• more about #hitachi more comments →
    deanbmmv: I'm part "Yay, more space on one disk, awesome" and part "Oh crap, that'll be a bugger if that goes down" unless you buy two n run em RAID. I'm gettin... more »
    dingus: Deathstar: Never forget more »
    MJDeviant: I have to be honest. As soon as I heard about SSD, I was over HDD. No offense HDD, you've done me well and you are cheap, but SSD is younger, hotter, ... more »
    Froggmann: "It's pointless for him to mug anybody.. Well unless he rips off someone's hand. Hope he doesn't figure that one out..." more »
    Pucuck: We have a vending machine at my work that lets you tie your credit card to your fingerprint. I believe the way it works is you have to purchase $10 wo... more »
    Hi, I'm God: The thing that gets me interested is the fact that it knows who you are, and has access to your information. When that super-duper soda machine** it'd... more »
    Kaiser-Machead: What do you mean maxed out? Sigh...do you take varicose? Sorry in advance. more »
    Hi, I'm God: First veins, then... other parts. What is the world coming to?? more »
    anexanhume: I would use my phallus for extra security. I hope there's not a minimum size requirement. more »
    Acemann: This is great spending tons of R&D money on a product that rarely gets used. I mean when was the last time you bought something from a vending machine... more »
  • #storage

    Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 Is World's First 2TB, 7200 RPM Hard Drive

    SSDs might be catching up to the trusty HDD in capacity, but this first-of-its-kind, 2-terabyte, 7200 RPM drive from Hitachi serves as a reminder that for speedy mass storage people can still afford, the old standby still remains king. More »
  • #japan

    Vending Machines Bill You Via Your Veins

    While Japanese banks have been using the technology for a few years, now Hitachi has introduced a vending machine that eschew coins and credit cards for the veins in your fingers. More »
  • #tools

    Holy Sh*t Look At This Drill

    Behold, the Hitachi DH50MRY. Part drill, part jackhammer, it can eat up concrete like balsa wood without killing your arms. Our friends at PopSci cut one open to show how it works. More »
  • #crimes

    Hitachi Pleads Guilty to Fixing Prices on LCD Panels

    Hitachi has agreed to pay a $31 million fine after admitting to fixing prices on LCD screens sold to Dell from 2001 to 2004. Last year, LG Display, Sharp and Chungwa Picture Tubes also admitted to LCD price-fixing and ended up paying similar fines, totaling more than $600 million to the United States government. [NYTimes]
  • #kddiau

    Hitachi Wooo Adds Another Dimension to Cellphone Screens

    Hitachi's new Wooo, part of Japan's KDDI au Spring line, comes with the unique ability to watch 3D videos. Sounds coool, even if the 3D-induced woooziness will have you switching back to 2D in minutes. More »
  • #harddrives

    Giz Explains: Everything You Need to Know About Hard Drives

    More »
  • #headphones

    Hitachi Maxell iPod-Only Noise-Canceling Headphones Don't Need Batteries

    These noise-cancelling headphones from Hitachi Maxell are unlike many previous similar types since they don't require separate power. Instead they connect to iPods via the dock connector, and can suck on the batteries through there. They do manage about 20dB of noise canceling with an "Active Noise Rejection" system, but the design is curiously crippling: they can only connect to iPods (4th gen or later) and iPod touches—not the iPhone. And to draw power this way means you'll get reduced iPod battery life, which may be as much as 50%. And the iPod's volume control doesn't work, so you have to use the slider on the headphones. Weird, but these HP-NC20.IPs are only about $80 in Japan, so you may still be tempted. [AVWatch]
  • #review

    Review: The World's Thinnest LCD HDTVs

    More »
  • #ptsd

    Hard Drive Failure Soundboard Guarantees Debilitating Flashbacks

    Data recovery service Datacent has put together an extensive collection of recordings of popular hard drives failing. This might sound pretty boring, but it isn't just bunch of typical of click-click-bzzzzz heartbreakers — a lot of these sounds are downright bizarre. Who knew that Maxtor drives play a song when their spindles fail? Or that failing Hitachi Deskstars wrote every Autechre track, ever? Or that Toshiba laptop drives are actually screeching Helldemons with an acute sense of pain? [Datacent via Slashdot]
  • #camcorders

