Tokyo Times

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Technology Stuff

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iTable?

There’s no denying that it’s considerably bigger than the ubiquitous iPod, but when it comes to playing your favourite tunes, the Tasting Music table pictured below takes some beating. Both in the cool and ease of use departments.

tasting music

How the machine does what it does is beyond my meagre comprehension, but by simply placing a CD — that’s still in its case — over the sensor in the middle of the table, the album’s track list appears. Allowing songs to be easily selected and played. Plus this illuminated list can be moved around the table’s surface, making it viewable wherever people happen to be sitting.

Unfortunately such a poor explanation doesn’t do this ingenious device justice, but by clicking here you can see a video of it in action.

As for its uses and the idea behind it, the designer of the table says this of his invention:

It is almost impossible to talk about a sound of a piece of music with your friends if you can not hear the sound of the music played. This table is meant to be situated in a cafe or a music shop, where people can eat, drink and chat with friends. These are all comfortable situation, and listening to music also helps to create a comfortable situation.

All well and good, but forget cafes and music shops; how cool would it be to have one these little beauties at home?

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Tone-deaf terror

Living in Japan and possessing a singing voice that warrants a stretch behind bars means that evenings out with colleagues or acquaintances can be fraught with danger. One simply never knows if (although sadly it’s usually when) the battle cry of “Lets go to karaoke!” will rear its ugly little head.

This spine chilling suggestion for the vocally challenged requires an immediate and effective escape plan. Perhaps a feigning of tiredness, or even a boldfaced lie involving family members, sickness, and an urgent need to return home. Basically anything will do, as long as it results in a night of karaoke crooning avoidance.

Such cowardice has thankfully served me well up to now, but the evil engineers at TASCAM have released the terrifying Karaoke Man on to a vapid and voracious market.

karaoke japan

This innocent looking but malevolent device allows users to cut the vocals from any CD. Which combined with the supplied microphone creates a light and portable karaoke machine. A gadget that is destined to appear when least expected and even less desired.

japanese karaoke

This is a frightening prospect indeed, and one that will require a serious rethinking of evasive strategies. One possibility is the claim of a mysterious yet especially virulent throat condition. A disease so baffling that karaoke singing in any shape or form is liable to be fatal.

Rather extreme I admit, but these are troubling times for a westerner without the ability to warble.

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(Not so) Mobile Suit Gundam

Forget your impressive but decidedly diminutive robots such as Asimo, EMIEW, and nuvo. Instead, welcome the new titan of robot technology: The Land Walker.

land walker

This colossal beast stands an impressive 3.4 metres high, and weighs a whopping 1-ton. Plus, with the use of four pedals in the cockpit, it can be manoeuvred forward, backward and sideways, although admittedly it’s not what you’d call swift, strolling at a somewhat sedate 1.5 kph.

However, any concerns about speed can be instantly dismissed by the fact that the Land Walker is equipped with two air guns positioned next to the cockpit, allowing the driver to fire sponge bullets at flabbergasted onlookers who dare to mock the machine’s lack of pace.

The robust robot was designed almost single-handedly by 32-year-old Masaki Nagumo, who works for the company Sakakibara Kikai, based in Japan’s Gunma Prefecture. Nagumo’s aim it turns out was to develop a device like those in the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam, saying, “I wanted to see a robot on which people ride and operate, like Gundam.”

gundam land walker

For other Gundam fans, Sakakibara Kikai will happily make the Land Walker to order. The only stumbling block (apart from shipping I suppose) is that it costs a cool 36 million yen (180,000 pound). But fear not those on a tight budget, as the company says the price will be lowered if enough people place orders.

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Summer scene?

Bored with your iPod, Sony PSP, and email equipped mobile phone? Well fear not, Japanese medical technology company Scalar has produced some video sunglasses. And as an added bonus they aren’t especially unfashionable either.

scalar teleglass

Appropriately named Teleglass, the sunglasses can be connected to a portable DVD player, digital camera, and perhaps most importantly with 3G handsets becoming commonplace, a mobile phone.

Using a combination of technology, including the magnifiers utilised by dentists and the hands-free displays used by helicopter pilots, a picture is projected onto the left lens of the glasses. With the manufacturer claiming it’s like watching a 14-inch television from about a metre away. And with the right eye free, the wearer will still be aware of his or her surroundings.

When the product goes on sale, its rumoured price is somewhere around the 50,000 yen (250 pound) mark. And with an early batch of the Teleglass selling out almost immediately from the company’s website, it looks like sunglasses will be the fashion accessory for gadget loving commuters this summer.

However personally I think I’ll still stick with my trusty newspaper for now.

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Digital deviancy

Advancements in digital technology has meant smaller and smaller cameras, which in turn has resulted in sleazier and more surreptitious shooting. With arguably the best-known use of such equipment being upskirt photography. But whereas this particular art form is generally practiced by lone deviants, in other areas of furtive filming, whole industries have developed.

In a recent newspaper report, the DVD “Hidden Camera: Kansai Women’s Bath” was used as a prime example. Secretly filmed, appropriately enough in a women’s bath in Kansai, the voyeuristic video is now widely available for anybody with 8,000 yen (40 pound) to spare. And on the same shelf will be countless other films of a similar nature, the sales of which generate somewhere in the region of 5 billion yen (25 million pound) a year.

But with so much money at stake, filmmakers it seems are prepared to stoop ever lower to get their desired images. With the actions of a consortium in Wakayama Prefecture a couple of years ago amply proving this. As on a piece of vacant land the group built a public toilet, which needless to say wasn’t a benevolent gift to the weak bladdered citizens of Wakayama. No, the public convenience was constructed with only one thing in mind, and as such it was equipped with all the latest digital technology. And in a matter of months, they had enough material for a staggering 60 videos. Netting the organization a cool 50 million yen (250,000 pound).

Whatever next?

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Mobile monitoring

As the mobile phone is the accessory of choice, Aomori University has hit upon the idea of using everyone’s favourite companion to ensure that students attend classes. Which in Japan is especially important as attendance (or a lack of it) can affect grades.

At the beginning of every class, the students are given a number that they must then send by e-mail to a university administrator. Then (and this is the clever part) the administrator will send a reply to between 5 and 10 students who have claimed to be present, with those receiving the response having to stand up and give their name to the teacher. The random nature of this selection process hopefully deterring students from passing on the necessary number to absent friends.

Despite this process having the potential to eat into class time, and giving students a legitimate excuse to surreptitiously send mail during a class, the university seems very happy about its new system. An administrator said, “We’re probably the first university in the country to introduce a mobile phone-based attendance record system for its students. It prevents loopholes that allow students to claim they’ve attended class when they really haven’t.” And perhaps rather optimistically he added, “We hope it also encourages students to study and deepen their knowledge.”