inventions
Japanese Twitter user’s crazily extreme device is perfect for when you need multiple tissues, stat.
You’ll never waste time pushing in chairs ever again thanks to this amazing new invention from Japanese car manufacturer Nissan.
Aisa Mijeno, a young Filipino engineer and environmental advocate, has conceptualized a product that is not only environmentally friendly, but will provide basic lighting to the less-privileged: a lamp that runs on salt water!
The somewhat euphemistically named process of “denailing” has remained a popular torture method since medieval times and, according to the sort of creepily detailed Wikipedia page for the method, it remains in use today.
There are a few good reasons for that. It apparently leaves no permanent marks or injury – after the nail grows back, of course – and requires only the most basic of tools to pull off. It also objectively hurts like hell and there’s something about the tips of the toes and fingers being manipulated that leaves a person feeling unbearably vulnerable.
All of which has us wondering why anyone would voluntarily use this tool, which is clearly just a re-purposed torture device, to fix their ingrown toenails, regardless of how amazingly well it supposedly works.
Japan’s Meiji period ushered in revolutionary changes to the country. As over 200 years of self-imposed isolation came to an end, centuries of economic, political, and scientific advances came flooding into Japan, and the nation’s thinkers and entrepreneurs began scrambling to modernize. Thanks to their efforts, soon after the Meiji period began in 1868, Japan had its first railways, banks, and apparently a dog-powered butter-making machine.
At some point in our childhoods, most of us probably owned a few coloring books to keep us entertained on rainy days or while traveling.
Although coloring is still a great way to boost a child’s imagination and improve motor skills, as digital technology continues to develop, fewer children are turning to coloring books to pass the time.
So in order to make coloring “cool” again, Disney decided to do a little research into what they could do to breathe some life back into this old pastime favorite.
If there’s a menial task that takes up a substantial amount of time, you can bet Japan is developing a robot for it. So far we’ve seen gems like the 24-fingered hair-washing robot, the floor-cleaning bot and the robot that feeds you tomatoes while you run.
Now, a new generation of self-automated robotic assistance is set to make life easier for families in the very near future, with an amazing new machine that folds your laundry.
For as long as we can remember, holograms have been one of the coolest science fiction technologies that still haven’t quite lived up to the promises of our favorite films and TV shows. We’re a long way from chatting with Mark Twain on the holodeck, basically, but that doesn’t mean current “hologram” technology isn’t cool!
One of the neater everyday hologram-like technologies you can easily buy is a propeller clock. In fact, using a simple microcontroller, some LEDs, and a spinning motor, you could even build your own propeller clock. But this enterprising Twitter user decided a propeller clock wasn’t enough and ended up making a propeller watch! It’s not entirely practical, but it is completely awesome!
Humans have always had a fascination with flying. From the legend of Icarus to da Vinci’s ornithopter designs, we have long tried to mimic birds in an attempt to get ourselves into the air, though it hasn’t always produced the best results. Perhaps one of the most famous ornithopter designs in recent memory is the Flaptter from Studio Ghibli’s Castle in the Sky. We have to admit, we’ve spent a fair share of our time day dreaming about swooping over baseball games in these flying machines, but we never thought we’d actually get to fly one. We may have been wrong!
This working RC Flaptter is just about the peak of our dreams. We just need someone to stick a 3-D camera on the front so we can fly it from a first person perspective and we’ll never have another Tanabata wish again!
Back in the days before the majestic and booming voice of God said, “Casey, go work for RocketNews24,” I used to handle payroll processing at my old job. I’d also occasionally answer the phones and take care of walk-in customers, and while it keeps things fresh and varied to wear many different hats at work, there are also some downsides, and I’m not talking about an increased chance of head lice.
I shared my PC with several coworkers, and often I’d step away from my desk for a moment, only to come back and find out that in the meantime someone had hopped onto the computer, finished what he was doing, and decided to shut down every window. When the prompt came up asking if the user wanted to save any unfinished work, for some reason he’d invariably select “no,” and I’d lose a chunk of work progress.
If only I’d had one of these cool Japanese robot assistants that automatically saves your files for you.
Japan’s best minds have contributed quite a few important inventions to the world over the years. Did you know that the portable ECG machine was invented in Japan, for example? So were electric rice cookers, DSLR cameras, CD players, Blu-ray discs, and gaming systems. Really, the list of Japanese tech that has become integral to our daily lives goes on and on.
However, if you ask Japanese people which invention their country should be proud of, it turns out a far humbler product jumps to mind for most: instant noodles.
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