We’ve been waiting for a long time and Sony may finally make the PSP2 public on January 27. A rumor from “trade sources” suggests that it will be shown at a special event in Tokyo. Publishers were reported by MCV as having known since late last year and would have had development kits for some time.

The company’s PlayStation head Kaz Hirai has already hinted that the system was in development and that it would combine touch and buttons. A full touchscreen along with a possible back touchpad and dual analog sticks might show up in the initial model. Sony is also planning a major jump in performance that might give performance closer to that of the PS3. The photo above is from an earlier leak and has changed since then to be a non-slider.

Taxis in Tokyo are among the most expensive in the world. But now NTT DoCoMo is planning to add value to the taxis by offering free Wi-Fi. 820 vehicles to be exact. Though I doubt your taxi will be surrounded by beautiful babes like in this picture.

Also about 100 of the taxis will get PSP’s to keep customers distracted from the meter as much as possible. The service is in testing phase now and will roll out fully by March 2011.

To promote their various laptops and showcase their digital sign technology that uses real-time data over the Internet, Toshiba tested an interactive digital billboard in Tokyo last weekend. YouTube users and passers-by with mobile phones were able to play video games against each other and take a short break from the rigors of city life.

The games were played on a digital billboard above the entrance to the Yodobashi Camera superstore in Akihabara. The games are basically mini-games and involve up to six players in a 90-second race to paint squares on a grid and hunt for Toshiba’s cute and cuddly Pala-Chan mascot. Mobile phone players used their number keys to control the game, while YouTube players on computers used the arrow keys on their keyboards. Videos below.

Check out this new mashup by Japanese coder Ryo Katsuma. It has a lot of potential. It takes the exercising aspect of the Wii and combines it with virtual tourism, by using Google Maps with the Wii Remote to create a virtual jogging or walking experience.

The crazy mashup takes you on a tour through a good bit of Tokyo, but what’s cool about it is that it could easily be applied to any city you want covered by Google Maps, letting you be a Wii world traveler. If you want to build one yourself, you can find out how over at Tokyo-jogging.