Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
While they are nearly gone, or at least dwindling, they’re alive and well in Japan – the place where people pay to download music, and where the Walkman was still available until recently. The term Galápagos effect is quite funny: “Japan has this Galápagos effect of holding on to some things they’re comfortable with,” said Jonathan Coopersmith, a technology historian who is writing a book on the machine’s rise and fall. “Elsewhere, the fax has gone the way of the dodo.” (NY Times – fax)
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I’ve always suspected that the reason why the iPhone gets outsold in Asia is its inability to allow the user to decorate it with cell phone charms. I’m pretty sure I’m right. Cell phone charms are BIG business. A Tokyo 3D printing company has joined the decades long trend for a niche market – pregnant ladies. Their primary product is a personalized 3D printed model of your baby in utero. You can go old school and get a 2D grainy, black and white scan of your spawn and try to guess which body part is which. You can even upgrade to a 4D ulstrasound and get clearer images and video of your lumpy baby, OR for $1,200 you can go all the way and get this resin model based on your 4D ultrasound, that is shaped like your pregnant gut. It’s great for carrying in your purse to show off to friends and family, and also doubles as a paperweight! And don’t forget about your cell phone – the company throws in a free miniature cell phone charm version so you can show everyone what your not-yet-born baby looks like without having to carry your resin model around with you all the time. The company is diversifying their product line. In addition to the resin models, and the bonus cell charms, they will also be offering 3D models of just the mushy face of your baby. Baby faces sort of fall into all-rook-same status at this point in fetal development, but I imagine there’s a growing market for this, and not just in tech-wacky Japan.
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The saga continues around the world. We wish there was more to say about it. (NY Times – Samsung vs Apple)
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Where does one go if you’re Japanese, out of a job in manufacturing but an expert? Yes, China. That’s where a lot of technical experts can go find a second career to hopefully work and teach the great skills that some Japanese possess. Of course that comes with issues. There are 2800 Japanese in manufacturing town of Dongguan alone. “”From Japan’s perspective, emerging countries are getting a free ride of the benefits we nurtured. So yes, it is a problem,” said Yasushi Ishizuka, director of the intellectual property policy office at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.” Yet, jobs are jobs, people will follow the money to survive. Some say that this manufacturing knowledge aren’t crucial secrets. It’s the world today and that’s how it is. (Reuters – Manufacturing China)
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It’s cleverly said as you. But in the end, it is your end. Really, it’s not. These seats have 360 pressure points which will distinguish you from the next person. Iris scan? Finger print? No, just your body. The engineers at Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology in Japan is working on this project. Will you need a car key? Probably since in the end, do you really want strangers sitting in your car, saying, “oops this Ferrari Enzo looks just like mine!” Yes we could have said Kia, but we didn’t. (cnet – Seats of the Future)
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