japan

Sony is looking to revolutionize the inefficient way in which we consume power.

A new concept video from the electronics giant shows how we could use power more efficiently in the year 2030 by switching to smart outlets with authentication and wireless charging on a broad scale, assuming we survive the zombie Mayan apocalypse.

The prototype power outlet, integrated with a short-range wireless FeliCa transmitter (and a new RFID over power line technology), allows the user to swipe a pay card across the faceplate and pay for energy on the spot. What makes it truly interesting is if humankind keeps progressing towards alternative energies (such as wind, solar, and biomass), then our outlets could give us options as to what source from which we obtain our power. The video description notes that with this outlet, "the user can actively control and manage power consumption on a user basis as well as on a device basis." … Read more

Sit behind the computer too much and you might find yourself wanting to see more natural wonders. Well, Google Japan found a new way for people to explore the world, one cave at a time.

The search giant sent several photography crews to shoot long exposures of several popular underground (natural and man-made) formations in Japan. The two areas include the centuries-old Okubo-mabu mineshaft (part of Iwami Ginzan) and massive Akiyoshi-do limestone cavern, available for viewing via the Street View interface. Click on the gallery below; 360-degree views of silver, stalactites, and stalagmites await your eyeballs...

(Via AV Watch)

How you feeling today? (^_^)/ or (T_T)? Perhaps somewhat (=_=)?

If the above leaves you a tad (?_?), you're not up on your Japanese emoticons. But you can soon get up to snuff with Twikao, an app that automatically converts your mugshot into expressive symbols.

Japanese kaomoji (literally, "face letters") differ from Western smileys in several ways. For one, they're read vertically instead of horizontally, so that the brackets in the kaomoji above represent the sides of a face, and the symbols within are eyes and a mouth. For instance, a "T" is a watering eye, and (T_T) is crying.

Another feature of kaomoji is their wild expressiveness. The vertical form lends itself to a myriad of cartoonish little faces and combinations like \(^_^)/, a kind of mini-ode to joy. … Read more

The blogosphere, as you know, is a giant echo chamber. Someone posts something and other sites parrot it like ventriloquist dummies, verbatim or nearly so. But does it matter if the original post is wrong?

Case in point: The pic below surfaced on MIC Gadget recently. It suggests this fellow in a very awesome robot costume, seemingly fashioned out of old iMac parts, appeared in Chongqing, China, along with his mutton-chopped Steve Jobs sidekick striking a Moses pose.

It's been making the rounds recently, with Gizmodo, io9, Cult of Mac, Geekosystem, and Geekologie, among others, hailing the Macbot in China.

The thing is the photo was taken in Tokyo, Japan, not China. If you've ever been to the Tokyo Big Sight convention center, you'll remember its unmistakable inverted pyramids in the background of the photo. … Read more

How fast can you go up? Mitsubishi Electric recently unveiled technologies for new high-speed elevators that will climb at a vertiginous rate of roughly 40 mph when they enter service in China.

The elevators will be installed in the 632-meter (2,073-foot) Shanghai Tower, which is being erected in Shanghai's Pudong area.

Designed by U.S. architectural firm Gensler, the 128-story skyscraper will be the tallest structure in China when complete and second only in the world to Dubai's Burj Khalifa.

The elevators could travel as fast as 1,080 meters, or 3,543 feet, per minute--roughly 40.2 mph. … Read more

What if the vice president of your university were a genius producer who had put together an insanely successful pop group of 90 singers and then approved the creation of identical doll versions of them?

Weird? Not for Kyoto University of Art and Design and Yasushi Akimoto, the Steve Jobs of otaku (supergeeks) in Japan. The school just hosted a hit exhibition of dolls based on the gals in the band he produces, AKB48.

At 90 members, AKB48 is the Guinness-certified world's largest pop band. Its members are all females in their teens and early twenties, and all its bubble-gum singles top the charts on the day of their release.

The music is, shall we say, an aquired taste; it sounds like arcade game tunes drenched in a massive one-part vocal harmony. Yet intense otaku fandom has lifted the hydra-headed, miniskirted band to the highest levels of Japanese acceptability. It's even acting as Japan's unofficial representative in China. … Read more

Steve Appleton mirrored the survivalist streak in the company he led.

Micron Technology CEO Appleton died Friday at 51 years old when a high-performance Lancair plane he was piloting crashed at Boise Airport in Idaho.

Lancairs aren't easy to fly. In fact, they're difficult enough that the Federal Aviation Administration gave notice to Lancair operators in 2009 that the planes had a "disproportionate" number of fatal accidents.

Though Lancairs accounted for only 3 percent of the nation's amateur-built airplanes, they accounted for 16 percent of the fatal accidents in the 11 months prior to the … Read more

Ah, Valentine's Day. It's just around the corner, so have you thought about how you'll express your love for your favorite inanimate object? Humans are so passe.

Japanese retailers have a suggestion. They're setting geek hearts aflutter with a pretty, ageless female android who's looking for love.

Clutching a bag and cell phone, she seems to be waiting for a suitor.

"Android falls in love? She is waiting for you" reads the writing on her glass box at Takashimaya Department Store in Tokyo's Shinjuku district.

The special Valentine's display features Geminoid F, the photogenic robot developed by Osaka University professor Hiroshi Ishiguro and colleagues. … Read more

Yahoo is currently in discussions with Yahoo Japan to sell off its share in the Asian company.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Yahoo Japan Chief Financial Officer Akira Kajikawa said that Yahoo is trying to "finalize the mechanism [for selling its stake] and we are cooperating with them," according to The Wall Street Journal, which was in attendance at the event.

Kajikawa didn't say how Yahoo would go about selling its 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, but according to the Journal's sources, the company is trying to find a way to do it without paying taxes. … Read more