Look into the IP phone service already up in Japan provided through yahoo's broadband provider service. The service is free between IP phones on Yahoo's network and the fee to dial to a normal phone subscriber is nominal... (less than $0.03/min to the US ). Quality is, needless to say, indistiguishable.
Everyone seems to have a pretty negative opinion but these toilets are pretty nice. The have one of the newer Toto models installed in my office in Yokohama.
The first impression you get of the shining white porcelain gadget is the motion sensor activated seat. (Obiviously designed with all those people who are too crippled to lift the seat cover on their own but still miraculously find their way into the bathroom) Swing open the door and you will be greeted by a soothing mechanical whirr as the seat cover goes up. After wiping down the seat with provided disinfectant from the design coordinated dispenser (also a product of toto) You are greeted by a fairly quick change in tempurature from icy cold (Insulation in Japan sucks and central heat does not seem to be of interest in bathrooms here [read: DAMN COLD]) to a pleasant or shall we say encouraging warm tempurature. Not a bad touch. Very good contour to cradle you poor senstive ass after being abused by an office chair everyday. I don't think I need to mention that actual process of 'making a deposit in the bank' as it would seem rather independant of the technology.
And now on to the real fun. I had always assumed that all sorts of water jets and blowers and stuff were for some kind of euro-hippy freak but one terribly hung-over morning at the office I decided to take the challege and 'test' the water jet. I was very impressed by the nice features incorporated into the jet alone. The water tempurature angle and water pressure are all independantly adjustable to suit all body sizes and 'consistancies' (for lack of a better word). I felt rather clean, refreshed and not unpleasant at all, after all it saved me the trouble of wiping!
Being a curious, I have experimented with the jet mechanism at a later date and discovered that at maximum pressure activting the jet while not being seated results in an entertaining water jet that easily crosses to the far side of the stall with little loss of angle or tradjectory. Then by adjusting the angle mechanism I realized that the jet could easily reach tie or even face levels of the average male and realized the potential for an excellent prank hack. (It would really be a shame if someone rigged a trigger to the stall door, wouldn't it...).
Following the encounter with the water jet anyone would realize the need for a drying mechanism as toilet paper does not respond well to moisture. As with the water jet the dryer/blower also has adjustments for angle tempurate and air pressure making for a quick and pleasant drying experience. After multiple test runs timing revealed that the dryer could generally complete its task in 25-35sec with no discomfort. (When placed under time constraints the dryer could produce sufficient lack of moisture in a record time of roughly 12.6 seconds but would not be classified as in the 'comfort zone'.)
Due to being of the male variety and forseeable sloppiness, I could not test but give due note to a full set of water jets and dryers located in the front of the toilet to satisfy the needs of our geek friends who do not a twig and berries nor wedding tackle. The frontal jets were also adjustable for tempurature, angle and pressure leading me to the assumption that they would provide appropriate customization to satify most body shapes and preferences. (Unfortunately no ladies were willing to comment on the functionality of the frontal jets)
From an overall view-point I was very pleased with the performance of this toto model (sorry no model number available at this time) however in the office environment one problem was noticable. Often a venture to the 'techo-head', as I affectionately refer to it, revealed that the settings were often adjusted to preferences other than my own and would require some fine tuning before use to provide the optimal bathroom experience. I realized that it lacked the ability to create presets for individual 'users'. This model lacks the ability to present controls and the small number of analog controls would allow one to assume that presets would not be feasible with out a major redesign of the interface and circuitry. In the event that presets did become a option it would be very convenient to register these settings in a directory server. All in all I would give it 4 out of 5 Johns because of the lack of a presets and still some room in the concept to mature but all together a very pleasant dump.
As I cannot afford to be slashdotted, pictures of the jet mechanisms and control panels as well as model numbers and information will be available by email. Send mail to SCE(at)SUBDIMENSION(dot)COM with 'techno-head' in the subject line and I will send you the photos etc.
