This is a page to share news, changes to the
system, little improvements and hints that don't merit an update email,
etc. Every time I make a change to the system or documentation or simply
find something some of you may find useful, I'll post it here. It's
mainly intended for JLT's existing customers, but of course anyone's
welcome. I also invite my customers to contribute any helpful hints or
new uses they've found for the system (just send 'em to me).
July
19, 2016: When I'd tried to use iTunes to install
dictionaries to EBPocket before, I was stumped, as I couldn't find what
was shown on the developer's
page at all. Apparently, my brain had taken that day off--I
couldn't scroll down far enough to find it because I was using the wrong
scroll bar. So I've now changed my instructions for installing
dictionaries to use iTunes, which is far easier than the previous free
method and doesn't require any additional software. I also fixed a
couple of expired links. See the iOS page for
details. I'm also discontinuing sale of the JLT Complete
Package. The iOS and Android options are finally just as good and and
interest in the old PDA systems has fallen to almost nil. I can still
do one by special order if anyone wants, but for the most part I'm
washing my hands of dealing in hardware. Of course, I'll still continue
to support the systems I've already sold--I'm kind of amazed at how many
are still in use this far into the smartphone age.
October
28, 2015: Handwriting Note, an iOS app I'd recommended
as a backhand way to get Japanese handwriting recognition on the iPhone
before Apple started allowing apps that did that directly, seems to be
kaput, at least with iOS 9. The program freezes every single time I
close a note. It's no longer usable. I suspect it won't be updated any
longer, since its raison d'être, the great handwriting recognition, has
been superceded by much more convenient system-wide options like the
excellent Tegaki Keyboard I've been recommending for quite a while now.
I did find a somewhat easy way to transfer all my notes out of the
now-useless app into any other note or memo app without having to shut
down and then restart the app every single time: start the app (if it's
already frozen, shut it down first), open a note you want to copy,
select everything in it, copy it, then hit the trash icon to delete the
entire note--this will move you on to the next note without freezing the
program. Then you can paste the info into whatever note or memo app you
want.
April
20, 2015: I finally updated the JLT
Eijiro page with information and screenshots relevant to the
current version.
April
1, 2015: As I mentioned before, by special request I
wrangled the latest Edict, which also contains data from some other
languages, into EPWING format for use alongside the JLT dictionaries.
It's now ready and you
can download it here. This version includes French definitions
for about a third of the Japanese words, and you can look up about
60,000 French words in Japanese (as the EPWING format can't handle the
accented characters, enter the non-accented versions to look up a word:
e.g., enter "francais," not "français"). Note
that this is most definitely NOT an update to the heavily optimized JLT
version of Edict--it's great for looking up Japanese words, but the
English and French terms are just the raw definitions of the Japanese
words, so looking up English and French words works no better than in
any other version of Edict: as an example, if you look up "horse" in
this new version or any standard version of Edict, 馬【うま】 doesn't come up
until way, way down in the list of results, whereas in the JLT version,
馬
【うま】 comes up as the first result. This new version is a step
towards updating the optimized JLT version, but that's a huge project
and will take many months.
March
24, 2015: I'm discontinuing sale of the JLT Edict
Audio Package, as there doesn't seem to be much interest in it anymore.
It's also geared toward the old version of the JLPT, and as time passes
it becomes a bit more out of step with the current one. Those looking
for pronunciation help should consider NHK Japanese Accent Dictionary
mentioned in the previous post.
March 14, 2015: A couple of items:
October 25, 2014 (updated): Big news
for iPhone and iPad users. The main news is that the first
four Japanese handwriting input keyboards for iOS are now out. If you
have an iPhone, you must get one! Either of the top two is a huge
improvement over previous ways of handwriting Japanese into your phone,
copying and pasting between apps or using the built-in Chinese
handwriting system. With one of these apps, the iPhone now makes just
as good a Japanese dictionary as my longtime favorite the Samsung Galaxy
Note, the best by far of the Androids for Japanese use (though the LG G3
Stylus, clue in the name, may be just as good). See
here for my recommendation and reviews of all four apps.
I also fixed broken links and made slight updates to information on using JLT dictionaries on Windows and Mac computers.
October 6, 2014: A bunch of
updates to previous information.
