Hot Gadgets

Is it a vending machine ? No, it is a girl.

I came across this article yesterday and used as I was to the ingenuity and sometimes weird(ok, really weird!)  variety of Japanese inventions, this one really took the cake and left me speechless. See a girl 'transforming' herself into a faux Coca-Cola vending machine using some portable and wearable gadget. Developed by Aya Tsukioka, a Japanese fashion designer to fight female-related crimes, rare as they are in Japan.

This skirt kit, pictured above, transforms the wearer into a façade of a vending machine.Will this 'confuse' a potential attacker ?  The next time you stand in front of a vending machine, be sure to feel it up. You know, just to be sure!.;-)

There are other examples of similar novel solutions to fight crime and be safe. No surprise there, really ! There is this "manhole bag", for instance , a purse that unfolds into a round shaped manhole cover. You are supposed to put your valuables or wallet inside it and put it on the street to fool the thieves. Then there are a knife-proof high school uniforms for kids to be safe when they are travelling between home and school. There's more and this one really reaches the height xof paranoia, a tips book for parents on how to dress their children like hoodlum characters to scare away the school bullies. If you are a nervous parent, then you should buy a special kind of mobile phone for your kids that you can track using the GPS. Also chips for backpacks are available that sends a signal when students enter and leave school.

Woah!

[source]

Japan's water-powered car

Not a single day passes by without the television or the print media talking about  global warming or the state of the world's economy (the rise and fall in the price of oil). Search for alternative energy has become the Gold Rush of the modern times. People of every shapes and sizes right from Al Gore to my old college science professor have drilled into me this soundbyte about a doomsday scenario of cars and factories destroying Earth and basically driving us into oblivion. What if there is a car that does not pollute and runs on clean energy ? Is that possible. Well, the answer, dear readers is yes.

A Japanese company by the name of Genepax has being showing off a prototype car that runs completely on water and looks like this. 

Granted this is a prototype and all, but the size constraints mean that it will take a number of years before it gets mainstream acceptance especially from folks used to oil-guzzling SUVs. Still, this is very remarkable achievement. I managed to find this wonderful little video on Youtube, made by Reuters. It nicely explains the science and mechanism behind the 'water fuel'. Prices start at around ¥2,000,000 (US$18,522), but are expected to fall massively to ¥500,000 (US$4600) if they can get the car into mass production.

I now wonder what would a bottle of water cost if this takes off. :-X

Swing Shot tennis robot

This is January and that means the first tennis Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open is on.It is normal to see players practicing before and after their matches. Most of them have their own partners to practice with. There are ofcourse a number of automatic tennis ball serving machines that many tennis clubs have and indeed many amateur players make use of.

Japan has come with a new and futuristic tennis robot called a Swing Shot. See picture below.

This is the world's first tennis robot hitting balls with a racket. The speed of a ball can be adjusted between 20 km/h and 70 km/h. The balls can be released in different pitches, such as spin, lob, smash. The robot is remote-controlled.  Swing Shot has been introduced to tennis schools and others.
So if you are out of a partner, then look no further than the cool looking Swing Shot.

See videos below of typical tennis ball machines and it is quite easy to understand how path-breaking the Swing Shot is.

Musical gadget in your restroom

Sometimes restroom business can get, ahem, noisy and if someone is ultra conscious then, uh ho, it can get embarrassing too. In a public restroom,   many people would rather like to  disappear from the face of the earth than go through the whole "sound show". Well, give it to the Japanese to come up with a musical gadget in public restrooms that masks sounds.
Check out the video below. (hint: it is noisy.)

Japundit shot a video of a gadget called "The Magical Water Princess," which is installed in women's public restrooms to mask sounds of using the toilet.

" A device called Oto-hime ... makes a chirping sound when ladies use the toilet, because Japanese women hate the idea of anyone being able to hear any sounds they make while they go. Before the device was introduced in the 1980s, it seems that female patrons in restaurants would flush the toilet multiple times to mask the sounds, which wasted an incredible amount of water...

Cool, crazy or what ?

Laser and Plasma TV - the future is already here

Mitsubishi, the Japanese electronics company has brought us closer to the future of television displays with their advanced Laser TV. This is a 65 inch version already on sale for about $7000, that, Mitsubishi claims, offers a contrast ratio and colors spectrum  double that of current LCD and Plasma TV's. The Laser TV is not only capable of delivering the ultimate picture quality but is also capable of delivering a true 3D experience. Its path-breaking technology ensures that its color range is brilliant and brightness the best of all TVs out there.

At $7000, I guess I will have to wait for atleast 3-4 yrs before I can even think of purchasing it. Right now though I'm sticking with a within-budget Plasma or LCD TV. Plasma TVs ofcourse, have been in the market for quite some time but you can bet your socks that there are always something new and spectacular models on the way. Lo and behold,  we now have the jaw-dropping 150 inch Plasma TV from Panasonic.

