Category: Gadgets

Bandai has just released (only in Japan at the moment) a new accesory to turn your smartphone into some kind of Aibo robot. The name of the gadget is SmartPet (スマートペット) and it’s on sale at Amazon Japan for around 55 euros / 70 dollars. It works combining the gadget with an application developed by Bandai. The Smartpet can dance, walk and you have to feed it once in a while.

Bandai Smartpet TV commercial:

And this is a video that shows in more detail how it works and everything you can do with a Smartpet:

My friend from Tokyo Otaku Mode introduced me a new product created by Neurowear called “necomimi” (in Japanese it literally means “cat ears”). The user can control the cat ears using his/her mind. This two videos show the device in action, I love its simplicity!

This calculator with integrated soroban abacus is fabulous. A soroban (算盤, そろばん) is a Japanese abacus. I’ve seen Japanese people that can use a soroban and are able to make quite complex calculations with it much faster than with a calculator.

To learn how to use a soroban this PDF is great.