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Japanese TV show not really
I Survived a Japanese Game Show: Shooting Balls, Breaking Faces
This week's over-the-top I Survived... challenges didn't have as much gadgety goodness as usual, but were strangely satisfying nonetheless. First, Velcro-clad contestants were dangled in front of of a teammate, who would try to pass them Velcro balls to catch. The objective was for the dangler, manipulated by two other contestants, to collect as many balls as possible without getting hit too many times by their opponent, stationed behind a cool pneumatic ball cannon.Sort of boring, right? Well the second challenge was way better. Fans of MXC (Takeshi's castle, for non-Americans) will recognize the false door game, where contestants have to get through a series of doors, some soft and fake, some real and hard. ISJGS takes it to the next level, forcing contestants to swing - not run - into the doors. More »
Japanese TV show not really
I Survived a Japanese Game Show: Spinning Babies, Spilling Milk
This week's ridiculous I Survived... challenge ran contestants through a relatively simple obstacle course. The catch? They've been dressed as babies, dizzied on a playground carousel and given two cups of milk to take along with them. The objective is to fill the team baby bottle at the end of the course. More »
Japanese TV show not really
The concept seems more like a Greek mythological punishment than a game show challenge. The crime: conspiracy to further destroy American television. Stay tuned for more game show gadgetry next week. [ABC]
I Survived a Japanese Game Show: The Three-Person Exercise Bike
In this week's episode of I Survived... contestants found themselves on an elaborate interconnected exercise bike/conveyor belt contraption. The object of the game is for the tricyclist, peddling on and against a moving belt, to remain in the prize zone for as long as possible. His or her teammates peddle on stationary bikes beside the belt, and the faster they go the slower their triker is, uh, conveyed. When the belt goes too fast or the contestants wear out, the tricycle rider is dumped into a pool of freezing water.The concept seems more like a Greek mythological punishment than a game show challenge. The crime: conspiracy to further destroy American television. Stay tuned for more game show gadgetry next week. [ABC]
japan
Crawling Businessman Robot Is a Critique On Japanese Salarymen
Japanese Performance artist Momoyo Torimitsu built a crawling Japanese businessman robot and took it to the streets of Australia to creep out little kids and turn on weird dudes with camcorders. The bot is her critique on the Japanese salaryman lifestyle and the apparent upcoming Asian economic crash. All we know is that dressing up like a nurse and pulling down an old man's pants in the middle of the street is going to attract some lookey-loos. Oh, and I wouldn't want to scrape along the street with my undies down. Ouch. [Diagonal View via Dvice]
Japanese TV show not really
How I Survived a Japanese Game Show: The Gigantic Human Prize Claw Game
The new episode still follows most of the tired reality show conventions and spends too much time on the stunningly boring contestants, but the brief game show events still impress. This week's challenge: become a human claw game, picking up prizes as teammates control your x, y and z axis movement. This challenge aired much to the chagrin of Claw Machine Boy, whose chronic PTSD triggered hard when this episode aired. Stay tuned for a weekly review of the 45 seconds of this show that is worth watching. [ABC]
42gb dvd
Dudes in the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials in Tohoku University just developed a 42GB DVD that's backwards compatible with nothing. The new tech uses a V shape in the pits—current pits are just pits—which allows nine times more information to be held on the same sized disc. The downside is that current CD and DVD drives cant' read it, so you'll have to purchase all new tech in order to use this. It's also not capable of being adapted to Blu-ray drives, so there's little to no incentive for the industry to add this in to this generation either. But nice work (in theory), Japanese researchers! [Crunchgear]
Japanese Researchers Make 42GB DVD That's Compatible With Nothing
Dudes in the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials in Tohoku University just developed a 42GB DVD that's backwards compatible with nothing. The new tech uses a V shape in the pits—current pits are just pits—which allows nine times more information to be held on the same sized disc. The downside is that current CD and DVD drives cant' read it, so you'll have to purchase all new tech in order to use this. It's also not capable of being adapted to Blu-ray drives, so there's little to no incentive for the industry to add this in to this generation either. But nice work (in theory), Japanese researchers! [Crunchgear]
