It looks like the Japanese are using barcodes for more than scanning, take a look at how they used barcodes as another place for advertising.  Great idea, I don’t see why U.S. companies are not doing this.

This kind of creative barcode design is completely new to me, but apparently it’s quite common in Asia - or at least Japan. Here’s a full gallery of some unusual product barcodes. Please comment if you have seen similar designs in your country (or if you are missing out on them as well).

via fosfor, source

Japan intros a really fast train that goes up to 217MPH.  Although this is nothing compared to the French train that can go about 357MPH, it wouldn’t hurt to have one in the U.S., where it takes me at least 5 hours to get to L.A. from San Francisco.

Yes, Japan needs to get it a little faster still…(catch up to the French but where’s U.S. in this world train race god darn it!)

Kawasaki Heavy Industries is developing the country’s fastest train. How fast is that? A speedy 217mph, a nice increase over the previous fastest, which moved at 186mph.

via dvice

For the ultimate DLP TV, you might want to consider this Sanyo Z2000 HD Projector instead, capable of projecting 80-inches of viewing HD.

All said, for the price of this projector overseas, it’s a bargain. The only downsides are that you have to replace the lamp after so many hours, which is not inexpensive. But for a home theater–WOW! This would sure inspire me to stay home and watch movies–and save the 1800 yen it costs to watch them in Japan! On that note, purchasing this projector in Japan at the current going price of 268,000 yen in a store would be equivalent to watching 148 movies in a theater. While that sounds like a lot, it only translates to about 300 hours of video time, and upon asking, the lamp should last about 3,000 hours on the brightest setting, meaning that you have only covered 10% of your lamp by the time you finish watching the movie theater price equivalent in Japan. Not bad at all–especially when you add that you can use this to play your video game consoles as well. The Sanyo is also very cheap compared to similar models, providing amazing lens shifting for a similar price that others sell theirs for. I suggest you go pick one up if you’re a hardcore movie watcher or gamer!

Here’s a screenshot of the HD screen projected:

via akihabaranews

Okay, don’t get me wrong, this ISN’T the world’s smallest Linux PC.  Actually, the smallest Linux PC maybe even smaller as embedded Linux has evolved.

But from PC users’ standpoint, this Linux PC pictured above isn’t big at all, in fact, it’s as small as an apple designed for use in spaceships.

What’s the point?  It looks cool and eventually we should be able to replace bulky desktop PCs with these little min-versions.

So, would you like a Space Cube? Tough luck, at least for the moment. Outside of Japan - where the Cube has been developed by the Shimafuji Corporation - your best bet is to keep watching the Star Dundee website. It’s an offshoot of the Space Systems Research Group of the University of Dundee. They’re planning to sell the Space Cube once a few technical issues are ironed out and, unfortunately, it’ll be a bit more expensive than the price we found before - around $325. Instead, this remarkable PC will probably be going for around £1,500.

via pcpro

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Origins of Fortune Cookie was America?

Here’s a funny video proving that Fortune Cookies are in fact, from America itself.  It’s funny but maybe Fortune Cookies were invented by the Chinese Americans to lure more customers.  Go to China, they don’t even know what a Fortune Cookie is.

But I can understand that, they have Chinese food in Korea that they don’t have in America, it’s called Korean-Chinese food.  Fortune Cookies are definitely American-Chinese food, speaking of which, there’s all these non-authentic Chinese food chains popping up. (and yes, they taste horrible to an authentic Asian mouth.)

Clearly not. They are arguably more American (by way of Japan), judging by the way that people in China react to fortune cookies — with a mixture of confusion and amusement. As part of research for my book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, I went around China handing out fortune cookies to random people (my bellhop, people on the street, vendors) and recorded their reactions.

Often times, they would put the cookies in their mouth, and then be surprised when they found a piece of paper either in their mouth or in a cookie.

via bb, nytimes

I do prefer wooden USBs over plastic ones simply due to the fact that they are more shock-absorbent upon dropping them from high floors.

This one is from Japan and does indeed look pretty cool.

I like this Wooden Thumb Drive. Its casing is made of cedar wood and provides 1GB of storage capacity. The Wooden Thumb Drive retails for approx. $62 in Japan.

via techfresh, Product Page, Product Press Release

Related:

Wooden USB Flash Drive

How to convert your USB drive into a wooden USB

Hey, who said you can’t take your steering wheel with you?  Here’s the Steering Wheel Clock to let you feel like you are still in your car.

Unique design with solid wood and metal construction. Quartz clock with Japan movement.

Great gift for the home, office or auto enthusiast.

via giftsandgadgetsonline

Here’s a cute set of LED Cube Alarm Clock, currently only available in Japan.

I bet you could make something similar or even better with some parts.

Seiji’s LED block alarm clock are interconnected using ribbon cables with enough slack in them to let you stack them pretty much any way you like.

via technabob

Believe it or not, your bathtub is probably filled with lots of bacteria including some urine.  (Urine does help fight athlete’s foot, did you know?)

Here’s floating bath tub disinfectant that will clean your tub of those dirty bastards.

An ideal gadget for eco-friendly Japanese as after the bath the device disinfects the water completely in a couple of minutes so it can be reused again. The onboard LED starts blinking as soon as the water is completely disinfected. The unit measures 86×86×110mm, weighs 250 grams and will be available in Japan from July 22 for 3800 Yen ($ 38).

via newlaunches