New Technology Reviews!.: Tokyo

<div><img alt="" border="1" class="aligncenter" height="272" hspace="4" src="http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/5070/possessedhand062511.gif" style="margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px; border: 1px solid black;" vspace="4" width="360" /></div> Researchers over in the land of the robot-obsessed have found a new, non-invasive way to control your hand while your brain recoils in horror. Reassuringly named the PossessedHand, this belt of electro-stimulation wraps its pad of twenty-eight electrodes around your forearm triggering a range of sixteen bewitched joint actions. Project leader Emi Tamaki claims it feels more like a light massage than say, a full-on Freejack. However, one test subject confessed, "[It was] like my body was hacked" -- so that's comforting. This joint production between the University of Tokyo's Rekimoto Lab and Sony Computer Science Laboratories was first tested as a musical training aide, but could someday help stroke victims regain mobility. For now, the stimulation isn't strong enough to turn you into an automated Steve Vai (or secret assassin), but it definitely lends new meaning to 'hands-off.' Check the video after the break for a demonstration and some unsettling narration. <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/26/tokyo-researchers-hijack-your-hand-help-you-play-the-koto-vide/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>

Tokyo researchers hijack your hand, help you play the koto (video)

Researchers over in the land of the robot-obsessed have found a new, non-invasive way to control your hand while your brain recoils in horr...

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/mustang-200-200.jpg" /> 
Firstly, we take the Weird tech bus to Japan, a nation often - and unfairly, we think - associated with pointless, sexist inventions. It's also where you'll find the Tourist Bra, an outfit <a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/video/story?videoId=164073946&videoChannel=2602">designed to make Tokyo more attractive to tourists</a>. 
The wearer's skirt also unfolds to become a map complete with magnetic models of tourist attractions, while pressing down on the bra cups plays the message "Welcome to Tokyo!" in both English and Japanese. 
<img alt="Bra" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/bra-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> 
ALL THE SIGHTS: Reuters discovers the tourist bra, designed to boost the economy rather than the wearer's assets 
Bacteria solve Sudoku 
Sticking with Japan for a bit longer, we turn to one of the pressing issues of our age: when will single-celled organisms be able to beat us at Scrabble? 
<img alt="Sudoku" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/sudoku-320-100.jpg" width="320" /> 
BACT AT YOU: If bacteria can solve Sudoku puzzles, it's just a matter of time before they're driving cars [Image credit: Jelte / Wikimedia] 
That day draws ever nearer, my friends, because E.Coli can now crack Sudoku puzzles. Students at the University of Tokyo <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19733-problemsolving-bacteria-crack-sudoku.html">programmed bacteria</a> to solve puzzles, although you need 81 types of bacteria to solve a 9x9 grid. 
See how they run 
Three blind mice / three blind mice / <a href="http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/65484/title/A_new_way_for_blind_mice_to_see">see how they run</a> / <a href="http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/65484/title/A_new_way_for_blind_mice_to_see">see how they run</a> / they all ran to College of Cornell University in New York City / Where they were fitted with experimental retinal prosthetics / and they could see a baby's face / and that's great news for the 25 million people worldwide who have lost their sight due to retinal diseases / three blind mice. 
The key that makes you go wheeeeeeeeeeeee 
Ford's latest Mustang Boss 302 has a secret: if you use a second, red, key you can turn the muscle car into a demented track day screamer, altering over 200 engine parameters, boosting torque and delivering an impressive 444 horsepower. 
Such videogame-style power-ups are increasingly common, and we fully expect the next Kia Venga to contain a secret Pipes game that you can unlock to fire live bees at your enemies. 
Introducing the grass mask 
We have to be honest. Some art leaves us cold. What's the point of it? We ask. What is it trying to say? We ponder. Is the café open yet? But other art is so <a href="http://www.mattiacasalegno.net/index.php?/synaesthesiae/the-open/">obviously, fundamentally right</a> that it needs no explanation. 
<img alt="Grass" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/world%20of%20tech/images/grass-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> 
GRASSY: This is called The Open. We'd have called it GRASS! IN YOUR FACE! That's why we're not artists 
Art like The Open, by Mattia Casalegno. To some, it might look like a helmet that presses a bit of turf against your face for no good reason, but to those in the know it's a "sensorial wearable device [that is] about the quality of sound to define a territory." We'll take three!

Weird Tech: Will electronic bras tempt tourists to Tokyo?

Firstly, we take the Weird tech bus to Japan, a nation often - and unfairly, we think - associated with pointless, sexist inventions. It...