Allergies suck -- so the always-resourceful Japanese have decided to sick robots on the problem. Tokyo-based weather forecasting company Weathernews, Inc. is apparently getting ready to install roughly 200 spherical robots across the country to monitor the pollen in the air. The shells of these bots are made of styrofoam, and a monitor inside does the dirty work. The eyes indicate the corresponding levels of pollen in white, blue, green, red and purple colors.

Two hundred hay fever-sufferers around the country will also send minute-by-minute reports via the Internet to Weathernews HQ, all of which will eventually add up to its pollen map for the season.

Robots and humans: working together for a less sneezy planet.

From GizmoWatch

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Back in October, Sony wowed us with delicious pictures of a ridiculously thin television, the XEL-1 OLED TV. Its screen enclosure was just three millimeters (about .1-inches!) thick -- or thin rather. Okay, so it's only 11-inches across, meaning you wouldn't want to make one the focal-piece of your home theater system. But it's hard to resist, given its lithe design. It was supposed to be Japan-only, but now Sony's saying we can have one. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until some undisclosed time next year before the TV gets its U.S. release.

The sets, which dropped in Japan for about $1,700, use a newer type of display called Organic LED, or OLED. The technology isn't altogether dissimilar to that of your typical LCD television, but where an LCD display requires backlights to illuminate the picture from behind, an OLED panel illuminates itself. Without the backlight, the bezel can be made smaller, resulting in the thin set seen here. OLED also can offer brilliant brightness and contrast compared to a traditional LCD, but its biggest problem is degradation. Where an LCD will last you pretty much forever (if you replace the backlights), OLEDs eventually fade and die.

The XEL-1 suffers from this problem, rated to deliver about 30,000 hours worth of viewing before having to be retired. That's less than half your average plasma set, and at the extreme price for the size, the XEL-1 is more a design and technical exercise than anything. We saw it on the show floor at CEATEC a couple of months ago and loved the look of it. We're glad to see Sony will be bringing it to the U.S. ... even if we can't necessarily afford one.

From Engadget

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Hey robot fans! The 12th annual Robo-One Grand Championship match just went down in Tokyo, and boy was it surreal.

Here's how it works: To win the tournament, contestants must keep their balance while attacking their enemy, be able to get up when pushed down, and ultimate push their opponent out of the ring. Some of the robots come from professional roboticists in labs, while others come from kids in their bedrooms.

Apparently, the highlight of the night came when hundreds of spectators clapped as a robot (affectionately known as "Arichyon") sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Then, the crowd, in a rather disloyal gesture, went bananas when a robot with a penguin head knocked Arichyon out with a right hook.

Japan -- continuing to make the rest of the world look like ancient Rome.

From Reuters


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There are those who prefer their holiday gifts small and cute (either giving or receiving), and for those people, MoPods make a great choice. The idea is to wear your MoPod on your bag, belt, clothing, key rings, then just go about your business and wait for them to spin and flash to alert you when your phone is ringing There's something for every cute fetish: panda, devil, kitten, puppy, and penguin, to name a few. It should be noted that they'll only work on GSM networks (that includes most T-Mobile and AT&T phones, including the iPhone), and not 3G networks (or any Sprint or Verizon Wireless phone). They're cheap, they're (sorta) practical, and they're big in Japan. What more could you ask for? (Hint: it rhymes with "iPhone".)


From MoPods

From the land that brought us sushi, Hello Kitty and the surprise attack of the Picachu comes what we're comfortable declaring the most useless, but most entertaining, application of engineering talents ever: the USB-powered humping dog (because Fido's libido should be mobile as well, doggone it!). Yes, the mechanical doggie dongle made its way into the luggage of Switched.com's Tom Samiljan as he returned from covering CEATEC, the giant, Japanese gadget expo.

Ok, over-eager peripherals aren't the only gadgets we saw in Japan. There were paper-thin OLED displays, boomboxes that do the breakdancing for you and, of course, lots of robots. See it all in our video roundup, and marvel at a mammal whose stamina is limited only by your laptop's battery life.

