Kyoto-based Takenaka Engineering is finding out that cute pays even in their field of crime prevention and disaster relief equipment.
Their Mihari Wan robot guard dog has become a minor hit in Japan, selling around 10,000 units at 12,600 a pop since 1995.
Normally sittlng quietly in the corner, Mihari Wan turns into a veritable cyber beast, emitting a 90-decibel bark as its eyes flash, whenever an intruder approaches.
Mihari Wan runs on four D-size batteries that need to be replaced only about once a year.
Japundit has previously brought you the Active Reactor watch, and also the Bingo watch.
Here’s a watch, Kyokusen from Tokyo Flash, that I’m still trying to get my head round.
Priced at ¥13,900, it looks like some kind of alien artefact. But the makers provide clear instructions for all prospective buyers - a graphic, in the link below, explains the rectangular blocks are hours and the circles are minutes, the outer ring being 5 minutes each, the inner ring being 1 minute.
A new phone being developed by Mitsubishi Electric and NTT DoCoMo is promising to make it possible to carry around your own digital personal trainer in your pocket.
The Wellness phone, which was announced at the CEATEC electronics show in Japan detects body movement and uses the data to calculate your calorie consumption throughout the day. Reportedly the Wellness can detect whether you are walking, running, climbing stairs or simply doing nothing (you lazy lout!)
Other features include a body fat calculator and a pulse rate sensor. It even lets you keep logs of your jogging sessions, set targets, and monitor your time and distance while running.
And that’s not all. . . The Wellness phone will let you know if you have bad breath and even assess your stress level.
All this is very nice, except for the fact that it is still up to YOU to do all the damn exercise. . .
I don’t know about you, but this University of Tokyo robot (named Mowgli) makes me feel a bit uneasy. . . Everytime I look at the video clip I get an image of the thing jumping up on someone’s back and injecting something into their neck. . .
The mpion combines a 128MB MP3 player with an ion esthetic device that zaps your zits with positive and negative ions, which reportedly deep cleans the skin in a way that vanishes your blemishes.
Not to be outdone by SolidAlliance’s sushi USB memory sticks, Greenhouse has introduced a line of Junk Food USB memories in the shape of a cheeseburger, hotdog, a slice of pizza and a sandwich. This USB key has a capacity of 1GB and will be available shortly in Japan according to Akihabara News. No price has been specified yet.
Comparing the two devices in the Japundit Test Labs at an undisclosed location near the Media Center somewhere on the great Kanto Plain, SolidAlliance’s offering appears to be the healthier and more nutritious option, with far fewer calories and saturated fats. However, it is quite possible that Greenhouse will introduce a value-priced Mega-USB supersized to 2GB or 4GB which would give them a definite competitive edge.
Fuji Heavy Industries, manufacturer of Subaru automobiles, has develped new technology that makes it possible recharge the batteries of an electric car to 80 percent of a full charge in about eight minutes.
Fuji plans to have start marketing vehicles equipped with the system by 2010, and predicts that they may even be able to reduce charging time to as low a five minutes. . . About the time required for a fill up at the local gas station.
Fuji Xerox has developed a new photocopy machine that reportedly scans the contents of Japanese documents and translates them into Chinese, English, or Korean. Flip a switch and and it translates the other way.
Apparently, the copy machine can be networked to a Fuji Xerox translation server that does the actual brain work.
Though I earn my living as a translator, I have to admit that I still don’t feel very threatened by the current offerings on the machine translation market. I don’t think machine translation will be replacing human Japanese > English translators anytime soon.
Hello Kitty is here again! Thanks to a tieup between SANRIO and EPSON, you soon will have a choice between two different sickeningly cute variations of Kitty komputers.
As everyone knows, we are quick here on JAPUNDIT to feature stories that highlight the Japanese love affair with their pampered pets. But here is one product from the U.S. that I have yet to see here. . . PetsCell
PetsCell is a GPS-enabled cellphone designed exclusively for dogs and provides two-way communication between you and the family pooch.
