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Panasonic is already a sizable company, but they are going to get that little bit bigger with the confirmed takeover of Sanyo.  Sanyo have been struggling recently, and it’s probably not a coincidence that their downturn coincides with the economic crisis that we are facing.  Nevertheless, they are still worth a substantial $18.5 billion which will boost Panasonic’s value to around $107.8 billion, making it one of the biggest consumer electronics companies.

The reason behind this is that this takeover will give Panasonic access to two key technologies in the shape of solar panels and batteries which will help them greatly in their own hand-held electronic products, in fact, Sanyo is the market leader in the manufacture of rechargeable batteries.  They will also acquire a company specializing in portable gadgets which generates $4 billion per annum in revenue.  Continued after the break.

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  This is where we call out the tech moves that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity.  Here is what caught my eye this week:

Follow to see me call out:

• LG and its ridiculously square phone
• AT&T thinks Android is on crack
• Sprint thinks we want to watch football (American) on our phones.
• Moto wants to be on crack
• and our own Natesh who finds more than his share of obscure gadgetry

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Recently, Sanyo announced a new GPS for their Gorilla lineup of GPSs.  One of the main and special features about the new NVA-GS1580FT is its screen size—a nice, sexy 7-inch touch screen. 

In addition, it comes with 4GB of internal hard drive space and plays both DVD’s and CD’s.  The DVD playback on this GPS would definitely look really nice as it comes with a 7 inch screen for your viewing pleasure.  Also, it can play MP3, WMA, and AAC files.  Furthermore, it comes with a dual TV tuner - 12Seg/1Seg and terrestrial turner and comes with an integrated amplifier.

It is set to be available on November 20 for an undisclosed price. 

Via [Akihabara News]

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Despite media reports across the world, Panasonic is remaining mum on the question of whether they are indeed planning acquire Sanyo.  Reuters and the Tokyo press are reporting that their sources say the deal is done and will be formally announced in a press conference on Friday.

Sanyo, the world’s largest manufacturer of lithium ion batteries, has been struggling and would most likely welcome the sale.  The new company that will result will become Japan’s largest electronics manufacturer and prove a formidable rival of Hitachi.  Together the two companies would have revenues of over 11 trillion yen, which equals a little over $100 million US.

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In efforts to add to their Gorilla lineup of GPSs, Sanyo has added the NV-BD600DT to the mix. Currently, their Gorilla lineup is only available in Japan.

One of the main features of this GPS is its screen size, which measures in at a very nice 5.8 inches. Additionally, it comes with 4GB of internal memory, 1 Seg TV Tuner, built-in speakers, SD expansion, real time traffic updates, and an FM transmitter. Furthermore, it also plays audio in the formats of MP3 and WMA, and displays JPEG pictures. Again, it is set to only be available in the Japanese market, just like the other models in the Gorilla lineup. It will be available on October 21st, however, there hasn’t been a confirmed price.

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Recently, Sanyo announced its new PLV-Z3000 LCD Projector featuring a 120Hz full HD 1080p display resolution and a 5:5 pull down for producing images as true to the source as possible. Sanyo boasts that this is the industry’s first LCD projector to have the 5:5 pull down feature.

With a 5:5 pull-down mode, the PLV-Z3000 can increase the smoothness of video even if the source includes scenes with a tremendous amount of motion. Thanks to the projector’s “Dynamic Predictive Frame Interpolation Technology” which predicts motion differences between frames, it enables the projector to generate five interpolated images to fill the gaps. These extra images improve resolution and eliminate motion artifacts. Additionally, Sanyo claims that this projector can take 24 fps material from HDTV broadcasts and display the content in movie theater quality.

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Popular Japanese company, Sanyo (which is an average U.S. GPS company), has come out with a new GPS exclusively for the States called the Easy Street NVM-4370. One of the features that stood out to me in the NVM-4370 is its width, which is a lean 0.72 inches.

In addition to its uber-thinness, it comes loaded with a lot of other cool features such as a 4.3-inch touch screen, text-to-speech capabilities, Bluetooth connectivity, video input, a database of over 7 million POI’s, photo displayer, FM transmitter, SDHC memory expansion, 4 hour battery life, and audio/video playback. It also comes with something called Advanced Search, which includes Near Location, Along Route, and By Category searches. Some of the main features about this GPS is its slim form factor, multimedia playback, and economic price, which I will get to in a moment.

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Sanyo is updating its ultra-compact Xacti E-series camera with the release of the Xacti E2 camcorder to the North American market. This palm-sized camcorder can capture 640x480 H.264 video at up to 60fps. Perhaps the most notable feature of the Xacti E2 is of course its resistance to water even if you subject the camera at up to a five feet depth for an hour.

Other features of the Xacti E2 include live face detection and an underwater mode that adjusts the colors to prevent photos from getting tints whenever the camcorder is subjected into the water. In addition, the Xacti E2 also features a 5x zoom lens, digital image stabilization, a 2.5-inch flip-out LCD, face chaser technology, rapid-fire photo mode and support for SDHC storage of up to 8GB. The Xacti E2 also comes bundled with Adobe Premier Element software.

The Sanyo Xacti E2 will set you back $399. It’s available now online at Amazon with a list price of $391.83.

Product [Amazon] Via [CrunchGear]

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Sanyo has announced its latest Xacti camcorder, the 8-megapixel touting DMX-HD800 which is sort of an upgrade from the previously released Xacti HD700. Aside from its 8-megapixel high-speed CMOS sensor with 5x optical zoom, the HD800 features video recording with a maximum of 720p (1280 x 720) high-definition resolution and a 2.7-inch TFT display.

We are also looking at an Xacti model with face detection and an anti-shake feature, it has support SDHC cards up to 32GB in capacity, high ISO with up to 1800 sensitivity, comes bundled with Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0 and an optional AV kit that lets you connect the HD800 onto your TV sets via HDMI. Additionally, this camcorder comes with a lithium-ion battery that would let you take 250 photos and up to 90 minutes of video in MPEG-4 format per charge.

The Xacti DMX-HD800 will be available in Japan on August 22, in Gold, Pink or Black colors. Unfortunately no official word yet as to whether this camcorder will be released internationally.

Via [I4U]

• Who’s On Crack in tech: 11.07.08 edition
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Modern homes are not complete without a digital photo frame –- now, Japanese homes can enjoy a 7-inch digital version from Sanyo.

Sanyo’s LVF-PF71 is 325 grams light and sized at 200×20×133mm with an LCD display 7 inches in size (480×234 resolution).  The device supports SD and Memory Stick memory cards. JPEGs can be viewed in customizable intervals between 5 seconds and 24 hours.

The LVF-PF71 is priced at $145 (MSRP).

Read [CrunchGear]

• Who’s On Crack in tech: 11.07.08 edition
• Panasonic confirms Sanyo takeover
• Sanyo announces new 7 inch Gorilla GPS