Dynamism makes money by ripping people off! Those laptops are around $1400 US over here in Japan. You can also by crusoe laptops starting from around $800 for fujitsu and casio's super compact models (533mhz crusoe, 128M, 20G).
It is actually about the same cost (airfare hotels and all!) to come here (Japan) and buy it yourself. The libretto on the dynamism sight is what $2200? It RETAILS here for $1200
I'm really sorry about this, but while we're playing the monty python memory game, a classic for the ages
Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis
Isn't it frightfuly good to have a dong
It's swell to have a stiffy
It's divine to own a dick
From the tiniest little tadger
To the world's biggest prick
So, three cheers for your Willy or John Thomas
Hooray for your one-eyed trouser snake
Your piece of meat your wife's best friend
Your Percy or your cock
You can wrap it up in ribbons
You can slip it in your sock
But don't take it out in public
Or they will stick you in the dock
And you won't ah come ah back
thank you!
Re:PS2 manufacturing cost.
on
PS2 As PC
·
· Score: 1
Just to provide some details sony is not manufacturing 'linux playstations' it is actually a linux kit with development libraries for PS2 games.
Included in the kit is:
-Sony's special blend of linux with all appropriate bits and pieces to support their hardware
-A keyboard and mouse
-a 40G external hard drive
all for about US$280
As you see there is no PS2 included and any Japanese market PS2 will suffice.
As for copies made available during the initial 24hr registeration period they filled their 2000 kit production quota in 8 minutes and took and additional 3500 people on the wait list.
Being less than stupid they decided to open the registration for one more 24hr period. (In which I ordered my kit, nice to live in japan sometimes:p ) They also confirmed that they would be able to produce enough to keep up with demand.
So lets do the math 5500 kits in the first registration, and assuming that word gets around the same or more in the 'unlimited' second 24hr registration period. So I'm guess that upwards of 10000 kits will be shipped on the july 17th release date. Pretty good for a 48hr sales period and advertizing in tiny a corner of the japanese playstation site.
Do you think they might make more or just tell everyone else who wants one to go home and shut up?
I don't see why everybody's so bent on these guys
(indreama or the tuxbox) turning a profit. As far as I know the open source movement was never about making a profit. It was about providing an open platform for developers to polish there skills and 'code for the greater good'. Who says they have to make a profit? They're doing this because they want to, right? Apple did the same thing when they started out, they didn't focus on making the slickest box on the market, they wanted to provide an alternate solution to the mainframe/teletype model right? Why is it different now? Let's support their community ideal and use the slashdot community to back them up. My user number is in the 200,000s, imagine if half of the slashdot users bought a tuxbox (or pc setup capable of replicating the setup), these guys would shit their pants in joy! ENOUGH OF THIS NEGATIVE SHIT! This is about community right? Let's support them and see what they do. I don't want to see a bunch of talented developers go to propriatary technology just because everyone says they can't make it in the open source world! GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES!
While I'll argee with you that the crusoe chip suffers from a but of hype, and the presence of Linus does add a bit to the to the following of the transmeta chips, I can personally comment on the performance of the crusoe as I own one of the Fujitsu laptops (FMV-Biblo Loox S5/53W[ 533mhz crusoe / 10.8v 1800mAh Li-ION)
1. Comparing it to my Libretto 1010ss (Pentium 233MMX / 10.8V 1350 mAh Li-ION) Crusoe has about an hour+ (3.5 vs 2.5) advantage while running a larger display (1024x512 vs 640x480) with a much brighter back light and and a slight loss
(15min) when constantly running the internal wireless internet hardware. Nice but unimpressive.
2. The battery pack itself is smaller and lighter but this may be attributed to better battery technologies.
3. While being a 533mhz chip, it provides about the same performance as a PII 350. Very disappointing.
4. While my libretto runs uncomfortably hot (you don't want it on your lap) and my PII 350 toshiba dynabook 3380SS is hot enough to leave black marks on my desk from the rubber feet, the crusoe drive fujitsu never gets uncomfortable to the touch (NO FAN!) and the hottest running part is the back light.
