Invisibility One Step Closer?

Only a very small step mind you, as Japanese professor Yutaka Tamaru of Mie University unveils his newest creation, a transparent goldfish. Apparently the hapless creature was developed to make it easier for Japanese school students to study, so they wouldn’t have to cut them open, which has a certain irony considering some Japanese culinary practices… The skin and scales have no pigment so the heart, brain, eyes and other organs can clearly be seen. Since there’s no need for this animal to go under the knife it’s whole life cycle can be closely monitored and the good news for this specimen is that it is expected to live for around 20 years. Incidentally, this isn’t the first see-through animal developed in Japan and transparent frogs are apparently going to go on sale in the next few months.

Sonic Rush Unlockables

The gaming industry has quite a few figure heads in terms of video game characters, which have pushed the whole genre forward through the adventures that they have been on. One such famous character is Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog, which made history during the early years of gaming.

Sadly, in recent years, things haven’t been so good for the blue hedgehog, as Sega’s resident Sonic Team hasn’t made the best titles for it. But, fortunately for the speedy animal, the developers collaborated with Dimps and delivered Sonic Rush, one of the first Sonic titles for Nintendo’s hugely successful DS handheld platform.

The game was released on November 15, in North America, while the PAL region received it on November 18, and Japanese fans got a taste of Sonic on November 23, all in 2005. Even though the blue hedgehog wasn’t popular those days, the top-notch gameplay and graphics of the title made it a best-seller and prompted some big critical acclaim from reviewers. Read more

Talk of New Shuffle

I quite like iPods though I’ve never quite understood the near fanatical following. Rival mp3 players, even cheapo no-name models often do the job just as well, maybe not as smoothly, but they cost a whole lot less and you’re not tied to iTunes. Nevertheless, I can appreciate good design when I see it, and the new iPod shuffle looks like another winner. Less is most definitely more. The control wheel has disappeared and in its place there’s a voice synth, called VoiceOver, that tells you which track is playing. It’ll also speak your playlists and help you to navigate around your tunes. Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that the capacity has been doubled to a respectable 4Gb. Read more

Site for Sore and Cold Eyes…

I am still not sure if this is a wind up or not but apparently in Japan at least when you get tired, after a long day in front of the computer screen, you can ‘heal fatigue’ and ‘relax and comfort your body overall’ by warming up your eyes…

That, in a nutshell, is the thinking behind the USB Eye Warmer from the Rare Mono Shop, Just plug it in, strap it on and twiddle the heater control, according to your preferences. They’re available now, for just $28, so if you are suffering from chilly eye syndrome, and you have a spare USB port (you may have to unplug the fridge, fan, reading light and remote missile launcher), this is what you have been waiting for.

Vista Price Changes on the Way?

Microsoft raised a few eyebrows late last week with an announcement that it is planning significant price cuts for some versions of the Vista operating system. So far we only have details of the US changes, which apply to the upgrade versions of Ultimate (down from $299 to $219) and Home Premium (drops from $159 down to $129), but according to a CNET News report the company also has plans to reduce prices in other ‘developed’ markets which presumably means Europe and Japan. There will also be changes too for emerging markets, where the distinction between full and upgrade versions will be eliminated. Read more

Nokia X02NK To Hit Japan

Looks like Japan isn’t only the Land of the Rising Sun, but it ought to be dubbed the Land of the Many Cell Phones as well. Nokia is tipped to release its dual-slider handset known as X02NK soon. Read more

Time and Ink Running Out for Printer Cartridges?

News agency Reuters has reported that Tokyo based Recycle Assist, manufacturers of recycled ink cartridges, has lost a long-running court battle with Canon – it began in 2004 – over infringement of patent rights. Japan’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of Canon, dismissing an appeal in lower court and granted it an injunction blocking further sales and imports of cartridges. It will take a while for the implications of the judgement to become apparent but it could spell trouble for the hundreds of companies making and selling refilled, recycled and ‘compatible’ cartridges, and not just for Canon model, potentially it could have far-reaching effects across the whole industry.