    Hitachi DLNA Camcorder Concept Streams HD Video to TVs As It's Shot

    Hitachi showed off a cool-looking camcorder concept at CEATEC this week, which adds a Wi-Fi module for streaming video from its hard drive or what's being shot live over WLAN to your TV. For recorded video it uses DLNA, which means it will work with any number of DLNA-compatible HDTVs or a PS3. More »
  • #webapps

    Hitachi's GazoPa Web Searches Images by Color, Shape

    Hitachi became the latest company to enter the online search arena, unveiling a “similar image search” engine called GazoPa at TechCrunch50. Unlike regular image search services, GazoPa relies on characteristics such as similar colors and shapes rather than traditional metadata. We're not sure why Hitachi, better known as a hardware company, would dabble in something like image searching, but GazoPa seems like an interesting concept if it works as well as it does in the video. More »
  • #camcorders

    Triple Format Hitachi DZ-BD10HA Blu-ray Camcorder Also Writes to HD and SDHC

    For folks who smartly don't want to be locked into any particular format, the DZ-BD10HA adds the option to record 1080p videos and stills to its built-in 30GB hard drive or an SDHC card, on top of mini-Blu-ray discs. A dubbing feature also promises to dump footage from the SD card or HD directly to mini Blu-ray for archiving, without a PC. On top of that is a 7-megapixel CMOS sensor, face recognition and optical image stabilization. Hitachi's first Blu-ray cam, the DZ-BD7HA, was a bit of a stinker image quality wise according to reviews, so we'll see if the new sensor performs better this time around when it ships in the U.S. next month for an even $1,000. More »
  • #harddrives

    Hitachi CinemaStar Now Reaching 1TB

    For the DIY DVR enthusiast, Hitachi just announced their new CinemaStar 7K1000.B. Coming in sizes up to 1 terabyte, the 7,200 RPM drives promise to be the "industry’s quietest, most energy-efficient 3.5-inch hard drives." But what can a 1TB CinemaStar actually do? It can store 247 hours of HD MPEG4 and handle 10 streams of data simultaneously (as usual, your tuners are the main limiting factor). Hitachi also promises that the CinemaStars are designed for operation 24/7, so hopefully you won't lose about 45 episodes of No Reservations like I just did. There are no prices yet, but look for the new CinemaStar 7K1000.B this August. More »
  • #camcorder

    Hitachi Shrinks Blu-Ray Camcorder, Adds More Megapixels: New DZ-BD10H

    Back in January, Hitachi released the BD9H Blu-ray camcorder, and it's taken just six months for the next generation to come along. The DZ-BD10H takes the same core design, but squeezes it into a slightly smaller package. It's still a full HS palmcorder, recording to 8-cm BD, DVD-R/RW/RAM or a 30GB HDD but this time the sensor is a 7-megapixel CMOS and the camera has the ability to write stills and movies to SD/SDHC cards too. More »
  • #whdi

    Sony, Sharp, Hitachi, Samsung and Motorola Agree on Amimon Whole-House Wireless HD Standard

    Be happy: A new wireless HD video standard guarantees that major brands including Sony, Sharp, Hitachi, Samsung and Motorola will have interoperable wireless video streaming. Amimon—the chip makers behind the "video modem" wireless HD tech we've been seeing on and off for the last few years, and most recently in Belkin's Flywire—is announcing the WHDI consortium with the above members, formed to standardize their wireless HD spec and embed it in member companies' TVs, projectors and HD video sources. The result is a network of HD components, streaming uncompressed 1080p video not just through one room like competing UWB standards, but to and from any source to any TV in your entire home, with a range comparable to Wi-Fi. Pretty impressive stuff. More »
  • #greatmomentsinadvertising

    Hitachi Drops Acid, Explains Terabyte Hard Drives In Crazy Cartoon

    It's always great when companies break out of their stodgy PR molds and just go for it—remember those fantastic tokusatsu Norton Fighter ads? Here we have Hitachi, no strangers to the out-of-the-box viral video, ushering us all into the "Tera Era," a magical wonderland of smiling flowers, talking bytes, hard disk actuator suns, and catchy Schoolhouse Rock jingles. The juxtaposition of traditional PR-speak on their YouTube page which looks like a clown threw up all over it ("This amazing collision of Capacity, Content and Culture") and this video, which is just another kind of PR-speak, is still pretty incredible. Check out the original "Get Perpendicular" spot for comparison below. More »
  • #hdds

    Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000B is Power Efficient 1TB Drive, Has Encryption Too

    About a year ago we brought you the first retail terabyte HDD, the Deskstar 7K1000, and now Hitachi has released the Deskstar 7K1000.B. And Hitachi's worked quite hard on it: With a 32MB buffer and a three-disk layout, it's apparently the "world's most power-efficient 1TB drive" and consumes about 43% less power when idling. And for those of you who think "bleh" to the power savings, it also has built-in encryption, which Hitachi says doesn't impact on read/write speeds at all. Out soon for $279, which puts it in competition with the Samsung HD103UJ. Available July for $279. [Hitachi and BoingBoing Gadgets]
  • #questionoftheday

    Question of the Day: Which Hard Drives Have Crashed On You?