It's finally gotten to the point where you can put a
Japanese dictionary set-up on a Samsung Galaxy Note or iPhone that's
95% as good as what you can put on an old Windows Mobile Axim. For
anyone who isn't using the dictionary intensively, either as a
translator or as a high-level student, I'd say it's just as good. For
an intensive user, the older but more precise screen tech and the
slightly better handwriting algorithm of the Axim still makes it quicker
to use and more convenient, but 95% of users any slight advantage of the
Axim would be more than outweighed by not having to carry separate
devices for phone and dictionary.
December 24, 2013: JLT is back in full swing. I've updated the site (still some work to be done on the Eijiro page). I've also posted all the video tutorials from the user's manual to the new Japanese Language Tools Youtube channel. I learned that some Mac users have a hard time viewing the .avi format files, so I put them on Youtube where everyone should be able to watch them. Same old videos, though. I'll redo them when I have more time. Merry Christmas! Happy Holiday (in the Pastafarian singular)!
December 17, 2013: Eijiro and Waeijiro 139 are done! Tomorrow I'll contact everyone waiting for backorders and let all my previous customers know how to get the update, and on Thursday I'll begin taking new orders.
December 15, 2013: I've finished formatting Waeijiro but still have to run it through the conversion engine to put it in final EPWING form. Theoretically that should take a couple of hours tomorrow, but while I'm not expecting any surprises it's always possible some could come up, requiring an extra day or two. As soon as I've completed and tested Waeijiro, I'll contact everyone who has backordered it with instructions on how to download it. I'll also begin preparing a couple of Complete System backorders for shipping., and I'll contact all previous JLT customers about the update. I will begin accepting new orders for the Eijiro download and Complere Systems on Thursday.
December 13, 2013: The Eijiro dictionary is done! It's converted to EPWING and been tested on Axim, iPhone, and Android. The Eijiro dictionary also includes the contents of the Ryaku abbreviations and acronyms dictionary and the Reiji dictionary of half a million example sentences, which are also included in the entire Eijiro package (Waeijiro already includes all the example sentences from Reiji). I've already completed adding furigana to and editing Waeijiro--the last step is to format and convert it to EPWING format. That shouldn't take more than a couple of days--all the problems have already been ironed out while I was working on Eijiro.
December 8, 2013: Some setbacks, but the editing phase of Eijiro is complete. Now just to format for conversion to EPWING.
December 5, 2013: Today I added all the half-million example sentences from Reiji (another part of the Eijiro package) and the 16,000+ complete source articles for many of them to the main Eijiro dictionary (the example sentences were already included in Waeijiro). I also translated grammar and usage notes in another 600,000 entries to English--now almost all such notes in the dictionaries are in English. This version is going to be a huge improvement over the previous JLT Eijiro. After all that, there are only a few more hours of work left to do in editing Eijiro. The last step will formatting the dictionaries for conversion to EPWING format and then the actual formatting--I've already completed a lot of the preliminaries and found solutions to problems I faced in making the previous version, so I expect it to go quickly.
December 2, 2013: Had to revisit Waeijiro when a final check found some problems (one mistake in a 2.7 million line list led to about 12,000 errors in the keyword list--fixing it is like trying to find and replace the bad grains of rice after you've already made the paella, but it's done now). About two more days to finish editing Eijiro (the hard parts are done, and I'll have all day Weds. to dedicate to it). I translated about 900,000 grammar and usage notes to English, and I'm folding into it the entire Ryaku auxilliary abreviations/acronyms dictionary which is also part of the Eijiro package. Then a couple of more days to format the dictionaries. Obviously, from my track record below, everything seems to take longer than I expect, but I'm in the home stretch.
November 27, 2013: Progress. I've finished the tools for editing the dictionaries (took 9 months) and then finished editing Waeijiro (3 days). Should take another few days to edit Eijiro, then a couple more to format the dictionaries. The end is in sight.
November 16, 2013: This project is well and truly cursed. Dilating drops for an eye exam have killed my near vision, and I"ve been unable to read a computer screen for more than brief tasks for the last week. It's never lasted more than a few hours after an exam before, but the doctor says this isn't that rare and it should go away in a few more days. So the update is still a week away.
November 6, 2013: Between medical appointments and rebuilding my house and car for my post-op handicapped status (and general exhaustion) I've had very little time to work on the dictionary update in the last three weeks. I just found out I have to put the surgery off for 3 months. Argghhh! I was really looking forward to getting around like a middle-aged guy again. But I'm close on the dictionary and now have a lot more time to dedicate to it--I'd estimate about a week. Still, anyone who's tired of waiting and wants a refund, just let me know.
