Aug 6 2009 Burn It With Hot Water!: Ramen Cooking Robot
A Tokyo restaurant has programmed an industrial robot nicknamed Ramen-Bot to cook Ramen noodles for soon to be poisoned customers. Now I don't know about you, but I don't trust it. And as a matter of fact -- I only eat food processed in non-robotic factories. Because, damnit, I'm a humanitarian. Mmmm, people.
Thanks to Drew, Michael, cathatter and Chris, who would rather take their chances with employees not washing their hands.
Nov 11 2008 Fire: Set Your Wrist Ablaze! (Metaphorically)
Tokyoflash is back at it, this time with their new Fire design.
Created from a fusion of plastics carefully wrapped around a solid, seamless sheet of highly polished stainless steel, Tokyoflash Fire features a new formation of multi-colored LEDs and is a lightweight design, built to last.
Each hole, with two LEDs beneath the surface represents one unit of time. Yellow LEDs indicate hours 1-12, red LEDs indicate groups of 10 minutes and green LEDs indicate single minutes 1-9.
So it's a fairly easy to read model too. Go ahead -- test yourself on the watch in the picture. Did you get it right? If so, pat yourself on the back. If not, put your helmet back on, your mommy's probably worried about you. The Fire is available now for about $130 and makes the perfect Christmas gift for the person who has everything -- particularly wrists.
UPDATE: F*** it, kankles work too.
Hit the jump for a couple more pictures and a link to the product page.
Continue Reading " Fire: Set Your Wrist Ablaze! (Metaphorically) "
Aug 27 2008 Tokyoflash's Latest Wristwear: The Rogue
The Rogue is a watch that, when worn, lets others know you're chock full of bad-assery. And, quite possibly, bionic innards. The $155 watch comes in both black and silver, and is sure to turn heads and drop panties. So, how do you read it?
Once mastered, navigating the time is simple, but creates a sense of mystique to the uninformed. The outer ring of small dots represents minutes, every fifth dot being slightly smaller to distinguish five minute groups. The ring of large blocks represents rough minutes, the position of the gap indicating approximate minutes. The inner ring of blocks represents hours, the position of the gap in the ring showing the current hour as on a clock face.
Perfect sense. But I'm just going to tell everybody it's a miniature radar anyways. A dork-dar if a guy asks, but a poon-dar if it's a sexy lady. Because women really like it when you refer to their nether regions as "poon". As in "I'm trying to get some poon on my pudding spoon". Oh man, they love that one. Trust me, I'm a podiatrist.
Hit the jump for a picture of the watch in silver, and a graphic that helps explain how to read the time.
Continue Reading " Tokyoflash's Latest Wristwear: The Rogue "
Jul 31 2008 Limited Edition Watches At Tokyoflash
I love wearing a watch, mostly because I hate fishing around in my purse to find my cellphone. Also, they're stylish. Well now Tokyoflash has got a couple limited editions from Independent (manufactured by Citizen) and Seiko.
The Independent Retrograde Dualtime features a citizen analogue movement with hours, minutes and seconds presented in the center of the watch beneath the uniquely shaped lens. The date is also displayed in the small window at the top and a 24 hour clock is included in an originally designed L-shaped window at the bottom of the face.
That one is available in several different finishes and will set you back $250 or $280 depending on which you choose. Now the Seiko, this is the one I've got my eyes on.
This is the first watch series we have seen that uses three rotating aluminum discs to represent the time, neatly and mechanically set beneath a brushed stainless steel case.The time is shown in the window on the left of the watch face, each of the discs indicating a different aspect of time, the outer disc showing hours, the center disc showing minutes and the inner disc showing seconds. The use of 23 jewels in the high precision movement ensure that the watch is as accurate as any in this price range.
23 jewels, that's 21 more than I've got. Seriously though, I love the look of that watch. Unfortunately, I don't have the $946 -- but I will make a trade for one.
FOR TRADE: Balls (one pair) -- light wear from kicking, never punctured or played in a real game. Used for practice only.
Hit the jump for higher res pictures of the individual watches.
Apr 25 2008 Automated Bike Storage In Japan Is Cool, Fast
This is some sort of news report about an underground automated bike storage facility in Tokyo.
For a single-use fee of 100 yen (about $1) or 1,800 yen for a monthly pass, customers roll their bikes onto a platform and use a control panel to have them whisked away to a rack within the 9,400 spot facility. The video shows that it takes the system 23 seconds to retrieve the reporter's bike.
Wow, 23 seconds, that's pretty fast. But not nearly as fast as my bike storage unit, which is the front yard. I just cruise in and jump off, simple as that. See, it's right -- shit. That's it, I'm planning a sting operation. First I'll hide in the bushes, and then I'm gonna steal from the first person that touches my bike. I may take their wallet, but I'm definitely taking their legs -- with a chainsaw. Now if I could just find one of those hockey masks...
Underground Bike Parking in Tokyo [streetsblog]
Thanks to Karina, who I would be more than happy to pedal around on my tandem bike, for the tip
Feb 1 2008 Holographic Water Monster Promotes Movie
Sony recently installed this holographic water display in Tokyo to hype the upcoming film Water Horse: Legend of the Deep aka Puff The Magic Water Dragon II. I think it's about a boy who has no friends except the Loch Ness monster. Great premise. I bet the dragon's secret gets out and then the authorities come and trap him and then the boy has to save him. End of story. You should thank me, I just saved you $8. $16 if you were taking a date. $40 if she's anything like my girlfriend and would want a Coke, popcorn, candy, nachos and two hotdogs.
Sony's stunning water and laser hologram [core77]
Thanks as always to Ben Hur, who has a dragon of his own, for the tip
