hoya

Hoya sells off Pentax digital camera business

Japanese company Hoya has agreed to sell its Pentax digital camera business to Ricoh, the companies announced today.

According to Japanese publication Nikkei Business Daily, Ricoh will pay Hoya 10 billion yen ($124 million) to acquire its Pentax operation.

Pentax is widely considered an also-ran in the digital camera business. The company's worldwide market share last year, according to IDC, stood at just 1.5 percent. For the most part, Pentax's digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras lack advanced features found in the leading options from Nikon and Canon. However, Pentax cameras are typically quite affordable compared to their … Read more

Mini robot can cruise through burning buildings

South Korea's Hoya Robot is developing a mini firefighter helper bot that can enter burning buildings to conduct reconnaissance and check for people.

The Firefighters Assistant Robot can apparently operate for up to 30 minutes in fires, and can withstand temperatures up to 320 F. It can also survive falls of more than 6 feet. It's water-resistant, as seen in this experiment video.

It may look like a tank up close, but the bot can nearly fit in the palm of your hand and weighs only 3 pounds.

The remote-controlled rover can scoot into a blaze and transmit … Read more

Hoya to assimilate Pentax

Just before Christmas, Hoya and Pentax quietly announced plans to merge their companies into a new entity to be called Hoya Pentax HD Corporation. The deal--which the official announcement is calling "a management integration of the two companies"--is expected to be completed on October 1, 2007. Fumio Urano, currently president and CEO of Pentax, will become chairman of the board of Hoya Pentax HD, while Hiroshi Suzuki, currently president and CEO of Hoya, will be the new company's president and CEO.

In the USA, Hoya is best known for its filters for SLR and video camera … Read more