Microsoft Research Develops Tactile Touch Screen

Touch-based smartphones and tablets have transformed the way users interact with computers. But in the story of touch-based computing, we’re only at version 1.0.

While software applications can receive feedback from our fingers, our fingers receive zero feedback from the virtual fruits they slice in Fruit Ninja.

Products that integrate senses other than hearing and sight with technology have been in the works for years. Smell-O-Vision, which sought to engage the nostrils as well as the pupils back in 1959, seemed like a good idea but ultimately flopped.

Can tactile touch screens succeed where Smell-O-Vision failed?

Microsoft Researchers think so. Scientists in the company’s Natural Interaction Research group have created the Actuated 3-D Display with Haptic Feedback. The company detailed its finding in an article on the Microsoft Research site.

Haptic technology, “which simulates the sense of touch through tactile feedback mechanisms,” according to the researchers, allows computers to mimic physical characteristics of objects in the same way that they visually mimic photographs.

In one demonstration of the technology, a user is able to feel three different virtual boxes with three different textures.

One project application consisted of three virtual 3-D boxes, each with different virtual weights and friction forces corresponding to their supposed material: stone, wood, and sponge. Users could push with a finger on the screen into the virtual space until they encountered one of the boxes, and the device simulated the appropriate resistance through force feedback as the user pushed at each box.

The force-feedback monitor responds to convey the sensation of different materials: The stone block “feels” hard to the touch and requires more force to push, while the sponge block is soft and easy to push.

Some of the potential use cases for such technology include healthcare, for example, scanning the brain for tumors by discriminating hard tissue from soft tissue, and, of course, gaming.

Imagine playing Tomb Raider and actually struggling to push a boulder up a hill because the screen is pushing back. Combined with Microsoft’s motion-sensing peripheral, Kinect, game makers could create all kinds of new games to engage haptic technology.

from:NJYTOUCH

Wintek to benefit from Google and Amazon touch panel orders

Way back at last year’s GDC we got our first look atSpiral Episode 1, an action RPG from Pixel Hero Gamesbuilt in the Unreal Engine. At that time, even though it was early in its development, Spiral looked and played great, offering a unique visual style and made for touchscreencontrols. A few months later and the first trailer for Spiral was released, still looking great, with a planned release of its first episode late in the year.

Well 2012 came and went but even though it was a bit past its intended time Spiral Episode 1 has finally launched in international App Stores and will be heading to the US later tonight. I went ahead and grabbed it and checked out the first chunk of the game, and so far I’m pretty impressed by what’s here.

You, as a character named Tempus, start out in a surreal dream world which acts as a tutorial to teach you how to play. Controls are pretty simple: tap somewhere in the environment to move to that point, double-tap to run, and tap on your character to stop moving. You can also drag around on the screen to look around. After you make your way through this brief dream world you’ll awaken on a train, which is the same level we’ve played in early builds previously.

You find out, through talking with your internal AI lady, that the narcoleptic episodes like the one you’ve just experienced have been happening more frequently, and have raised the suspicion of some guards on the train you’re riding. Apparently there is some precious cargo being transported on this train, and it’s up to you to find out what it is and what it’s for. Your immediate job is to talk with others on the train to gather more information.

When that doesn’t really lead anywhere, a sudden explosion takes over your full attention. After inspecting the explosion in the cargo hold you’re told that enemies are attacking from the roof of the train. You quickly find a way up there yourself to do battle, and this is when Spiral really starts to open up.

Combat in Spiral is simple, but fun. Tap an enemy to perform a light attack, or tap them repeatedly to pull off a combo. In addition, tap and hold on an enemy to perform a heavy attack or tap and hold on yourself to charge up a special blast that can hurt multiple enemies that are in your radius. Depending on how far away the enemies are that you’re attacking, you’ll automatically perform a melee or ranged attack. There’s a stamina bar to worry about too, along with a health bar, so you can’t just go nuts tapping enemies because eventually you’ll become exhausted.

During this train sequence there’s also a mini-boss fight of sorts, against a hovercopter. Here your position is fixed and you must swipe to aim at the copter using tap gestures similar to the normal combat to fire at it. Shortly after this you’ll square off against another group of baddies and that draws the first chapter to an end.

