Adam Frucci

How to Fall Up an Escalator

You’d think that by now people would know how to handle those tricky new-fandangled moving stairways. That’s gotta be embarrassing. [Glumbert]

Homemade Hose-Powered Magnetic CD Turbine with Sawblade Might be a bit Dangerous

If you’re looking to lose a finger or two in the most creative and dorky way possible, “Mr. Fix It” Rick’s “Magnetic Tesla CD Turbine” is the way to do it. Consisting of a bunch of CDs, a CD spindle case, a hose, a saw blade, magnets, and some creativity, it uses the power of…

Glass-Bottomed Car in the World’s Highest Ferris Wheel Creates Fears of Heights

The Odaiba Ferris Wheel in Tokyo is the tallest in the world, bringing riders up to a height of 377 feet at its zenith. We went on it and, stupidly, decided to ride in one of the 4 glass-bottomed cars on it. It was basically the scariest thing ever. We were level with the surrounding…

New Modules Pave the Way for 142-inch Plasma TVs with Insane Pricetags

Get ready for some monster-sized TVs for monster-sized prices. Shinoda Plasma Corp of Japan is prepping some 3x2m modules for sale to manufacturers, which would provide the guts for 142-inch plasma displays. They won’t be cheap, however, with prices for manufacturers running in the “several tens of millions of yen.” With 10 million yen equaling…

Apple Gets $831 for Every iPhone Sold Thanks to AT&T Payments

We already knew that the iPhone was making Apple money by the barrelload, but we didn’t know exactly how much. Well, uh, you’d better sit down. According to the Financial Accounting Standards Board, Apple receives a whopping $18 per month from AT&T for each iPhone customer. That adds up to $432 for each two-year contract,…

Steampunk Time Machine is a Prop for the Ultimate Nerd Halloween Costume

What would happen if comic-obsessed Internet nerds remade Back to the Future? This steampunk flux capacitor would replace the normal one, and it would be in the back of a carriage pulled by a steam engine made of brass with leather accents rather than a DeLorean. Also, instead of “Great Scott!,” Doc’s catchphrase would be…

Spy Shop Has Everything the Sneaky High-Tech Sleazeball Needs

In one Akihabara shop, we found a pretty sizable collection of spy equipment. From cellphone jammers and bug finders to hidden cameras and microphones, everything you could possibly need to find out just who this guy is who thinks he can date your ex-wife is available. The most interesting were probably the hidden mics and…

Awesome Robotics Shop is Hidden Above a Regular Electronics Store in Akihabara

On the fifth floor of an otherwise unassuming electronics shop on a side street in Akihabara hides a store dedicated exclusively to robots. You can get everything from fully built (and very expensive) robots to DIY model kits to parts to build your own robot from scratch. It’s a robotics geek’s paradise, tucked away, like…

‘Antique’ Gadget Sellers Market Features Amazingly Rare Tech

Some of the coolest stuff in Akihabara wasn’t the newest or flashiest, but the oldest. Take this market we discovered up a set of back stairs near the train station. It’s full of clear boxes that sellers can rent out. They then price their goods, stick them in, and wait for the buyers to come.…

This is where Walt Mossberg goes to eat when he visits Japan.

Giz Tokyo Meetup Puts Too Many Drunk Geeks in One Place

Last night was the Gizmodo Tokyo meetup, and it was a smashing success. Beers were drank, chicken was consumed, and gadgets were passed around. The turnout was awesome, with over a dozen local geeks and masters of industry showing up to talk shop and talk things that were not so shop. It was a total…

Game Bank is Your One-Stop Shop for Chinese Videogame Knockoffs

Game Bank is a small, crowded shop in Akihabara that sells video game equipment. But you won’t find any PS3s or Xbox 360s here. No, it specializes in Chinese knockoffs. So if you’re looking for a Dr. Boy, an XB 360, a TriStar 64, or accessories for your Nintendo Wü, this is the place to…

Akihabara’s U&J Macs is a Museum to, and Graveyard of, Old Macs

U&J Macs is a small Mac store in Akihabara that’s practically a museum to old Apple computers. It’s got loads of old iMacs and old G4 towers, as well as tons of old PowerBooks. And if you already have an old Mac that you’re trying to keep up to date, there are bins upon bins…

Video Hands On of the Sony Rolly in ‘Action’

Here’s a video of the Rolly demo at the Sony Building in Ginza. As you can see, it appears to have confused this nice man as much as it confuses me. Oh Sony, you’re so crazy! https://gizmodo.com/the-sony-building-in-ginza-is-a-museum-of-all-things-so-313253

Hands On the USB Microscope at Akihabara’s Thanko Shop

I got a tour of Akihabara by the wonderful people who work at Gizmodo Japan yesterday, and it was awesome. One of the first places we went was the Thanko store. Yes, the Thanko, makers of USB gadgets as dumb as they are impractical. Above, you can see me putting their USB microscope to the…

The KDDI Design Center’s Futuristic Concept Phones and Less Impressive Regular Phones

In Harajuku, near the bridge that all the socially awkward cosplay teenagers hang out on on Sundays, is the KDDI Design Center, a temple dedicated to Japanese phones. Inside they’ve got all of this year’s KDDI phone models, a display on futuristic phone concepts, and every phone offered by the Japanese carrier on display for…

Come Hang Out at the Tokyo Gizmodo Meetup!

So as you may or may not be aware, I’m in Japan. Tokyo, to be exact. And while I’m here, I’d love to meet up with any readers who live here and want to hang out. So! Tomorrow night, Wednesday, at 7:30, there’s gonna be a Gizmodo meetup at Toriyoshi in Shibuya. So if you’re…

The Sony Building in Ginza is a Museum of All Things Sony, Except the PS3

The Sony Building in Ginza stands tall just off the main department-store strip in the neighborhood, featuring a multi-story showroom of all things Sony. They’re showing off their latest and greatest tech, such as their super-thin, 8-inch XEL-1 OLED TVs and the Rolly speaker, as well as pretty much everything else they sell. It’s kind…

Ginza’s Apple Store and the Buttonless Elevator

The Apple store in Ginza, an upscale shopping neighborhood in Tokyo, is the first Apple store to have opened outside of the US. While most Apple stores are pretty similar, with their long, blonde-wood tables filled with toys for people to play around with, some of the flagship stores have little things that make them…

Auto-Ramen Restaurants are a Traveler’s Best Friend

Traveling in Japan without speaking any Japanese is surprisingly easy, thanks in part to many bilingual signs, an amazing train system and friendly people, but also because of one of my favorite discoveries here: auto-ramen restaurants. These are different than buying ramen from a vending machine, which, while user-friendly, is gross. No, these restaurants just…