NTT DoCoMo now boosts three services to bring “interconnected world for Tokyoites today.”

1. Visual Controller enables a user to be in two places at once. The Controller commands of the FOMA works like TVs and VHS players via infrared beam and send the video image via connected cable, enabling users of videophone to check the video image of their home and remotely control their household electronics goods (from setting DVD and video recorders to record TV programs to turning on air conditioners before arriving home, ) while they are away from home.

It also features a built-in camera that can detect movement in the room and send automatically the video image to the handset.

2. Imadoco Service (“now where?”), launched in 1998, provides users with the location of their loved ones. This service utilizes radio waves transmitted between PHS terminals and base stations to calculate the location of users within a 100m to 500m radius.

Users can confirm their location 24 hours a day on a map in i-mode’s browser, on a PC connected to the Internet, or on a map printed out from a G3FAX. To protect privacy, both the PHS user and the other person who will access the user’s location information must agree to share access and a password is required to access the service.

3. QR Code, a “two-dimensional” barcode that scans large amounts of product and price data from catalogs or magazines, enhances Japanese shopping. Users can simply read product barcodes and automatically display order forms on the screen — and even make payments. They can also read barcodes printed on business cards to record the information in their phone address books, display barcodes on their phone screens to use as tickets, and more.

Details here (click on the baby picture.)