(Credit:
Tech On)
Don't you hate it when your TV remote runs out of juice? Or when your clicker gets totaled by a battery leak? NEC and Soundpower Corporations' new battery-less remote control may be the solution. This technology is based on three key components:
- Vibration power generation that harnesses energy created by clicking a remote button
- A microprocessor that transmits and receives data in varying bandwidths
- A power supply controller that drives the electronics with minimal electricity
It will probably take some time for this technology to mature, but both companies are planning to promote its adoption in the consumer electronics market as early as 2011. That said, do we have to click such remotes furiously just to get them running fresh out-of-the-box?
(Source: Crave Asia via Tech On)
Thirty-five years ago, Hello Kitty dropped an atomic cute bomb on the world and the universe was forever changed.
Developed in 1974, the iconic kawaii cat debuted with Japanese character licensing firm Sanrio in 1975 on a small change purse that sold for 240 yen (around 80 cents at the time). Sanrio has since built a vast global empire on Kitty's popularity, and related licensing deals now account for a huge chunk (some say about half) of Sanrio's $5 billion in annual sales.
Over the past three and a half decades, Kitty's mouth-missing face has graced thousands upon thousands of products, from wallets, trash cans, alarm clocks, stationary, and airplanes to cell phones, cell phone chargers, Netbooks, massively multiplayer online role-playing games, USB lap warmers, karaoke systems, and even assault rifles--yes assault rifles.
Kitty's 35th birthday year has proven to be yet another opportunity for a merchandising bonanza, and fortunately (or tragically, depending on your perspective), the global fat cat shows absolutely no sign of slowing down or loosening her claw-like grip on the consumer electronics industry. So to fete the feline on her special occasion, we breathed a sigh of resignation and rounded up some of the scariest cutest Hello Kitty gadgets from the past year (see our gallery above).
Didn't we hear the retirement age for fictional Japanese cats is 36?
(Credit:
Triumph International Japan)
(Credit:
Triumph International Japan)
Sometimes you just want to practice your putting. If you're near a woman wearing Triumph International Japan's new golf outfit (in Japanese), and you can convince her to take it off, you can putt to your heart's content.
Yes, this ludicrous item, which is not yet for sale, consists of a green bra that transforms into a putting green, with the cups turning into holes. Sink a putt, and a speaker says, "Nice shot!" There's also a skirt that turns into a flag that says, "Be Quiet" on it, for keeping onlookers hushed while you golf next to a naked woman.
You probably won't be surprised to hear that Triumph also brought us such other classics as the Manhunter bra.
This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.
(Credit:
Hanaoka)
Japanese artist Hanaoka likes to cover objects in grass. Cars, business card holders, cufflinks, ashtrays, compact mirrors...you name it. He even blankets computer peripherals with the stuff.
To wit: the grass mouse pictured at right. Pair it with this grass cell phone and start the hose (or maybe that's not such a good idea).
Thanks to my ever-helpful co-worker/translator Takayuki Sakurai, I'm able to glean that Hanaoka has, in the past, made his verdant mouse available for purchase, though we're not seeing evidence that it's currently for sale. If you're liking the grass-on-all-things idea, however, the artist does sell a grass-covered badge for 300 yen (about $3.50) and a grass-covered cell phone strap for 700 yen (about $7.50).
Hanaoka donates 50 percent of his proceedings to a nonprofit called Shibafu Sprit, which aims to make Osaka-area schoolyards green (Shibafu is word for grass in Japanese).
We hear he's also been donating to the Chia Pet Rescue Foundation.
Tokyoflash's latest series of slick designer wristwatches features lightweight aluminum construction, LED lights, and maddeningly confusing time displays.
(Credit:
Tokyoflash)
The Kisai series inherits the qualities of previous incomprehensible Tokyoflash timepieces such as the Fire and the Pleasure Seeker, namely that users must spend hours deciphering their alien time-reckoning systems.
They certainly put one's brain to work. The Sensai model (right), which weighs 2.5 ounces and sells for about $233, tells the time after a button on its right side is pushed. The button first initiates a circular animation of colored LEDs.
When the animation stops, the hour is shown according to the number of red LEDs. So far, so good. When it comes to minutes, things get tricky.
Eleven green LEDs represent five-minute groups and four yellow LEDs represent single minutes. So, three red, two green, and two yellow equals 3:12 (editor's note: this post was updated to indicate the correct breakdown of colors; thanks to the reader who pointed the error out). Clear as mud? There's a demo here.
To watch an explanation of how another Kisai model works, click the vid below (the speaker calls the watch a "friend maker").
Now if only Tokyoflash could come up with an impenetrable Mayan Apocalypse Watch, they'd corner the market for the 2012 doomsday set.
Is Style Savvy Nintendo's secret weapon this holiday?
