Panasonic's new D-Dock is simply slick and beautiful

Some may say that our new D-Dock SC-HC4/HC3 revived B&O influence in its design, but personally I don’t care that much here as I am quite fond of this new D-Dock.

Specs-wise nothing breath taking, the SC-HC4/HC3 offers a 2x20W output at 6Ω, can be connected to the entire iPod line-up, has a FM and AM Radio tuner, a CD player, a SD Card reader and supports AAC, MP3 and WMA files.

Finally, only the SC-HC4 version will be capable of transferring or ripping any CDs into SD or SDHC cards at a speed up to 8x.

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Pioneer Acco Finally Hitting Japan in December

Back in May 2009, Pioneer announced their new in-house iPOD friendly audio system, better known as ACCO. Today Pioneer announced that finally ACCO will be available in Japan (in December).

One of ACCO’s most interesting points is their iPod Touch cradle, once a DAP plug into the ACCO system, allows access to your DAP's audio library and plays anywhere at home.

Here's the ACCO A-IW001 and its ceiling speakers the S-ICH125, Pioneer's latest in-house audio system that's also iPod friendly.

Basically you have to install speakers in all the rooms you want music, and this wall mounted amp and control device (the A-IW001) and its iPod cradler lets you enjoy music all over the house and being control your tunes on the fly. If you own an iPod you could do the same with a decent pair of headphones without:

1) Having to drill a lot of holes in your house
2) Disturbing your neighbors.

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Hell Freezes Over, DoCoMo Offers a ROM Update for One of Thier Smartphones

One thing in Japan that pissed me off for years (8 in total) is the lack of ROM updates for Windows Mobile devices… During the pocket PC era, when Compaq, then HP and other manufacturers, provided ROM updates for their PDAs Japanese manufacturers claimed that ROM updates were impossible and pushed you to purchase a new PDA instead… Later on, HTC via DoCoMo and Softbank did the same. If you wanted a ROM update you'd have to invest in new device while in the rest of the world you could get an upgrade… Basically, if you were/are a Windows Mobile user in Japan you're badly screwed… Operators don't provide free ROM upgrades on Windows Mobiles devices…

Pissed by this lack of support from Microsoft, HTC and mobile phone operators, a year or so ago I asked Microsoft why? Why can't we get proper ROM upgrades? Apparently, before the iPhone was launched in Japan, it was impossible for mobile phone manufacturers to provide ROM upgrades (via Push or download) without loosing their phone certification given by the Japanese government… Once a phone is approved here in Japan, the manufacturer isn't allowed to change it in any way without loosing this certification… Since the certification process is a real pain, everyone gave up on offering ROM updates.

While this certification problem still exists, it appears that iPhones, and now Android phones, in Japan (HT-03A) are immune. After Apple updated their iPhone's OS several times in the last year or so (Softbank), now the giant DoCoMo is offering an upgrade from Android 1.5 to 1.6 via download (from the device itself)…

Now I'd like to ask to DoCoMo, Softbank, AU, HTC and Microsoft what the hell is going on? Why don’t you offer ROM upgrades, even a paid ones, while others, like Apple and Google, offers them in Japan? Apparently the certification process isn't that tough, maybe Microsoft doesn't care much about the Japanese market after all?

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JVC's Stylish New iPod Cradle Speaker

JVC seems to be quite productive lately, and I admit their new XS-SR3 Series (White and Black), made for iPods (Mini, Nano, Photo, Video, Classic and Touch) is really beautiful… Just look at it, JVC hired some talented designers, and on top of all always offers excellent audio products…

Anyway, back to our XS-SR3 series, a 2.5Wx2 cradle speaker, features an analog and digital external input, DSP and even sports the Virtual Dolby Surround logo!

Thanks to its remote you can fully control your music experience from the comfort of your sofa…

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