In addition to letting you dial up your dog whenever you want, PetsCell includes such features as a remote programmable geo-fence feature that alerts you whenever you dog leaves a pre-defined area, an ambient temperature sensor, and a variety of other “attachable devices.” The PetsCell is waterproof, and can be configured to automatically answer calls only from pre-programmed numbers. . . Which is sort of a disappointment because think it would be great fun for some telemarketer to call and have a dog answer.
A broadband and communications provider serving parts of the Tokyo area, will offer an earthquake advance warning sytem to subscribers beginning October 1, 2007. The “Urgent Earthquake News Flash”, issued from Japan’s Meteorological Agency, will be transmitted to specially installed terminals that use fixed-line phone lines.
The system forecasts the quake arrival time and the seismic intensity of the tremor, 10 seconds in advance, 24/7.
A voice will automatically announce, in Japanese, “The earthquake of four in the seismic intensity will come in ten seconds. 10-9-8 etc.”
The cordless units can be set up in each room of a residence.
Main unit: 23,000 yen. Cordless unit: 13,000 yen. No monthly fee.
Have you ever missed an important appointment because you simply switched off your alarm clock and went back to sleep?
To prevent this in the past, I’ve had to resort to placing my alarm clock further and further from my recumbent position. It’s the only way to be sure. Or at least it was up until now.
Clocky gives you one chance to get up. But if you snooze, Clocky will jump off of your nightstand and wheel around your room looking for a place to hide.
Clocky has been retailing in the USA for around $50. On its release in Japan (by Ark Trading Inc., according to a report in the Mainichi), it’s priced at 8400 yen.
Sony has announced a new “Cyber-shot T” series camera (DSC-T200, DSC-T70 ) that can be configured so its shutter releases automatically when the camera determines that everyone in the frame is smiling. In fact, you even can specify the smile type threshold, from a slightly upturned mouth to a full toothy grin.
The smile detection feature can be disabled for shooting events where smiling is inappropriate or when your subjects includes a sourpuss or two.
Price: 40,000 yen
Thanks to remora
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In a related development, Omron Corp. has developed new technology for scanning facial images to determine “how much people are laughing.”
The technology, which can be used in digital cameras and cameras in mobile phones, may “help take a picture of your best smile, and can also check your smile if you work in the services industry,” the equipment maker said.
The system can check 30 items (eyes and mouths, features of a smile, wrinkles, how much the edges of the mouth are lifted) and rate a smile on a scal of 0 to 100 percent, all within 0.044 second.
Gizmodo has a scary photo showing a lightning bolt striking an airplane taking off at Osaka’s airport recently, then hitting the ground. There’s an even scarier video on the site.
Apparently lightning is not dangerous for airliners, since the charge just flows around their aluminum skin, but still… Gizmodo says no plane has crashed in the US because of lightning bolts in 40 years, even though every airliner in the country could get hit at least once, according to statistics.
But they also wonder “can anyone explain to this ignorant (me) person how 100 trillion (million million) watts can hit a plane and nothing happens to the electronics inside, while my cell can wreak havoc emitting just a few microwaves?”
Japan’s Takara Tomy is selling a new product named UMINE, which they are promoting as an “atmosphere projector.”
Simply press a button and an LED projector will display images on the walls and ceiling of your room that are said to create a particular atmosphere, such as beach, dolphin, deep sea, and forest. You also can connect our audio player to provide music for the mood you are trying to create. When not projecting, the battery-powered UMINE can serve as a standard room light.
Here’s new product that just might come in handy for checking out your Chinese products and goods.
The X-MET3000TXR+ hand-held X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer by Oxford Instruments provides a simple method of screening toys and other products for lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, chrome, nickel and other hazardous metals. It works by measuring the intensity and quantity of reflected energy when a sample is excited by X-ray energy.
In the true spirit of equal opportunity reporting, JAPUNDIT is happy to announce that the Wild Swan product we reported on yesterday has a sister product for all your JAPUNDETTES out there.
Named “Sexy Bomber,” the product works quite similarly to Wild Swan. . . Affix the adhesive surface to your chest area, feel yourself up a bit, and. . . B-o-o-o-i-n-n-g! You instantly go into full bloom.
Kyoto-based Takenaka Engineering is finding out that cute pays even in their field of crime prevention and disaster relief equipment.
Have you ever missed an important appointment because you simply switched off your alarm clock and went back to sleep?
