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Powerisers Jumping Stilts

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I find myself wanting to try these things even though the experiment would surely end with me crumpled in the pavement. Assuming, however, that I possessed some of that coordination stuff people are always talking about, I’d probably be somewhat inclined to give it a go. It promises to increase the wearers jump height by 6-feet and stride length to 9-feet. No word on maximum weight… Read More

Sega Toys' mu-bot Headphones: Tiny Man-generated Music?

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Believe it or not this here contraption is a pair of headphones. They go by the name of mu-bot (Japanese for “what the hell?”) and they’re scheduled to hit Japan late next month. I don’t speak a word of Japanese, but I’ll try to decipher what the product page’s hieroglyphics actually mean. For example, I’m pretty sure that right under… Read More

Ladybug bots clean Japanese toilets, induce stage fright

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That’s…um…adorable? You might see one of these the next time you’re at a Japanese highway rest stop. The Lady Bird "is equipped with water tanks, brushes and other tools needed for heavy-duty scrubbing. Obstacle detection sensors allow the robot to safely perform its duties without running into people." It’s also got a built-in microphone and speech… Read More

Make your iPod Nano box into a portable speaker set

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I still have the box for my 5G iPod sitting on some shelf somewhere, because it was just too nice to throw away. Of course, I’m a pack rat and keep worthless stuff all the time. But now I have a decent reason to keep the thing, at least if I buy a new Nano. Japanese gadget outfitter Bird Electron has a sweet little kit to convert your Nano’s box into a little portable speaker… Read More

Toshiba's tiny 8GB mp3 player is GyaO-tiful

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I’m not sure what’s up with the name, but this is a cool-looking little gadget. It’s from Toshiba (like this other little guy with a digital TV tuner inside) and it costs about $300. It costs the same as an 8GB iPod Touch, but it’s a little smaller (for good or ill) and obviously doesn’t sport the same touchy interface. It’s got wi-fi, runs a version of… Read More

Those crazy face masks Japanese wear in public? They work

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While this post is actually just an excuse to show you this great picture – high stockings, cellphones, and vaguely menacing medical gear are so underrated – it’s now been proven that facemasks can and do prevent the spread of flu. Unfortunately, you have to wear them almost constantly, which is probably not so much fun. Read More

Review: Koi Cheese Flavored Japanese Doritos

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So J-List sent me a box of stuff including some (good God) onacups [NSFW]. While I’m debating whether to “review” those devices, I’d like to tell you about Japanese Doritos. Basically these are heart-shaped Doritos. The weird thing is that they’re thicker than American Doritos and actually have an odd, sweet taste that is not unpleasant. Unlike the Japanese… Read More

Chat app Line is adding Snap-style disappearing stories

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Facebook cloning Snap to death may be old news, but others are only just following suit. Line, the Japanese messaging app that’s popular in Asia, just became the latest to clone Snap’s ephemeral story concept.

The company announced today that it is adding stories that disappear after 24 hours to its Timeline feature, a social network-like feed that sits in its app, and user profiles. The update is rolling out to users now and the concept is very much identical to Snap, Instagram and others that have embraced time-limited content.

“As posts vanish after 24 hours, there is no need to worry about overposting or having posts remain in the feed,” Line, which is listed in the U.S. and Japan, wrote in an update. “Stories allows friends to discover real-time information on Timeline that is available only for that moment.”

Snap pioneered self-destructed content in its app, and the concept has now become present across most of the most popular internet services in the world.

In particular, Facebook added stories across the board: to its core app, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, the world’s most popular chat app with more than 1.5 billion monthly users. Indeed, Facebook claims that WhatsApp stories are used by 500 million people, while the company has built Instagram into a service that has long had more users than Snap — currently more than 1 billion.

The approach doesn’t always work, though — Facebook is shuttering its most brazen Snap copy, a camera app built around Instagram direct messages.

China’s top chat app WeChat added its own version earlier this year, and while it said in its earnings this week that users upload “hundreds of millions of videos each day” to its social platforms, it didn’t give numbers on its Snap-inspired feature.

Line doesn’t have anything like the reach of Facebook’s constellation of social apps or WeChat, but it is Japan’s dominant messaging platform and is popular in Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia.

The Japanese company doesn’t give out global user numbers, but it reported 164 million monthly users in its four key markets as of Q1 2019; that’s down 1 million year-on-year. Japan accounts for 80 million of that figure, ahead of Thailand (44 million), Taiwan (21 million) and Indonesia (19 million.)

While user growth has stagnated, Line has been able to extract increased revenue. In addition to a foray into services — in Japan its range covers ride-hailing, food delivery, music streaming and payments — it has increased advertising in the app’s Timeline tab, and that is likely a big reason for the release of stories. The new feature may help Timeline get more eyeballs, while the company could follow the lead of Snap and Instagram to monetize stories by allowing businesses in.

In Line’s case, that could work reasonably well — for advertising — as users can opt to follow business accounts already. It would make sense, then, to let companies push stories to users that opted to follow their account. But that’s a long way in the future, and it will depend on how the new feature is received by users.


Visual Translation App Waygo Launches Japanese Support

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Waygo, an app that lets you translate Chinese by hovering your phone over text, just added support for Japanese. Waygo recently won the SXSW 2014 Accelerator program and is also a 500 Startups alum.

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Duolingo adds support for Japanese

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Duolingo, the popular language learning service, today added support for learning Japanese to its iOS app, with support for its Android app coming soon. “This is by far the most requested and highly anticipated course launch in Duolingo’s five-year history,” said Duolingo co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn in today’s announcement. “No matter what we’d share on […]

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