While the performance is somewhat disappointing, the benefits in the human factor (a laptop I can actually use on my lap) are quite attractive. Not to mention the fact that the standard battery charges in 1 hour while using the the laptop and the large battery affords about 7.5 hours of use.
Being A long time fan of anime and other forms of Japanese media, as well as a resident of Japan, I have to caution you about pulling cultural hints from anime. I grew up as a member of an anime club (anyone ever hear of animania?) and became its vice president. I constantly watched the exodus of members to go on buying runs to Japan to pick up the new and latest stuff, each one coming back unexplainably depressed. I went myself to study and live. I had the same experience as I assume the people in my club did. I found that the Japan that people live in is not reflected in anyway by anime (outside of the crazy drunken old men:p ). Imagine my depression when I set out to find a world I 'knew' so much about only to realize that it didn't exist. After several months trying to grapple with this sense of loss I finally threw off the shackles of my assumptions and had a good time, continuing my education to get a masters in modern Japanese literature and now working an IT job in Yokohama. Through my further education and life experiences I began to realize that anime is actually more an escapist form of media rather than a reflection of Japanese culture. After all when you need to pay $1800 a month for thirty-five years to buy a small apartment in outer Tokyo, you can imagine the kid of social stress put on young and old members of society alike. In an effort to release some of this pent up desperation (I assume) that the script writers and artist project there emotions on the the celluloid....
Anyway the point of this soapbox speech is to express to you the fact that it is DANGEROUS to study Japan through anime (though it's good for language aquisition). Support anime and by all means keep watching and enjoying it, but if you want to learn about Japan, please go see it for yourself.
Northwest runs special deals every year or so offering round trips to tokyo for about $500 and during regular seasons the Japanese airline ANA is generally cheaper and has much better service (like a lcd display in the back of economy seats with on-demand movies and SNES games! COOL SHIT!)
Slashdot Mirror
Look into the IP phone service already up in Japan provided through yahoo's broadband provider service. The service is free between IP phones on Yahoo's network and the fee to dial to a normal phone subscriber is nominal ... (less than $0.03/min to the US ). Quality is, needless to say, indistiguishable.
This is sensationalist crap!
Everyone seems to have a pretty negative opinion but these toilets are pretty nice. The have one of the newer Toto models installed in my office in Yokohama.
The first impression you get of the shining white porcelain gadget is the motion sensor activated seat. (Obiviously designed with all those people who are too crippled to lift the seat cover on their own but still miraculously find their way into the bathroom) Swing open the door and you will be greeted by a soothing mechanical whirr as the seat cover goes up. After wiping down the seat with provided disinfectant from the design coordinated dispenser (also a product of toto) You are greeted by a fairly quick change in tempurature from icy cold (Insulation in Japan sucks and central heat does not seem to be of interest in bathrooms here [read: DAMN COLD]) to a pleasant or shall we say encouraging warm tempurature. Not a bad touch. Very good contour to cradle you poor senstive ass after being abused by an office chair everyday. I don't think I need to mention that actual process of 'making a deposit in the bank' as it would seem rather independant of the technology.
And now on to the real fun. I had always assumed that all sorts of water jets and blowers and stuff were for some kind of euro-hippy freak but one terribly hung-over morning at the office I decided to take the challege and 'test' the water jet. I was very impressed by the nice features incorporated into the jet alone. The water tempurature angle and water pressure are all independantly adjustable to suit all body sizes and 'consistancies' (for lack of a better word). I felt rather clean, refreshed and not unpleasant at all, after all it saved me the trouble of wiping!
Being a curious, I have experimented with the jet mechanism at a later date and discovered that at maximum pressure activting the jet while not being seated results in an entertaining water jet that easily crosses to the far side of the stall with little loss of angle or tradjectory. Then by adjusting the angle mechanism I realized that the jet could easily reach tie or even face levels of the average male and realized the potential for an excellent prank hack. (It would really be a shame if someone rigged a trigger to the stall door, wouldn't it...).
