Tag: Japan
Citizen's Seismic Watch earthquake warning system
This chunky man’s watch features an Earthquake Early Warning radio receiver inside it, so if the roof’s about to cave in you’ll have a chance to put some clothes on so you’re not dragged out of the rubble naked on live TV.
The EEW warning system will be broadcast via radio waves, hopes Citizen, with the radio system faster than other…
Korea/Japan Week: Removable phone fascias are big in Japan too…
I wrote with a slightly surprised air that removable fascias are still popular in Korea the other day, but judging by a visit to KDDI’s Design Studio store in Tokyo this morning, the same is true in Japan.
Korea/Japan Week: KDDI's waterproof digital TV phone that works underwater
“Who would like to watch TV while they’re in the bath?” asked a chap from Japanese operator KDDI, during his presentation this morning at the company’s Design Studio in Tokyo. Er…
Anyway, it was a cue to show off the W53SA phone, which lets you watch 1seg digital TV (that’s the Japanese standard), but is also fully waterproof, so works even when you dunk it in a big bowl of water. Which I proceeded to do:
Korea/Japan Week: Contrary to popular belief, the Japanese Agriculture Ministry is not in charge of Gundam :(
Last night I thought Kim Jong-Il’s comment boasting that he was an ‘internet expert’ was one of the best quotes that’s come out of this Korea/Japan Week we’re having here at Tech Digest, but I’ve discovered something even better, courtesy of Tokyo Mango, Japanese expert.
It appears that Japanese government bureaucrats may be the most obsessed Gundam fans in the world, as an internal investigation in the agriculture ministry has uncovered six staff members spend most of their time editing Gundam entries on Wikipedia rather than working on farming issues. They…
Korea/Japan Week: Sony reveals Ceramic White 40GB PlayStation3
Hot on the heels of the UK announcement of the newer, lower-spec, 40GB version of PlayStation3 comes this actually-quite-pretty Ceramic White version of Sony’s PS3. But it’s only for Japan at the moment.
It’s also vastly cheaper in Japan, where the 40GB…
Worried about your obese hamster, or training him for a marathon? Get him a pedometer
While there are plenty of guidelines for how much humans should walk each day, I've not come across any such measurements for the humble hamster, but if you're worried, or simply curious, about your little furry friend's movements, try the…
Indulge your bubble-wrap popping tendencies with Bandai's Mugen Puchi Puchi
Hands up who enjoys popping bubble-wrap? Oh hai, all of you? Thought so. The past-time which is only just eclipsed by folding tent rods up, and scraping burnt bits off toast over the sink has just been made into a little electronic gizmo, which lucky OCD-ridden Japanese can get from Bandai when it launches shortly.
Like a game of Russian Roulette, every 100 squeezes of the air bubbles produces a random noise like the sound of a fart, or a woman ‘moaning in ecstasy’. Fear not commuters, as if you simply must pop the electronic bubble-wrap on the train,..
Japanese students waste their time making virtual cat whiskers
They are making “artificial, wearable, light-based hairs (or antennae)”.
The idea is that little infra-red sensors constantly scan the environment – those are your virtual antennae – with miniature vibration feedback…
Old Japanese people bored of robots already
The novelty of $4,300 “communication robot” Ifbot wore off after about a month of active service in a Kyoto nursing home, with elderly residents preferring the silent, unconditional love of teddy bears.
Most old people “see robots as overly-complicated and unpractical” says Ruth Campbell, a social worker in…
The Wee console which plays DVDs, not games
Now, on one hand you have the Wii, a games console which doesn’t play DVDs. On the other hand, you’ve got the Wee, a DVD player which doesn’t play games. If only someone would join the two together in holy matrimony and declare them Wii-Wee, all would be right in this universe…
