japan

Mini zoetrope recalls your childhood

I'm definitely way past the age for childhood toys, though some people still haven't outgrown that. I believe the politically correct phrase for them is "young at heart." However, Japanese retailer Banpresto has taken the zoetrope (remember the spinning drum with slits that make the static images inside appear to move like a flip book?), and given it a modern spin, so to speak.

Its Twinklepict has figures inside, backlit by a flashing internal light. As the characters in the dome spin, their shadowy forms project out in a pretty light show. This works on three … Read more

Attention, ladies: Manhunter bra is ridiculous

I just got back from a trip to California, where I got to be with almost my entire extended family. I'm 33 years old and single, so the whole time I had relatives telling me to hurry up and get married. The pressure was horrible. But now that I've seen, courtesy of talk2myShirt, this "husband hunting" bra concept from Japan, I'm a little relieved.

The bra, by Triumph International, has a built-in digital timer indicating how much time's left before the woman wearing it must get married. If she's not married by the … Read more

Supercloud looms for Japanese government

Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has revealed plans to build a massive cloud computing infrastructure to support all of the government's IT systems. Tentatively called the Kasumigaseki Cloud, the new infrastructure will be built in stages from now until 2015. The goal of the project is to consolidate all government IT systems into a single cloud infrastructure to help improve operational efficiency and reduce cost.

The Kasumigaseki Cloud will "enable various ministries to collaborate to integrate and consolidate hardware and create platforms for shared functions. Efforts will be made to efficiently develop and operate information … Read more

Google Street View has to reshoot in Japan

For Google Street View, Japanese version, it's not a wrap. It seems to be more of a wrap on the knuckles.

Google has received so many complaints about the height of its ambition, I am sorry, I mean the height of its cameras, that it will re-shoot all of its Japanese footage again. With cameras of a more modest scope.

According to some critics, Google's eagle eyes were more those of vultures, capturing the meat of rather too many private moments over too many private fences.

In Japan, people are not fond of having even their clean laundry … Read more

Have pillow fights with Panasonic's Fukitorimushi cleaning bot

Can anyone explain why Panasonic's Fukitorimushi cleaning bot resembles a hunchbacked pillow that looks like it needs cleaning itself? Fukitorimushi, literally meaning "wipe-up bug" and unveiled at the recent Tokyo Fiber Senseware expo in Milan, Italy, is rather aptly named. In a nod to the walking gel we just told you about, its locomotion is accomplished when it flexes and stretches its body like an inchworm. Just imagine a couple of these covered slug-bots flexing across the rooms when a neighbor happens to drop by.

Beneath the covers, the Fukitorimushi behaves much like a Roomba or Scooba. Its "feelers" of blue-white light search out the floor for dirt and, like a good vacuum, will diligently eliminate the grime. When low on battery power, the device will return to its base dock to recharge. The Nanofront cloth also has a practical application. Its polyester filament fibers are capable of absorbing oil and ultrafine dust particles, and aid in the machine's movements. … Read more

Battle robots prepare to take over the world (video)

Take heed puny humans, our robot overlords are practicing and things don't look good for us. Videos of "Kondo Battle" show how Kondo kit robots fight to the death.

Japan gets a DoCoMo HTC Magic

Looks like Vodafone isn't the only carrier getting the HTC Magic. Japan has just received one of its own, a DoCoMo version known as the HT-03A. Plus, it will have Android's new 1.5 Cupcake update already installed on it.

Like we reported at GSMA earlier this year, the HTC Magic has a 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen, a trackball navigator, a 3.2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Android's Webkit HTML browser.

Right now the GSM version is only available in the U.K., Spain, France, Germany, and Italy. No word on pricing just yet, though. Still, … Read more

Weird walking gel could be bot body part

Say what? This time, the innovative Japanese have dreamed up an invention that's just too weird for words. New Scientist describes it as a chemical gel that can walk like an inchworm. If you watch the video below, it rather resembles an orange peel doing a baby moonwalk a la Michael Jackson across the screen.

Whatever it is, the roboticists at Tokyo's Waseda University say this morphable gel is just the start of what could one day form the components of a future robot. If that wears the face of Robert Patrick's Terminator T-1000 killer shape-shifter, be … Read more

Extra Emoji in Gmail labs adds 1,000 emoticons

Google has a new Gmail labs add on for emoticon fanatics. When flipped on it adds an additional 1,200 or so to Gmail's emotion selector tool. New categories include things like national flags, more animals, road signs, and animations.

There are 13 categories in all, up from the two that come with the standard Gmail, which means it can take longer to find what you're looking for. All these additional emoticons actually come from Japanese phone carriers, each of which has its own set that works across all handsets. In Gmail's case, your recipient does not … Read more

Noodle Waterslide: Because food should have fun too

What's that about not playing with your food? But seeing as the Noodle Waterslide's from Japanese toymaker Bandai, it does wear the label of "toy." Still, this not only brings back memories of another noodle device, the USB-powered noodle strainer, it's actually a replica of the flowing somen specialty called nagashi somen, which I so wanted to try out while visiting Japan. Too bad this summer delight is found mainly in the Hyogo prefecture.

Here, thin somen is put in water flowing along a long bamboo gutter where you catch the noodles with your chopsticks, … Read more