Japanese TV show not really
How I Survived a Japanese Game Show: So Far, Lame But With a Touch of Gadget
The new ABC show this week, How I survived a Japanese Game show, combines the Japanese entertainment staple with an American reality TV series, featuring your usual cast of Jerry Springer rejects. Besides the weirdness and bright vibe typically found in such gameshows, there is the tech. The premier episode featured a conveyor belt that contestants had to run on with plate of mochi on their head. You either run long and fast enough to feed your team member and earn a point, or fall into a pit of flour. It's kind of hard to explain, but we have a video. More »
keyboards
Remember the beautiful gold and flowers keyboards from a few months back? This new keyboard from Japanese artist Kazuharu Sakura should probably go in the same "typing nightmare" category. Because it's handmade, and leather is a pretty unusual thing to have your keys made from... but they're missing something important. Legends. So, if you're into conversation-piece leather-gimp peripherals, and you know your way around a keyboard better than you know how to aim safely for the toilet in the dark, then this might be the one for you. There's no info, though, on how much this piece of luxury may cost—I imagine quite a lot. [Akihabaranews]
Leather Keyboard from Japanese Artist, Only For Expert Touch-Typers
Remember the beautiful gold and flowers keyboards from a few months back? This new keyboard from Japanese artist Kazuharu Sakura should probably go in the same "typing nightmare" category. Because it's handmade, and leather is a pretty unusual thing to have your keys made from... but they're missing something important. Legends. So, if you're into conversation-piece leather-gimp peripherals, and you know your way around a keyboard better than you know how to aim safely for the toilet in the dark, then this might be the one for you. There's no info, though, on how much this piece of luxury may cost—I imagine quite a lot. [Akihabaranews]
japan
Japanese DVD Program Teaches Confidence By Staring At Women For 96 Minutes
Continuing our weirdness from Japan theme, a company called Avex has just released a DVD that teaches men to be more confident by staring at 50 different women for an hour and a half. Most Japanese men do this already, but instead of the women being in various states of undress, these women are just plain staring back at you, right in the eye, in a sort of glowering manner. More »
3:45 PM on Fri Jun 6 2008
By Jason Chen
23,836 views,
118 comments
Latest by Kanidia: I was totally expecting a shock video... I had to read the comments first. more »
japan plant
Sega Toys knows what Japanese people want: something to complain to that couldn't possibly think badly of you. It's called Pekoppa, and it's got a chip inside that will bend, stretch, and lean the plant according to how you speak to it. According to Sega it's "a good listener," will have 200,000 units floating around Japan come September. Do they have dogs in Japan, or have all the North Koreans abducted them all? [Nikkei via Crunchinator]
Japanese Pekoppa Plant Listens To Your Problems Because Nobody Else Wants To
Sega Toys knows what Japanese people want: something to complain to that couldn't possibly think badly of you. It's called Pekoppa, and it's got a chip inside that will bend, stretch, and lean the plant according to how you speak to it. According to Sega it's "a good listener," will have 200,000 units floating around Japan come September. Do they have dogs in Japan, or have all the North Koreans abducted them all? [Nikkei via Crunchinator]
japanese water
Japanese Life Science Water Apparatus Makes Five Types of Water
We were only familiar with two types of water, the kind from the tap and the kind you buy in bottles, but Japan's been enjoying at least five different kinds of it since 1974. Their water appliance, which is finally making it over to the US, makes Kangen Alkaline water for your immune system, Strong Kangen water for washing produce, Acid and Beauty water for cleaning skin, and Strong Acid water for cleaning your house. So it looks like you've got a one-in-five chance when you're looking for water at night of not coming up with really clean insides. We like those odds. [Optimum Health Water via i4u]
iphone 2.0
iPhone 2.0 Firmware Will Have Handwriting Recognition, Go to Japan and China?
A blog on the Wretch.cc network (kinda like a Chinese blogspot) has screens from the Chinese version of iPhone's 2.0 firmware, detailing the new handwriting recognition. If it's real, which it seems to be, the new firmware will let people draw in characters with their fingers, then pick the closest approximation among choices that pop up.
