Sammy, July 24th is analogue TV cut-off date in Japan Thanks for keeping Palm Addicts going for so long! As a PalmAddict reader, we are all users of technology, so we love to try out new products. However, as people concerned about the environment, we are always concerned about the long-term sustainability of our technology.
So, when we get new products, we do not want to harm the environment by simply chucking away the old products. Often, we can sell the old products to users who don't need the latest features, or we can keep them as spares. But very soon in Japan, some old technology will soon become worthless. This is the transition from analogue to digital TV, which I believe happened in America last year.
In our case, the cut-off of old-style TV happens on 24th July (except in some areas of the earthquake-hit Tohoku area). If you are still using an old TV, you can see warning messages above and below the screen, and now they have a big count-down in the corner saying "this analogue transmission will cease in **16** days". Obviously the old living room CRT TV is junk, and I already get better TV on my iMac with a USB tuner, but I may get a new big-arse telly once the queues at the electronics goods shops die down. The bedroom TV is too good so I got a plug-in tuner for the new digital-only age.
The biggest problem is that my wife loves to watch TV in the bath. Come 24th July her waterproof "Shower TV" is trash. The nearest equivalent you can buy now costs about the same as an iPad, but all it can do is watch "One-Seg" TV, which is a low-quality version of digital broadcasts. So instead, we have an AquaPac waterproof holder for an iPad, and a plug-in "One-Seg" TV module. This turns the iPad into a TV, but with a bigger screen and at lower cost than any "shower TV" currently available in Japan.
The plug-in "One-Seg" TV module also works with an iPhone or an iPod Touch. As I mentioned to you during the earthquake and Tsunami in March, people in Japan are trained to check out TV reports when there is an earthquake, so having this module makes survival easier.