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Does the
refrigerator light stay on or go off when you close
the door? The common-sense answer is “off,”
and that is what they all did until fresh thinking
at Mitsubishi Electric found a reason for them to
stay on—at least in the vegetable drawer..
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| Vegetables
stored in the new refrigerator (right)
stay fresher looking. |
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The company has just announced
several refrigerators that boost the levels of vitamin
C, chlorophyll and other nutrition-related compounds
in vegetables during storage. Reflecting the consumer
trend toward healthier eating, Mitsubishi Electric
product planners looked for ways to actually increase
the vitamin content of vegetables. Once they had
the new perspective, the solution was relatively
simple.
Research showed that the light’s
color was important: The orange light creates chlorophyll
in vegetables without inducing them to grow. A small
bank of LEDs in the roof of the vegetable drawer
produces light at a wavelength of 590 nanometers
(orange). Mitsubishi Electric found that after three
days, the vitamin-C level in broccoli sprouts stored
in their new refrigerator was 50% higher than in
a conventional refrigerator.
LEDs are perfect for this application.
Being extremely energy efficient, they use almost
no electricity and produce insignificant heat. Japanese
consumers have welcomed the new technology by boosting
sales of Mitsubishi Electric’ main refrigerator
line by about 50%.
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It
is not easy being a newspaper, squeezed as they
are between television and the Internet. To stay
successful you have to move quickly, do it cheaply
and offer something different, like high-quality
color pictures. This is why Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
has received its first international order for the
DIAMONDSTAR newspaper offset press. This press is
to be delivered to Comprint Printing, a member of
the Post-Newsweek Media Inc.’s Community Newspaper
Group, which is a division of The Washington Post,
in the eastern United States.
Comprint publishes 42 weekly newspapers
in seven counties throughout Maryland, and is also
a leading commercial printer in the Washington D.C.
area. The DIAMONDSTAR is not only the world’s
fastest newspaper offset press, rated at 90,000
copies per hour, but is also highly regarded for
its high resolution production of illustrations
and photographs. In addition, the press achieves
25% less paper loss than competing presses, and
uses 15% less electricity—cost-saving features
which have made it the company’s best-selling
newspaper offset press.
The DIAMONDSTAR, which can print 96
pages of color in broadsheet newspaper format, has
the capacity to handle multiple web widths, an advantage
that will afford Comprint greater flexibility to
print newspapers and other commercial publications
of various page sizes.
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The
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (BTM), a subsidiary of
Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. (MTFG),
has introduced a novel and extremely convenient
new channel for consulting services— available
even in the evenings, at weekends and on public
holidays when many find it most convenient to
bank.
Telebank
is a new financial service channel that utilizes
broadband technology to provide a remote, face-to-face
style counter service that operates in a manner
similar to teleconferencing. Telebank booths at
ATM lobbies also contain printers, scanners and
card readers to provide high-level services and
privacy. The service began with various basic
activities such as opening a new BTM account or
carrying out address changes, and additional Telebank
services have been and are being added steadily.
These include foreign-currency deposit services,
investment trust services and consulting services
such as housing loans.
In the future, BTM plans to provide
customers with access to the comprehensive financial
services of MTFG through Telebank terminals providing
the services of other MTFG companies, including
Mitsubishi Securities and DC Cash One, a consumer
credit company.
Along with the steady enhancement
of Telebank services, the number of BTM branches
with Telebank service will reach 40 by September
2005, extending to full domestic branch coverage
by March 2007.
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Nikon
brings excitement to amateur photographers with
the introduction of the Nikon D50, a new entry-level
interchangeable-lens digital SLR camera with the
features, size and affordability that make it an
ideal camera for families. With the D50, it is easier
than ever to produce outstanding picture quality
easily and instantly. And, by offering expanded
options, the new camera offers everyone a chance
to experience the kind of exceptional results only
available with digital SLR photography.
The new camera combines the outstanding
optical performance available only from renowned
Nikkor interchangeable lenses with the latest generation
of electronics that bring both power and simplicity
to camera operation. Together, these features help
free the photographer to concentrate on the spirit
of a special moment.
With its
compact, lightweight design, the new D50 is easy
to carry, while its body contours and easily accessible
controls provide handling efficiency and easy operation.
Newly designed on-screen menus present clear and
helpful user information in plain language on the
camera’s large 2.0-inch LCD monitor, and intuitive
help dialogs are available for on-the-spot reference
to the respective menu selections.
It features a user-selectable “Child”
mode, for memorable pictures, complete with ideal
vivid color and contrast, and shooting at up to
2.5 frames per second to capture fleeting expressions.
Full manual exposure control is also available,
allowing wide creative freedom.
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The
Mitsubishi Monitor has reported on efforts by financial
institutions to use biometric data to augment their
ATM personal security and protect their customers
from identity theft and unauthorized withdrawals.
A new Mitsubishi Electric reader that scans fingerprints
without physical contact offers a quick and compact
solution that may find wide acceptance among consumers.
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The
new fingerprint reader scans the unique features
of a person’s finger and is the first to do
so without touching skin. It will hit the market
this autumn, where it may be used to enhance security
measures not only at financial institutions, but
also at airports, offices and other facilities requiring
personal or physical security. Being compact and
requiring no physical contact, it combines superior
ergonomic performance and wide public acceptability.
The new device
works by optically detecting the changes in light
transmittance in the skin tissue according to fingerprint
dents and bumps. The user inserts a finger into
the reader and an LED light shines through the finger
to a scanner on the fingerprint side that analyzes
the convex and concave patterns of the skin layer
below the surface. This “internal feature
detecting” technology considerably increases
the recognition rate even without direct contact
with the sensor, and wet fingers will still result
in accurate detection.
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Export
Credit Insurance Tie-up
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance became
the first Japanese company in the trade insurance
market, under a joint exclusive cooperation agreement
with Atradius N.V., the world’s number-two
credit insurer. The partners are developing export
credit insurance business in Japan. They have sold
commercial and political-risk insurance for export
transactions to companies in Japan since April 2005.
The company and Atradius plan to offer
a broad range of services to customers as a result
of the recently announced liberalization of the
Japanese export credit insurance market. Business
development will be built upon the company’s
extensive network as the leading non-life insurer
in Japan and the experience and competence developed
by Atradius in its worldwide operations.
Kirin Moves Deeper
into Asian Healthcare
With the increase of population and development
of health insurance systems, the ASEAN pharmaceuticals
market is expected to grow by more than 10% on an
annual basis. Kirin has already begun pharmaceutical
business in China, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong through
100%-capitalized subsidiaries and joint ventures
with local partners.
The company is now further expanding
its pharmaceutical operations on the world stage
by launching new business in six countries of ASEAN,
which are expected to enjoy growing pharmaceutical
markets in the coming years.
Kirin plans to maximize its business
value by taking different approaches to each market—selling
via local agents in four countries, and via overseas
subsidiaries in two countries.
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