Plus: Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast edition of the Switched Show, delivered whenever we finish 'em, straight to your iTunes.

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Sony's all-singing, all-dancing music/speaker/playing/thingamabob has finally touched down (in Japan, at least), and it's every inch the head-scratcher we thought it would be. The Sony Rolly is a motion-controlled device, with sensors that tell it which way is up. In other words, it's a music-playing robotic orb from the same people who brought you Aibo.

Confused? It doesn't matter -- just know that you will make any gadget head who you give this unique gizmo to very happy. You adjust the volume by turning the player clockwise or counter-clockwise, and skip or rewind tracks by rolling the player forwards or backwards. Or shaking it. You can even download dance moves to the Rolly, and forthcoming software will allow you to design your own. There's only 1-gigabyte (GB) of internal memory, but you can stream music to the Rolly over Bluetooth from your computer. Oh, and it lights up! At $500, it's strictly for those with money to burn (and friends to impress).


From Dynamism

So many of you loved our shout-out to Japanese anti-mugging inventions a few weeks back that we had to post this video from Reuters to show you the bizarre piece of clothing in action (though the commentary may be the best part). It's convenient that this was filmed during the day -- who else thinks that muggers at night might notice the unlit machine that's flapping in the breeze?

From Reuters

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Looking for the perfect stocking stuffer for a kid, a nerd or a Japan-o-phile? Mimoco -- the creator of limited-edition USB pocket drives in the shape of 'Star Wars' characters, Happy Tree Friends, and Halo -- has just announced its latest series based on 'Domo,' which is the mascot of Japanese network NHK and huge in Japan. Mimoco's new 'mimobots' are out in time to commemorate the debut of a 'Domo' TV show on the Niktoons Network.

As with previous mimobots, each 'Domo' drive will come loaded with 23 animated shorts from the show, Domo-themed desktop wallpaper, avatars, and special sounds that play every time the device is ejected from the computer.

The USB 2.0 drives come in 1-gigabyte ($49.95) 2-gigabyte ($69.95) and 4-gigabyte ($109.95) sizes and are available now at the Mimoco site.

We imagine most nerds won't even be using these to save files or whatever, but will instead leave them in their boxes to sell on eBay years from now.

From Mimoco

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If you want to encourage kids to save, you might take them to the bank to set up an account, teach them to keep track of what they spend their money on and praise their progress. If you're in Japan, though, you apparently have to dol out severely negative punishment if your kid doesn't save his or her Yen, at least if the advent of this new exploding piggy bank is any indication.

The Savings Bomb is a digital piggy bank from TOMY. According to the company, it's shaped like a bomb, even labeled with a skull and crossbones, to strike fear in the hearts of kids. Those who are too poor to regularly add money to the thing will find that it starts to vibrate and shake. The LED wick on top will start to blink, and, if its carnal needs for money aren't quickly quenched, it'll blow all of your kid's hard-earned savings out the back. Picking up the change apparenlty, will force kids to"reflect on their laziness," according to TOMY.

So, no, it doesn't actually explode, but it does seem to make a big mess. Even so, we're not sure just how a bank that ejects all of your kid's money when they don't save is going to encourage them to save more. Plus, who the heck saves coins these days? You'd think an alarm clock that costs 2,922 Yen (about $25) would at least come with a bill slot.

From Reuters

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Humans are a weird species. Check this out: NEC has just announced its wideband wearable antenna, which essentially turns a a person (wearing a special suit) into a high-performance mobile antenna. The prototype apparently works in either open space or when using the human body for conduction. The plan is to use it for digital terrestrial broadcasts, so presumably for live TV broadcasts to your cell phone?

Seriously, though. You don't see goats or chimpanzees pulling these sorts of shenanigans.

At least we know what we're dress up as for Halloween next year. (A human antenna).

From Engadget


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Don't ever let anybody tell you playing video games all day won't get you anywhere... at least not if you live in Japan. Game Center CX is popular Japanese reality TV show staring Shinya Arino, who, clad in a light blue workman's suit, plays through classic, and mind bogglingly difficult video games.

