Is it possible? A PC even smaller than the Mac mini? Of course. A newcomer, minipc.jp, has presented their first machine: the CF700. It's smaller than a Mac mini, but comes with a few surprises.

Links International has announced a new case for ATX motherboards that is actually the same size as a case for microATX motherboards. How did they do it? They put the power source in the front! Makes you wonder why nobody else thought of this earlier...

Not specifically Japanese news per se, but interesting nonetheless: Mercury Computer Systems announced that they are the first company to partner with IBM to offer the acclaimed (well, by some people) Cell processor in PCs. We all know the Playstation 3 is powered by one of these bad boys, but it could be interesting to see what sort of capabilities the processor has in the PC world. Mercury's press release doesn't mention anything about consumer-level systems, but I'm sure some crazy company will come along and offer a product the "rest of us" can afford.

Their press release is available here in English, so I'm home free.

Sharp has a new type of Mebius o­n the horizon -- the home theater version. The "Mebius PC-TX32" includes a 32" LCD, doubles as a hybrid recorder, and appears to offer all sorts of nifty HTPC functionality. More details inside.

Fujitsu is gearing up to release o­ne of the most powerful A/V desktop PCs ever released -- the TX90L/D is the first desktop to support the direct recording of terrestrial digital broadcasts, including 1080i HDTV broadcasts. I might also mention it has a 32" widescreen LCD.

IDC Japan has announced the results of their survey of PC shipments in Japan during 2004. In total, approximately 13.4 millions PCs were sold with notebooks outselling desktops by a margin of 140,000 units. 2004 was a bumper year for sales at Dell and HP Japan but things weren't so good at Sony and Apple. Just goes to show good design doesn't count for everything.

Looking like something from a Kubrick or Ridley Scott film, ASUS’s new VENTO 3600 is sure to appeal to the home-built market who also care about style and design. However, good looking things cost a good amount of money.

NEC has a new line of compact tower PCs intended for business users, equipped with the Intel 915GV chipset.

So what's to like? The 66mm form factor.

Well, here's some new line of recycled PCs from NEC which feature enhanced security options. I feel so secure.