Tag: BIG IN JAPAN

We understand that dating has certainly changed with the rise of the Internet and virtual relationships. Internet dating sites have become the new coffeehouse, a Facebook poke has become the new raise of an eyebrow from across the room. But a video game out of Japan takes modern courtship to an entirely different -- and totally bizarre -- level. 'Love Plus,' for Nintendo DS, is a dating ...

TechEBlog got our stomachs oddly rumbling with their grossly delicious looking posts about three wacky vending machines, such as fresh pizza made to order, a Wi-Fi enabled Coca-Cola machine with a touch-screen and a coffee machine with a built-in camera. We've all heard the rumors about Japanese used underwear dispensers, so we know that, if you can sell it, you can also vend it. Maybe just as ...

Ever wonder why the Japanese love their waterproof cell phones so much? Well, we didn't, but the folks over at PC Mag did, and investigated the issue at the Fujitsu booth of this year's CTIA show. Somewhat surprisingly, it apparently all comes down to bathing, according to a Fujistu spokesperson interviewed by PC Mag. The Japanese are serious about their baths -- many take one every night, due ...

For our easily amused readers, and the commedia dell' commode aficionados, we provide these gifts of port-o-potty hilarity. Constantly looking to push the envelope in terms of comedic breakthroughs, these Japanese television producers seek to entertain unsuspecting users of port-o-lets. And, what's more entertaining than innocently sitting down to take care of business, and getting whisked away ...

SHOP HOP: In this new series, the Switched Video crew will be touring shops around the country in search of great gadgets and gear. For the first episode, we show up at AC Gears in New York City to sample some of its newer wares: AC Gears in New York City is one of our favorite shops; this purveyor of gadgets great and small (and outlet for well-known import gear-site ...

Online retailer Amazon.com has recently removed listings for a Japanese computer game called 'Rapelay' in which the player stalks and rapes young girls. The game was not sold directly through Amazon, but was available for purchase through the site's third-party merchant program. Patty Smith, an Amazon spokesperson, told the AFP, "We determined that we did not want to be selling this particular ...

Japan's famous Shinkansen bullet trains will be getting an upgrade. The folks at JR-East -- the East Japan Railway Company -- have already ordered 590 of the aluminum alloy cars (which will comprise 59 trains), and promise that they will top out at 320 kilometers per hour (199 miles per hour for us Standard folk), versus the 270 kilometers per hour (or 168mph) that current Shinkansen trains can ...

Leave it to our clever, if bizarre, Japanese friends to come up with the NoPoPo battery. According to Unplggd, the battery gets power when one of several fluids mixes together with its magnesium and carbon components. Among those fluids are beer, saliva and -- that's right -- urine. Apparently, those unlikely charging agents help the batteries to live for as long as ten years. And the bizarre ...

So imagine this -- you're sitting at your desk. You decided to skip the bra, because it's summer and pretty warm out. But, of course, some jerk at the office has the AC blasting. It's probably about 50 degrees in the office, and now the girls are getting a bit chilly. So you open the bottom drawer of your desk, pull out your USB-powered breast warmers and slip them under your shirt... Don't ...

Once again, the Japanese have developed a robot that's smart, creepy, and designed to replace human workers. This time, it's Saya -- a mechanical receptionist that can converse with humans using a vocabulary of 300 words and 700 phrases, and even express emotions via facial expressions. The idea behind Saya is that she is designed for companies that would like to cut costs without totally ...

It might not look like much, but this little... er, big guy is a robot recently developed and employed by Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd and Sumitomo Corporation in Osaka City, Japan to clean their floors. Now we've seen plenty of service robots that love to clean, some even professionally, but this one, operated by Reibi, is especially full-featured. Based on a robot developed in Tokyo in 2001, ...

Trying to parse the vagaries of the economic future may be as difficult as peering into a fortune teller's crystal ball – but many Japanese are forking over their hard-earned Yen to do just that, even while cutting back on other expenses. Zappallas Inc. is a Japanese company that operates a huge network of fortune-telling Web sites for mobile devices with names like "Your Future in Three ...

It's 2008 and we've finally achieved the ultimate goal of modern robotics. No, not singularity... better: a cross-promotional marketing deal between the world's leading robots. Meet the Wall-E edition of iRobot's Roomba 530. The special edition Roomba is just like the original 530 only with the addition of that magnificent sticker for a extra ¥5,000 (about $50) premium. 400 units of the ...

Continuing their march toward the obliteration of mankind, robots are now learning the art of theater, the BBC reports. These robotic thespians will take the stage for the first time, at Japan's Osaka University, for the production of 'Hataraku Watashi {I, Worker).' Acting alongside humans, the robots have been programmed to converse and interact with the human actors on stage. Two robotic ...

Looking for something sleek and cool and design-y that can pretty much guarantee you won't find anywhere else? (That is, unless you feel like schlepping all the way to Tokyo, and then schlepping all the way back with a heavy paper shredder.) If that sounds like you, discerning gift-giver, then you'll want to head straight over the the just-launched Gizmine, an online boutique run by the same ...