Arino has played everything from well know titles like 'Super Mario Bros.' and 'Galaga' to obscure Japanese-only releases like 'Totsugeki! Fuuun Takeshi Shiro.' Arino sits at a plain, if messy, work desk and attempts to beat the games in one sitting. Arino is promoted or demoted at the fictional 'Game Center CX' company based on his performance.

The show has even spawned a wide variety of licensed products, from coffee mugs to wonderfully ironic "action" figures, and even a deliciously meta video game about a guy who plays video games. The latter is for the Nintendo DS, and sadly as is usual with these quirky titles will probably never see a US release.

From Boing Boing and Wired

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Recently, we went to Tokyo helping pick out the coolest and most innovative new technologies at CEATEC, the annual Japanese consumer electronics show. Along with four other reps from Popular Science, CNET, and the Envisioneering Group, we narrowed down our short list to just ten items, either finished products or promising prototypes with some sort of vague plan to eventually get released. It took us a while to unpack, decompress, and get over jet-lag, so at long last, here's what we picked.

Pioneer's Image Recognition Car Navigation System: This is a cool new prototype that uses GPS and a camera to tell you where to drive, whether it's down a more scenic or less trafficked route, or to avoid a nearby car. Unlike traditional GPS systems, this one shows a camera view of the road rather than a graphical map.

NTT Docomo Wellness Phone: While there's nothing new about a portable pedometer, heart rate monitor, calorie counter, or breath analyzer, this prototype is the first that combines these health-monitoring features with a cell phone. The killer app is the ability to transmit the heath information to the doctor, diet specialist, or hospital via the cell phone network. It seems pretty much everything else has already been added to the cell phone, so how about some life- and health-saving features!

JVC's LED Backlit Television: We picked this LED (light-emitting diode) TV prototype because – unlike LCDs –- it's both energy-efficient and mercury-free. It also offers super high contrast (100,000 to 1) and more colors – a combination that no company has managed to pull together thus far.

Sharp Electronics' System LCD Module with Embedded Optical Sensors: At first glance, this touchscreen seems like an iPhone wannabe – it lets you zoom in and out using your fingers – but it's actually much more powerful, since it lets you use more than two fingers at once. So, for example, you can play several "keys" of an instrument, or more than three button commands on a virtual keyboard.

NEC's FieldAnalyst with Age and Gender Recognition: This camera purports to detect age and gender just by focusing on you. How does it do this? By going through a database of around 10, 000 faces. The idea is to use it in malls or other public spaces for market research. It was a cool idea, which is why we put it on our short list, but to be honest, after trying the thing out, we found it to be way off on our age (in a good way!).

Sony Rolly: Yes, you may have seen and heard about this robotic moving and dancing speaker system, available only in Japan, but you haven't heard about it from us, so we'll lift our very own quote in the CEATEC Tech-Pert panel press release about this nifty new device:

"Though seemingly useless, the Rolly got our nod for its originality, sense of fun, and smooth operation. It mixes two qualities for which its creator, Sony, is known: audio and robotics, and the idea of a dancing music player could only come out of the creative and fertile minds typically found in a Japanese R&D lab. The robotics are graceful and it actually sounds good, considering the device's small size. The Rolly is the quintessential "only-in-Japan" gadget, but we think with the right marketing idea, and a considerable drop in price, the Rolly could well become the pet rock/Tamagotchi of 2008 in the U.S. Yes, it's whimsical, and never thought we needed a Rolly, but now we're not sure if we can live without one. – Tom Samiljan, Switched.com"

Hitachi's Blu-ray Camcorders (DZ-BD7H and DZ-BD70A): We have our issues with DVD-camcorders – they're clunky and not that versatile -- but their claim to fame is ease-of-use and the ability to create a ready-to-play disc right out of the device (no computer editing necessary). Hitachi's new Blu-ray camcorders – the first ever by any manufacturer -- earned our praise because they offer you the option of shooting right onto Blu-ray discs or onto a built-in hard drive (which offers a bit more versatility if you want to do extensive edits). They also boast an impressive 80 minutes of battery life!

Panasonic and Toshiba's High Definition Recording on DVD Media: Thanks to a new transcoding process that makes video files smaller, Panasonic and Toshiba displayed HD recorders prototypes that are capable of storing up to two hours of HD-quality video on standard DVDs. In other words, you get HD-quality video on a regular DVD recorder (provided, of course, that you have an HDTV!).

Toshiba's SpursEngine High-Performance Stream Processor: This new processor enables all kinds of cool new applications and innovations, including real-time facial makeup and wardrobe rendering (scary!), the ability to handle hundreds of TV and sound sources at the same time, and cool, hand-gesture-based, motion-sensitive video/PC controls.

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The mind-blowingly quirky piece of clothing pictured above may not deliver actual sodas, but it just might deliver you from evil-doers intent on causing you harm.

According to Australia's The Age, the above-pictured skirt looks like a pretty red dress under normal circumstances, but when flipped inside out over the wearer's head turns into a pretty dead-on soda machine disguise -- the perfect foil for some mugger or more violent criminal (at least in Japan, where street crime is rare).

Other fashion-forward, crime-prevention accessories the article cites are wraparound sunglasses so dark you can't make eye contact with perverts on the subway, and a "manhole skirt" that folds up all your valuables into something that looks an awful lot like a manhole cover, which you then place on the street should a criminal step into view.

You can laugh, but these flippable fashion outfits are actually inspired by ancient Ninja stealth techniques -- apparently Ninja warriors would hide under black cloths at night to avoid enemies or surprise-attack them.

Only in Japan, folks, does the old "no one here, just us Coke machines" technique actually ward off would-be rapists and/or muggers.

How about you? Would you feel safe wearing this thing?

From The Age (via Textually).

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A year ago, who'd have thunk that America would have gone gaga for the motion-sensitive, hand-gesture-and-remote based controls of the Nintendo Wii. It seemed like an out-there way to maneuver and control your way around the game console's interface and gameplay. And yet, one year later, the Nintendo Wii is the best-selling next-gen console.

So it's no surprise that motion-sensitive, gesture based interfaces were out in full-force in various guises at this year's CEATEC, the Japanese consumer electronics show we attended last week in Tokyo. Here are two examples we found particularly intriguing:


Pioneer 3-D Navigation System: This prototype driving interface features three side-by-side screens – the middle one featuring 3D holographic images, while the left one shows the real-time GPS map of where you are. Say you want to find gas stations in your area: Press a button on the third touchscreen and a big holographic gas symbol pops up in the 3D arena. Then just grab it with your hand and sweep it over the the left hand screen and within seconds the map will be be filled with gas station icons. It's sort of a 3D version of the Microsoft Surface. It's certainly nifty, but as CNET's Michael Kanellos – who was with us on the CEATEC panel last week – noted, this kind of 3D activity could cause an accident. Ultimately, we found the 3D elements to be a bit superfluous and we don't see why the same activity can't just be done with existing touchscreens, but, then again, it's a work in progress.


Toshiba Qosimo hand-motion controls: The powerful new SpursEngine chip enables some pretty cool apps on PC laptops, but one of the more notable was the motion-sensitive, hand-gesture based interface that Toshiba was showing at its booth. Different hand gestures let you start, stop, pause, advance and rewind a video, for example, that's playing on a laptop. We actually had some trouble getting the hang of the controls, but then again, we had some trouble getting the hand of the Wii controls, too. For more pics, check out Engadget's post on the new Toshiba controls.

From what we could tell, the new motion-based interfaces we saw at CEATEC still have a long way to go before they're ready for primetime, which makes us all respect Nintendo's successful implementation of the Wii controller all the more (not to mention Sony's EyeToy from a couple of years ago).

It may seem silly to be flailing your arms about just to watch a video, but we've got high hopes for these latest innovations – what better solution to the "honey, where's the remote?"

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