Sega kissing robot soon to hit Japan

Posted in Robots by Conner Flynn on June 12th, 2008

Sega kissing robot soon to hit Japan
Today, Sega Toys announced their plans to start selling a new humanoid robot in Japan, named E.M.A., on September 26th. E.M.A. stands for “Eternal, Maiden, Actualization” Translated that means, “Hi nerd. Here’s your new companion.”

The robot is of the female persuasion and stands at 38 cm tall. According to Sega, the E.M.A. is special because of her “glamorous body” and because she’s highly interactive. (Translation:Only a nerd could love that body and she kinda puts out.) She’ll sing and dance, hand out your business cards, even walk “like a lady”. I wasn’t kidding when I said she puts out. She won’t go all the way, though I’m sure some of you will force the issue, but she will kiss you if your head comes into close contact with her. That’s when the love mode switches on.

Japan gets red Playstation 2 console

Posted in PS2 by Conner Flynn on June 3rd, 2008

Japan gets red Playstation 2 console
Once again Japan gets all the cool things. Like this latest, the Cinnabar Red PlayStation 2. It should be available on July 3rd, for the equivalent of $155 US. Perfect if you love rocking red, or if you have some sort of Hell theme happening. In fact, it would probably be at home in Hellboy’s house. Hell. Damnation. The damned. Red is the color of anger you know. I think it’s affecting me in a strange way.

TokyoFlash Infection Watch looks sick

Posted in Watches by Conner Flynn on May 21st, 2008

TokyoFlash Infection Watch looks sick
…In a good way. Mostly. TokyoFlash continues to surprise us with unique watch designs. With their latest, the “Infection” watch, they apparently had sickness on their minds. I’m not sure if I like it or not. On one hand the design is cool, but I look at it and I feel like I need to be quarantined. It’s like ill pop-art.

The time is shown with 12 red, 11 yellow and four green LEDs, and you can choose have the display animated or just show the time. The curved watch is stainless-steel and water-resistant to 3ATM and sells for around $135.

Coca-Cola robots take over japan

Posted in Robots by Conner Flynn on May 17th, 2008

Coca-Cola robots take over japan
If you live in Tokyo chances are you’ve seen the invasion of lifesize Coca-Cola robots wandering the streets. “Drink human, or I’ll pop your puny head”. Now you can own your own miniature version of the wandering Coke robot to keep you company on your desktop.

Nothing says robotics like a caffeinated robot. When you combine Japanimation and Coca-Cola vending machines, the result is supreme geekiness. If regular Coke isn’t your thing, there’s also a black Coca-Cola Zero robot waiting for you.

Japan gets Batman bust with Blu-Ray set

Posted in Blu-ray by Conner Flynn on May 4th, 2008

Japan gets Batman bust with Blu-Ray set
For those of you who like Super hero statues sawed off at the waist or higher, this deal in Japan may be for you. If you’re in Japan. And a geek. On July 23, Japanese folks will get their chance to own Batman Begins on Blu-ray.

That’s about two weeks after release in the U.S. Our gift set edition comes with story boards, script pages and a $7.50 movie credit towards Dark Knight, but in Japan they will get a 25 cm tall bust. Which begs the question, why are we always getting left out on all the cool stuff? What’s the deal with that? The standard Blu-Ray will be around $47, the gift set edition is about $180.

IV Drip Cafes emerge in Japan

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on May 2nd, 2008

IV Drip Cafes emerge in Japan
Oxygen bars are nothing new, and are designed to increase your health, but in Japan they have once again upped the ante with IV drip cafes. Tenteki10 is located in Ebisu, Tokyo, and offers customers a walk-in service where they can get IV drips starting at $20. The service is said to provide a skin care boost, while acting as an anti-aging remedy and alleviating stress and exhaustion. Big claims. Somehow I doubt it.

IVs are administered by on-site nurses, so Japanese men will no longer have to go to the hospital to hit on them. Great for those freaky medical fetish types too, I guess. How much you want to bet they start serving caffeine via IV at this place as well?

Robot elephant washes urinals in Japan

Posted in Robots by Conner Flynn on April 23rd, 2008

Robot elephant washes urinals in Japan
Everything in Japan has to be made to look cute. Even urinal cleaning robots have to be made to look like elephants. He does his job pretty quickly. His job is to be pushed ass first against the urinal and scrub and clean away.

I’m not sure if it qualifies as a robot, but it does qualify as amazingly freaky and bizarre. This thing can’t even swallow the urinal on it’s own, it has to be pushed. If this guy is cleaning urinals, who’s cleaning him? It’s got to get pretty funky inside that robot, after cleaning urinals all day too. Check out the video below.

Crazy trash can dancing bot is slightly insane

Posted in Robots by Conner Flynn on April 15th, 2008

Crazy trash can dancing bot is slightly insane
What if suddenly one day your trash can walked up to you on crab-like legs, told you jokes in a robo-voice, and tossed dice all over your floor like an insane maniac? Not to mention drumming on it’s own ass… I don’t know about you, but I’d be freaked out and kill it dead, thereby saving the human race from this maniac’s stand up routine. And you just know it plans to kill with that die flipping bit.(No pun intended)

It was created by Osaka-based Robot Force and named the Push-kun. It’s pretty pointless. What’s with the Evil Knieval jumpsuit paint job? Check out a video below to be thoroughly annoyed by this thing.

