A.i.R. Project from Bandai brings “Art in the Room”

Written by: Michael Keferl on April 10, 2009 at 4:02 am | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION | 2 Comments

We’ve been covering the growing market of home lifestyle products being put out by companies that, for many years, focused entirely on toys for children. Sega Toys, U-Mate, Bandai, Takara Tomy, and more have been slowly growing product lines that appeal to the 30+ generation that grew up with gadgets and has cash to spend.

The new A.i.R. Project (Art in the Room) from Bandai is a perfect example of how lifestyle and wellness goods are growing in quality as well. Costing over $600, the ambiance-creating light system is digital art for the consumer, and was created by artist Taro Suzuki who has done many similar large-scale projects in the past.

The A.i.R. Project is more complicated than it looks. Inside each LED-lit square is a mini fan that, when triggered in combination with light patterns, starts blowing air to physically move the cloth cover. The result is a light sculpture that moves both with light and wind, and can be manipulated with internal sensors that detect touch on each side and moves the lights in that direction.

Tags: Bandai, Lifestyle, Wellness
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Japanese Pedometer roundup - Get moving!

Written by: Michael Keferl on December 18, 2008 at 10:55 am | In DIGITAL LIFE | No Comments

What we love about the Japanese gadget market is the ability to take a normal, boring product like alarm clocks and piggy banks and make them fun. In this case the same goes for pedometers, which fits in perfectly with a generation that is starting to be concerned with its health and relates well to gaming. Here’s a brief rundown of what we’ve found so far:

From Bandai, the Space Battleship Yamato (featured here) and 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother pedometers take classic anime and make them an RPG game to be played while doing your commute.

TaxiWalker simulates a cab’s meter, showing you how much money you save by walking, and the Jinsei Game (Game of Life) pedometer gives you spins on the wheel for every 300 steps. If you don’t move, you can’t play, though pacing around your apartment playing the game doesn’t seem too healthy either.

More stylish offerings are in the Seiko Slimstick and health phones from Fujitsu that are made on a more practical level for health monitoring, but don’t entertain the walker. Lap Around Japan, however, isn’t a game either, but it keeps track of your steps as if you’re walking around the coast of Japan. When you get to a new place the device gives you locational and historical information about the area.

Health gadgets are definitely on the rise in Japan, and pedometers are just one example as to how this is manifesting itself in the marketplace. We know one older gentleman in television that now walks to and from work every day (30 minutes each way) all the while carrying his stylish pedometer, and then loves to show off the kilometers he’s racking up. Of course, he’s doing it for the health, not to level-up on the embedded RPG!

Tags: gadgets, health, Pedometers, Wellness
Category: DIGITAL LIFE
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Vibrating pillows get us up, shut us up

Written by: Michael Keferl on December 14, 2008 at 3:05 am | In DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION | 1 Comment

Even pillows seem to be getting the tech-treatment these days, with a couple of useful vibration-based inventions that seem like they should have been made years ago.

Just out on the market, the Alarm Clock Pillow from Vessel let’s you wake up quietly without disturbing anyone else. Just set the alarm on the side, and it wakes you up with vibrations!

The Anti-Snoring Pillow from Japan’s legendary France Bed (yes, it’s Japanese). With a built in sensor, the pillow detects snoring and then disrupts the offender to stop it with vibrations. for those who really want to know more, there’s even an audio out to record just how bad it really is.

Via Impress

Tags: health, Pillows, Sleep, Wellness
Category: DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Yurex harnesses your leg shakes for creativity

Written by: Michael Keferl on December 13, 2008 at 9:45 pm | In DIGITAL LIFE | 1 Comment

Created in part by Tosa-san of Maywa Denki (and last week’s Bacarobo competition) and Yanasawa-san of Kayak, Yurex is designed to help you “Visualize, Monitor, and Control your own Creative Beat”. In layman’s terms, this makes it a strap-on sensor for your binbo yusuri (leg shakes). Translated literally, it means “poor man’s shakes” which, if true, makes me penniless.

It won’t be available until next year, but the concept seems quite interesting at first glance. Two silver balls on the Yurex device count your leg shakes and data (number, timing , frequency), which you then upload to your online profile with a USB cable. This lets you track your high points of creativity in your day, so there much be some correlation between shaking and productivity/creativity.

Or not. We hadn’t given it much thought until now, but it does seems that high leg shaking comes with productive sessions, not with the lazy times. It should be interesting to see how the information actually contains value, if it does at all.

Below are videos from the group, as well as some Blog Parts that sum up the device perfectly while making this website shake like a fiend.

Tags: gadgets, Wellness, Yurex
Category: DIGITAL LIFE
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Appetite for veggies continues: Soda, supplements, and more

Written by: Rebecca Milner on December 2, 2008 at 3:17 pm | In MARKETING IDEAS | No Comments

Last year vegetables were all the rage—most notably in the drinkable alcoholic form of hit beverages like Tomate. Since then we’ve seen not only an increasing number of straight up veggie drinks on the shelves but other typical convenience store fare like yogurt and pudding spiked with carrots, pumpkin and the like.

And now soda. Kimura beverages, has launched a line of “Yasaider,” combining the Japanese word for vegetable, “yasai,” and “cider,” the sweet lemon lime soda. The first flavor in the line up is tomato. Each 300ml bottle boasts of 10mg lycopene. Incidentally, the same company’s other new beverages include curry and durian flavored non-alcoholic sparkling beverages.

Then there is a new line of health supplements from food giant Itoen’s Maison Natural line, which essentially consists of dehydrated vegetables—though notably domestic ones like burdock root, sweet potato, lotus root, and potherb mustard. These “Domestic Vegetable” supplements (below left), which also include additional iron and folic acid, bring the healthy appetite for veggies back around into the wellness industry.

Speaking of foodstuffs meets wellness, we also liked these “kakipi” (above right)—a bar snack staple of rice crackers and peanuts—from Denroku that come with the added benefit of ukon. Ukon is often consumed in its more raw supplement form before heading out to drink as a way of combating the subsequent hangover. But since we are going to be munching on these tasty salty snacks anyway, the combination is naturally appealing to us!

Tags: beverages, FMCG, food, health, supplements, Wellness
Category: MARKETING IDEAS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS