nec

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 4:00 AM on August 24, 2008

Wireless USB has finally begun to match regular USB 2.0 speeds, making our inevitable launch into a life untethered by the confines of copper and rubber cabling all the more forthcoming. At the Fall 2008 Intel Developer Forum, NEC unveiled a WUSB prototype that transfers at speeds of 200Mbits per second. The company didn't mention the effective range or when it plans on commercialising its new technology, but it's still exciting news for all of us who have trouble finding our desks under the tangle of our various USB doohickeys. [Tech On via EverythingUSB]

NEC Packs All Blu-ray Functions on Single Chip, Smaller Players to Come

Posted by John Mahoney at 1:00 AM on August 5, 2008

The EMMA 3PF is the first large-scale integration (LSI) chip to pack all of the necessary Blu-ray controllers onto a single piece of silicon. The new chip performs all audio and video decoding, analogue to digital conversions, and HDMI output. It supports the Blu-ray 2.0 profile and will start shipping in September 2008, allowing player sizes to continue getting ittier and bittier. [Tech ON]

NEC's Minority Report-Style Display Tailors Adverts For You (Verdict: Frankenads)

Posted by Kit Eaton at 11:45 PM on July 22, 2008

It may be tired to bring up Minority Report, but remember the scenes in the movie where our hero gets bothered by interactive targeted advertising wherever he goes? Thanks to dear ol' NEC, this nightmare of advert pestering may really be in our future: its new ad display panel watches its watchers with a camera, then tailors the adverts to the audience. The 50-inch plasma's camera and software doesn't quite go so far as identifying specific people, but it does guess at age and sex and then offers you the chance to grab data on the products wirelessly to a mobile phone. It'll be demoed at Fuji Television's festival in Tokyo: go along and see how irritating (or not) the future of advertising may be, if you're interested. [Times of India via Dvice]

NEC Develops a Heart-Shaped LCD For Justin Timberlake Fans Everywhere

Posted by Sean Fallon at 6:40 AM on May 20, 2008

The push towards non-rectangular displays is in full swing now that NEC has developed a more flexible TFT display that integrates the wiring circuits along the perimeter of the LCD glass. As a result, a wider variety of shapes becomes possible—like the heart-shaped prototype pictured above. Despite its prototype status, my guess is that it won't be long before you see little girls everywhere Bedazzling these things and cramming them full of Justin Timberlake photos. I can't wait. [NEC]

NEC Lui WiMax Media Streaming System Gets Release Date, Price

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 6:38 PM on April 15, 2008

We alerted you to NEC's fancy media-streaming home server last year: it's an "on demand" system that'll send your media content to Lui devices around your home and beyond. NEC has just stumped up the release schedule and pricing in Japan, and "Life with Ubiquitous Integrated solutions" systems isn't cheap. The pocket sized player and laptop-like device are around US$495 and US$890, while the desktop PC will be US$2,100. Topping it all off, the main home server costs a whopping US$3,700. If you're in Japan and like the idea of accessing your audio and video remotely using dedicated devices, it's available from April 24th. We don't have timings on a US release. [AV Watch]

Bigger Screens Make You More Productive, According to NEC Study

Posted by Nathan Taylor at 2:38 PM on March 14, 2008

NEC has published the results of study (funded by them and run by the University of Utah) that shows users are more efficient when working on big screens. The study apparently found that for the test subjects, moving from an 18" to 24" display reduced task completion time from eight hours to five and a half hours.

While this seems highly implausible to us, you can't argue with stats, right? Anyway, you can find the full details after the fold.

NEC's Liquid Flask Phone Shows Exactly How Much Battery is Left

Posted by Jason Chen at 6:10 AM on January 29, 2008

We don't have many details, but this NEC flask phone seems to be a combination of being liquid-powered and touch-screened, and is so crazy advanced that we think it's probably a prototype. According to NEC, however, it's going to be released sometime in 2008. We think it's cool that the liquid inside will drain as you're using the phone, allowing you to see just how much power you have left. Here's to hoping this isn't a Japan-only release. [T3 via Chip Chick via Textually]

Swarovski-embedded Hello Kitty Laptop Makes Us Wince, Groan, then Vomit in Anger

Posted by Jason Chen at 6:40 AM on December 27, 2007

As if adorning an otherwise fine laptop in Swarovski crystals or Hello Kitty logos wasn't bad enough, NEC has made a laptop with both Swarovski and Hello Kitty, making this the worst laptop we've ever seen. Seriously, we're not even going to bother showing you the specs, because if anybody purchases this thing from Japan, we're going to have to revoke their Gizmodo license. We're sorry, but it has to be done. [Far East Gizmos]

Software

NEC Software to Put Poor Bloggers Like Me Out of Business

Posted by Daniel Godfrey at 1:26 PM on December 5, 2007

The "business environment virtualisation" software NEC is currently developing may masquerade as a way for companies to keep track of their competitors online (see pie charts, etc), but we here can see it for what it really is: a scheme to create an unlimited army of lifeless tech-blogging drones. With its "cruising of RSS and web pages" for "product features" and algorithmically processing press releases for "conducting a comparative analysis of products," this software could probably crank out some pretty solid posts when it wasn't working to crush its master's rival companies, all without the requisite Mountain Dew and Cheetos breaks. We're not too worried here, though. We know you guys come for the gadgets, but stay for the red-blooded passion, right? Some relevant bits from the press release after the jump. Oh the irony!

NEC Lui Streams Video Everywhere over WiMAX

Posted by Jesus Diaz at 8:53 PM on December 4, 2007

Just in Japan for now, the NEC Lui is a system designed around a central server which will stream media to any device around the house using WiMax and Windows Vista. They showed the central server as well as a few devices based on the architecture, like a 4.1-inch Sony VAIO UX-like ultra-mobile PC. The central server is also designed to work outside the local network, allowing you to, paraphrasing Wilson, "sling your content out into the world" as soon as it's not copyright protected. [Akihabara News]