By Juniper Foo
17/05/2007
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/pcperipherals/0,39051168,62013390,00.htm

TOKYO, JAPAN--In a nod to the ever-fluid world of technology needs, Fujitsu has adopted for 2007 the theme of "Field Innovation: Converting IT-enabled Innovation into Business Value".

	Fujitsu also unveils its first UMPC at the Forum.

While this may sound dry and uninspiring to the observer, the spirit behind the meaning was made more than clear when Fujitsu Ltd chairman Naoyuki Akikusa opened the two-day Fujitsu Forum 2007 on Tuesday. In a keynote, he remarked that corporate and national competitiveness will increasingly lie in the ability to innovate the real world and that values are shifting from components to integration.

This is Fujitsu's third forum since it first began in 2005. In line with the call to globalize, this is also a first for the Japanese company to invite the global press. For the past two shows, Fujitsu has focused on the Japanese market. Now it says it is looking beyond Japan, with China clearly writ large in its books. At least 20 Chinese publications were represented at the forum.

The event lines up a series of seminars and showcases the company's latest ideas on how field innovation helps integrate people, processes and IT in five areas including Frontline Business Innovation and Universal Design and Environmental Activities.

Here're some favorites that caught our eye.

Castor oil eco materials

Fujitsu made its own green mark when it launched the first environmentally friendly, plant-based, plastic casing--using polylactic acid made from corn back in mid-2005. The new material was featured in the FMV-BIBLO NB notebook. Flushed with succcess, it went on to expand the use of this eco-friendly material in all four sides of the PC casing. This material will continue to be used in the company's Spring 2007 units. Moving beyond corn, Fujitsu is now experimenting with another highly flexible plant-based plastic from castor oil. This made its debut in the dust cover of the USB port on notebook PCs released this January.

Photocatalyst in notebooks

More green-friendly efforts from Fujitsu. This one utilizes a widely employed photocatalyst called titanium oxide which uses ultraviolet light to break down odors and dirt into carbon dioxide and water by oxidation. It can even detoxify materials by dissolving viruses and bacteria as well as their remains and toxins. Working hand in hand with Tokyo University's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the duo have come up with the Photocatalytic Titanium Apatite. This enhanced photocatalyst, combined with silver-apatite, allows the paint on a notebook to break down dirt when exposed to light and kill germs even indoors or in dim places where bacteria thrives.

FPcode

Here's something that makes a Sherlock Holmes out of users. But it's all Q.E.D. (quite easily done). The Fine Picture code (FPcode) embeds hidden content that is not visible on the printed surface, and could include photographs, illustrations, logos and other images. Nor does it require any additional printing devices or special readers. All it needs is a camera-phone or PC with Webcam loaded with the FPcode reader application, with which you scan the printed material. And voila, enriched content such as video, sound, images and text can be accessed. In the case of the demo, a Fujitsu rep scanned a poster of SMAP pop member Takuya Kimura with an FPcode-installed camera-phone, and unearthed a link to a Web page. Upon closer inspection, you can almost make out the faint yellow dots on the poster where the encoded data is "hidden".

UBWall

Fujitsu's UBWall is essentially a touch-panel large-screen display that acts like an interactive interface with consumers. Currently being trialed in Gunma prefecture, the panel works together with a FeliCa unit (contact-less IC card phone). By touch-selecting content on the screen, you can use your mobile phone to download information such as coupons, reward points, map information, bargains, Web site links, even screensavers. According to a Fujitsu Japan executive manning the booth, the country currently has 30 million users with i-mode phones that have an IC chip. This makes the UBWall a viable interface device between vendor and customer.

Earthquake alert

With earthquakes becoming more frequent, early warning information can guide damage-mitigating actions. With Japan being a land of frequent quakes, Fujitsu has been spurred on to develop an anti-earthquake strategy for maintaining business continuity. The system uses pop-up clients on the PC to alert the user of a pending quake. Tied to a meteorological agency, the system is able to calculate and display the expected arrival time of secondary waves at each affected site and the Richter Scale. In addition, any Microsoft Office files that are open are automatically saved while the computers are shut down prior to the quake.

FLEPia

This takes off from Fujitsu's color electronic paper launched in July 2005. These mobile information terminals are not only thin, thanks to the e-paper technology in use, they are lightweight with a large display. Battery life is a decent 50 hours, and content can be easily downloaded from the Web for easy viewing, much like an e-book reader though without the latter's disadvantages. Display resolution is XGA (768 x 1,024 pixels), with eight or 4,096 colors. The terminals are currently available in A5 (8 inches) and A4 size (12 inches). Applications touted include work instructions at a factory or distribution center, e-newspaper, advertising and business documents.