Archive for the ‘retro’ Category
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 |
If you ever come across with the possibility to visit Japan, don`t miss it. Otherwise, you will lose the opportunity of visiting a truly spectacular country, with a very interesting culture and fascinating people. Of course, if you visit Japan, you must know that the largest city in the country and one of the largest in the world is Tokyo. This city is called nowadays a metropolis because it consists of 23 city wards, 26 cities, 5 towns and 8 villages, including the Izu and Ogasawara Islands, several small Pacific Islands in the south of Japan’s main island Honshu.The 23 city wards are the center of the city Tokyo and make up about one third of the metropolis’ area, having twelve million residents.
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Tokyo is located on the eastern side of the island Honshu and it is the world`s most populous metropolitan area with approximately 35 million people and the world`s largest metropolitan economy with a GDP of US$1.191 trillion.
Before 1686, Tokyo was known as Edo. In the 16th century, a small castle- Edo became Japan`s political center, in 1603 when Togukawa Ieyasu established his feudal government there. A few decades later, the small castle of Edo developed in one of the most populated cities.
In 1868, as a result of the Meji Restoration, the emperor and the capital were moved from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo- meaning “Eastern Capital”. Tokyo was designed to be centered near major train stations. Although the city went through two major catastrophes in the 20th century- the 1923 Great Canto earthquake and the World War II, it recovered from both. After the World War II the city was completely rebuilt just in time for the 1964 Summer Olympics.
Tokyo is an important international finance center, it houses the headquarters of several of the world’s largest investment, banks and insurance companies. After the World War II, many large firms moved their headquarters from other cities to Tokyo because that way they could have more access to the government . This trend has stopped now because of the large population in the area and the high cost of living. Tokyo was rated by the Economist Intelligence Unit as the most expensive city in the world for 14 years in a row ending in 2006.
Tokyo is Japan`s largest domestic and international hub for rail, ground, and air transportation. Rail is the primary transportation in Tokyo which has the most extensive urban railway network in the world and an equally extensive network of surface lines.
Tokyo is a well known tourist attraction- it is visited by almost five millions of foreigners anually and by approximately 400 millions of Japanese. When in Tokyo, tourists visit the various downtowns, stores, and entertainment districts throughout the neighborhoods of the special wards of Tokyo. Some very popular districts that are visited by many tourists are: Shibuya and Harajuku which are symbols of the Japanese pop culture. There are also other attractions like the Studio Ghibli anime center, as well as museums like the Tokyo National Museum, which houses 37% of the country’s artwork national treasures. Speaking of museums, Japan has four major national museums: Tokyo National Museum , the country’s largest museum; the National Museum of Western Art ; and the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, with its collections of Japanese modern art as well as over 40,000 Japanese and foreign films and the National Museum of Science.
Even if there is the language barrier you can go to different types of theaters in Tokyo: national and private theaters for traditional forms of Japanese drama (like noh and kabuki) as well as modern dramas. If you want to dance you can go to Western or Japanese pop and rock concerts in clubs or in large arenas like the Nippon Budokan.
In Tokyo occur many festivals like the Sanno at Hie Shrine, the Sanja at Asakusa Shrine, and the biennial Kanda Festivals. The last one includes a parade with decorated floats which is attended by thousands of people. Each year, on the last Saturday of July enormous fireworks display over the Sumida River attracts over a million viewers. The cherry blossoming in spring is considered an occasion for gathering in the Ueno Park, Inokashira Park, and the Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens for picnics.
Other attractions in Tokyo are: the Jizo Hall of Shofuku-ji, a suburban temple, is a National treasure, the Imperial Palace , Maiji Shrine andSneso-ji, a popular temple and the Tsukiji Fish Market.
Tokyo cuisine is world recognized and appreciated. When Michelin released in 2007 their guide for fine dining in Tokyo, gathering 191 stars in total, it surpassed its nearest competitor, Paris.
Regarding popular media, Tokyo has the largest studios and broadcasters. The city is frequently the setting for movies, television shows, anime, web comics, comic books. Not only Japanese use Tokyo as a setting. Movies like ” Kill Bill”, “The Fast and the Furious” were filmed there.
Architecture in Tokyo is highly composed of sky scrapers. Very few old buildings survived the two catastrophic events that hit Tokyo. Also, Tokyo has many gardens and parks. Japanese gardens are very popular and an inspiration for other countries.
