1. place your card, 2. hold it hold it, 3. scanned. That’s essentially what Sharp is showing us at the CEATEC show in Japan; the Light-sensor mounted System Display module. Apart from acting as a scanner, it can also do the multitouch-esque trick (video here). No news on commercialization yet. —Sam Chan Link

If controlling the Lucky Star girls and blowing away armed Pikachus and a MGS hovercycle riding Doraemon with an uzi sounds appealing to you (and I know it does) check out the video in the link below. It’s very satisfying to say the least – not to mention weird as hell. � Sean Fallon Link [via]

Here’s another very Japanese marketing gimmick, just to prove to the world how tough their notebooks are, Panasonic has tortured ALL their notebooks announced today in front of the camera. You still think Sony’s fingernail-proof VAIO is hardcore, or Toshiba’s being really blatant with theirs? Jump to witness what they did to their notebooks across ALL series.

It is for fact that companies can source modules from different suppliers for the same product, the best example would be the screens of Sony PSP (Sharp and Samsung). In the hard disk world, Toshiba is one of the loudest and proudest players, they’re making such a big fuss about their deal with the fruit company. Samsung comparably seems to ...

< Amongst the many notebooks Sony Japan announced this morning, what really caught our attention was the new VAIO type G notebook. It has nothing to do with its sleek size or seemingly doubled computing power on paper (Core Solo U1400 1.2Ghz to Core Duo U7600 1.2Ghz), but the fact that the keyboard has special protection for liquid. That’s right, ...

I’m not sure whether or not this Robot Coke Chick is actually affiliated with Coca Cola in Japan, but I can tell you that Pepsi is dead to me now. Check out the link for a full video. � Sean Fallon Link [via]

Google really does have its hand in everything. It’s even dispensing delicious liquid goodness to thirsty Japanese folk. Once again, Google seems to have a leg up on the competition. Your move Yahoo. � Sean Fallon Link [via]

Old fashioned Laser Tag was fun and everything, but it never included robots – much to my dismay. Fortunately, the folks at HotProceed have remedied the situation with their new Blaser Tag System. The game is simple: each manually controlled robot has a laser and a sensor – if you get shot first, it will trigger a pre-programmed routine and ...

This kaleidoscope or Mangekyo in Japanese is actually a projector set to be released by Sega Toys in Japan. It can be used to project colorful patterns on your walls — but I can think of another thing you could use it for. See the Mangekyo in action after the jump.

Those damn crane games frustrate us so much. All we want it the little stuffed monkey, and we keep getting the ugly gray stuffed rhino. Or sometimes nothing at all. That’s why we usually stick to the “play until you win” type crane games. RoboCrane is a new Japanese crane style game that could make these games interesting again. Users ...