So tonight I decided to turn on the ol' Japanese TV while I was making my supper. Usually I don't do this because Japanese TV is really terrible, at least the basic channels we get here at the dorm. The shows are mostly studio group talk shows with the same people on every time, I think, and they just talk about inane shit and watch demos and videos of other stupid stuff and react to it. It's so simple that even I, with my limited knowledge of the language, can understand a good portion of what's happening and what's being said.
But sometimes if I'm waiting for food to cook, I'll see what's on. Tonight on one of these stupid shows, a group of four people, three kids and an adult, were watching videos of these new inventions. The inventions were crazy.
The first one was a trash can that can move around and catch trash that you throw at it. The video was of a young geek (otaku) trying to draw some manga (comic book), but he kept messing up and had to throw a page away. He crumpled it up in the typical TV way, and tossed it blindly behind him. Then the trashcan slid about three feet from the other side of the room and caught it. Then he did it a bunch more time, with the trashcan moving all over the place to catch his papers. Then they showed that you can attach a sensor to your wall, which tracks the trash as it goes up, and figures out where it's going to land, then it sends the trash can to that spot. It didn't look perfect, because I saw the paper hit the rim once, but I imagine it catches stuff most of the time.
So the first reaction to that is of course, OH MY GLOB THAT IS AMAZING. But then the second reaction is, wow, that is really useless. Then the third reaction when they show you the price on the screen is, JESUS FUCK that's not even remotely worth it (about $500).
The second invention was actually quite useful, though. And simple. It's just a wide inflatable cushion that you put under your futon. Quick note here: In Japan, a futon is not a convertible bed/couch with a crappy mattress. It's a thinner version of that crappy mattress, which is traditionally put on the floor to sleep on, but nowadays is put on top of a Western-style mattress. So you could put this thing under it with no problem here. Anyway, you put the cushion under the futon at shoulder blade level, uninflated, and it's attached to an electric air pump and presumably an alarm clock. When it's time to wake up, the cushion inflates, lifting your futon and your upper body into a wicked arch. So you have to get up, unless you're really stubborn and curl up at the lower half of your bed.
The third invention, however, is neither cool nor useful, though. It's a fridge with a camera inside it at face level. Below the camera is a light display, which makes a square. When the lights make a square, the fridge is locked. In this demo, the studio group had to guess how you got the fridge to unlock. A couple people guessed that you had to do some sort of dance move, one boy guessed that you need a verbal password, and the last girl seemed to have guessed right, which was that you have to smile. Some sort of facial recognition software measures the intensity of your smile, too, so you can't do one of those obligatory flash smiles that I throw around at people. It's got to be 75% of maximum or greater, according to the animation. If you smile widely enough, the lights form a green smiley face and the fridge unlocks. That is retarded.
No comments:
Post a Comment