When in Tokyo, be sure you have a camera with you, or if you don`t have one, this is the perfect city from which you can buy one. It is world known that Japanese have one of the best technologies and not very high prices. Here you can find gadgets and devices you have never heard of, and also, dog robots. It`s no secret that Japan is acknowledged to be the leader in the field of robotics.
All in all, Tokyo is an extraordinary city that is worth being discovered: exquisite cuisine, spectacular architecture, beautiful and peaceful gardens, amazing technology and a fascinating culture.
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Monday, August 17th, 2009 |
In the Sci-Fi literature, along time, we have seen a lot of futuristic gadgets, which, at that time were simply futuristic products, but soon, closer to our days became a reality. In this article I gathered some Star Trek Sci-Fi gadgets which became in time reality, and some of them are pretty usual now. It might not be anything special if you are a Star Trek fan, because I think you have already made all the connections between the devices in the movie and the nowadays real life, but there are people around us who don’t make these links and don’t think about technology evolution in time, and I would like to make this analogy, between Star Trek, a SF movie and the reality surrounding us. Many of them can be owned by any of us, but some of them are still in the works, and some are just strange and I don’t find any utility for them.
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One of the most interesting and well known concept in Star Trek, which became a successful real product is the cell phone. In the movie they had some sort of flip-open communicators, and as a funny fact, Kirk and the crew were often cut from the ship for some reason, like having “no service” nowadays. Kirk always opened his flip communicator and asked to be beamed up.
I wouldn’t really like to see the real version of the Phaser. In the movie, a focused beam of energy from a handheld device was able to stun the opponent. If it was set in the “kill” mode, it could even injure the opponent. It is produced as a toy, and as I know, since the mid 1990’s, the government is perfecting this technology, and soon we’ll walk through dead bodies with laser holes in them, and there will be everywhere in the streets the smell of the burnt ozone. Ok, this is a very pessimistic scenario, but the government is working on creating a gun which uses directed waves of electromagnetic energy, sent over long range, which makes target’s skin feel like on fire.
The little red colored cube in the device in the image was the equivalent of the CD and DVD, or even the SD card in our days. In the image we have one of McCoy’s medical devices. They kinda looked like cheap plastic tools, but they were funny and they kept the Star Trek universe alive.
Another interesting Star Trek gadget would be the computer tablet. Yes, it is funny, but this tablet has the shape of a smartphone, if you want the nowadays equivalent. We have a huge variety of tablet PC’s and palm devices, and the men and women of The Next Generation wanted for sure to hold in their hands some sleek and sexy devices.
Oh, yes, the holodeck, I think everybody is waiting for the creation of this cool
gadget in our days. We are probably halfway there and it looking that soon we will be able to own a holodeck, and all of this thanks to more companies and researchers around the world. It would be nice to get into the holodeck and spend some time relaxing while simulating a quick flight in the Universe.
The wrist phone which appeared in the Start Trek movie seemed something surreal for those times, but now we have a pretty large variety of
gadget watches, and they do even more than offering phone features: they allow you to access the Internet, they have GPS location services and they also allow you to manage a lot of your activity. I wrote in an older post about
Gadget Watches, and you can take a look to see what other cool things a watch can do.
“Engage!” is one of the most well known line in the movie, and this was the signal for the teleporting device functioning. It won’t take long until we’ll be able to do the same thing as the characters in the movie did, as in being teleported from one place to another. Scientists already have done this with small amounts of matter, and the idea of such a device is in development. Keep working on those equations, because when I will use the teleporting device I will need both my hands!
In The Next Generation, there was a touchscreen for everything, and this is the situation now too. Almost every device has touchscreen, including the little iPhone. A lot of
gadgets on the market are beginning to have this design, and to use this interface.
Even the general idea, of the spaceship travelling in the Universe might come true in the future, because all kind of space ships have been developed, and many bright minds of humanity are searching for means of traveling in space. Another interesting perspective would be travelling not only in space, but in time also.
Almost all the Star Trek gadgets mentioned here became reality, and the rest are still in work. This is the biggest proof of humanity’s progress and its hunger for new technologies. It is interesting that a lot of ideas, like Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine, ideas who represented pure insanity in their times, became over time reality, and this shows that human mind has a great creativity, and that in time, all the crazy ideas of one time can become usual things for future times.
