March 2008
49 posts
Yellow Drum Machine | Let's Make Robots! →
More details on the now-famous Yellow Drum Machine robot.
Adobe Photoshop Express →
Beta online version of Photoshop. On the list along with Premiere as things I must test-drive.
Do Miis get funerals? →
An official solution seems unlikely, but a homebrew developer somewhere might want to tackle this. What, I wonder, happens in Second Life or WoW or other such virtual communities when someone passes on? I couldn’t immediately find any examples, but I can imagine funerals being held.
Today's obits →
Because how else could we have found out that former Mitsui-Soko (Mitsui Warehouses to you) executive Hiroji Nakadoi had died of interstitial pneumonia? Thank you, Asahi Shimbun.
The Exchange →
Quite good, this place. Have driven past it a million times but, it being on the corner right by the Imperial Palace, not a place you can hop out and drop into easily. Happened to be in Otemachi today (just got back to the office and finished decontamination procedures) and gave it a try. Only issue is the individually wrapped gherkins they give you with takeaway sandwiches. I understand the...
TOKYO CITY KEIBA [ HOME ] →
Looks like I’m having my first outing to the horses next week. Time to get in some study so at least I’m procedurally able to lose my shirt.
WatchThis has been featured all over the place by now, but Google Video-induced browser crashes have prevented me blogging it. At last (I hope) success. I’m pretty near a zero on the DIY front, but I’d love one of these. (Via MAKE: Blog)
WatchThis must rank as one of the best Top Gear clips ever. How on earth Clarkson managed to persuade someone to let him shoot a flying car with an anti-tank rocket is beyond me. (Via Gizmodo)
WatchThis Melodyne sound editor is pretty incredible; instead of simply pitch-shifting a chunk of sound, it allows you to manipulate the pitch and timing of individual notes within a chord or piece of music, even in realtime. So for example you can use a MIDI keyboard to play a chord sequence that your picked guitar-chord loop will conform to. But the piece de resistance has to be the last demo, where...
Kentucky Fried Japan →
The copy editor who looked at this article should meet with a cattle prod (or at least a strong cup of coffee); it’s neither Kentucky Fried Japan (amusing though that sounds) or Fried Chicken Japan, I’m afraid; try adding them and averaging the result.
Custom Laser Engraved Moleskine Notebooks |... →
Parsing Ruth and her Chris and their steakhouses
A while ago, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse opened its first Tokyo outlet. I haven’t been, though I’m told the portions are depressingly civilized compared with temples to arterial obstruction such as Lowrie’s The Prime Rib. I hadn’t paid it much thought subsequently until I ended up driving past it every morning on the way to work and its name began to get to me. How, for...
R/C Aircraft: Snelflight Jump Jet, a Fast R/C... →
The Strangest Vehicles In The World » The... →
Pacemaker first impressions
The Fedex man came bearing gifts yesterday. I vacillated a bit about buying a Tonium Pacemaker, for the obvious reasons—it’s a first release from a company with no track record. But, on first evidence, they’ve done a good job. More work needs doing, particularly on the editor software (it seems clear that they’ve devoted their resources to getting the hardware right), but...
Leopard 100% CPU usage caused by syslogd →
Tips on stopping syslogd eating 100% of your CPU resources.
Music Thing: The Japanese War Tuba and other... →
BrickArms →
Ponder, if you will, the unimaginable coolness of a company that makes an extensive range of modern and historical weapons that are compatible with Lego figures. The only armaments my Lego guys had were swords and spears; how much more fun playtime would have been had they been toting RPGs, clip-fed shotguns and stick grenades.
Obituaries of the obscure →
Japanese newspapers have something of a fetish for minutiae—my favourite example was a Yomiuri Shimbun article about ten years ago about the fact that certain shinkansen services would in future stop for thirty seconds longer at a particular station—and this carries over to their approach to obituaries. UK papers, at least, seem to print them only for people who are deemed to cross a...
Audiko - online ringtone maker →
Aviary - online creative suite →
10 DIY Lighting Hacks for Digital Photographers →
Turnup to turnip
When I first heard this on a TV programme today I had it figured for an urban myth, but given its prevalence in a Google search I’m ascribing it tentative factual status until a Japanese Snopes steps in to debunk: The Japanese word for a turnup on a trouser leg is kabura. This is also the dictionary gloss offered for the English word turnip. So the story goes, a Meiji-period mishearing...
freesound :: home page →
Bluelounge - SpaceStation →
Laptop stand, USB hub and cable organizer.
Ghosts - Home →
New Nine Inch Nails release, with 9 of the 36 tracks available free.
PicFindr: Free stock photo and image search →
Does what it says on the box. Appears useful from a first try (goldfish in last post).
