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Chindōgu
is the practice of inventing ingenious everyday gadgets that seem to be ideal solutions to particular problems, but which may cause more problems than they solve. The term is of Japanese origin. Background Literally translated, ''chindōgu'' means . The term was coined by Kenji Kawakami, a former editor and contributor to the Japanese home-shopping magazine "Mail Order Life." In the magazine, Kawakami used his spare pages to showcase several bizarre prototypes for products. He named these gadgets “chindōgu”; Kawakami himself said that a more appropriate translation than "unusual tool" is "weird tool". This special category of inventions subsequently became familiar to the Japanese people. Dan Papia then introduced it to the English-speaking world and popularized it as a monthly feature in his magazine, Tokyo Journal, encouraging readers to send in ideas. In 1995, Kawakami and Papia collaborated on the English language book ''101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions: The Art of Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenji Kawakami
is the inventor of the Japanese craze Chindōgu. Background Early life and student activism Kawakami studied aeronautical engineering at Tokai University in 1967, but dropped out when he became involved in student protests of the 1970s facing the passing of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, or ''Anpo'' (安保 ?) treaty. ''Mail Order Life'' Following his involvement in the various left-wing protests and activism, Kawakami worked as a freelancer for various projects, including as a scriptwriter for the Italian/Japanese children’s show '' Calimero''. During the early 1990s, he was hired as an editor and contributor for the monthly Japanese magazine ''Mail Order Life'' (通販生活 ''Tsūhan Seikatsu'' ?), a shopping catalogue which at the time was catered toward suburban housewives who enjoyed the act of perusing shop inventories, but found traveling to shop in cities too inconvenient. Whilst working on ''Mail Order Life' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Japanese Inventions
This is a list of Japanese inventions and discoveries. The Japanese have made contributions across a number of scientific and technological domains. In particular, the country has played a crucial role in the digital revolution since the 20th century, with many modern revolutionary and widespread technologies in fields such as electronics and robotics introduced by Japanese inventors and entrepreneurs. Arts ;Comic book :Adam L. Kern has suggested that '' kibyoshi'', picture books from the late 18th century, may have been the world's first comic books. These graphical narratives share with modern manga humorous, satirical, and romantic themes. Some works were mass-produced as serials using woodblock printing. ; Folding hand fan :In ancient Japan, the first hand fans were oval and rigid fans, influenced greatly by Chinese fans. The earliest visual depiction of fans in Japan dates back to the 6th century AD, with burial tomb paintings showed drawings of fans. The folding fan was in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Inventions
This is a list of Japanese inventions and discoveries. The Japanese have made contributions across a number of scientific and technological domains. In particular, the country has played a crucial role in the digital revolution since the 20th century, with many modern revolutionary and widespread technologies in fields such as electronics and robotics introduced by Japanese inventors and entrepreneurs. Arts ;Comic book :Adam L. Kern has suggested that '' kibyoshi'', picture books from the late 18th century, may have been the world's first comic books. These graphical narratives share with modern manga humorous, satirical, and romantic themes. Some works were mass-produced as serials using woodblock printing. ; Folding hand fan :In ancient Japan, the first hand fans were oval and rigid fans, influenced greatly by Chinese fans. The earliest visual depiction of fans in Japan dates back to the 6th century AD, with burial tomb paintings showed drawings of fans. The folding fan was in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jugaad
''Jugaaḍ'' (or "Jugaaṛ") is a colloquial Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan word, which refers to a non-conventional, frugal innovation, often termed a "life hack, hack". It could also refer to an innovative fix or a simple work-around, a solution that bends the rules, or a resource that can be used in such a way. It is also often used to signify creativity: to make existing things work, or to create new things with meager resources. Jugaad is increasingly accepted as a management technique and is recognized all over the world as an acceptable form of frugal engineering at peak. Companies in Southeast Asia are adopting jugaad as a practise to reduce research and development costs. Jugaad also applies to any kind of creative and out-of-the-box thinking or life hacking, life hacks that maximize resources for a company and its stakeholders. According to author and professor Jaideep Prabhu, ''jugaad'' is an "important way out of the current economic crisis in developed economies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), known best as Rube Goldberg, was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadgets performing simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. The cartoons led to the expression "Rube Goldberg machines" to describe similar gadgets and processes. Goldberg received many honors in his lifetime, including a Pulitzer Prize for political cartooning in 1948, the National Cartoonists Society's Gold T-Square Award in 1955, and the Banshees' Silver Lady Award in 1959. He was a founding member and first president of the National Cartoonists Society, which hosts the annual Reuben Award, honoring the top cartoonist of the year and named after Goldberg, who won the award in 1967. He is the inspiration for international competitions known as Rube Goldberg Machine Contests, which challenge participants to create a complicated machine to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Selfie Stick
A selfie stick is used to take photographs or video by positioning a digital camera device, typically a smartphone, beyond the normal range of the arm. This allows for shots to be taken at angles and distances that would not have been possible with the human arm by itself. The sticks are typically extensible, with a handle on one end and an adjustable clamp on the other end to hold the device in place. As their name suggests, they are most commonly used for taking selfies with camera phones. Some are connected to a smartphone via its jack plug, while others are tethered using Bluetooth controls. The connection between the device and the selfie stick lets the user decide when to take the picture or start recording a video by clicking a button located on the handle. Models designed for compact cameras have a mirror behind the viewscreen so that the shot can be lined up. In contrast to a monopod for stabilising a camera on the ground, a selfie stick's arm is thickest and strongest at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
It'll Never Work?
