Electronics

Japanese manufacturers' global sales of televisions using organic light-emitting diodes look set to exceed 1 million for the first time next year, thanks to a partnership with LG Display that has helped drive the market's growth.

Electronic musical instrument manufacturer Roland Corporation is inviting everyone to have a go at being a VJ by offering five different special effects to liven up personal music videos. Fishing is often described as a relaxing hobby, but if all you end up with is a measly catch, it can also be frustrating. Though smart home devices are standard now, there are so many available it’s not always easy to figure out how to use them or sync them with one another.

Akihiro Adachi, a 31-year-old audiovisual equipment designer at Panasonic Corp., longed for some personal space during his lengthy train rides from Osaka to Tokyo. So when his company set out to encourage innovation, he joined with some colleagues and came up with “Wear Space,” a headset that limits noise and peripheral vision.

Japan's three main mobile phone carriers SoftBank Group, NTT Docomo and KDDI have decided not to use Chinese equipment in their 5G networks due to rising security concerns that spurred the Japanese government to block Huawei Technologies and other Chinese companies from public procurement.

Computers dominate modern society, including smartphones, personal computers and control devices for machines, but they have an unexpected natural enemy: cosmic rays, high-speed particles raining down from outer space to Earth. Observers say cosmic rays can cause errors in computers, and various studies are under way at universities and major electronics manufacturers to address the issue.

This year has seen a series of Hollywood announcements about future productions based on popular Japanese video games. Amid a box-office slump in U.S. theaters, Hollywood is turning its attention to gamers, with video-game developers being flooded with offers.

Electronic payments using smartphones are becoming increasingly common at tourist spots, shopping streets and other locations around Hyogo Prefecture.

So-called 4K and 8K ultrahigh-definition satellite television broadcasting in Japan fully started at 10 a.m. on Saturday while the penetration of TV sets supporting the services has remained slow.

After launching in Japan in September 2015, Netflix has aggressively gone after the nation’s streaming market with an array of content. Original programming such as “Aggretsuko,” “Terrace House” and a reboot of “Ainori” have helped capture the attention of many cordcutters who want the freedom of being able to watch content in any place and at any time without being saddled with commercials.

A government bureau in Osaka is set to launch a service next year to that will allow foreign tourists to access disaster information via smartphones, ahead of the 2025 World Expo in the city.