ROBOTS DREAMS - Blogger
Monday, October 31, 2005
I used to hang out here a lot, and I may come back again, but for now you can find me at Robot's Dreams.
Friday, October 14, 2005
I've been spending the majority of my blogging time redesigning my robotics blog - Robot's Dreams.
Robot's Dreams tracks all of my robot related interests, and includes articles on popular robots like the Robosapien, Roboraptor, and Robopet along with onsite coverage and videos from events here in Japan like the Robot Sumo, Robo-One, and Micromouse competitions.
Of course, my other blogs have certainly suffered from a lack of attention recently. In the longer term, it will really benefit them because the learnings I've gained from building Robot's Dreams have been tremendous.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
TokyoRent - an apartment rental company that specializes in renting reasonably priced apartments in Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Chiba to foreigners. No key money, no gift money, no guarantors, and best of all - you can deal with them totally in English.
Tuesday, May 21, 2002
David and Goliath - low tech beats high tech....
Companies keep trying to come up with ways to keep people from satisfying their basic human cravings. The biggest battle going on right now is over copy protection for music CD's and DVD's. Sony, and a lot of other major companys have spent a bundle on high tech solutions to keep pirates from making illegal copies.
And, as you might expect, as soon as they roll out a new protection scheme someone comes up with a way to break it. Kind of reminds me of Prohibition....
In this particular case, the Sony protection scheme can be defeated by a 50 cent marker available at Office Max, or your local 7-11.... No wonder Sony isn't returning calls from reporters....
Sony's "copy-proof" CDs cracked with marker pen
Sunday, May 19, 2002
The Five Step Program for Husbands-
Every evening my wife and I have been watching a serialized Japanese version of 'The Other SIde of Midnight' - a Western classic that has been rewritten with Japanese characters and role models. It's a great story, though I get a little frustrated since they broke it into 38 fifteen minute episodes...
Anyway, it turns out that truth is stranger and much more interesting than fiction. The Japan Today website just posted an article about four nurses that banded together to kill one of their husbands for the insurance proceeds - about $300k USD. The story of how they went about it, and how they got caught is just as interesting as 'The Other SIde of Midnight'. What is even more interesting and funny is the 'Five Rules' that the newspaper came up with for us poor husbands to avoid being done in by our wives. It's a long article, but definitely worth the read, especially Rule #5!
J Shukan Post Watcher - For every husband: five rules to avoid being killed by wives
Wednesday, May 01, 2002
Back by popular demand....
Popular? Well, to be perfectly frank, my sister from Texas gigged me for not having Blogged since the 10th of last month.... !:'D
My apologies to my regular readers. I'll try to make sure that I don't lapse again...
Tuesday, April 09, 2002
Joe Camel Speaks Japanese!
I must have missed something somewhere along the way. All this time I thought that Joe Camel was as American as apple pie or the Marlboro man. Now I find out that Joe is actually an employee of Japan Tobacco! Of course I can't complain since I also work for a Japanese company....
JT also owns Winston as a result of having bought the tobacco related businesses of RJR Nabisco back in 1999. But the economy is in the dumps in Japan, so they are trying to expand to compensate. You would think with all the increased stress here that cigarette sales would be climbing. So, where are they looking to expand?
Food - they already have a significant food preparation business, and just bought a chain of Japanese bakeries. Now they are expanding their pharmaceutical business (I guess it's natural extension from cigarettes to other types of drugs), and they want to promote overseas sales....
Don't hold your breath, or at least don't inhale.
Japan Tobacco looks to boost overseas sales
Wednesday, April 03, 2002
Stranger than Fiction
I have to say up front that this is a true story - the article came directly from Reuters....
Garbage Trucks to Teach English
Wed Apr 3,10:27 AM ET
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Garbage trucks in the south Taiwan city of Tainan will soon broadcast English lessons from loudspeakers to educate citizens as they haul away the rubbish.
"Even grandmothers and grandfathers will be able to speak the most basic conversational English after listening for a few dozen times," the United Daily News newspaper quoted Tainan mayor Hsu Tain-tsair as saying. "This is Tainan's first step toward internationalization," Hsu said. Hsu said his wife came up with the idea for the educational garbage trucks.