My initial thoughts after playing through that first chapter are that I’m excited to see where Spiral goes. The storyline seems intriguing and is entirely voice-acted, though it’s of mixed quality. Visually the game is fantastic, though my iPhone 5 felt like it was having a meltdown after just about 20 minutes of playing. Chalk that up to the Unreal Engine, I suppose. Combat is deeper than it first appeared, but still I’m somewhat worried about it being a mindless tap-fest. Your character gains experience through playing and can level up his attributes, so there might be much more to the combat as I continue to progress.

If you’re looking for a new RPG-ish adventure with plenty of action and an interesting story, I think Spiral will fit that bill. I’m eager to dive in deeper, and if it’s caught your attention as well then add it to your TouchArcade [Free] app Watch List to get an alert when it hits the US App Store tonight, or swing by the forums for even more early impressions and discussion.

from:NJYTOUCH

A common complaint about the new MacBook Air is the lack of a touch screen

    The MacBook Air recently released is a laptop that sets the bar for the genre. Even with all that Apple has accomplished with the new laptop, a common complaint is the lack of a touch screen. The support for touch screens in Windows 8 is creating an expectation that laptops need to have them. The fact is that OS X handles multi-touch on a trackpad better than Windows 8 does on a touch screen.

I can already hear the cries of discontent over my statement that OS X handles touch operation better than Windows 8. There are no doubt Windows 8 users that find touch operation to be quite nice on touch screenlaptops. While I agree that it is adequate on Windows 8, I firmly believe that touch operation on MacBooks is better.

Apple has perfected the use of touch gestures on the big trackpads found on all current MacBooks. After only a short period of learning the gestures, OS X is wonderful to control with them. This operation, coupled with the intelligent use running apps in the full-screen mode, makes the MacBook (Air or Pro) simple, intuitive, and delightful to use.

Moving from one full-screen app to another is as simple as swiping left or right with three fingsers. That’s how I have my Macs configured, anyway, as the number of fingers can be set to however many feels right for each user.

If too many apps are open and swiping doesn’t get to the desired app quickly, simply swipe up on the trackpad with three fingers to get to Mission Control. This presents all running apps and the dashboard, allowing instant teleportation to the desired app by tapping it. It’s possible to rearrange the order of the apps by dragging one to the desired position on the Mission Control screen. I do this to put my two apps accessed most often side-by-side so the left/right swipe gesture mentioned above swoops back and forth.

When I need to run an app, the dock at the bottom of the main screen is convenient. Even easier, pinching on the trackpad with the thumb and three fingers fires up the Launchpad. This shows all installed apps on pages that can be cycled by swiping left and right. It’s similar to the home screens on the iPad except all apps are presented alphabetically. Reversing the pinch gesture collapses the Launchpad, as does tapping on an app to run it.

What makes the Mission Control and Launchpad more efficient than similar operations on Windows 8 is that the Mac utilities can be accessed from any screen. There’s no need to go back to the main screen (or Start screen on Windows 8), you can get anywhere with an intuitive gesture on the trackpad from any screen or app.

Touch operation in the Safari browser on the Mac is great. The pinch/zoom gesture works in Safari just like it works on the iPad, and there’s a good reason that has become the standard. It is particularly handy on the 11-inch MacBook Air, zooming in as needed and back out again.

The two-finger left/right swiping in Safari is a great way to move back-and-forth among web pages. This is complete with a graphical animation of the next/last web page moving into view. That’s not just fluff, it makes it possible to see at a glance if the upcoming page is the one you want.

The touch gestures discussed in this article are only the ones I use most, there are others that contribute to the utility of touch operation on the Mac. The operation is not only intuitive, simple, and practical, it quickly becomes natural. What may be important to some Mac users, virtually all of the touch gestures are configurable by the user to make them feel the most natural. Equally important is how most of them are optional for those who don’t want touch control.

I like using my HP Envy x2 with both a touch screen and good trackpad. Microsoft has done a decent job making its latest OS work with both types of controls. But there are some tasks that are more natural to execute using the touch screen, and others the trackpad. It’s a mixed bag using touch on Windows 8.