    Today when I wrote up a WD RAID drive, the comment boxes were flooded with WD gripes. The funny thing is, the reverse happened when we wrote about Seagate a while ago. And Buchanan won't shut up about Hitachi's infamous "Death Star" drives. Are all drives equally prone to fail, or are there some makers who get it right more often than others? Yes, we would like you to share your most heart-wrenching drive crash stories, if you've finally got up the courage to talk about it. But first: More »
  • #televisions

    Hitachi To Sell 1.5-inch Ultra Thin Plasma Next Year

    At CES, Hitachi showed off an impressive 1.5-inch-thin plasma display. Today at the CEA industry update the company has told us that the concept will become a reality when the televisions go on sale in the US sometime during 2009. They also hinted that LED-backlit LCDs could be available in as little as 6 months. As for OLED, that's still a ways off.
  • #hardware

    MRAM: A Blockbuster Slated for 2015 Release

    The Good News: Toshiba and Hitachi are both flaunting new technologies to make MRAM (the successor to DRAM) more plausible for public consumption. Plus, the United States and Korea both have begun national-level projects to develop the tech. More »
  • #robots

    Hitachi EMIEW 2 Vid Shows Segway-Style Legs, Wheely Kneecaps, Creepy Kid Voice

    Impress Robot Watch just published footage of Hitachi's anime-styled EMIEW 2, the little guy who took a spill during his debut last November. The new video shows that his feet, tipped with wheels, give him a Segway-like way of staying upright, with little micromovements. If the terrain gets too rough, there's always the second set of wheels on his kneecaps, which you see him using at the beginning. Like many Japanese constructs, this one has a creepy child's voice, with which it apparently says some unexpected things like "What color is love?" (Maybe that's an error in translation, but still...) Watching the Segway-style maneuvering, I am left wondering how two of these would do in a rock-em-sock-em scenario. [Impress]
  • #hitachi

    Hitachi's 2.5-Inch HDD Does 7200rpm Speeds With 5400rpm Power

    Fujitsu might have been the first to introduce a 2.5" 7200rpm hard drive with 320GB capacity, but Hitachi is hot on their trail. Today, Hitachi announced that they too have a quick lil'-drive, the Travelstar 7K320. The HDD will support the same SATA 3Gbps interface as the Fujitsu, but will supposedly use less power. With only a 1.8 watt read/write power draw and a 0.8 watt low power idle, Hitachi claims the 7200rpm 7K320 power consumption is on par with their 5400rpm models. So if you were set on getting a faster 2.5" 320GB HD for your notebook, Hitachi's version should be available in a few weeks with a $219 price tag. Press release after the jump. More »
  • #homeentertainment

    Hitachi UltraThin 1.5-Inch LCDs Finally Hitting US Soil

    Six months after announcing it would bring its 1.5"-thick UltraThin line to the US, Hitachi is finally starting to ship product. Sizes range from 32" to 47" and 1080p from 37" and up—previously we thought the line would stop at 42". HD Guru tells us they don't have integrated HD tuners, so you'll have to use your cable box or spring $299 for a separate tuner. But hell, they are sexy, and they come with 120Hz image processing for better motion. The only thing remotely wrong with them is their high price: the top of the line 47-incher will set you back $4,700—and won't be here until September. What's that saying? Never too thin—or too rich? Specs, pricing and shipping dates of the full line below. More »
  • #laptops

    ASUS M70 One Terabyte Laptop Screams "FIRST!!!"

