks on the screen. In addition, they cooperated with publisher Gakken Plus to install learning drills and Japanese-English dictionary on this, when users study using these, AI measures their proficiency level and quizzes questions suitable for them. This is a function reflecting the necessity of English compulsion at elementary school, but this also supports another new compulsory subject, programming learning. In the game development application, users can simulate game development by programming using Disney characters. Of course this also has features other than study. Currently, Youtuber is a very popular job for Japanese kids, and users can make their own videos like Youtuber using video shooting and editing functions. Unfortunately this have not internet function, but it supports microSD and users can store data in it.
The size of this is 189mm × 123mm × 20mm, and it works for 3 hours continuously with four AA batteries. The target age is over 6 years old, and the price is 16,200yen(including tax).

(c)Disney
(c)Disney. Based on the “Winnie the Pooh”works by A.A.Milne and E.H.Shepard.
(c)Disney/Pixar

Cosmetic application using AR

Cosmetics are one of the difficult items that purchase on e-commerce sites.So, cosmetic company DHC released a make-up simulation application "Make-up Palette" using AR.

By using this, their customers can try cosmetics casually. This is an application that reproduces various make-up patterns using DHC cosmetics with camera of smartphones and face recognition technology. Eyeshadows, teaks, lipsticks... you can select and simulate cosmetic items and makeup patterns on your face on the smartphone's screen. Even if you change the angle of the camera and expression, the make-up simulation follows them. It is very convenient to compare the faces before and after making-up and decide in advance which colors are suitable for you. When you find your favorite items, you can go DHC's shopping site immediately from the application and buy them. They are using this to send for their customers the latest products, campaigns, and seasonal make-up information also. The downloading is free(iOS/Android).

Custom-made life size robot

Whether for general use or for business use, robots are hot topics in Japan. Therefore, the attraction production company Curiosity started "Chararoid", a custom-made service of character robots.

The concept of this is "to make the anime world exist in reality", CG designers design the exterior of the robots, and the attraction software which they developed independently is used for the motion control. Robot and tablet work together, and it is possible to communicate by video display and touch panel operation. It also has a speech recognition function and can also talk. If you do not like the synthesized voice of the robots, you can order the voice of the voice acter. The flow of communication is managed by the timeline, and it can be linked with BGM, signage, and projection mapping. Its eyes have small displays, and they can express various emotions comically like anime. As for the price they have not disclosed and you have to ask them about it in ordering.

Fake-video maker using AI

Now, an interesting movement is occurring in the Japanese VR industry. It is 3D avatar called Virtual Youtuber or VTuber, and they are talking and singing like real Youtubers. Though they are very popular and many creators are paying attention, but 3D modeling skills and motion capture technology are indispensable, so not everyone can feel free. However, with this iOS application "Xpression", everyone can play someone.


This is a video editing application that makes it easy to create a fake video similar to the real one using AI. It replaces the expression of the face of the video in real time with the expression of own face reflected on the camera. Any material can be anything. Politicians, celebrities, your friends, families, even you can let the drawings speak. Even if you do not have a desire to transform, this can be utilized in various situations. For example, if you pre-shoot videos of decent clothes, after that, you can always video communication with decent clothes when you are dowdy outfits. This is an innovative iOS application, but downloading is free.

Emergency SOS application

Suddenly sickness can happen to anyone, but unfortunately, there are many cases where quick life-saving treatment can not be done, and even if an ambulance comes, about 90% have died. What if someone who has knowledge of life-saving will stay until the ambulance comes? What if someone will lend an AED? They will surely be able to save more people's lives.

Coaido 119 is an emergency information sharing application that can send SOS to the surroundings while reporting to the ambulance in case of emergency. You can notify the ambulance from the application, and can request the life-saving volunteer for about 10 minutes until the arrival of the ambulance to the pre-registered medical qualified people, the life-saving lecturers and the AED holders.

Also, you can communicate information on emergency situations to them using location information, video, and voice chat from this application. And although it is still within 1 km from Ikebukuro station, this application has its own AED area call function.
They are conducting demonstration experiments of applications in Toshima Ward, Tokyo from January 2017 to January 2018, and recently expanded available areas to all over Japan. Now the application is only iOS version and downloading is free.

Earphone to listen to music with bones

Usually, we use eardrums when listening to music with earphones, but startup BoCo is developing a new generation earphone series "earsopen" that utilizes bone conduction technology. Last year it succeeded in raising about 100 million yen of development funding by the croudfunding project, and we can buy this at boco's retail stores, Yodobashi cameras, and online stores.

Earsopen is a bone conduction earphone that does not block my ears by listening to the sounds through the bones. By adopting proprietary bone　conduction devices, they realized a high resolution class small bone conduction earphone. The good points of this can to listen to the surrounding environmental sound while listening to music. Furthermore, without damaging the eardrum, and those who have impaired hearing due to damage to the eardrum membrane can also hear sounds by bone conduction.
There are various packages, but the most reasonable set is 10,584 yen (including tax). Color variations are black and white.

IoT measure that can make images with size

Now, it is common to trade fashion items among users on online auctions or online flea markets. When checking the items, it is very easy to understand that there are images clearly showing the size of the items. But making them is a little troublesome, because we need to measure the sizes of items and add them to photos with image editing application.

IoT measure hakaruno("hakaru" means to "measure" in Japanese) simplifies its effort. First, take a photo of the item from the application linked with this, and trace the place you want to measure.

When you measure the size with hakaruno and press that button, the numbers are reflected in photo immediately. Clothing suppliers can also use this. If you measure the size of customers and reflect it in slips, you will not mistake.

The measurement part of this is made by Fujitsu Component, and sending accurate sizes to your smartphone using Bluetooth. The size of this is compact, only 52 x 40 x 15 mm, and weighs about 20 grams. It work with one of coin type lithium battery(CR 2450). Now, this is raising funds for development at the croudfunding platform Makuake, and you can support it from 16,800 yen.

Softbank Robotics' new product is a big stuffed toy...of robot

Softbank Robotics is known for selling humanoid robot Pepper. They announced new products. But that's not a robot.

Well, it's a huge Pepper stuffed toy. It's not a stuffed robot, and just a simple stuffed toy. Only cotton is in it. The size is 90 x 55cm and the weight is 6.5kg. The price is 75,500yen(about 650USD).

Originally this was a prize for Hackasson events using Peppar, but it was productization because it was popular as cute.
However, not everyone can purchase this. By entering name and e-mail address from the form and winning by lottery, you can earn purchase rights. The winning contact is in mid-March, shipping is in early April.