April 2008
58 posts
"Yamaha Develops New Music Instrument From... →
The quality of Tech-On!’s translation has been getting on my nerves for a while, now, but this is just sloppy. I mean, for goodness’ sake. “Users operate the instrument’s LED buttons to play phrases and tempos.” Erm, “play tempos”? Would it really hurt to find a couple of translators who have (a) a native-level grasp of English and (b) a basic knowledge of...
Rin Rin, Symbol of Japan's Obsession with... →
With apologies to The Onion.
The Radiophonic legacy →
Great piece on the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop, including video/audio of some of their finest moments.
Nagano's Olympic torch relay →
If the Chinese mainland media’s “it rained a bit, but the enthusiasm of the Chinese supporters was undimmed” represents one end of the propaganda spectrum, here’s the polar opposite. In fact it’s off the spectrum altogether.
The Echo Nest →
Music analysis tool. Would be nice to see this built into a tool like Propellerheads’ ReCycle that would accurately chop up music clips, though it sounds like it could do much more.
WatchWas going to avoid all comment on this, but—that robot is flippin’ colossal for something that just clean toilets. Then again, it prevents humans from having to do so, so perhaps it’s churlish to complain. Urinal Elephants invade Japan - Engadget
Gonorrhea the mighty →
In the future our production lines will be manned by STDs, with the foremen uploaded lobsters.
South Korea clones sniffer dogs →
This is one of those stories that makes me feel slightly nervous about South Korea.
Rightists' 'Yasukuni' preview gets thumbs down →
Oh well, not as if we weren’t expecting this.
Virgin Media and their unbelievable evil →
I can barely credit the fact that their CEO would refer to net neutrality as “bollocks” (see the Charlie Stross post linked to). If there is justice in the world, he will be among those first against the wall when the revolution comes.
Alan Richman on Japan's take on foreign cuisines →
Amid the lots and lots of bollocks that has, it must be said, been written far and wide about Japan’s Michelin stars, it’s refreshing to read something by a food writer who has concentrated on visiting good restaurants, writing about them, and talking to the chefs, rather than the glossy, lightweight stuff the business journalists for the major publications tend to turn out. He’s...
With Your Life →
I just walked past a Nippon Express van and realised what it is that disturbs me about their slogan, “With Your Life”, apart from the faint aroma of grammar mangle. It’s the fact that it’s Darth Vader’s answer to the question “How may I atone for this unforgivable error, my lord?”. The aura of menace is palpable.
'Yasukuni' screening for right-wingers →
Slightly surreal, but good to hear that efforts to show the film are continuing. The whole question could use some more airing, and the folks in the speaker trucks could stand to shut up and listen once in a while.
MG-8R Joins Assembléon's A-Series Pick & Place... →
I read this from start to finish without understanding what it is that the machine under discussion actually does, even after looking at the photo. I love it — a perfect jewelled eggshell of intricately woven jargon, hollow inside.
Survey: Japanese cellphones' most trumpeted... →
Nikkei BP reports on a 15,000-person survey on cellphone usage in which under 20% of respondents say they’ve used the GPS or contactless IC card (train pass/payment/etc.) features on their phone. Even the marketed-to-the-hilt one-seg TV and audio player functions have usage rates in the mid-20% range. This underscores a suspicion I’ve had for a while that a lot of the carrier-defined...
Viewfinder: Overlaying Flickr photos on Google... →
The video makes this far clearer than I could with a few words, but essentially instead of pinning your images to a spot on the map, you first orient your Google Earth view in three dimensions and…
The "death growl", they call it →
(Via Music Thing)
“In studies involving Internet telephone directories, Social Security death index...”
– Names That Match Forge a Bond on the Internet - New York Times
Zhengzhou Alway Superhard Tools Co., Ltd. →
If this doesn’t cause you to fall out of your chair, wet yourself, and spray coffee out of your nose, then I can only assume that your sense of humour has been disconnected for non-payment.
Yellow Door Kitchen 黃色門廚房 →
Another trendy HK eatery to try
aqua restaurant group →
Hong Kong restaurant operator. I’ve visited Hutong before and suspect their other offerings may be worth a try as well.
BBC pronunciation gurus:
The name of the major Internet company currently fending off the Borg’s clammy embrace is not pronounced YAR-hoo. Not sure if it’s an attempt to approximate the US pronunciation, but in British English at least it sounds daft. YAR-hoo denotes, if my shaky grasp of the now-ailing term is accurate, a rich, upper-class wanker.
Blog till you can blog no more →
I found this genuinely depressing and worrying. I can’t say that I knew Marc Orchant, but we were briefly on the Engadget roster at the same time and I find I still have his e-mail in my address book. I must admit I found blogging professionally as a side job way too much extra stress for the return it offered.
Vintage Roland synths, in your browser →
Synths and a drum machine and a handful of stompboxes to mangle the sounds with, to be accurate. Great Java application that gives you two TB-303s, a TR-909, two rows of Boss effects pedals and a mixer to play with. One of the best online music apps I’ve seen.
Gas tax: Death and resurrection? →
Japan’s political inertia has, as expected, resulted in the demise (at least temporarily) of a provisional additional tax on petrol as of April 1, resulting in pump prices dropping. Incidentally, the price cut doesn’t reflect the retailers passing on savings; petrol is taxed at the point of sale to the retailer, so the stuff coming out of the pumps now was subject to the higher tax...
Tokyo's centre →
At @nifty’s Daily Portal Z, where every day is April Fool’s, the irredeemably minor fun continues with the discovery that Tokyo’s centre (of gravity) is actually in Kokubunji. This they determine by balancing a map on a pin. Apparently, the dodgily-homepaged* Mathematics Certification Institute of Japan agree and have a plaque up at the site. * There’s a level of...
