via Modellismo HM - Between december and January 2010 Taito will release a new series of USB powered mini-appliances like an (unofficial) Dyson vacuum cleaner, a mug/van heater, an aromatherapy diffuser and a really cool Onigiri heater! These USB powered devices are UFO Catcher (arcade redemption machines) prizes but geeks not living in Japan (or with very bad crane game skills like me) should be able to buy em online.

Tonight, my friends chiptune superstar duo JulieHally performed live in Sweden at DREAMHACK: the world biggest LAN party with over 10.000 computers!!! Awesome chiptune show!!!!
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Last sunday I went to Tokyo MAKE Meeting 04 with Gianluca Martino: a member of the Arduino team. He has been super popular and he really appreciated the Japanese Arduino scene.
During the show Gakken displayed the prototype of the JAPANINO (Arduino clone). It will be released next spring in the Otona no Kagaku (in Japanese it means “Science toys for adults”) magazine series with a Persistence of Vision plastic Toy with color LEDs. The price tag will be less than 3500 yen (ca$35) and it will help a lot of people to get into the “Makers” scene. I’m doing consulting for Gakken on this project so I can not reveal all details but this release will definitely make the Japanese Arduino scene the biggest in the World as in a couple of months the magazine will probably sell what the original Arduino sold worldwide in the last years...

NOTE: Arduino team is not officially involved in this project but should be featured in the magazine.

LEGO Rock Band multiplatform videogame has just been released so why not build a "real" replica of the band’s bus featured in the game? You can download the PDF with the step by step instructions for  the LEGO Rock Band bus (FBTB).
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The TNR-O is an orange LED Tenorion cheaper than the original TENORI-ON released a couple of years ago. It will be released on 1st December at half price of the original one. The TNR-O is not meant for live shows and to be used on the go and needs a power adapter (no batteries like the original).  There are no LEDs on the back panel but the TNR-O has the same features and creative capabilities as the original so this is the perfect Christmas present for DTM geeks!!

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I'm again in LEGO mood (I finally found the super rare "Winther Toy Shop" Christmas Set here in Tokyo!!) and I'm happy that I'm not the only one. Dave Sterling just created this brick built replica of the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). He even made a fake TV set!!
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Wired Italia posted my reportage from the Japanese (ero)game show DREAMPARTY 2009 held in Tokyo Big Sight few days ago. This edition was really interesting since there were many itasha displayed among tons of new bishoujo games!
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The Japanese toy giant BANDAI teamed up with cosmetics powerhouse FANCL to produce BIHADA KANTEI: a small digital skin condition checker that will be released on 30 november (suggested retail price 3.570 yen.).
The size of this gadget is limited (924 × 33 × 23mm), it looks like an USB memorystick, and doesn't take too much space in women's bags.  Skin condition is displayed in the range from 1,000 to 10,000,000 and up to 90 days of data can be stored, analyzed and visualized as graphs.  The "Skin Expert" is powered by 2 CR2023 batteries.