Big in Japan

I had a week off in July, so we decided to go to Japan. Specifically, Tokyo, with a short trip to Osaka. Naturally, Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios were on the menu. But first and foremost was the Ghibli Museum, located in Mitaka, Chiba. Unlike some of my other travels, we paid for everything besides transportation and food before we left. This was an interesting difference. After talking with a friend who is currently living in Japan, we decided to use AirBnb for the whole stay. This proved somewhat trickier than I thought, but it allowed me to sort out a Taiwanese PayPal account connected with the only bank in Taiwan that supports PayPal, E.Sun Bank.

TOUCHY Human Camera: The Truman Show IRL, Only Bulkier

Are you using your smartphone to Instagram and Tweet photos all over the place? Get into the 21st century, thanks to TOUCHY, Eric Siu’s wearable camera that captures images from the perspective of its wearer.

Read more @ Technabob

PIGORASS 4-Legged Robot Jumps and Gallops on Its Own

Walking is hard enough for robots, but check out this ‘bot that can do so on four legs. He might become your future dog, if all goes according to plan for its Japanese inventors.

Read more @ Technabob

PossessedHand: I Swear I Didn’t Flip You Off

PossessedHand is a device that will make your fingers move by themselves. It’s supposed to help you learn certain tasks that are complicated to learn. It was developed by researchers at Tokyo University and Sony.

Read more @ Technabob

Tokyo Control: World’s First 3D TV Series

Yes, 3D TVs are cool, but until you have shows that you can watch on them, they are somewhat useless. It looks like Sony and two Japanese broadcasters, Fuji and SkyPerfectTV, are set to launch the world’s first 3D TV series.

Read more @ Technabob

Love Me

Love Me, Tokyo, Jan Chipchase

Robotic Grasshoppers Won’t Eat Your Crops

Sometimes I wonder why Japan needs all of these robots. Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have built a robotic grasshopper. It’s called the Air Hopper and it has four legs that allow it to move around.

Read more @ Technabob

Triple-Screen Home Office in Tokyo Looks Stunning

Anyone who’s spent time in Asia knows that space is a valuable commodity, and you often end up in places that are quite smaller than in North America. That didn’t stop an enterprising reader from coming up with his perfect triple-screen workstation setup.

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Crystal Castles Controversy Redux

The band Crystal Castles (wiki) has allegedly stolen art from Trevor Brown. This accusation stems from the artist Brown.

The art in question (a drawing of Madonna with a black eye) has been used for the cover of a 7″, thousands of t-shirts and was proposed for the cover of their album (which was refused by their distribution company). They have yet to pay Brown for the use of this image.

Crystal Castles say that they have paid the artist and amended the initial contract. Brown’s account is only his side. Please read this to see the other side of the story.

Read Trevor Brown’s side of the story over at his blog.