The English-teaching garbage trucks are scheduled to hit the streets on September 1. Currently, Taiwan's garbage trucks call people out to the curb with their rubbish with a classical music refrain.
Yahoo! News - Garbage Trucks to Teach English
Monday, April 01, 2002
Italian Design!
I have always been fascinated by fine design, though I haven't always been able to afford it. There is something about the shape, feel, and experience that comes from fine design that touches my soul deeply. I recently had the opportunity to do some research on Alessi, an Italian company known for unique and sometimes surprising designs for table and kitchen ware.
As usual, I was also interested in the history of the company. How did the founder decide to establish a new company? What trials, tribulations, successes and failures served to temper and strengthen the company as it grew? Questions like that always run through my mind.
One interesting bit of trivia is that the current Alessi head is Alberto Alessi inherited two distinct design styles from his grandparents and is forging them together to form the direction and spirit of modern day Alessi. On his paternal side, his grandfather was Giovani Alessi, a craftsman that took the initiative and risk to found the company back in 1921. On his maternal side, his grandfather was Alfonso Bialetti. You probably don't recognize the name, but Alfonso was the inventor, designer, and manufacturer of the popular octagonal coffee pot. All though the basic design hasn't changed since he originally designed it, it still sells more than 4 million units a year.
ALESSI | Welcome - Benvenuto
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
Don't Hide Your Light Under a Bushel!
A friend of mine asked my opinion on one of his graphic designs recently. It was excellent, as good as anything you would find in one of the Tokyo art galleries. Here's what I wrote back to him-
My feeling is that your core ability is with the design, not
necessarily with t-shirts. Don't confuse the medium with the
message. I encourage you to try as many designs as possible, and
to try them in different formats. For example, print them out, or
have them printed, and show them whenever and wherever possible.
My nephew, who lives in a very small town in Texas, does similar
work. I encouraged him to have some of his designs printed out,
mounted, and displayed in one of the local coffee shops. Many
local businesses like restaurants and coffee shops are happy to
display designs like this if they fit the motif. It improves their
image, and promotes local artists. They also find that the
constant changing of the designs keeps their shop interesting and
attractive for their customers.
One small restaurant I know in Sunnyvale (California) always has
fresh flowers on the tables. I wondered how they could afford it,
so I asked the owner one day. It turns out that the flowers are
placed by the florist next door at no charge. What they discovered
is that the restaurant customers, after enjoying the flowers
during their meal, often stopped at the florist to buy flowers on
their way home.... The florist's sales went up by an average of
20% once they started displaying their flowers in the
restaurant....
Last fall I read an article about an Israel woman that started
selling her photographs on the street side along Omotesando
boulevard. She loved taking photos, and many of her friends
commented on how great they were. She liked to hang out in the
Omotesando area, so just for fun she printed out some of her
photos as postcards, and small prints. At first she would just sit
in a coffee shop there with her photos arranged on the table as if
she was sorting through them while she was enjoying her coffee.
People started to notice and express interest. Finally she started
to sell some, and the shop owner had to ask her to leave so she
changed to selling them on the street. People liked her work so
much that they started to bring friends and word of mouth spread
quickly. Then she was invited to have a show in a gallery there,
and now she has her own studio....
On the other hand, I have an old friend, an American that has
lived here for more than 25 years, and makes his living doing
contract jobs for gaishi that use Mac systems for business
applications.... You couldn't find a narrower, tougher niche to
try and survive it. Imagine trying to do part time work, for
foreign companies, in a foreign land, on a system that has less
than 7% market share, and is primarily graphics, design, and
publishing focused.... It's what American's would call
hardscrabble farming. You grow more rocks than crops. Yet my
friend has the most intense photographic sense that I have ever
run across in my life. When he lets his spirit free with a camera,
magic usually happens. His work is fantastic. I think that the
photographic/artistic side of his being is so strong that it
frightens him, so he hides it in a closet and seldom lets it see
the light of day. I feel blessed to be one of the few people that
he has shown his works to. I am also frustrated because his works
and his genius will be lost to the world unless he shares it.
The ability to share experiences, insights, and beauty between
people and across generations is the only thing that distinguishes
mankind from any other animal on the planet. The world needs more
beauty and light. People that can create, that have the vision,
talent, and passion, have an obligation to all of mankind to share
with the world.
Go for it!