    For the digital pack rats, the ASUS M70 (which was quasi-announced at CES) looks to be the first stock laptop to support a full terabyte of storage (a feat achieved by packing dual 500GB Hitachi Travelstar drives). So what do you do with all that data? Store HD videos to play back on the built-in 17" WUXGA screen displaying 1920x1200 resolution, listen to audio through the four built-in Altec Lansing speakers, or use the M70's HDMI port to watch your footage on your surely larger, more impressive, second mortgage of a television you've got in your living room. Oh, and for those who could care less about storage, the M70 packs facial recognition, fingerprint scanning, Blu-ray "support", and integrated webcam. Here are the full specs: More »
  • #lcdtvs

    Hitachi Release Specs of Its Ultra-Thin Woo TV With Wireless Main Unit

    We brought you the good news that Hitachi's swanky UT range of LCD TVs would be coming to the US, and now Hitachi has dished the dirt on their specifications. The 32-inch version will have a 1366 x 768 screen, versus the 1920 x 1080 of the bigger 37- and 42-inch versions. But all are just 1.4 inches deep (that'll be the Ultra Thin bit, then) and sport a 250GB internal HDD. More »
  • #industry

    Pioneer to End 42-Inch Plasma Display Production

    Pioneer is ending its production of 42-inch plasma displays, as the company hopes to focus all its attention on producing 50-inch models instead. Specifically, Pioneer will be closing the Kagoshima plant in Japan by March 2009, when it will then be put up for sale. So, if you're interested in a factory producing 42-inch displays, you're in luck. Pioneer will continue selling the smaller units, but will purchase parts from Hitachi to meet the demand for sub 50-inch plasmas. [Reuters]
  • #appliances

    Hitachi's New Air Conditioner Keeps Your Skin Moisturized

    Hitachi has just announced a fancy-pants new air conditioner that not only keeps you chilled, but it actually moisturizes your skin as well. Finally, your skin can be silky smooth without requiring expensive and emasculating lotions! More »
  • #tvs

    Sony #1 in LCD; Biggest Names Hold Fast, But Cheap-o Brands Taking Out Weaker Competition

    Last quarter was an all-out TV-maker battle, and you my friends were the territory. DisplaySearch's results for Q4 '07 declared the victor in the US LCD category to be Sony for the very first time. Panasonic handily crushed all comers in the smaller US plasma race. Samsung, with strong #2 finishes in both, ended up remaining the #1 overall TV brand in the country, and LG also held its own. But... More »
  • #cellphones

    Hitachi W61H Cellphone Packs E-Ink Display on its Bum

    Hitachi has just debuted its W61H cellphone, which packs a 2.7-Inch E-Ink display on its reverse side. The display, which has been dubbed the Silhouette Screen, will be able to show off one of 95 pre-set graphics, but beyond the aesthetics the E-Ink offering has, it seems to have little other utility. (No caller data, time, date or SMS information can be viewed.) Jump for another shot. More »
  • #tvs

    The Weight Is Over: Extra-Thin TVs Hit the Scales

    This year's CES TV competition wasn't about how big TVs could be, but how thin they could get. Samsung, JVC, Hitachi, Panasonic, Sharp, Pioneer and developer LG.Philips were all showing off their rendition of belt-tightening in the flat-panel age. Some of you perceptively noted that up against a wall, inside a cabinet or on a stand, a 1" thick TV looks the same as a 20" thick TV, let alone a 5" thick set, so like big frickin' deal. We're with you. The truth is, while thin is sexy, the untold story is how much less this new crop of TVs will weigh. Both LCD and plasma will weigh substantially less in the coming years. How much less? Plasma will definitely drop more than LCD, but in both cases, the weight loss is astonishing. Jump for awesome chart: More »
  • #camcorder

    New DZ-BD9H Blu-Ray HDD Camcorder From Hitachi Tries to Make Up For Past Mistakes

    Hitachi is releasing a new Blu-ray camera after getting spanked for their first generation. The DZ-BD9H still records to Blu-ray or a 60GB hard drive, but tries to fix the poor image performance with a new 5-megapixel CMOS sensor and image processing system, dubbed Picture Master. Full specs after the jump. More »
  • #ces2008

    Hitachi CP-A100 Projector Shines a 50-Inch Screen From 15 Inches Away

    The Hitachi CP-A100 ultra short throw projector here is rigged up to a touch-motion interface. Sitting at the edge of the table with a lens mounted about 15 inches from the screen, casting a 50" diagonal picture, in this case, a computer screen showing Google Earth. Tabletop applications are only the beginning—the XGA LCD-based projector casts a 120" screen from just three feet away. [Hitachi]
  • #homeentertainment

    The Biggest Losers: JVC, Sharp, Hitachi and Pioneer Battle for the Super-Slimmest TV