I use both Windows 8 and OS X on the Mac, and the latter is clearly superior to me. Touch operation on Windows 8, both the touch screen and trackpad, feels like Microsoft tried too hard to make it work on all device types. While it works, it never feels natural nor works as well as touch control on the Mac.

from:NJYTOUCH

CONVERTIBLE OR TOUCHSCREEN LAPTOP IS BETTER?

It’s that time again. Every two years I go out and get a new laptop, as by then my old laptop starts to show the wear and tear of me banging on it for 24 or so months. This year, I really felt like changing it up. After maybe a decade of using industrial-strength laptops (usually Thinkpads), I went with a Toshiba Satellite last time. Now, I am ready to move to a whole different class of machine. I was never a Mac guy, so I have been looking at options in Windows 8 machines.

I originally thought I would buy a convertible laptop that could double as a Windows tablet as well. Something like the Lenovo Yoga or a Dell Ultrabook XPS, for instance. After looking at what was available at a decent price, though, I have decided they are not ready quite yet. I will explain more below.  Instead, I have started looking at touchscreen Ultrabooks to take advantage of the Windows 8 touch interface (is advantage even the right word?). The problem is I am having as much trouble finding one I like in this class as well.

I have to do something, as the tab and caps lock keys are falling out of my Toshiba, while the display goes from bright to dim on its own and the damn thing reboots randomly. Truth be told, I never did like the Toshiba. I find it hard to type on. The multi-touch touchpad constantly has me messing up the screen and losing my work. The machine was not officially listed as Windows 8 upgradeable. I am not a fan of it. The question is where do I go next?

In terms of the convertibles, my issue is that most of them selling for a thousand dollars or so are inadequate. They feature Intel Core i3 or i5 (I have decided I need a 5) or if you want to pay high-end an i7. Most of them come with 4GB of RAM. I just don’t think that is enough memory. The problem is that it’s impossible to add more memory to most of these models. You are talking soldering the motherboard. They are just not expandable. In terms of hard drives, most of the convertibles feature SSD drives. That is great. They are blazing fast! The problem in the sub-$1,000 class, they are usually just 128GB. Going to even 256 GB is a budget buster. That is fine for my tablet, but I will blow by that pretty quickly on my laptop I think. On top of this, they just don’t look very durable. I can see myself twisting the screen right off and breaking them.

Overall, for the convenience or cool factor of having a convertible, you are trading off by getting neither a great laptop nor a great tablet. To really get something good, you are looking closer to $2,000. For that money, I figure I can buy both a great laptop and a great tablet.

So I then turned my attention to getting a good touchscreen model. There are lots of choices. You can get monsters that have 15-inch screens and larger. They have the horsepower in terms of CPU and RAM. Many of them have traditional SATA drives of 500GB or better and some even have a hybrid with a 24GB to 30GB SSD drive that serves as a super cache. It lets you boot up quickly and speed up performance. I love that idea. The touchscreens are nice. Windows 8 really lends itself to the touchscreen. Most of these models have optical drives for discs, SD or other microdisk slots and USB 3.0 and HDMI slots. LAN and wireless included. All for anywhere from $650 to $900. That is a great price.

The problem is I don’t feel like schlepping this brick around with me. To me, this is no different then what I have been carrying through security in airports for the last 10 years. I just don’t want that.

Instead, I started looking at Ultrabooks. These are smaller devices with screens 13 inches or smaller. They don’t have optical drives, so no CDs or discs. The higher-end models have only SSD drives, 128GB or 256GB. Again, this is a problem for me. Some of them, though, have SATA drives and hybrid SSD. That is what I am zeroing in on. The problem is many of them only come with 4GB of RAM and are not upgradeable. Another issue for me is some of them have smaller keys that are not backlit. I have fat fingers. I need full-size keys. I also type a lot in rooms without the light on and need my keyboard to light up. I want the touchscreen to be snappy and the glass has to feel strong (Gorilla Glass if possible).

