So there’s this place called Japan where they have all sorts of electronics, gadgets, televisions, arcades, izakayas, and a mega conference called CEATEC 2008. We’re here, on the other side of the date line, inhaling coffee, and you had best stay tuned for the latest from the land of the rising sun.
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So there’s this place called Japan where they have all sorts of electronics, gadgets, televisions, arcades, izakayas, and a mega conference called CEATEC 2008. We’re here, on the other side of the date line, inhaling coffee, and you had best stay tuned for the latest from the land of the rising sun.
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Filed under: Cellphones
It’s T-minus iPhone 3G and counting and the international queuing has begun in earnest… and in Tokyo. This is the line outside of SoftBank’s flagship store in Harajuku as captured by Akihabara News. Now, let’s forget about the first guy, look at our boy number three, Mr. Anonymous Good Posture. With 2 more days ’til launch and the unboxing and reviews already done, pictures of his rapid state of dishevelment might be the most interesting thing we see come Friday. One more picture of the absurdity after the break.
Continue reading iPhone camping rule of thumb: don’t wear a suit
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Filed under: Cellphones
Just when you think you’ve given your dog everything it could ever want (gold plated water dish, rhinestone collar, a copy of Tegan and Sara’s “The Con” on vinyl) the Japanese go and one up you. A Tokyo-based content provider named Dwango announced today that it would start selling specialized ringtones which can be heard only by dogs. The service, called Inu ni shika kikoenai chakushinon (ringtones only dogs can hear) will make free downloads available to current DoCoMo i-mode subscribers. No word on whether the company will provide Bluetooth headsets and holsters suited to our canine friends, but we understand plans are in the works for a line of bacon-themed wallpapers. [Warning: read link is a PDF, and it’s in Japanese]
[Via CrunchGear]
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Posted in japan, tokyo, DoCoMo, dogs, ringtones, canines, dwango | No Comments »
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation
digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/Kasai_Station_gets_robotic_bicycle_parking_contraption’; We’ve seen a couple of robotic car parking garages in the past, but Tokyo’s Kasai Station seems to have found another use for the same idea, with it now employing the services of an enormous bicycle-parking contraption that can store some 9,400 bikes. As you can see for yourself in the video after the break, the system is able to gobble up your bike and pull it down into the bowels of the garage with slightly terrifying efficiency, and at a cost of just ¥100 (about a buck) no less — or ¥1,800 for a monthly pass. No word if they’ve had anyone try to stay on their bike and take a ride into the beast, although we’d assume there are some sort of safeguards in place to prevent those sorts of shenanigans.
Continue reading Tokyo’s Kasai Station gets robotic bicycle-parking contraption
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Posted in bicycle, tokyo, bicycle parking, BicycleParking, kasai station, KasaiStation, robotic garage, RoboticGarage | No Comments »
Filed under: Transportation
Japan’s world’s fastest maglev train may still be quite a few years away from becoming a reality, but it looks like the country can now brag about another slightly smaller but similarly contactless vehicle, with a new suitably futuristic bus now making its debut at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. As if that bit of technology wasn’t enough, the bus is also a hybrid vehicle, and promises a sixty percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to those old 20th century-style buses. Unfortunately, there aren’t a whole lot of other details at the moment (and what is available is subject to the wonders of machine translation), but it looks like the first bus is already in service, and covering a 4.2 kilometer area around the airport.
[Thanks, kaztm]
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Filed under: Transportation
So here’s the good news: Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tokai) has announced its intentions to construct a swank maglev railway in Japan. The bad news? It’s not expected to open until 2025. Reportedly, JR Tokai will be coughing up around ¥5.1 trillion ($44 billion, give or take a few mil) of its own change to build the system that will stretch between the “Tokyo metropolitan area and the Chukyo region, with Nagoya at the center.” Of course, we’re all going to be cruising around in personal flying saucers in a decade anyway, so we wouldn’t be too worried about the wait.
[Image courtesy of FYS]
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Filed under: Announcements
Listen, we’ve just got to say thanks. We got shown some serious love at our Tokyo reader meetup this week, and we’re not only really grateful for the 200+ readers who came out to hang out with Engadget (and who took a ton of photos and almost 100 videos), but for the variety of guests we had, including Mr. Yamamitsu (CEO of Thanko), who participated in a live interview, as well as the “lightning talks” round of hackers, homebrewers, modders, researchers, and all around Japanese über-geeks. So, much love to everyone who came out and helped make our Tokyo event pop off!
P.S. -Oh, and check out some videos after the break. And stay tuned for further details on the SF Engadget reader meetup this week.
Gallery: Engadget Reader Meetup: The Aftermath (part VI, Tokyo)
Continue reading Engadget Reader Meetup: The Aftermath (part VI, Tokyo)
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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Filed under: Announcements
Tokyo: thanks for coming out! Over 200 people came to hang out Engadget style tonight — so it’s probably not too much to expect you’d have documented something, eh? Send in your pictures and video, we’ll throw it up on the site tomorrow in our aftermath post.
Please add your pictures to the Engadget Flickr pool here.
And please add your videos to YouTube as a response to our meetup video (which is posted after the break), or with the tag engadget2007tokyo.
Once again, big ups to our hosts and sponsor Google Japan!
P.S. -Our apologies to those that didn’t make it in. We had limited space, but we’re extremely grateful you made the trip out to see us, even knowing you might not make it through the door. Let us know who you are next time, we’ll hook you up with the VIP treatment.
Continue reading Send in your pics and video from the Engadget Tokyo event!
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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Filed under: Announcements
We’re all the more excited to see everyone at our Tokyo reader meetup tonight! That is, tomorrow-tonight — Japan lives a day in the future, remember? Ok, specifically: the event’s in Tokyo October 4th, starting around 7:00PM, Japan Standard Time.
However, we do have to warn those considering coming: space is tight, and due to the overwhelming response we’ve had we may not be able to guarantee everyone’s admission — our apologies in advance!
Tonight’s event is ALL AGES and FREE ADMISSION. We’ll also be serving food and bevs.
Tokyo - October 4th, ~7:00PM - 9:00PM, Cerulean Tower (7th floor) [map - also embedded after the break]
If you’re Nihongo-inclined, please check Engadget Japanese for more information.
We’d also like to thank our host in Tokyo, Google Japan! [Image by NGU]
Continue reading Reminder: Tokyo reader meetup tonight, October 4th!
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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