Sony’s troubles still continue. The Japanese government is giving Sony a hard time over the PSN outage still, two months after. They still have not allowed Sony to bring PSN back online until they have certain assurances. These are assurances that the Japanese government has been requesting since May and Sony isn’t giving them a time frame for their implementation.

They simply want preventative measures and Sony isn’t cooperating or communicating. Sony needs to be bending over backwards to win people over once again, so this is pretty stupid on their part.

3DS owners outside of Japan will be very jealous, but we should be used to it by now. Thanks to Fuji TV, Nintendo’s Itsu no Ma ni Terebi (otherwise known as “SpotPass TV”) will bring several short format 3D TV programs to the handheld.

Just like its Wii predecessor, the video service is Japan-only at least for now. Hopefully Nintenso will keep it’s promise about Netflix so the rest of us can watch programs.

Sharp’s new AQUOS PHONE IS11SH is a female friendly phone capable of 3D graphics. The phone runs on Android 2.3 OS and has a 3.7-inch 960 x 540 pixel display, an 8.5 megapixel CMOS camera, mobile wallet service, mobile TV, and infrared data transmission.

The image tells the whole story. This one is targeted at young Japanese women. There is also a slide-out keypad, making typing those texts a lot easier. As a male, I just want to take this oppotunity to say “Ewww”.

When we base so much of the world’s tech in one area of the globe, there are bound to be problems when natural disasters strike. Nokia has issued a statement on its operations in light of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The company’s end results for the quarter probably won’t be affected, but some gadgets may be delayed as the parts supply has been understandably interrupted. The company has pledged to do it’s best to work with suppliers inside and outside of Japan to work around the problem if they have to.

As you might expect, many technology companies have been affected by the Japanese quake and Tsunami. Some have had killed or wounded employees, or had their factories damaged etc. I think we would all just wish for them to get some stability at home and be safe before we worry about delays of our devices.

This weird looking Japanese cat is actually a spy camera. The camera is called the Necono Digital Camera. Ideally a spy camera should not stand out, yet this odd cat completely stands out. Maybe people will just think it is an odd figurine as you record them.

The camera has a 3MP sensor and can shoot both VGA video and still shots. The camera measures 100 x 30 x 30mm and weighs 40G. Apparently the buttons for activating the shutter are on the cats butt and the lens is in the cat’s eye.

We’ve all been waiting for some more details on Nintendo’s 3DS and now a German tabloid has leaked the launch date of the portable 3D gaming system. We aren’t sure how reliable these leaks are, but word is that Japan will get the 3DS on November 11.

This will be followed by a European launch in the Spring for about 200 EUR, or U.S. $270. An official announcement should come from a Tokyo press event by Nintendo on September 29th.

A 17-year old boy from Australia claims to be responsible for that Twitter security flaw yesterday. He might have accidentally set the whole thing off. According to reports, he might have exposed the security flaw by tweeting a piece of code related to the onMouseOver JavaScript function that caused a pop-up to appear when a user moved his mouse over the message.

The code was quickly modified to perform all kinds of unsavory tasks, some malicious. He claims that he modified the idea from another user (a Japanese developer) who used the code to make his tweets colored. Twitter had been notified of the flaw before, and it was patched, but a recent update caused the flaw to rear it’s head again.

The Japanese put everything in vending machines. I’m surprised they don’t have prostitutes in them, where you can pay and the door opens. Now they even have fresh bananas thanks to Dole’s new machines which are installed in an underground connection at the Shibuya subway station.

Bananas are a hot commodity too. The vending machine was sold out on its first day. A single banana is about $1.50 (130 yen) and a bunch of five or six is almost $4.50. (390 yen) I guess people are willing to pay for a healthier snack.

Is it cold and dry where you live? You may want to consider this humidifier. This model from Japan looks nothing like the usual humidifiers we see around here. It has an elegant charm to it for sure.

The Mast Humidifier is carved out of Japanese Cypress and absorbs water from the hull, diffusing it through the air with the natural lemony-scent of the wood. Its even rot resistant and requires no electricity. Be moist while making a stylish and artistic statement.

The Japan Texture series of cases for the iPhone are certainly beautiful if you are into the Japanese style. Downright awesome. Why wouldn’t you want to park your iPhone in one? Well, there are a few reasons. These cases cost more than your actual phone, for one.

Plus, they are covered in lacquer and gold dust, which is sure to come off in a matter of minutes. But if you have some disposable income, the series consists of five case designs that depict art of the Sengoku period. They also come with a storage box and each of the handmade cases takes roughly three weeks to make.

On one hand, you can be saved from certain death in a disaster situation, on the other, a robot must swallow you in order to get you to safety. So do I lay there bleeding or let a robot eat me? Decisions. I think I’ll lay there for awhile, because I don’t know if it has teeth or not.

If you are going to convince people to be rescued by robots, maybe your video should not be titled “Human body shredding machine in Japan”. You know? Drag me, lift me up and throw me, even grab me by the scruff of the neck and carry me to safety, but I ain’t gettin’ in your belly.

The Nintendo DS Classroom will feature around 60 applications which will cover kanji, math, civics, physics and history. These will be available to students in junior high and high school in 2010. The idea is that the students will be able to do their homework, take tests, and even get real-time feedback from the teachers.

The system will be shown off in Osaka at the New Education Expo 2009 this month. This is one DS that you won’t get in trouble with at school, but it’s one that you will not be thrilled to use.

Next time you get a call, it might be TMI. See, this here fancy new john wants a word with you. The convo will go something like this, “Hey John. It’s me, your crapper. It’s about your stool…You might want to sit down…Hahaha I slay myself. Just a little toilet humor. But seriously, you gotta lay off the beans buddy… The janitor had to spray twice since you left.”

We’ll it could go down that way. New toilets by Inax will keep an eye on your health and inform you about it via cell phone. It analyzes your stool. Then, a report on your deuce is beamed to a personalized URL or your phone via infrared.

How do you get tourists to visit your land? Make it very clear that there is a chance that a giant robot and squid will battle it out during your stay. That’s apparently what the city of Hakodate, Japan was thinking. They’ve been producing official tourism videos unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

They’re action-packed and feature famous landmarks as giant robots battle a mechanical squid hijacked by aliens. It’s pretty awesome. I don’t know if I’ll visit anytime soon, but I sure enjoyed the flick. First video below.

Hey Chipmunk cheeks. Ya, you with the fat face. You’ve tried everything, yet you can’t seem to get your face to shed those pounds huh? Diets don’t work, so it’s time for the Japanese Face Slimmer. It’s basically a mask you wear that hugs your face and they claim it will change your face size somehow.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that this is a bunch of BS. The only thing it will accomplish is to send your friends and loved one running for the hills, wondering where you are hiding the machete. Still, if you really really want to try it, go for it. Just don’t go wearing it while walking around a summer camp. It will only start a new urban myth, where the killer wears a face slimmer mask.