Finding a box that has all of this has proven very difficult. I have spent a lot of time looking and still have not bought one.  I came very close today. I was at Tiger Direct  (formerly CompUSA) and saw a really sweet, brushed aluminum Sony VAIO Ultrabook. It has everything I was looking for except a backlit keyboard. It was on sale for $699. I was ready to pull the trigger and get my hands on my newest toy. I asked the salesmen to bring two to the sales register and I will take them both – one for me and one for my partner in the CISO Group. Don’t you know it, they only had one left ;-(  I had them check other stores, online, everywhere. No good – this was the last machine they had. I couldn’t get one for me and not my partner. So I left empty-handed.

If you have a suggestion for a good Ultrabook touchscreen that fits the above requirements let me know. In the meantime I will just keep looking.

from:NJYTOUCH

Intel could make $200 touchscreen PCs a reality

Ultrabooks currently cost upwards $1,000, but Intel thinks super-thin laptops could soon cost as little as $200.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

To give the badly slumping PC market a much-need jolt, Intel is thinking about using one of the most effective tools in its arsenal: lowering chip prices.

Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) chips can make up as much as 33% of a PC's cost, according to supply chain analysis firm IHS. That means the chipmaker has the power to lower PC prices drastically.

It might do just that. On a conference call with investors last month, former CEO Paul Otellini floated the idea of bringing $200 ultra-thin touchscreen notebooks to the market by the end of 2013.

Intel has been pushing the super-fast and super-thin ultrabook. But ultrabook sales have disappointed, with many pundits blaming price points of as much as $1,000.

A lower-end device that's similar to an ultrabook may be the key. Otellini was careful to note that a $200 device would have to use an "Atom" line of chips typically reserved for phones and tablets. That goes against Intel's strict definition of what an actual ultrabook should be, but those cheap ultrabooks could include other desirable features like a touchscreen and thin form factor.

IHS made the case that Intel can -- and should -- consider cutting the price of its PC parts to get to that $200 price point.

"A price point that low seems far-fetched considering the mobile PC prices of today," Craig Stice, IHS's senior principal analyst for computing programs, wrote in a recent report. But he pointed out that netbooks came down to $200 even at the height of their popularity. The small PCs enjoyed quite a bit of popularity before tablets essentially killed them in 2010.

A similar pricing model for ultrabooks could "support a no-frills type of ultrathin PC," Stice added.

PC makers would have to do their part as well, perhaps by sacrificing some profit margin to order to sell more PCs. But with the manufacturers on board, the industry may finally be able to stave off the tablet's cannibalization of the PC market..

At $200, an "ultrathin" or "ultraslim" type of device would be in line with the cost of those lower end tablets like the Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) Kindle Fire or Barnes & Noble(BKS, Fortune 500) Nook Tablet.

Richard Shim, a senior analyst with NPD Display Search, isn't convinced that a $200 touch PC is definitely achievable. But if it is, they likely still won't cannibalize tablet sales, he said.

"In markets that are already mature, a lot of people have both a PC and a tablet," Shim said. "And even in emerging markets, which have been the driver of growth for the PC industry and notebooks in particular, first-time buyers are being offered low-cost tablets that already pack a lot of computing power."

Stice, the IHS analyst, agreed.

"It would have to be a pretty notable turnaround for even these low-cost PCs to hurt tablets significantly," Stice said. "It's probably not a matter of media tablets cannibalized, but maybe a little more of a balance where PCs and tablets can live in the market together happily."

Even if a media tablet takeover isn't possible, the emergence of $200 ultraslim would be part of recent, much needed innovation in the PC market, Shim said.

"Before the ultrabooks and tablets, the market hadn't been that dynamic in the past few years," Shim said. "I think we'll look back on this year in particular and say it really laid the groundwork of change for the next few years." 

from:NJYTOUCH

UNIPIXEL TO FEATURE UNIBOSS TOUCH SCREEN TECHNOLOGY

THE WOODLANDS, TX–(Marketwired – Jun 4, 2013) - UniPixel, Inc. (NASDAQ: UNXL), a provider of Performance Engineered Films™ to the touch screen, flexible printed electronics, and lighting and display markets, will attend Computex Taipei in Taiwan on June 4-8, 2013, where it will showcase product samples and prototypes of its UniBoss™ pro-cap, multi-touch sensor film.

