"Most of our blogs, our new digital mantelpieces, are a collection of the things we find. Our collections are made public—others are given access, and we call this sharing. But it is an odd sort of sharing, where what we have found is indeed made available to others, but it is not quite a gift. A collection and a gift may both live in boxes, but they are different because the intent of each is conflicting. A collection is made for me (even if I let you look through it), while a gift is chosen for you."
—
Frank Chimero announcing his new blog, The Mavenist.
Chimero’s writing is so fine - so spot on - that it makes me jealous every time I read something he has written.
These are Necomimi (literally “cat ears”) made by Neurowear. The ears move in reaction to what you are thinking making it possible to wear your heart on your sleeve the high tech way.
Gotta love Japanese fashion.
Google Translate does an amazing job on many Japanese sentences. Much better than Babelfish in many cases.
In this video, the wizards at Google explain that Google Translate works by doing statistical analysis of translated documents and then applying the patterns it finds to your translation. So if you enter, どう、調子は？ Google comes back with, “How, how’s everything?”, which is close enough. In comparison, Babelfish returns, “How, condition?”
The page also offers alternate versions of the translation which I assume are matches found in the translated documents that occurred less often.
Combine this with audio playback of the translations (or original text) and GT is quickly becoming an essential tool for anyone studying a foreign language.
This is how Arashi made their entrance during the recent 5x10 Anniversary tour. If Kylie had done this for her Aphrodite entrance I think the crowd would have fainted.
Train People on Flickr.
One of the most wonderful things about Japan is that the entire country runs on trains. Trains are the blood that circulates the Japanese all around the country.
Never late, and never far apart, I always miss the trains of Japan when I leave.
Not many companies would have the guts to poke fun at themselves on their own homepage. This is the kind of move that makes Apple fans very forgiving.
“Meet at Hachiko” is the standard way to meet your friends at Shibuya station. I still get emotional when I think about Hachiko, but he must be happy to know so many people are waiting with him.
These umbrella wrapping machines are genius. Slide the umbrella in and pull forward. Wet umbrella now wrapped and dry to carry around the shop.