Robot babysitters eye our young

Posted in Robots by Conner Flynn on March 25th, 2008

Robot babysitters eye our young
Japanese retailer Aeon Co. said on Tuesday that it has introduced a four-foot-seven tall, yellow-and-white robot at a store in the southern city of Fukuoka. The robot will be in charge of entertaining the children. Parents are encouraged to leave their children with the kid-sized machine, and the kids wear special badges that bear codes which the robot can read. (In other words, our young have now been tagged. They can now be tracked by our shiny metal overlords. Oh joy!)

The robot can identify the children’s names and ages and chat with them.(The indoctrination begins. CONFORM, tiny larvae human.) The robot also has a projector in one of its eyes to beam advertising messages(directly into child retinas) — or to show pictures that it has captured with a camera installed in the other eye.(Pictures of dead humans and the carnage to come. It encourages the whole CONFORM thing.)

Sony PSP goes bronze

Posted in PSP by Conner Flynn on March 4th, 2008

Sony PSP goes bronze
Apparently, the folks at Sony recently discovered the color spectrum and they aren’t afraid to use it. Last week, we announced the red PSP, then the mint green PSP. The bronze version is what happens to your PSP when it goes on vacation and gets too much sun.

It’s available as a new PSP Lite Value Pack, and will feature a paltry 32MB Memory Pro Duo memory stick and an AV digital cable. Pricing was €147 at press time. It will likely cost you more if you intend to import it. Anyone want to play guess the next color?

Mint green PSP available in Japan

Posted in PSP by Conner Flynn on March 1st, 2008

Mint green PSP available in Japan
If mint green is your color scheme of choice, prepare to feel the cool menthol sensation of this model, now available in Japan. If you absolutely must have it, you can always import one.

Kiss phone detects the intensity of virtual kisses

Posted in Mobile Phones by Conner Flynn on February 18th, 2008

Kiss phone detects the intensity of virtual kissesApparently cell phone kissing is a hot activity in Japan. I had no idea. The kiss phone makes it easier to kiss your loved one from a distance via mobile. This isn’t just video and making loud smoochie sounds either, the kiss phone from PROinvention can detect the intensity of the kiss. It senses not only the pressure you use, but also the heat of your lips and how hard you press or suck. (I’d say you suck pretty hard if you buy this phone)

Warning: Creepy territory ahead. Your partner, who also obviously has a Kiss Phone, just presses their lips against the fake plastic mouth of the phone…and they will feel the partner’s simulated mouth on theirs. Yes, it has now come to sticking your mouth on plastic objects. If you like, you can also leave kisses on the answering machine, and replay them over and over, until your lips hurt.

Robot rescues lost souls, searches for his own

Posted in Robots by Conner Flynn on January 28th, 2008

Robot helps the lost
If you’re easily lost in large malls, you’ll soon have a robot friend helping you out. Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR) based in Osaka has demonstrated a humanoid robot that recognizes people who seem lost and helps them on the spot. His name is Robovie, and he seems 50% creepy and 50% cute. I would want him to help me if I were lost, but I would also be wondering how he plans to disembowel me and take over the world with his machine friends. His Stormtrooper colors don’t help put me at ease, either.

His helpfulness was recently put on display at the Universal Citiwalk in Osaka. In an earmarked area measuring 100 square meters the robot scanned every passerby’s face. He had the help of 16 cameras, 6 laser range finders and 9 RFID tag readers installed in and around the area that acted like eyes and ears. He proceeded to watching 20 people at a time, and read their actions to group them in 10 different categories like waiting, wandering, running, etc.

Japan Wii Sales On The Rise

Posted in News, Nintendo, Wii by Chris Weber on July 2nd, 2007

Nintendo Wii console sales continues to rise and beat out rival PS3Not only is Nintendo’s sales of the Wii game console staying ahead of the competition, but they are continuing to rise and pull further away from rival Sony’s PlayStation 3.

Last month we reported that the Wii was outselling the PS3 in Japan at a ratio of 5 to 1 in May with 251,794 units. Reuters is now reporting that these numbers have risen and Nintendo sold 270,974 Wii game console units in the first 24 days of June in Japan. This, compared to the …

Nintendo Wii outselling PS3 by 5 to 1 in Japan

Posted in Nintendo, Wii by Chris Weber on June 6th, 2007

Nintendo Wii outselling the Sony PS3 game console in Japan by a ratio of 5 to 1Not only has the Nintendo Wii been consistently leading sales for the current generation game consoles in the U.S., Reuters is reporting that the Wii outsold its rival Sony PS3 in console units by a whopping ratio of 5 to 1 in Japan last month.

In May Nintendo reportedly sold 251,794 Wii game consoles compared to 45,321 PS3’s from Sony. The trend appears to be a growing one as well, as the ratio was 4 to 1 in favor …


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