October 12, 2013: Even closer--I've been stymied by spending a good chunk of time and energy in the hospital, each new specialist starting from scratch, to get ready for ACL surgery. Now I'm close to the end, and I've got a good stretch of open time before I have to go in for the op.
October 2, 2013: On the final stages now. Today I learned the words for "anterior cruciate ligament" and "arthroscopic surgery," so I've got even more motivation to finish ASAP before going into the hospital, perhaps as early as next week.
September 25, 2013: More setbacks (or OCD perfectionism, however you want to look at it). All these problems have been with finalizing the list of readings to add (making sure they don't pop up where they shouldn't and do where they should, plus tracking down problems from the source materials not found until later steps, adding additional 100K word-reading pairs without duplicating anything, tools not working as expected). I'm pretty sure I've got that nailed down at long last. My final readings list has about 2.2 million word-reading pairs (a lot of phrases, too, to nail down the reading in a particular situation for a word that can have different readings in different situations). I expect this will add yomigana to about 50 million kanji compounds in the Eijiro suite (Eijiro E-to-J, Waeijiro J-to-E, Ryaku abbreviations, and another half million example sentences). I'm looking forward to sleeping again, if I still remember how, when this is done.
September 16, 2013: I've hit a snag--found an error in a previous step that required four days to fix and required me to toss out the five days of work since the error. I am very close, but no firm dates--I'm finally learning my lesson.
September 3, 2013: I've been buried under the Eijiro update project, but I can see daylight. I now expect to release the update by September 16. I'm far enough along that I've got a much more concrete idea of how much is left, and that estimate should stand. When it's ready, I'll notify everyone who's asked about and all previous customers.
August 22, 2013: Great news for Android users. I've been recommending the Samsung Galaxy Note series for folks who want a great Japanese dictionary on a smartphone or tablet (in the Note series, there's a big phone, a medium tablet, and a full-sized tablet). Not quite as good as the Axim, but close enough for most users and far and away the best phone and tablets for a Japanese dictionary due to the combination of the Notes' precise stylus input and the excellent handwriting recognition app 7Notes with Mazec. The one drawback is that font that shows up in the handwriting app, the default Android system font, shows the Chinese versions of characters that exist in both languages, and they often like quite different from the Japanese versions. When I first looked into it, the only way to change the system font was by rooting (="hacking") the phone or tablet, which a lot of users find quite difficult and intimidating (or buying it from a Japanese phone company so it already had a good Japanese font). However, reports are that Samsung devices now let you change the system font right from the settings, without rooting, and there's also an app, iFont, specifically for Samsung devices that will let you change the system font easily and safely, without rooting. So the major hurdle for setting up a great dictionary system on a current phone or tablet is gone--as long as that phone or tablet is part of the Samsung Galaxy Note series.
August 15, 2013: I'm making great progress on the Eijiro update and should finish by the end of August. I'm taking vacation time from my day job this week and next for the final push. Why is it such a huge project? The list of words and phrases for which I'm adding yomigana (pronunciations) would be about 23,700 single-spaced pages if you typed it out. The current versions of Eijiro, Waeijiro, and accompanying dictionaries (abbreviations, proverbs) would total over 550,000 single-spaced pages. So for each of the million-and-a-half words and phrases in those 23,700 pages, I have to search for and replace each instance in the more than half-million page dictionary. In total, I'll be inserting yomigana for upwards of 40 million words (that's how many there were the last time). That's actually the easy part (every program I could find was going to take 10 or more weeks of constant CPU time to do it, so I hired a professional C++ programmer to make something better--he wrote a program that does it 30 seconds! If you ever need to find the smartest person in Estonia, I'm pretty sure I can point you in the right direction.) The hard parts have been making the list (and, especially, rooting out all mistakes on it) and then cleaning up and formatting the half-million-page-plus Eijiro dictionaries after inserting the yomigana. Simply doing all this could be easy--it's doing it well that's the challenge. I'm also automating the process as I go, though, so from now on when Eijiro updates its database a few times a year, I should be able to update the JLT version in a few days instead of half a year. The new version will also look much better, be easier to read and use, and lack the errors in the old.
