FEPY

AXE deodorant body spray has finally begun its invasion of Japan, and they are using the exact same style of advertising they’ve been using in America for several years now [sex sells]:

The AXE Effect Japan site has a collection of amusing news reports that include girls going wild over a manequin covered with AXE, schoolgirl’s tackling male teachers and students who use the body spray, and maiko abandoning a poor foreign tourist’s ideal photo shoot by chasing after a Japanese AXE-user who passes them on a bicycle. Check them out!

[Via ザイーガ]

Origin: from Japan Probe

Posted by Fepy on Feb 23, 2007, 10:40AM

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Found at Factum - if anyone know the story behind this, please let us know!

Update 2/22/07: Jojo pointed out that it’s from SF Gate:

Little squealers: A local television station in Manila is offering a $400 prize for the best pig costume at its Year of the Pig parade.

Origin: from Neatorama

Posted by Fepy on Feb 22, 2007, 8:47PM

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On February 1, Toppan Printing unveiled new nanotext printing technology for inserting microscopic text into holographic images. The company says they plan to use nanotext to provide an extra layer of security to their “Crystagram” holographic anti-counterfeit technology. Test production is set to begin later this month.

Toppan’s holographic nanotext printing uses electron beams (EB) to print characters 30 times smaller than possible with existing “microtext” technology. With a resolution of about 100 nanometers, it is now possible to print more than 20 holographic characters in a space the width of a human hair (about 80 microns).

Holograms have long been used as an effective method for preventing the counterfeit of items ranging from gift certificates to credit cards to luxury brand products, but organizations find themselves locked into a race with counterfeiters that are quick to adopt new technologies. Nanotext, Toppan argues, provides the next hurdle for counterfeiters to overcome.

Toppan is now working on the technology necessary for mass production, and full market release is scheduled for autumn 2007. The company is aiming for first-year sales of 300 million yen ($2.5 million).

[Source: Toppan press release]

Origin: from Pink Tentacle

Posted by Fepy on Feb 2, 2007, 8:36AM

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Check out this video showing three amazing creations by master origamist Satoshi Kamiya. Hard to believe, but each of the pieces shown in this video was folded from a single sheet of paper.

The red dragon, made from a 1.2 x 1.2 meter sheet, took only 6 hours to fold. The yellow hornet was commissioned by luxury retailer Hermes and was put on display in their New York store. The white dragon is fashioned from a 2 x 2 meter sheet of paper. “As far as I know, it is the most complex origami in the world,” says Kamiya in the video.

Check out Kamiya’s gallery for photos of his other paper creations.

Origin: from Pink Tentacle

Posted by Fepy on Feb 9, 2007, 11:19AM

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The harsh winter in Niigata, Japan brings heavy snow, which can pose problems for residents — particularly the elderly — who are faced with the laborious task of clearing it from driveways and entrances. To the rescue comes Yuki-taro, an autonomous snowplow robot developed by a team of researchers from five Niigata-area organizations.

The friendly-looking Yuki-taro measures 160 x 95 x 75 cm (63 x 37 x 30 in.) and weighs 400 kg (880 lbs). Armed with GPS and a pair of video cameras embedded in its eyes, the self-guided robot seeks out snow and gobbles it up into its large mouth. Yuki-taro’s insides consist of a system that compresses the snow into hard blocks measuring 60 x 30 x 15 cm (24 x 12 x 6 in.), which Yuki-taro expels from its rear end. The blocks can then be stacked and stored until summer, when they can be used as an alternative source of refrigeration or cooling.

Yuki-taro is the result of nearly seven years of work by researchers from the Niigata Industrial Creation Organization (NICO), Research and Development, Inc. (RDI), Niigata Institute of Technology, Yamagata University and the Industrial Research Institute of Niigata Prefecture (IRI), who set out to design an environmentally-friendly robot that can operate by itself and support the elderly. In 2006, Yuki-taro received a Good Design Award in the small-to-medium sized enterprise category.