The company will demonstrate its 10.1″ and 13.3″ UniBoss prototypes, as well as meet with touch-screen customers and supply chain members. While UniBoss offers linear cost scalability from pocket-size mobile devices to large desktop displays, these two prototype form factors target the highest growth segment of the market. DisplayBank forecasts the overall touch panel market to grow at 11% CAGR to reach $20.0 billion by 2015, whereas the market for 10.2″ to 20.0″ sizes is expected to grow at more than six times that rate, at a CAGR of 71% to $1.9 billion.

“The new UniBoss prototypes we’re showcasing at Computex are the same prototypes we presented at the Cowen and Craig-Hallum conferences last week,” noted Reed Killion, president and CEO of UniPixel. “At these events, more than 100 institutional investors, analysts and money managers experienced these prototypes first-hand. So, we expect the feedback we’ll receive at Computex to also be the same, that these UniBoss performance film-based prototypes are impressive, that they do not show any extraneous effects when viewing the display, and that their responsiveness is spot-on.”

These new prototype demonstrations reveal the remarkable progress the company has achieved over the course of the last several months towards the worldwide commercial roll-out of its UniBoss touch screen technology. “We’ve signed multi-million dollar preferred price and capacity license agreements with two Fortune 100 companies that are global technology leaders, reflecting their extensive evaluation of UniBoss’ advanced performance characteristics,” said Killion. “We’ve also qualified UniBoss with multiple touch-screen controller manufacturers. We’re now focused on building out a state-of-the-art UniBoss roll-roll manufacturing facility with Kodak in Rochester, New York, with printers and plating lines being installed in Q3, as well as adding two additional plating lines to our Texas facility build-out. We have also leased an additional 7,500 square feet of office and wet lab space for immediate expansion.”

“Working with our customers and partners, we have rapidly advanced UniBoss in terms of both performance and methods for manufacturing and testing,” continued Killion. “We can understand how our rapid progress has attracted some skeptics, and unfortunately we’ve seen a number of erroneous reports and speculations, particularly by those not experts in the field. So, in addition to providing an opportunity for us to meet with touch-screen customers and supply chain vendors, industry events like Computex allows professional members of the press and qualified industry analysts to experience new UniBoss films and solutions first-hand.”

UniPixel has updated the touch sensor portion of the company’s website, available here, to show customers and shareholders the progress it has made with functional touch panels and UniBoss touch sensor films.

About Computex TaipeiCOMPUTEX TAIPEI has become the largest computer exhibition in Asia and the second largest in the world, next to CeBIT in Germany. Each year, key global businesses come to this event to launch their new products. Since a large portion of the businesses in the world have research and deployment centers or production facilities in Taiwan, this exhibition attracts observers, analysts, and journalists of computer and information industries from all over the world to discover and report the latest technologies, developments, and trends. For more information

About UniBossA UniBoss touch-screen offers higher touch response and sensitivity, superior touch distinction, better durability, and lower power requirements. UniBoss offers the touch ecosystem the unique advantages of metal mesh touch sensors based on an additive, roll-to-roll, flexible electronics process, as compared to the traditional subtractive ITO-based and subtractive ITO replacement based touch sensor solutions. The UniBoss manufacturing process continues to be the only additive process that promises to reduce manufacturing costs and supply chain complexity of current ITO and other ITO replacement sensors by significantly minimizing manufacturing steps. Other production advantages include lower material costs and a simplified supply chain, as well as extensibility to many sizes and form factors.

About UniPixelHeadquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, UniPixel, Inc. (NASDAQ: UNXL) delivers Performance Engineered Films to the Lighting, Display and Flexible Electronics markets. UniPixel’s high-volume roll-to-roll or continuous flow manufacturing process offers high-fidelity replication of advanced micro-optic structures and surface characteristics over large areas. A key focus for UniPixel is developing electronic conductive films for use in electronic sensors for consumer and industrial applications. The company’s newly developed UniBoss™ roll-to-roll electronics manufacturing process prints conductive elements on thin film with trace widths down to ~ 5um. The company is marketing its films for touch panel sensor, cover glass replacement, protective cover film, antenna and custom circuitry applications under the UniPixel label, and potentially under private label or Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) brands. UniPixel’s brands include Clearly Superior™, Diamond Guard™ and others. For further information

Forward-looking StatementsAll statements in this news release that are not based on historical fact are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. While management has based any forward-looking statements contained herein on its current expectations, the information on which such expectations were based may change. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are outside of our control that could cause actual results to materially differ from such statements. Such risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, but are not necessarily limited to, those set forth under Item 1A “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. We operate in a highly competitive and rapidly changing environment, thus new or unforeseen risks may arise. Accordingly, investors should not place any reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. We disclaim any intention to, and undertake no obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements. Readers are also urged to carefully review and consider the other various disclosures in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K.

Trademarks in this release are the property of their respective owners.

from:NJYTOUCH

Infrared LEDs suit intelligent touch panels, proximity sensors.

Shulin, New Taipei City – EVERLIGHT Electronics Co. Ltd. [TSE:2393], a leading player in the global LED industry with three decades of experience in optoelectronics, introduces three new 850nm HIR (high efficiency infrared) LEDs featuring a high output power and narrow viewing angles which make them ideal for use in high-tech intelligence touch panel and proximity sensors.

Two of them are top view SMD LEDs especially suited for proximity sensor applications. The HIR89-01C has a viewing angle of 30° and achieves a very high radiant intensity 55mW/sr at 70mA. The HIR91-01C/L297 with a 40° viewing angle reaches an intensity of 40mW/sr at 70mA. Wide viewing angles with high output power rarely occur with most proximity sensors, making the HIR89 and HIR91 truly ideal for all proximity sensor applications such as smart phones as well as optical touch panels.

For side-view touch applications smaller than 80 inches, Everlight’s HIR83-01B in a slim SMD package features a radiant intensity of 5mW/sr at 20mA and a viewing angle of 100°(X)/40°(Y). The asymmetric viewing angle is especially suitable for touch panel applications.

Sample Available: Yes. (Upon request)
Mass Production: Now

The Right LED for the Right Application
Everlight’s dedicated application-based marketing approach supports the idea that every application is to be paired with “The Right LED” to provide the best performance and quality. Every package design presents its own advantages in certain applications.

Everlight is fostering close relationships between their R&D, Sales and Marketing teams to meet and exceed their customers’ expectations in both product offering and technology. Everlight provides a great variety of customers with total solutions for their different applications and is incessantly committed to satisfy the strongly growing global market for LED solutions.

About EVERLIGHT Electronics Co. Ltd.
EVERLIGHT Electronics Co., Ltd. was founded in 1983 in Taipei, Taiwan. Playing a critical role in the formation of the global LED industry, the company is rapidly ascending to become a leading supplier due to its dedication to certification, R&D, production, quality, marketing and global customer service. Everlight provides a diverse product portfolio consisting of high power LEDs, lamps, SMD LEDs, LED lighting modules, digital displays, optocouplers and infrared components for various applications. Today, Everlight is a global company with over 6,400 employees based in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Sweden, U.S., and Canada.

from:NJYTOUCH

Nikkei unruffled by weak GDP, investors eye stimulus

* Volume hits 8-month low on Nikkei and Topix
    * Japan quarterly GDP weak but investors shrug it off
    * Sharp continues its descent
    * Nippon Sheet Glass bounces after report on Vietnam