February 6, 2013: I'm updating the JLT version of Eijiro; I expect the new version to be ready some time in March. (Oops--see Aug 15 note above!) When it's ready, I'll send notice to all previous customers, letting you know how to get the update and how much it will cost (as it will be based on a new version of the dictionary data base, it will require paying a new license fee to the Eijiro people), but it will be quite simple to apply and it should be extremely reasonable. Of course, if you're happy with your current version of Eijiro, there's no need to update, but in addition to the latest dictionary data there will also be aesthetic and functional improvements. In the meantime, until the latest version is ready, I've suspended sales of the old version.
December 15, 2012: What Google's End of Life for Google Sync announcement means for JLT Axim and iPAQ users: In short, just about nothing. Google just announced that Calendar Sync through the Microsoft Exchange network is being phased out. New devices will no longer be able to set up access to the service after January 30, 2013. However, devices that have set up syncing before this will still be able to use service. What's this about? The Axims and iPAQs sync their calendar and contact lists with Google Apps through Microsoft Exchange (as described here). If you add an appointment to your Google calendar or contact to your gmail contacts list, it'll show up on your Axim's or iPAQ's calendar or contact list, and vice versa, when you sync, whether by USB cable or by WiFi. If you've already set this up, nothing will change--it will continue working after January 30, and you don't have to do anything at all. If you haven't set up a sync between your Axim and your google account yet but think you might want to use this in the future, you should set it up before January 30 (even if you aren't sure if or when you'll want to use it--setting it up takes only about a minute). This isn't something you have to do--I suspect only a minority of JLT users actually use this feature. And even after January 30, if you want to set up a new device to sync with your google calendar and contacts, I'm sure there'll be other ways to do it--depite the title of Google's announcement, it's not the "End of Life" for new user access to all syncing with Google, just the end of new user access to a few methods of doing that; other methods will still be open to new users. But I want to stress this: if you've set Google sync up by Jan. 30, it'll continue to work after that just as it always has. You won't have to make any changes or set up anything new, and you won't lose any of the features you're used to.
December 9, 2012: Android's now far better than Apple for Japanese, but it's also still a bigger pain in the butt: As I've mentioned elsewhere, to really make a 'droid from outside Japan work well in Japanese, you need to root (hack) it in order to install a font that will show Japanese rather than Chinese versions of shared characters (they can look quite different--this isn't a problem if you get a 'droid from a Japanese carrier--of course it'll come with a good Japanese font). That's a minor pain for most users, but for less technically adroit users the rooting procedure might be intimidating and perhaps even dangerous. But because the new handwriting entry app (see Nov. 18 entry) makes any 'droid a far better choice than an Apple for Japanese dictionary use, and a Galaxy Note an astromically better choice, it's worth the effort. However, just to make life difficult, more and more apps are refusing to work on rooted devices, claiming "security reasons" (Japanese banks that require the NTT One Time Password tool for mobile access, Barclay's bank, Wi-Fi tethering on some phones, Square Enix games, NFL Mobile; some OTA upgrades, Bright House TV, Wallet, Youtube app on some devices, and more). So after you root your 'droid and change the font, you may then want to unroot it so it'll work with these picky apps.
December 9, 2012: The EBPocket for Android bug has been fixed. The bug mentioned in the Nov. 18 post, weird results when you search for 優, was fixed in the Dec. 3 update. If you use EBPocket on Android and haven't done so already, you should update the app. Now if the developer can finally add the jump, history, and working back button features missing from the Android version, the app will be perfect. The same developer's Windows Mobile app (used on the JLT Complete Systems) has had these features for 8 or 9 years now, and they are extremely convenient--these features among the factors that make old Windows Mobile devices (NOT Windows Phone) still much better as dictionaries than Android and iPhone. EBPocket is still by far the best Japanese dictionary program for Android and iPhone, but those versions still have a way to go to catch up to even the 2005 version for Windows Mobile.
November 18, 2012: Big News!! I've figured out the Samsung Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note II and confirmed that these are, indeed, fantastic Japanese dictionary platforms, second only the Axims (but pretty close). If you want a dictionary with the capability of the JLT Axim system on a high-end modern smartphone and don't mind paying for it (or carrying it--it's a lot bigger than the Axim), you can finally have it. See here for full details.
November 18, 2012: There's a new handwriting entry app for Android that's a huge improvement over what was available before. It's also much better than anything that is or will be available for the iPhone/iPad (Apple doesn't allow this kind of app). So now Android is unquestionably a better platform than Apple for Japanese dictionary use. On a regular Android, it's still not as good as a JLT system, but put it on an Android with an active stylus (pen) system like the Samsung Galaxy Note or Note II and it comes awfully close.