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Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 |
Classic will never die, of this one I’m sure. Actually, no, I’m positive, because there are some things that are meant to live forever. Because there are still many people who are keen on keeping those things alive no matter what. Because not always modern is the translation of “perfectionâ€.
Not to mention the fact that I, for example, am very much into old things, with that retro look that managed to fascinate me since I was a little girl. This is why I really like this classic alarm clock, even if it doesn’t come with ground-breaking features. Some of you might not be willing to give up on their fancy alarm clock that is able to do more than it’s supposed to, but there’s a modern touch within this MP3 Clock DX that should satisfy your needs.
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It doesn’t double as an iPod dock or a radio, but it is compatible with MP3 format files, so you’ll wake up in the morning with the songs you love most straight in your ears. A great thing about it is the large (very large, as a matter of fact) sound bank that will give you the chance to choose from a wide variety of alarm sounds.
This classic alarm clock requires 3 AA batteries in order to operate and it’s compatible with the following operating systems: Windows XP and Vista, so if you own a Mac that runs on any other system you’ll have to deal with some problems. If you’re interested, go to GeekStuff4U and the device will be yours for ¥ 3,850.00 (meaning $41).
(Source: Coolest-Gadgets)
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Saturday, November 8th, 2008 |
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If there weren’t already enough alarm clocks on the market to choose from, in order to adorn somehow you bedside table, here’s another novelty. The clock looks like a retro TV. Actually, the alarm clock is housed in a retro-style television and has a couple of different ways to make sure you wake up in the morning. More precisely, the device plays back some old game show themes and sounds that are meant to open your eyes after too many hours of sleep.
Ok, I agree, you must be a fan of modern retro gadgets in order to enjoy and love this alarm clock, but come on, this thing has a remote control to shut it off whenever you please. However, it could be dangerous for heavy sleepers, as it would make it way too easy to lazily open your eyes and flip off the alarm without even thinking about it.
The TV has four different alarms, three are game shows and the other is the TV test signal background. In addition, there are an LCD that displays hour and minute, in a 12 hour format, a month and date display button, three function buttons: Mood light ON / OFF button, Mode button and Set button, a remote control mood light ON / OFF up to 2 meters, a colorful flash mood light and a handle on the top for easy to carry.
The clock measures approximately 9.4 x 8.3 x 7.4 centimeters and weighs 263 grams, while the remote’s dimensions are 6.0 x 3.5 x 1.0 centimeters. The Alarm Clock is powered by 3 x AAA batteries or 4.5V DC adaptor (which are not included).
The package consists of the Retro TV Alarm Clock and the remote control, while instructions are available on the package, the device being easy to set and operate. If you want to add one more alarm clock to your collection you like to ignore in the mornings, then you can purchase the Retro TV Game Show Alarm Clock from SourcingMap.com for an amount of only $19.99.
(Thanks for the tip, William)
(Source: coolestgadgets.com)
Posted in Funny Gadgets, retro | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 |
What’s the difference between a 70-year old mike and a brand new 2008 model? Honestly, I’m not that sure there might be any big difference… OK, there should be major improvements done to the actual basic parts, but then again everything has rapidly evolved since the end of WW2. I wasn’t asking about material differences, but spiritual ones. C’mon, what’s spirit got to do with mikes? It has an awful lot when it happens to be a Neumann Microphones model, I tell you.
<-250×250 Square – left->What you see here is the Neumann U47 mike that the Beatles recorded on almost exclusively from 1962 to 1970, as did Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, and… Hitler. What, that dirty bastard could sing? Not exactly, but close. The U47 (sounds like a German U boat, lol) was used during the Berlin Olympics in 1936 as German Chancellor Adolf Hitler opened ceremonies with the aid of such device. Soon after, the Third Reich used this one to address and reach the hearts of his fellow countrymen. That’s how the mike gained the nickname Hitlerflasche, or the Hitler Bottle.
Neumann made The U47 specially for Hitler’s public appearances and after WW2, the maker took the old carbon-grain broadcast microphone, which used bits of carbon sandwiched between two plates, and turned it into a mass-produced “condenser” microphone, which has one fixed plate and another that forms a diaphragm moved by sound waves.
I bet there aren’t many of these left and that the one used by Hitler could get more expensive than a small tactical squadron arsenal.
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