''It'll Never Work?'' is a television programme for children showcasing new inventions and developments in scientific technology. Produced by Roy Milani for BBC Children's, the show ran for seven series between 9 November 1993 and 23 August 1999 on weekdays within the Children's BBC, later CBBC, strand on BBC One. ''It'll Never Work?'' was presented throughout its run by children's television presenter Sally Gray, who would go on to present children's quiz '' 50/50'', Jez Nelson, who would go on to front the related primetime BBC technology series ''Tomorrow's World'', and science presenter Angela Lamont. This team was augmented during later series by presenters Adrian Johnson (series 5, 1997) and Rick Adams (series 6, 1998). For each episode the presenters travelled worldwide to discover new gadgets and to test out whether new inventions worked or not, hence the show's title. In between the main features, spoof adverts would showcase Chindōgu, inventions that solve everyday ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gadget
A gadget is a mechanical device or any ingenious article. Gadgets are sometimes referred to as '' gizmos''. History The etymology of the word is disputed. The word first appears as reference to an 18th-century tool in glassmaking that was developed as a spring pontil.Charles R. Hadjamach: ''British Glass, 1800-1914''. London. 1991. p. 35 As stated in the glass dictionary published by the Corning Museum of Glass, a gadget is a ''metal rod with a spring clip that grips the foot of a vessel and so avoids the use of a pontil''. Gadgets were first used in the late 18th century.Corning Museum of Glass: Glass Dictionary: Gadget}'' (accessed November 4, 2018) According to the Oxford English Dictionary, there is anecdotal evidence for the use of "gadget" as a placeholder name for a technical item whose precise name one can't remember since the 1850s; with Robert Brown's 1886 book ''Spunyarn and Spindrift, A sailor boy’s log of a voyage out and home in a China tea-clipper'' containing th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Culture
The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Historical overview The ancestry of Japanese people remains mysterious; however, there are two competing hypotheses that try to explain the lineage of the Japanese people. The first hypothesis proposes a dual-structure model, in which Japanese populations are descendants of the indigenous Jomon people and later arrivals of people from the East Eurasian continent, known as the Yayoi people. Japan's indigenous culture originates primarily from the Yayoi people who settled in Japan between 1000 BCE and 300 CE. Yayoi culture spread to the main island of Honshū, mixing with the native Jōmon culture. Modern Japanese have an estimated 80% Yayoi and 20% Jōmon ancestry. The second hypothesis posits a tripartite model of genomic origin. This hypothesis proposes that co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simone Giertz
Simone Luna Louise Söderlund Giertz ( ; ; born 1 November 1990) is a Swedish inventor, maker, robotics enthusiast, TV host, and professional YouTuber. She has also previously worked in mixed martial arts sports journalism and was an editor for Sweden's official website Sweden.se. Early life Giertz named the Disney cartoon character Gyro Gearloose as one of her earliest inspirations. At the age of 16, Giertz spent a year in China as an exchange student. She stayed in Hefei, where she learned basic Mandarin. During her stay in China she also made an appearance on a Chinese sitcom called ''Huan Xi Long Xia Dang'' (, the Happy Lobster Restaurant), where she played Catherine, an American girl who married a Chinese man. She studied engineering physics at the Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan), a research university in Stockholm, Sweden, but dropped out after a year. Career She started creating self-described "shitty" inventions after studying at Hyper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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