WTF Powered Exo-Skeleton Demo

Are you ready for something just a wee bit strange?  Then check out this "demo" film for a powered exoskeleton from Sagawa Electronics.   As the Dvice article says, it appears to be a joke until we see the "power jacket" in operation.

Check out the short video and see if you are confused as I am or would you lay down the 123,000 dollars it will cost to get one of these limited editions!

Would I wear a WHAT?!!!

Ok people, by now you have all seen these goofy ears that are the rage in Japan, I guess.  You can wiggle them and flop one just by thinking of it.

Well if you thought that was the end of ie, think again.   Here is a "concept" video for of all things a wagging tail!  This device somehow reads your "emotions" and wags accordingly.  I am serious!  Don't believe me...watch this p.o.c. (proof of concept) commercial:

Earth Shifted on it's Axis?

Dan just brought some new data concerning Friday's earthquake in Japan. First off, according to Eryn Brown of the LA Times, the quake has been upgraded to a mind numbing magnitude 9.0 by the Japan Meteorological Agency! Plus according to Richard Gross, a geophysicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the quake probably shifted the position of Earth's axis about 6.5 inches, causing the Earth to rotate somewhat faster, shortening the length of the day by about 1.8 microseconds! Just as amazing is data that shows that that the temblor's force moved parts of eastern Japan as much as 12 feet closer to North America

Japan wants to build the first Space Elevator

Author Arthur C. Clarke envisioned a very special elevator in his book The Fountains of Paradise. His elevator would stretch from the Earth's surface all the way into Earth geo-synchronous orbit. This elevator would allow you to visit a space station without getting on a rocket or launch payloads of any type without burning any fuel directly. The elevator would need cables 22,000 mile-long just to reach geo-stationary orbit. (in truth the cables would have to be almost twice as long because a counter weight must be attached further out to "hold up" the cables) An they must be manufactured of materials that have unimaginable strength. Estimates are that the material would have to be 4 times stronger than the strongest carbon nano-tubes now available which would mean a substance 180 times stronger than steel.

Now Japan has made the development of space elevator technology a priority as part of the country's long-term space development plans. The Japan Space Elevator Association was created to promote and educate the public on the creation of a space elevator. The JSEA believes that the entire space elevator could eventually be constructed for as little as $10 billion dollars, more or less.

<- Times online article via IO9 ->

Japanese ISS module may be to dark to use.

Here's a science fiction image for ya. A dark, apparently lifeless space station floats above a planets surface. Just the image alone generates the feeling of ancient devices, Long unused. One would not expect this hulk to be something that for all intents still has the new car smell about it. But that is exactly what is happening above our heads right this minute. Wired science is reporting that the spankin new Japanese Space Lab attached to the International Space Station is in danger of being completely unusable. Why? Well of the 21 fluorescent bulbs used in the Japanese modules, almost half have already burned out. That's bad enough right? Worse yet, there are no more spare bulbs and none will be until the next resupply mission in November. JAXA says that if more than half of the bulbs are affected it will be too dark in the module to work.

The one really odd line in this story that struck me was this: The bulbs were produced by a U.S. company in 1997. That and the fact that they don't see LED lighting in place before 2010.....

Plus I really have to ask whats up with less than a year on a bulb that should last at least 5. What am I missing here?

<- Wired via Gizmodo -> <- Mainichi daily news ->

Tor to podcast from this years's WorldCon

From SFSignal's blog I hear that TOR books will have a podcast from the worldcon in Japan.

Marking the first time that Worldcon has ever taken place in Japan, Tor publisher Tom Doherty and senior editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden will podcast directly from the convention. This international podcasting event will kick off Tor's new podcasting program, which will continue with regularly scheduled podcasts beginning September 12th.

Here is a link to the Tor preview podcast LINK