Researchers continue to work on reducing Yuki-taro’s size, weight and cost, and they hope to make it commercially available in five years at a price of less than 1 million yen ($8,300). It is unclear whether or not the researchers intend to further enhance the robot’s “cute” factor, but they might ought to consider attaching a pair of pointy ears. O-negai!

[Sources: Asahi]

Origin: from Pink Tentacle

Posted by Fepy on Feb 8, 2007, 8:28AM

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Medical book meets manga meets porn in Norihiro Sekitani’s insane collages. (Not exactly safe for work.)

[Link: la sekintani dot oni]

Origin: from Pink Tentacle

Posted by Fepy on Feb 8, 2007, 8:24AM

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On February 6, Nippon Oil (ENEOS), Toyota Motors, Hino Motors and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced the launch of a joint project aimed at putting bio hydrofined diesel (also known as BHD, or second-generation biodiesel) into practical use. In 2007, the city will begin trial operation of city buses that run on a 10% BHD-diesel blend.

Produced through a process of hydrogenating vegetable oil and animal fats, BHD is more resistant to oxidation than conventional biodiesel known as fatty acid methyl ester (also known as FAME, or first-generation biodiesel), allowing for higher concentrations in diesel blends. While FAME concentrations in diesel blends are limited to 5%, BHD concentrations can reach 10%. The new fuel complies with Tokyo’s latest emission control regulations.

Furthermore, the BHD production process allows for the raw materials — vegetable oil, animal fat and used cooking oil — to be processed together. In FAME production, each type of raw material must be processed separately.

Before deciding whether or not to put BHD into practical use, the group will study the overall effectiveness of the fuel as a means of fighting global warming, as well as the feasibility of establishing a fuel production and supply system. The proposed move toward BHD is the first stage in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s project to cut carbon emissions to 25% of 2000 levels by 2020.

[Sources: Nikkei BP, Corism]

Origin: from Pink Tentacle

Posted by Fepy on Feb 7, 2007, 12:03PM

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The world’s largest hot pot in Chengdu, China, measures 39 feet (12 m) in diameter and 13 feet (4 m) tall. Link

Origin: from Neatorama

Posted by Fepy on Feb 23, 2007, 1:07AM

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Israeli artist Boaz Arad created this Hitler rug so people can wipe their feet on Adolf, er
"to show how the Holocaust has scarred Israel, but also been misused by it": Link

Origin: from Neatorama

Posted by Fepy on Feb 23, 2007, 1:06AM

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Robot manufacturer tmsuk, Kyushu University and the Kanazawa Institute of Technology have teamed up to develop a robot that can sniff out the smells that accompany fire. A public demonstration of the robot’s new abilities was held at Kyushu University on February 21.

The researchers outfitted a 60-kilogram (132-pound), 112-centimeter (44-inch) tall Ubiko — a tmsuk robot originally designed to serve as a temporary receptionist — with a first-of-a-kind set of olfactory sensors specifically tuned to detect the odors of smoke and ash.

In the test, Ubiko, which moves on wheels and has a slightly humanoid appearance (albeit with a pair of triangular feline ears atop its head), was tasked with patrolling four rooms, each with a different smell. One room smelled of perfume, one smelled of garlic, one smelled of cigarettes, and one was odorless. When the robot smelled the room with ashtrays, it identified it as likely to catch fire and sent a wireless message to security.

Kiyoshi Toko, electronic engineering professor at Kyushu University, says, “We want to increase the accuracy of the sensors and create a fire-prevention robot that can detect subtle smells that humans cannot perceive.”

For now, the robot has no fire-fighting skills except the ability to alert the authorities when it detects a funny smell. This is probably a good thing in an office environment, for example, where Ubiko might wreak havoc by spraying fire retardant on heavy smokers or on innocent employees who happen to visit smoky restaurants during their lunch breaks.

[Source: Nikkei Net]

Origin: from Pink Tentacle

Posted by Fepy on Feb 21, 2007, 9:46AM

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