Launched at the Display 2008 Expo in Tokyo, the plasma panel has a resolution of 4,096 × 2,160 and makes use of the newly developed Neo PDP technology creating a brightness level that is twice as high as current plasma panels. Woah! No word on the pricing yet,tough it is safe to assume that it is not going to be anything short of $100,000. Are people going to shell out so much especially given the economic scenario ? Only time will tell. But something tells me that nothing affects the really affluent people. Rain or shine, they all want their Plasma TVs :-)

Pioneer has also come up with their high-end new Plasma TV launch in Japan,Europe, US and Australia called the Kuro in white and beige colour. All limited edition. All exclusive. For some mere mortals like us, lets us just drool on the images.

Sexy booth babes from Asia

You can spot them almost everywhere. The booth babes are hard to miss. Be it an hi- tech expo, a product launch or a trade show, the girls are there looking sexy and adding glamour to the proceedings. After all, the brand new car or the latest mobile phone looks more sexier and cool with a booth babe clinging to it. In Asia especially in Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, Thailand girl students or even professionals turn up at these events look pretty, wear sexy uniforms, even talk about the product and become part of the legend that is a booth babe and earn some extra money. Always handy, right ? Some even get to turn into professional models and grow into bigger celebrities.

The video below of the Tokyo Game Show 2008 shows what long legs and short skirts can do.

Check out the booth babes from other parts of Asia. Asian babes are the best.

Looking sexy is clearly the name of the game.

Short skirts are still the in-thing for these booth babes from Korea. Look at the sexy girls advertising Vodafone but clearly all the attention is on these babies. More below from Korea

 

 

 

More racy photographs after the break.

Thank you to Thanko

Some of you may know Thanko as the prolific Japanese company that makes cute and funny gadgets like USB mouse, USB slippers, USB boob warmers and a lot more USB based devices left only to the imagination. Below is a video of the interview with Thanko's CEO , Mr Yamamitsu where he talks about his company's products like

 (a) Gold ingot USB hub
 (b) USB slippers
 (c) USB gloves
 (d) USB mask
 (e) Battery charger for Wiimote
 (f) Double side wireless mouse
 (g) Geek portable desktop

More photos and story via akihabaranews.

Take a look at the photos below  of some of their fancied USB products  - USB boob warmer, USB slippers warmer, USB mouse.

 

And they just keep on coming. Stay tuned for more crazy but oh so very sexy products from the beloved Thanko.

Top 10 classy digital cameras

January 20th was President Obama inauguration in the U.S. In this photograph you can see Malia Obama taking a picture of her dad giving the Inaugural Address. And yes, she is using a Kodak camera.

Kodak, alongside Polaroid is one of the last standing American camera manufacturers. Ofcourse the world of digital cameras and camcorders is dominated by Japanese companies and there is a constant stream of innovative and stylish models coming out at a regular pace. In this post, we take a look at a list of ten digital cameras from Japan, in no particular, that are high on style quotient with groundbreaking technology.

10. Sony Cybershot G3

This is the world's first Internet-enabled camera with Wi-Fi connectivity. With 10MP, 4x optical zoom, 4GB internal storage and 3.5 in touchscree, this is definitely high-end and for $500 USD seems to be a definite value for money.

9. Nikon D90

 

This 13.6 MP camera is the "world's the first-ever DSLR with HD video recording" according to the manufacturer. Check out the neat video below showing the Nikon D90.

advance testing of the Nikon D90

8.Unique camera - INDEX

If you are one of those lucky ambidextrous people, this camera is for you. With its large handle that can rotate left or right, aperture display and trigger within easy thumb's reach, and flash hidden inside the handle itself, this is certainly a strange looking and futuristic digital camera. [source]

7. Sony Cyber Shot Snap

 

Inspired by a man's wallet, it even has a leather cover. With a 8.1 MP sensor, this camera has a push-button slider for easy one hand operation. Other than this design, this is just another Sony Cyber Shot phone. Goes to show that even a simple single design change can alter the look and feel of the entire phone.

6. Casio Exilim-EX-S880

 

This digital camera has a special "Youtube capture mode" setting for recording, storing and uploading videos - music to the ears of Youtube fans. The trendy 8.1 MP camera has everything that one looks for in a camera and is reasonably priced. [source]

Japan rocks. Japan is cool. And I feel hungry.

The headline is wacky. And it is all true. Check out the video to understand how advanced the cell phone usage has become in Japan and it is indeed quite a pleasant surprise to see how easily people make use of them in everyday situations.

The next time you want to order a burger or anything else for that matter, this video will prepare you for that.

Cute trends in cell phone fashion accessories

Well, this had to happen sooner rather than later. Youngsters in Japan these days adorn their cellphones with these chic looking fashion accessories. These are cute and funny looking cellphone covers in the shapes of clothes, jackets.

Check them out below and other funny stuff after the break.