    By Sophie Knight
    TOKYO, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average
barely flinched on Monday as investors shrugged off data showing
lower-than-expected gross domestic product growth but held off
from selling on hopes of stimulus measures to boost growth.
    Stocks that advanced on Friday continued their rise, with
online gaming firm DeNA Co Ltd gaining 2.1 percent
after soaring 22.1 percent on Friday due to strong results.
Others continued their descent from last week, leaving the index
largely unchanged as volume slipped to an eight-month low. 
    The Nikkei dipped 0.1 percent to 8885.15, stifled as
August's event calendar hit a lull and Japanese holidays this
week thinned out volumes. The index marked its biggest weekly
gain since February last week, rising 3.9 percent on speculation
that more global stimulus was on its way. 
    "At the moment we're just waiting - if the U.S. data out in
the latter half of the week is good, then it will allow the yen
to soften against the dollar, which would be a positive," said
Masayuki Otani, chief market analyst at Securities Japan. 
    Investors are looking to a raft of data from the United
States this week, including jobless claims, retail sales and a
Philadelphia Fed Survey, for clues on whether a slowdown in the
world's largest economy has bottomed out.
    The Nikkei barely moved after data showed Japanese GDP grew
just 0.3 percent in the April-June quarter, translating to an
annualised increase of 1.4 percent, below the median forecast of
2.5 percent. 
    "You could say it's a sign that the government hasn't yet
put together a proper reconstruction budget," said Hideyuki
Fukunaga, CEO of Investrust, referring to work to rebuild after
2011's devastating earthquake and tsunami.
     "But low growth is really down to the unseasonably cold and
wet weather in April to June, which delayed sales of summer
goods. The results should balance out by the end of the year."
    Construction-related stocks that should have benefited from
the reconstruction drive were suffering from overly confident
forecasts.
     Taiheiyo Cement Co lost 4.5 percent after the
company reported a first-quarter operating profit of 490 million
yen ($6.3 million), less than half of the consensus, while Daiwa
House Industry Co Ltd dropped 3.9 percent as investors
deemed its 50 billion yen ($639 million) purchase of contractor
Fujita too expensive.
    Daiwa House's guidance that its operating profit can improve
to 6 billion yen "is optimistic judging from the situation at
other construction companies," Deutsche Securities analysts Yoji
Otani and Akiko Komine wrote in a note.
    The broader Topix closed flat at 746.95 , with the
number of traded shares at just 65 percent of its 90-day
average, the lowest since Dec. 30. Volume on the Nikkei was 58.1
percent of its 90-day average, also the lowest since the last
trading day of 2011. 
    
    YEARNING FOR BETTER EARNINGS
    Japan's earnings season, now in its last throes, has been
largely disappointing, with 53 percent of the 152 Nikkei
companies that have reported results falling short of guidance.
Many firms have cut full-year profit outlooks due to a strong
yen and the impact of a global slowdown on demand. 
    Some companies that were punished for revising guidance have
recovered slightly, due to other news. Sony Corp.,
which  took a hit after cutting its full-year outlook, gained
after saying on Friday it would make internet provider So-net
Entertainment into a wholly owned unit.
. Shares of Sony rose 2.7 percent that day and
another 0.2 percent on Monday.     
    So-net remained untraded with a glut of buy orders, although
it was nominally trading at 472,000 yen, a jump of 17.2 percent.
    Nippon Sheet Glass Co Ltd climbed 10.7 percent
after the Nikkei business daily said the company would resume
the construction of a Vietnamese touch screen panel plant after
halting it in February due to bad business conditions. 
    Worse-than-expected sales forced the glassmaker to cut its
full-year sales forecast, for which it was dragged down 14.2
percent on Aug. 3. 
    Sharp Corp dropped 4.3 percent, continuing a sharp
descent triggered by a downward revision of its full-year
guidance, despite a Nikkei business daily report on Saturday
that it is considering selling its liquid crystal display (LCD)
modules to Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry.
    Market analysts said the market was likely to remain in
"holiday mode" this week, characterised by thin trade due to a
lack of catalysts.
    "It's going to be defined by technical parameters this
week," said Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex. 
   "There's quite significant resistance at the 200-day moving
average mark around 8,957; it tested that level last week and
quickly backed away, and this week there doesn't seem to be any
factors that will push it beyond that."
    The Nikkei is up 5.1 percent on the year, but is still 13.4
percent off its one-year high of 10,255.15 hit on March 27, hurt
by concerns about falling global demand.   
    Despite the sharp gain in the first quarter and sell-off in
the second quarter, intraday volatility has eased sharply this
year. Daily swings in the Nikkei have exceeded 2.5 percent for
only four trading sessions so far this year, down from 16 for
all of 2011. That compared with one such day for the U.S. S&P
500 and 33 such sessions for the Euro STOXX 50

from:njytouch
.