Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation

We’re not really sure which is worse, that the future has already reached Japan, or that Japan has already out-designed everyone. Apparently yesterday there was a “spacewear fashion show” at the University of Tokyo’s Hongo campus. A joint venture between Rocketplane Kistler, an American space tour company, and a group of Japanese fashion designers came together to create the “Hyper Space Couture Design Contest.” The clothes selected will be used for Rocketplane’s flights, which are slated to begin in 2008. While we don’t exactly know what “spacewear” means, apparently one of the requirements is to be able to pack form and function into a zero-g outfit, “such as ruffles that expand under weightless conditions or small air-jet propulsions systems in the sleeves to help you change direction while floating.” We still think that any of these outfits could be improved with a little Engadget logo stitched somewhere on there, but hey, we’ll still take some small air-jet propulsion systems on our terrestrial outfits.

[Via Pink Tentacle]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Robots

We just eyed PDI’s BorMar paintball gun on display at this week’s Risk Control in Tokyo (RISCON) exhibition, which wants its goers to “control risk to the fullest despite unavoidable difficulty.” Apparently the BorMar can be hooked up to a robot for automated paintball firing up to 15m (49ft) and is ideally used in unmanned areas like a parking lot at night to splatter miscreants with bright red paint (or other assorted colors) if they trespass. Say, those Japanese engineers can make just about anything work with a robot right? We’ve got a spare Roomba around here somewhere.

[Via Robot Watch]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Displays, GPS, HDTV

Apparently bigger is always better in the realm of giant HDTVs, and the leapfrog game to have the largest — even for just a few months — continues as Mitsubishi has constructed a baffling 8,066 square-foot display at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan. By far the biggest Diamond Vision unit ever built, it trumps their own creation at Turner Field in Atlanta by spanning 218 feet wide by 37 feet high and allowing for 3 races to be shown at once. The two previous title-holders were Miami’s Dolphin Stadium at 137 x 50 feet and Texas’ Longhorn Stadium at 134 x 55 feet. Controversy over the true king will surely arise due to Tokyo’s set only rising 37 feet in height and rocking an unorthodox 5.89 aspect ratio, but it does indeed sport Hi-Vision (1080), making it a legitmate HDTV. Personally, we’d be able to get more use from a couple plasmas, but if you’ve got the space acreage, there probably isn’t a better way to spend $28 million.

[Via HD Beat]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Transportation

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First they want to scan our
brains for passwords, now they want to scan our faces as train passes? Privacy advocates, get on your tin foil
hats facemasks, we’ve received report that Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki Station will be shutting down their
totally antiquated FeliCa RFID / NFC payment systems for an hour
or two daily for a couple weeks, and switching on biometric
cameras that snap faces, match them to train passes, and grant entry (or deny it if your train fare’s depleted or late,
or you, you know, are a terrorist). Despite lawyers calling it of questionable or outright dubious legality, it’s gonna
happen over there alright — at least at Kasumigaseki Station — so if you’re in Tokyo and use this station, we have
two suggestions: first is to wear a rubber mask of your pal so as to get on free and avoid detection. Second is to go
to the next stop down the road in a show of protest for this system and in support of basic civil liberties and rights
to privacy. You know, either works.

[Via href="http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2006/04/26/tokyos_kasumig.html">Smart Mobs]

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