Following the encounter with the water jet anyone would realize the need for a drying mechanism as toilet paper does not respond well to moisture. As with the water jet the dryer/blower also has adjustments for angle tempurate and air pressure making for a quick and pleasant drying experience. After multiple test runs timing revealed that the dryer could generally complete its task in 25-35sec with no discomfort. (When placed under time constraints the dryer could produce sufficient lack of moisture in a record time of roughly 12.6 seconds but would not be classified as in the 'comfort zone'.)
Due to being of the male variety and forseeable sloppiness, I could not test but give due note to a full set of water jets and dryers located in the front of the toilet to satisfy the needs of our geek friends who do not a twig and berries nor wedding tackle. The frontal jets were also adjustable for tempurature, angle and pressure leading me to the assumption that they would provide appropriate customization to satify most body shapes and preferences. (Unfortunately no ladies were willing to comment on the functionality of the frontal jets)
From an overall view-point I was very pleased with the performance of this toto model (sorry no model number available at this time) however in the office environment one problem was noticable. Often a venture to the 'techo-head', as I affectionately refer to it, revealed that the settings were often adjusted to preferences other than my own and would require some fine tuning before use to provide the optimal bathroom experience. I realized that it lacked the ability to create presets for individual 'users'. This model lacks the ability to present controls and the small number of analog controls would allow one to assume that presets would not be feasible with out a major redesign of the interface and circuitry. In the event that presets did become a option it would be very convenient to register these settings in a directory server. All in all I would give it 4 out of 5 Johns because of the lack of a presets and still some room in the concept to mature but all together a very pleasant dump.
As I cannot afford to be slashdotted, pictures of the jet mechanisms and control panels as well as model numbers and information will be available by email. Send mail to SCE(at)SUBDIMENSION(dot)COM with 'techno-head' in the subject line and I will send you the photos etc.
Dynamism makes money by ripping people off! Those laptops are around $1400 US over here in Japan. You can also by crusoe laptops starting from around $800 for fujitsu and casio's super compact models (533mhz crusoe, 128M, 20G).
It is actually about the same cost (airfare hotels and all!) to come here (Japan) and buy it yourself. The libretto on the dynamism sight is what $2200? It RETAILS here for $1200
Rev up the babelfish and go check out panasonic's japanese pages.
http://www.pc.panasonic.co.jp/pc/index.html
I know they have also have some B5 sized notebooks as well as the A4s on the page.
I'm really sorry about this, but while we're playing the monty python memory game, a classic for the ages
Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis
Isn't it frightfuly good to have a dong
It's swell to have a stiffy
It's divine to own a dick
From the tiniest little tadger
To the world's biggest prick
So, three cheers for your Willy or John Thomas
Hooray for your one-eyed trouser snake
Your piece of meat your wife's best friend
Your Percy or your cock
You can wrap it up in ribbons
You can slip it in your sock
But don't take it out in public
Or they will stick you in the dock
And you won't ah come ah back
thank you!
Just to provide some details sony is not manufacturing 'linux playstations' it is actually a linux kit with development libraries for PS2 games.
:p ) They also confirmed that they would be able to produce enough to keep up with demand.
Included in the kit is:
-Sony's special blend of linux with all appropriate bits and pieces to support their hardware
-A keyboard and mouse
-a 40G external hard drive
all for about US$280
As you see there is no PS2 included and any Japanese market PS2 will suffice.
As for copies made available during the initial 24hr registeration period they filled their 2000 kit production quota in 8 minutes and took and additional 3500 people on the wait list.
Being less than stupid they decided to open the registration for one more 24hr period. (In which I ordered my kit, nice to live in japan sometimes
So lets do the math 5500 kits in the first registration, and assuming that word gets around the same or more in the 'unlimited' second 24hr registration period. So I'm guess that upwards of 10000 kits will be shipped on the july 17th release date. Pretty good for a 48hr sales period and advertizing in tiny a corner of the japanese playstation site.
Do you think they might make more or just tell everyone else who wants one to go home and shut up?