More »
keyboards
These traditional Japanese-style keyboards are a class apart from the grey or white boringness of the average keyboard. As well as looking different, and neat these devices are even handmade for that extra "creative" touch. The gold one's damn attractive and would look cool on many a desk: but not the green "kara kusa" one... that just looks like a typing nightmare. That attractiveness costs, mind you, as they're available for $154.90. Except the gold "Zip-Ang" one, which is a whopping $214.21. [Akihabaranews]
More »
Japanese-Style Keyboards Look Almost Too Good for Typing
These traditional Japanese-style keyboards are a class apart from the grey or white boringness of the average keyboard. As well as looking different, and neat these devices are even handmade for that extra "creative" touch. The gold one's damn attractive and would look cool on many a desk: but not the green "kara kusa" one... that just looks like a typing nightmare. That attractiveness costs, mind you, as they're available for $154.90. Except the gold "Zip-Ang" one, which is a whopping $214.21. [Akihabaranews]
More »
japan
Japanese Oral Grip Machine Tortures, Improves Smiles
The Japanese are not unfamiliar with using gadgets to improve their appearance, but this Oral Grip Machine just looks and sounds too painful to be used while not inundated with sake. It's a couple pieces of plastic you shove in your mouth to work your oral muscles out with for four minutes at a time, three times a day. Now, we've seen plenty of Japanese people, and their smiles being sub-par is probably pretty far down the list of things I thought about. However, maybe this is less for smiles, and more for the Japanese adult industry where oral strength is a trait much sought after (at least in the videos we've glanced at). [Patakara via Tokyo Mango]
japanese cell
Au, the company that brought us the rather sexy Infobar 2 has released a high-res widescreen phone in Japan that they claim has a 2000:1 contrast ratio. Manufactured by Sharp, the hot-pink number has a 2.8-inch Acquos screen, 240 x 400 resolution and this rather crazy 2000:1 contrast claim. You can find a mini-gallery after the jump.
More »
Au Claims Its W61SH Widescreen Cell has a 2000:1 Contrast Ratio, We Say, 'Blimey It's Pink'
Au, the company that brought us the rather sexy Infobar 2 has released a high-res widescreen phone in Japan that they claim has a 2000:1 contrast ratio. Manufactured by Sharp, the hot-pink number has a 2.8-inch Acquos screen, 240 x 400 resolution and this rather crazy 2000:1 contrast claim. You can find a mini-gallery after the jump.
More »
5:14 AM on Mon Dec 17 2007
By AddyDugdale
5,208 views,
19 comments
Latest by Lapko: I would buy it.......not pink though! It looks cool. more »
cellphones
NEC Phone Translates Spoken Voice Into Touristy Demands
A newly developed phone from NEC will take the spoken words of Japanese tourists and turn them into an English translation on the fly. The translator's 50,000 word vocab is geared towards the typical tourist pleas: "Can I have a subway route map?" "How far away is the hotel?" and "Where can I find decent Japanese food in this God-forsaken country?" The translation appears as text, rather than being played aloud as voice, because that takes more horsepower and the developers are afraid of a miscommunication. While we've seen dedicated translation devices from IBM and even NEC's own early prototype, this is the first time the entire system fits on a small chip mounted within a functioning cell phone. Too bad the technology wasn't around soon enough to help Chris Farley. [AFP]
8:42 AM on Fri Nov 30 2007
By Wilson Rothman
681 views,
7 comments
Latest by Amiash is a starred immature: what about the other languages? more »
gadgets
Gamersweb stumbled upon this set of gadget bondage pictures on 2chan, the anonymous Japanese internet forum that wrought the nerdling train romance onto the world. We're not sure what exactly traditional Japanese bondage rope has to do with Game Boy Color, computer speakers, or a roll of toilet paper, but it looks like somebody's getting some practice in before working the real thing (if that time ever comes). [Gamersweb]
Japanese Bondage And Gadgets Make Us Scratch Our Heads
Gamersweb stumbled upon this set of gadget bondage pictures on 2chan, the anonymous Japanese internet forum that wrought the nerdling train romance onto the world. We're not sure what exactly traditional Japanese bondage rope has to do with Game Boy Color, computer speakers, or a roll of toilet paper, but it looks like somebody's getting some practice in before working the real thing (if that time ever comes). [Gamersweb]