    UPDATE: LG just dropped a 1.7-inch thin LCD too. Loser! JVC announced it's "the world's thinnest LCD" at 1.5-inches thick (2.9-inches at the center). Pioneer has been bragging about its "world's thinnest plasma" coming in at a mere .35 inches (9mm!). Hitachi, meanwhile, has a .75-inch LCD and a 1.5-inch plasma on the way—the "centerpiece" of its showcase at CES. And we're expecting Sharp to move its .75-inch LCD out of the experimental phase and into production as well. Thin is in at CES this year. JVC supplies a good explanation on how they slimmed-down after the jump. More »
  • #ces2008

    Hitachi Builds 1.5-inch Ultra Thin Plasma To Go With Its 1.5-Inch LCDs

    As excited as we were when Hitachi showed off its 1.5" full-production LCDs in October, we were even more excited to know that they've pulled off a plasma of the same thick—rather, thinness. They may not be the 9mm plasma that Pioneer is apparently boasting, but plasma has been traditionally thicker and heavier than LCD, so all of this is wonderful news at a time when plasma is getting some serious kudos. Hitachi also promises to show off its super thin concept LED-backlit 3/4-inch LCDs at the show too, so we'll keep an eye out. Jump for press release. More »
  • #gadgets

    Hitachi's 500GB Notebook Hard Drive Turns Your Laptop Into an Ultimate eBook Reader

    Hitachi's upping the notebook 2.5-inch storage game to the 500GB level, which means that you'll have much, much more space to store all your eBooks and comics to take with you on the go. The Travelstar 5K500 will be available in 400GB or 500GB models, and have optional Bulk Data Encryption for drive-level security. It also has a power-usage level almost identical to its 5K250 predecessor, and have a 1.9 watt read/write power draw and a 0.7 watt low power idle. More »
  • #androidrobotsemiew2

    Launch of Hitachi's EMIEW 2 Robot Goes a Bit Awry

    Its full name is Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate, and this second-gen version of Hitachi's EMIEW office worker robot is a lot better looking than the original. At its launch today, however, things didn't quite go to plan, and what was meant to be a showcase in up-to-the-minute robot fabulousness turned into a ZOMG-I-think-it's-drunk moment. More »
  • #homeentertainment

    1080p TVs Never Deliver 1080p Motion, But Some Do Better Than Others

    It's a fact of life: when you buy a 1080p set, you never see true 1080p resolution when things are in motion. Gary Merson (of Home Theater Mag and HDGuru.com) looked at 19 TVs listed as 1080p, and found that while their "static" resolution ranged from true 1080 down to a miserable 400, the "motion" resolution of the best sets was 880, while the worst only delivered 360 lines. "You're never going to have full resolution with moving pictures," Merson told us. But the differences in performance were startling: More »
  • #badreview

    Hitachi DZ-BD7HA, World's First Blu-ray Camcorder, Gets Spanked Big-Time

    We've toyed briefly with the Hitachi DZ-BD7HA HD camcorder, thought it handled rather well. But Camcorder info.com just got its hands on the $1600 shooter, the first one to record onto Blu-ray discs, and thought it sucked. Calling it "too difficult and too expensive," the smackdown of the pioneering product went on for page after page. The reviewer especially disliked its low-light performance. "If you plan on using the DZ-BD7HA exclusively in outdoor settings during the day, you're all set. If, however, you plan on shooting anywhere that is less brightly lit than a sunny day, you're in trouble." More »
  • #rfid

    Hitachi Mocks Your Manhood, Makes World's Smallest RFID Chip

    Hitachi has just rolled out a worryingly small RFID chip, measuring an impressively tiny 0.15 mm x 0.15 mm x 0.0075 mm. The chip packs in a 128-bit ROM, which is able to store a 38-digit number. Hitachi previously held the title for world's smallest RFID, but the now second place tag was comparatively large at 0.4 mm x 0.4 mm. More »
  • #homeentertainment

    Hitachi Will Bring Ultra Thin TVs to the US

    Often we see extra-cool TVs roll out in Japan that we assume will never come to the US. Hitachi made us happy today by following up its Japan Wooo Ultra Thin launch with announcement of US availability, sans the "Wooo" branding. A 768-line 32" and 1080p 37" and 42" models all measuring 1.5" thick will be shipping in the US next year, the little one appearing in the spring, while the other two will hit stores in the second quarter. Hitachi won't talk specs or US pricing, though they say it's a luxury, early-adopter product, so think expensive. There are some sexy features that we didn't get to in our Japan coverage: More »