November 18, 2012: Found a weird bug in EBPocket for Android, reporting it to the developer. If you search for the Japanese kanji 優 in any dictionary, any search type, it doesn't find anything. Search for a word with that kanji it, and the 優 character acts like a wildcard, pulling up all sorts of irrelevant results. Update: Fixed in the Dec. 3 update.
September 27, 2012: The EBPocket for iPhone problem I posted about yesterday is fixable. I'd tried using the "Reset" feature in the EBPocket settings (accessed through the iPhone's system settings, not through the program's menus) to no avail, but following some advice, I tried it a second time. That fixed the problem. So if you have the same problem, just reset the app (through the Settings), and if that doesn't work, reset it again and that should do the trick. v.2.11 works.
September 26, 2012: The Users' Reviews page on the JLT site has been changed to a new system to eliminate spam, which was overcoming the old one. It also looks a bit a nicer, and the problem that prevented some people behind proxies and institutional firewalls from posting reviews has been eliminated.
August 26, 2012: Two bits of news. First, a correspondent pointed out a useful feature in the HanWriting handwriting input for Android that I'd missed in my description. You can actually draw just a section of the kanji, then find all kanji that include that section. That makes HanWriting somewhat more usable, though still not quite ideal, for phones. See the HanWriting documentation for more details. Second, and this is the big news, I've made a series of video tutorials for the X51V that may explain some things more clearly than the written instructions; some are also relevant to other JLT Axims. I'll be adding more, as well as improving the ones already there, and tutorials for the X30 will follow soon. Forgive the very simple page, but click here if you'd like to take a look at them. The initial batch focus on connecting to WiFi networks and the internet.
June 27, 2012: Ohisashiburi desu. Sorry it's been so long. First, the Android and iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) handwriting recognition situations are much improved. Neither's perfect, nor close to the level of that in the old Windows Mobile OS (as in the JLT Complete Systems), but much better than before and quite usable, at least if you don't need to use it to enter a lot of words very often. Short version: the best handwriting app for 'droids isn't as quite good as the best for iOS (close for tablets, bigger difference for phones) and isn't as simple to set up, but it's more convenient once you get it running--much more convenient if you use it a lot. So of course the corollary is that the best for iOS is better than the best for 'droids, but it's a minor hassle to use once in a while, growing into a major inconvenience if you need to use it lot. Quirky Android factor (corrollary: Apple stuff just works): Android's system font (and the dictionary and other programs that rely on it) shows the Chinese versions of many characters common to both languages, and some are different enough looking to be hard to recognize; to fix this you have to root (i.e., hack) your 'droid, which is no big deal to techies but can be a bit complicated for technophobes. More current-as-of-this-post info: Android, iOS.
May 1, 2011: Documentation update: Just completed a big overhaul on the Entering Text page, bringing it up to date with current systems, adding info on the Euro Keyboard and Chinese and Korean input methods.
The amazon.com Magnum case deal mentioned before: As feared, a bust. I ordered 6 magnesium cases for the Axim, and Proporta instead sent me six pink leather cases for the iPhone (plus a receipt showing 6 pink leather cases for a Nokia phone). But they've given me a full refund and don't want me to bother returning the pink cases. Sometimes if it looks too good to be true, it is, but at least no money was lost in confirming that.
April 28, 2011: For Mac users: I just discovered that Ishida-san, the genius who makes the EBPocket apps used in the JLT Complete System and that I recommend for iOS and the EBWin program I recommend for Windows, has recently come out with a Mac version, EBMac. No user manual yet, and as it's new there'll be frequent updates, so you'll want to keep checking back at his site, but it looks like by far the best EPWING dictionary program for Macs. It's got the complex search features that make his other dictionary programs so powerful (especially when used with the huge Eijiro/Waeijiro combo); it works with the .ebz compressed EPWING format the JLT dictionaries uses (it better! Ishida makes the program that does the compression!); it's optimized for EPWING, so it should be faster than anything else when searching huge dictionaries like Eijiro (the other Mac programs seem to add EPWING compatibility as an afterthought), and it's free.