I don't see why everybody's so bent on these guys
(indreama or the tuxbox) turning a profit. As far as I know the open source movement was never about making a profit. It was about providing an open platform for developers to polish there skills and 'code for the greater good'. Who says they have to make a profit? They're doing this because they want to, right? Apple did the same thing when they started out, they didn't focus on making the slickest box on the market, they wanted to provide an alternate solution to the mainframe/teletype model right? Why is it different now? Let's support their community ideal and use the slashdot community to back them up. My user number is in the 200,000s, imagine if half of the slashdot users bought a tuxbox (or pc setup capable of replicating the setup), these guys would shit their pants in joy! ENOUGH OF THIS NEGATIVE SHIT! This is about community right? Let's support them and see what they do. I don't want to see a bunch of talented developers go to propriatary technology just because everyone says they can't make it in the open source world! GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES!
This message was enhanced by BEER!
While I'll argee with you that the crusoe chip suffers from a but of hype, and the presence of Linus does add a bit to the to the following of the transmeta chips, I can personally comment on the performance of the crusoe as I own one of the Fujitsu laptops (FMV-Biblo Loox S5/53W[ 533mhz crusoe / 10.8v 1800mAh Li-ION)
1. Comparing it to my Libretto 1010ss (Pentium 233MMX / 10.8V 1350 mAh Li-ION) Crusoe has about an hour+ (3.5 vs 2.5) advantage while running a larger display (1024x512 vs 640x480) with a much brighter back light and and a slight loss
(15min) when constantly running the internal wireless internet hardware. Nice but unimpressive.
2. The battery pack itself is smaller and lighter but this may be attributed to better battery technologies.
3. While being a 533mhz chip, it provides about the same performance as a PII 350. Very disappointing.
4. While my libretto runs uncomfortably hot (you don't want it on your lap) and my PII 350 toshiba dynabook 3380SS is hot enough to leave black marks on my desk from the rubber feet, the crusoe drive fujitsu never gets uncomfortable to the touch (NO FAN!) and the hottest running part is the back light.
While the performance is somewhat disappointing, the benefits in the human factor (a laptop I can actually use on my lap) are quite attractive. Not to mention the fact that the standard battery charges in 1 hour while using the the laptop and the large battery affords about 7.5 hours of use.
Being A long time fan of anime and other forms of Japanese media, as well as a resident of Japan, I have to caution you about pulling cultural hints from anime. I grew up as a member of an anime club (anyone ever hear of animania?) and became its vice president. I constantly watched the exodus of members to go on buying runs to Japan to pick up the new and latest stuff, each one coming back unexplainably depressed. I went myself to study and live. I had the same experience as I assume the people in my club did. I found that the Japan that people live in is not reflected in anyway by anime (outside of the crazy drunken old men :p ). Imagine my depression when I set out to find a world I 'knew' so much about only to realize that it didn't exist. After several months trying to grapple with this sense of loss I finally threw off the shackles of my assumptions and had a good time, continuing my education to get a masters in modern Japanese literature and now working an IT job in Yokohama. Through my further education and life experiences I began to realize that anime is actually more an escapist form of media rather than a reflection of Japanese culture. After all when you need to pay $1800 a month for thirty-five years to buy a small apartment in outer Tokyo, you can imagine the kid of social stress put on young and old members of society alike. In an effort to release some of this pent up desperation (I assume) that the script writers and artist project there emotions on the the celluloid. ...
Anyway the point of this soapbox speech is to express to you the fact that it is DANGEROUS to study Japan through anime (though it's good for language aquisition). Support anime and by all means keep watching and enjoying it, but if you want to learn about Japan, please go see it for yourself.
Northwest runs special deals every year or so offering round trips to tokyo for about $500 and during regular seasons the Japanese airline ANA is generally cheaper and has much better service (like a lcd display in the back of economy seats with on-demand movies and SNES games! COOL SHIT!)
"karaoke is Japanese for 'drunken loser'" -Craig Kilborne