remove the labels – Gadgets and Life

With the full-scale rollout of Japan’s cigarette vending machine age-verification system just around the corner, a Sankei Sports news reporter has confirmed the existence of a minor flaw: magazine photos can be used to fool the age-verification cameras on some machines. When the reporter went to check out the new age-verifying machines after they were [...]

IT company Kayac has teamed up with researchers from Keio University to develop a high-tech brainstorming room that listens to its inhabitants and feeds them a barrage of related data and images in order to boost creativity and fuel the imagination. The system — called “Kage Roi” — relies on a speech-recognition capable computer that [...]

Kaiju collector/photographer Red Yoda adds a touch of colorful madness to an awesome collection of Japanese vinyl monster figures. Browse the entire photoset for more. [Kameba] [Mothra Larva go for a swim] [Zag!] [Salary Ika!] [Daimajin is angry!] [Bloody. Evil. Varan]

Rice-growing season has only just begun, but this year’s first crop of rice paddy art, which is created by planting various colors of rice in the field, has already started to emerge. In the Yamagata prefecture town of Yonezawa, an image of 16th-17th century samurai Naoe Kanetsugu has appeared in a field near the Onogawa [...]

Tadanori Yokoo, one of Japan’s most prolific and internationally recognized graphic designers, has created a number of psychedelic posters for notable musicians. Earth, Wind & Fire, 1976 [Enlarge] Santana – Lotus, 1974 [Enlarge] The Beatles, 1972 [Enlarge] Emerson, Lake & Palmer concert poster, 1972 [Enlarge] Tangerine Dream, 1976 [Enlarge] Beatles – Star Club, 1977 [Enlarge] [...]

Space transportation provider Rocketplane Kistler Japan has teamed up with wedding planner First Advantage to begin hosting weddings aboard the Rocketplane XP suborbital spaceplane. A cool 240 million yen ($2.2 million) buys you a wedding ceremony aboard a 1-hour space flight that reaches an altitude of more than 100 kilometers (62.1 miles), as well as [...]

In an unsettling sign of the times, the new “Smoke Block” emergency mask by Tokyo-based Rescuenow, Inc. is being touted as an effective means of protection against hydrogen sulfide, the trendy “detergent suicide” gas created by mixing household cleaners, which has claimed hundreds of lives across Japan in recent months. The mask has a special [...]

In this video, Dr. Norihiko Ishikawa of the Department of Telesurgery and Geomedicine at the University of Kanazawa demonstrates the precision of the daVinci Surgical System by using the device’s remote-control robot arms to fold a penny-sized origami crane. (Watch it.) [Via: DVICE]

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has released a few details about the “Zero Emission House,” a state-of-the-art green home under construction at the site of the upcoming Hokkaido Toyako G8 Summit, where environmental issues will be high on the agenda. Incorporating the latest in sustainable building technology, the 280-square-meter (3,000 sq ft) [...]