April 22, 2011: For iOS users (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad), there's a way to add Japanese handwriting recognition (along with several other languages). It's a bit awkward and it doesn't work all that well, but if you're already using JLT dictionaries on iOS, this may be slightly useful, and it's cheap. Add the Handwriting Notes app, follow the directions here to set up an automatic lookup in EBPocket (Japanese only; I can't seem to figure it out but it's more a matter of the instructions having left out step 1 than a linguistic problem--if you figure it out, let me know), and you can then write in kanji in the Handwriting Notes app, then select the word, pull up the menu shown, and automatically look the word up in EBPocket (and if you haven't figured out how to set up the link, you'll have to enter the word in Handwriting Notes then copy it, switch to EBPocket, then paste it into the search--which is a pain but if you're desperate it's better than nothing). Sounds like a great way to add handwriting recognition to EBPocket, but the problem is that Handwriting Notes just isn't that good at recognizing handwriting. First, even though it takes up half the screen, the handwriting area is too small to write complex kanji with your fingertip--it's hard to precisely write a stroke where it should be in relation to other strokes when your fingertip covers them all up. You'd need half an iPad screen for kanji handwriting to be easy. But even when you do write the character correctly, the program often can't find it--it found 曜 only about once for every time I tried to write, but it found some other characters the first or second time. The bottom line: at only 230 yen, it's worth getting and setting up if you already have an iOS device, but it doesn't work well enough to make an iOS device a great dictionary--it'll help you enter and look up kanji and kanji compounds sometimes, but it'll let you down too often to be considered reliable. I'm going to try the same scheme with some other programs that feature kanji handwriting recognition, but it looks like most are based on the same software engine (they look quite similar), so I don't have a lot of hope.
Innopocket/Proporta Magnum magnesium cases--the best cases made for X51V and X50V Axims--MAY be available for US $21 including worldwide shipping and some good-quality accessories though amazon.com (US site only, although it ships from the UK--the same bundle from amazon.uk is £53, which equals US$87). No guarantees--I'm waiting for an email telling me they made a mistake and my order has been cancelled, and I won't be sure it's an honest deal until it's in my hands. Update: It's in my hands, and while it may not be a dishonest deal it's certainly a cock-up (as they say where these cases were ordered from). Instead of blue-black magnesium cases for the Axim, they sent me pink leather cases for the iPhone. I'm quickly coming to realize that Amazon marketplace (stuff sold through amazon but by other companies) is pretty much the least reliable way to buy anything. eBay is far more trustworthy.
Keyboards (real, physical keyboards):
March 23, 2011: Useful accessory (first post).
I picked this up on eBay for US $36.50. It's simply a big rechargeable battery you can use to recharge your Axim (claims to be 5000 mAh, which seems plausible given the results I've been getting). Plug the Axim's USB sync-charge cable into the Axim and into one of the two USB ports on this, press the button (the only button) on the charger, and it'll charge your Axim (you should still recharge it from the Dell charger when you get home). I found that the first time I charged the charger, I could then recharge an Axim four times from it; after a couple of cycles, that got up to five (Li-Ion batteries don't reach full capacity until they've been completely charged and discharged a few times; while the X50V/X51V have larger batteries than the X30, they go to sleep around 20% to protect the battery and memory, while the X30 will let you drain the battery all the way to zero--so you get five full X30 charges or five 80% X51V charges). You could also just keep it plugged in to run the Axim continuously. So, assuming you start off with a full charge on the Axim's battery, too, this will extend your battery life away from the charger to 6 times normal--that's 18-20 hours of average use on an X50V or X51V, and 20-24 hours on an X30 (much longer if you're just listening to music on your Axim). That's great for those 15 hour trans-Pacific or trans-Siberian flights or for travel when you may be away from wall sockets for days at a time. It'll charge anything that charges from a USB port--phone, iPod, camera, etc. This was described as "External Battery Charger 5000mah for Ipod iPhone 2 USB "--there are usually a bunch of people selling the same thing for items like this, so anything with a similar description that looks just like this should be the same device.
March 23, 2011: Dictionary system news.
A couple of weeks ago I added an English-OS version of the X30 system. It costs more than the Japanese-OS version because the best way to add Japanese capability to the X30's English OS is with the ATOK software package, which ain't cheap. The result, though, is pretty nice: an X30 that's much easier to use for other things because the OS is in English, with Japanese input and display systems that work almost exactly like and just as well as the systems on the Japanese version. As soon as I finish writing the documentation for it, I'll send an email to previous X30 customers offering to change the OS to English and install ATOK for only the cost of the ATOK software and return postage (I'll even include a couple of freebies to bring their systems into line with the X30s I'm currently selling: a better screen protector and a much better, solid metal stylus). Previous X30 customers, you'll be hearing from me soon.