(Credit: Nintendo)Different games are made for different people. I can understand that. Nevertheless, it's disappointing that Nintendo addressed its new game, Style Savvy, exclusively to girls. An adaptation of a Japanese game that Nintendo has already found great success with, Style Savvy is entirely devoted to fashion. You buy clothes, you sell clothes, you dress up your avatar, and you open your own boutique to sell your fashion solutions to the world. When Nintendo sent its alerts and asked us here at CNET to check out the game, we were slightly less than excited about it. That doesn't seem like great news for a game that's front-and-center in Nintendo's holiday lineup, but then again, we're not the target audience.
This box doesn't exactly scream "buy me."
(Credit: Nintendo)I am far from interested in fashion, and the box design looked a lot like other DS shovelware released by many, many companies already. To be honest, my colleagues thought I was crazy to even be covering this game in the first place. Still, I was curious. I said I'd give it a try. And so a copy found its way into my DS. And, to my great surprise, it's still in there days later.
First off, this game is a retail/shopping simulator. The main focus is on greeting new customers, listening to their shopping requests, and then recommending a piece of clothing to fit their budgets. It might sound boring, but the reward is guessing right and getting a very satisfied customer who might buy even more, adding valuable income to your supply. With that money you buy more items from the design center (10,000 items cycled by season and randomness adds up to an Animal Crossing level of diversity). An in-game fashion magazine even shows off new fashion trends for the season, which parallels actual time.
The game starts you off as a store employee and then puts you in charge of your own store, where you try to succeed as well as you can. Everything you wear and how you behave also affects your performance, creating a surprisingly casual, yet deep, experience...and as you can see, I pretty much became hooked. I'm not embarrassed to admit that. The game is also controlled via stylus and with the DS turned on its side in "book" format. Its pace is slow enough for a subway ride, and the many small interactions create a persistent microgame that can be played in intervals as small as a minute.
My main issue, however, is that this game is officially targeted at girls. ... Read more
On Sale Now: $29.82 - $29.99
View the latest prices for Style Savvy (DS)
(Credit:
Impress)
Hard to believe that before Apple made multitouch cool, the most we ever "touched" our PC was touch typing. Now, here's Photoelastic Touch, a more tactile form of interaction that enters into "Minority Report" realm (still one of the coolest future tech shows) by not even requiring users to touch the screen.
Japanese researchers led by Hideki Koike at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo used a face mask comprising see-through gel as a haptic interface, allowing users to press, pinch, or touch the transparent mold to control the face on the LCD. In this case, the actions prompted a furrowed eye brow or eye movement.
Koike says one application of the technology could involve building a 3D model of the brain from the material to give budding surgeons feedback as they "operate" on it. The researchers showed off the technology at Digital Content Expo 2009 in Tokyo.
Of course, there's nothing like watching all this in action. So catch the video below
(Source: Crave Asia via Impress)
(Credit:
Rakuten)
Hang on. You're coughing and sneezing your lungs out, and you want ME to come inside Ground Zero to pass you a tissue? No thanks. Four little letters and numbers: H1N1.
Fortunately, we have Rakuten's Running Tissue Box to come to the rescue. Using a standard remote-control chassis, you put a tissue box on top and drive the absorbent paper to its destination at a maximum of 26 feet away. Think of it as a bomb disposal robot that enters dangerous contaminated territory where no man should tread.
The only thing that makes us scratch our heads is how long it took for someone to bring this idea to fruition. The Running Tissue Box comes in white, red, and black and costs around $25. It's available from online stores such as Japan Trend Shop.
(Credit:
Japan Trend Shop)
(Source: Crave Asia via CrunchGear)
(Credit:
Robo-Garage)
Japanese robot wunderkind Tomotaka Takahashi has created a new humanoid robot that can jump 3 inches off the floor, an impressive feat for a small bipedal machine.
Known for his anime-inspired robotic creations used for product promotion, Takahashi's latest bipedal walker is called Ropid (from "robot" and "rapid").
The cute carbon fiber and plastic droid weighs 3.5 pounds and has 30 degrees of mechanical freedom.
Seen in the video below, Ropid can get up, walk, run, and even jump 3 inches into the air.
It does all that while maintaining its balance thanks to its four onboard gyro sensors and four accelerometers.
Takahashi's stylish robots, such as Chroino, are often featured in magazines and on TV in Japan.
It took Takahashi two and a half years to develop Ropid at his Kyoto University-based start-up Robo-Garage. The robot is based on patented technology developed in 2007.
(Via Robot Watch)
(Credit:
Strapya World)
Scrap the puchipuchi pudding. I want this. Takara Tomy's Sakasa Master Japan Voice Recorder (1,344 yen, $14.60) promises even more crazy, pointless fun for collectors of all things chindogu (un-useful gadgets) from Japan.
This one plays back what you've recorded in reverse. That's right. Who cares if nobody ever gets you? We don't even get this! But hey, it's all in good fun, especially when you can mix your own subliminal messages into the background of piped-in music, like this one to your boss: !esiar a em eviG. (Give me a raise!)
(Source: Crave Asia via Tokyo Mango)
