Japan wants to capture Solar Energy in Orbit

Japan may still be struggling with the terrible consequences of Fukushima, but it's also looking ahead for a better way to solve its energy problem, in a cleaner and more sustainable away that is also  immune to natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. How? By placing the energy plant off the ground... in fact, placing it in orbit.

These solar collectors would stay in orbit, free to collect the sun's energy without having to worry about bad weather and beam down the energy to receiving ground stations. It's a nice idea, that has been thought of before but never implemented due to its high costs. But maybe now the time is right for such an approach, though I think people will worry about the way the energy will be beamed down: either via microwaves or lasers.

One can envision such a power plant be used as a weapon, in a true sci-fi apocalyptic "death ray from above" scenario. But... when we think about it, any significant power generation system can be turned into a weapon: just take a look at atomic energy.

I imagine there will be a number of failsafe measures to prevent the improper use of such a system, including shutting down the power beam should anything happen to the base station - just because an earthquake can't reach orbit it can still damage the receiving end on the ground, though it should be much easier to deploy a new receiver (or even relocate it) than it is to rebuild an entire power plant.

In any case, I think I'll patent mirrored roof tiles and microwave reflecting roof insulation... just to be safe. ;)

The Incredible Shrinking Building

Buildings are becoming taller and taller, but eventually... what goes up must also come down. Bringing down tall buildings is often associated with spectacular explosive demolitions where the building collapses onto itself. But you can't do that in tightly packed cities like the ones in Japan, and conventional demolition techniques take too long. So... what if a building could simply shrink down and disappear?

That's what Japaneses engineers have come up with, and it certainly looks kind of magical, seeing a building simply shrink away...


Japan presents the Incredible Shrinking Building por videosonlytube

Super Hi-Vision for 2015?

High Definition Wars?... Bahhh
Blu ray VS HD DVD?... pfffff
4k Digital Cinema?... ahahaha

Say hi to Japan, the land where everything is obsolete before it even reaches the western world.
And now thery're getting ready to boldly go where no HD set has ever gone before: Super-Hi-Vision TV by 2015.

And what's this Super Hi Vision thingy, you may ask:
Nothing less than a picture resolution of 7680 x 4320 (also known as Ultra High-Definition.) That's exactly right: 33 Megapixels per frame - and you thought your 12Mp digicam was high quality.

Obviously, sound specs will have to match the ulta high definition of its image, and it touts a 22.2 channels sound system. I just wonder who in his/her right mind will be able to convince their partners to allow them to place 22 speakers all around the living room.

Just have a look at the comparison sheet:



Quite a big leap from HDTV standars, isnt it?

It is too much? Is it feasible?... Who knows?

A few years ago a friend of mine said I was crazy for playing games at 1024x768 resolution, saying that 800x600 was more than enough.
Today gamers are playing at 2560x1600 resolutions and constantly craving for more.

So, I won't say Super Hi-Vision is over the top, but considering 4k digital cinema systems are on the limit of eye acuity when projected on a cinema screens, what size will a SHV screen have to be for us to see its detailed pixel perfect clarity?

For now, there a lot to be solved: cameras than can capture live feeds at 33Mpixels, and equipment to handle the uncompressed 24Gbps stream of data flowing around.

Anal Probing in Public [Japan]

If you think things couldn't get any kinkier, think again.

Welcome to Japan, the land of the rising sun, and upskirting innocent looking teenage school girls.

While in the U.S. Jack Thompson complains about any graphic violence in video games (while not worrying about much worse Hollywood movies), in Japan things are quite different.

Just check this Arcade machine:

The object of Boong-Ga Boong-Ga is to score points by spanking or performing kancho (anal probing) on a model of a human posterior embedded in the game’s cabinet. A plastic finger is attached to the machine for players to perform the latter.

The game features eight characters players can “punish”: “ex-girlfriend”, “ex-boyfriend”, “gangster”, “mother-in-law”, “Gold-digger”, “Prostitute”, “child molester” and “Con-artist”. During gameplay, the facial expression of the chosen character is displayed on a monitor.

The game also dispenses cards that rates players on their “sexual behavior”, and for players who perform exceptionaly well the machine will dispence a small plastic trophy in the shape of pile of feces.

Think this would be huge sucess all around the world, don't you think?

Via [GameBrink]