Mer-chan: technocuddly, cute, arty, geeky stuff from Asia and beyond » Technocuddly

Fetch! Atta Boy At-At

merchan — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:05:31 +0000

We already had one look at robotic pet dogs, but filmmaker Patrick Boivin has upped the ante. He turned a toy Imperial Walker into a jedi’s best friend. He’s even polite enough to properly dispose of the jabba. Watch the video below. It’s a wonderful At-At Day Afternoon!

We <3-fully believe that technocuddly pets are the best. And there are plenty of strays still available. If this guy was adopted, perhaps he would not be so gloomy.

What is Dubai?

merchan — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:37:38 +0000

As we round the corner to the finish line for the Cultural Capital documentary, watch the latest tester #2 here, we see signs of technocuddly Dubai everywhere. At I.B.M.’s research labs, this Jeopardy clue befuddled the two human contestants: “Toured the Burj in this U.A.E. city. They say it’s the tallest tower in the world; looked over the ledge and lost my lunch.” But the supercomputer Watson bleeped in, “What is Dubai?” Correct! We could have helped out as the Clue Crew with our Burj video.

Tallest Tower of Mystery: Real Reason Why Burj Khalifa is Closed from Katy Mer-chan

I often ask myself as we’re editing, What is Dubai?! If only Watson could have helped me out.

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This Bubble Won’t Crash

merchan — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:34:46 +0000

Elaine McLuskey invented the “social spheres” speech bubbles so people could chat above the background noise in a noisy pub. Geekologie says they’re astronaut helmets that will help you get the girl or at least the freeze dried ice cream and Tang. They reminds us of Mer-chan’s canversate, where we try to allow intimate connections even in loud, crowded pubs. When you use it, you can actually feel the other person breathing. A cell phone doesn’t support that type of connection. And we’re in love with the girl in the on the right who is dishing the gossip and vibing Beth Ditto.

MoM@ W@NN@

merchan — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:01:03 +0000

The Architechture and Design Department of the Museum of Modern Art has acquired the @ sign for its collections. This symbol is so ubiquitous and intangible, what does it mean to put in in a museum’s holdings? “It relies on the assumption that physical possession of an object as a requirement for an acquisition is no longer necessary, and therefore it sets curators free to tag the world and acknowledge things that ‘cannot be had.’” I hope they include Urban Dictionary’s definition of it: “A symbol standing for the word “at” that in turn symbolizes laziness and stupidity. I mean, seriously, who sat down and thought up a symbol to shorten a two letter word? WHY?”

Is the @ sign too nerdy for rappers to use it in their names? I can’t wait till MOMA acquires the $ and Curren$y, Nipsey Hu$$le, and Ke$ha can play at the opening.

Spoof Sticks

merchan — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:23:59 +0000

Apparently Koreans are using sausages to control their iPhones instead of taking off their gloves in the winter. There are even reports that the sausage manufacturer has to ramp up production due to an alleged surge in demand. We hope this isn’t an “Asians are so wacky!” thing. So are people really using sausages as stylus pens? You can get all kinds of meaty things at Korean 7-11 — see the video tour below. Or as a commentator pointed out are they just using processed cheese sticks? We are somewhat skeptical about the sausage as pen because there’s only 1 photo circulating. And the source article (in Korean) reads like an ad for food made by South Korea’s CJ Corporation. What do you guys think?

Netflix for Boox

merchan — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:36:43 +0000

It’s come all the way around and stops at this: Bonusroom Books, which is like Netflix for readers. For a reasonable fee, you get Chinese language books by mail (maybe more language will be added later). Send them back and get more. It’s still in Beta test mode, so be on your toesies. We’re lucky enough to have many excellent libraries with free books of many languages, but this would be useful for people without that access. Paying for books can give them an extrinsic value and remind us how precious the printed word is. Example: we went to the Library of Congress and they have many signs reminding people that the LOC library card is not a souvenir but its use is to actually read some books!

Project Gameway

merchan — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:00:30 +0000

Project Runway stomps into its 7th season, finally living the dream of brand extension via video game. Women’s Wear Daily sees the rise of video games targeted at fashionistas. Ubisoft’s Imagine, for little girls, lets them try on professions with games like Fashion Designer, Figure Skater, and Doctor — though I wish they had scientist and computer programmer in there too. Nintendo’s Style Savvy puts you in control as a trendy boutique owner. Jezebel thinks the Project Runway video game can lift up the fashion industry in the way that Rockband and Guitar Hero did for the music industry – “provide an interesting experience for players and a profitable outcome for those holding the licenses.” The problem with that is music has a well-defined bundle of rights that ensure the copyright holder gets paid licensing fees. But fashion is generally not protected under copyright, so the designer would not be compensated.

It’s On, Tenori-On

Katy Chang — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:06:25 +0000

My lust for music far exceeds my musicality. That’s why I’m eagerly awaiting the plastic orange TNR-O tenori-on, the electro-instrument created by Yamaha and artist Toshio Iwai. The tenori-on looks like a hybrid of Battleship, Connect Four, Tetris and Simon and “lets you enjoy playing without any knowledge of music or musical performance techniques.” Sounds in tune with my sensibilities! Little Boots rocks the tenori-on in this video for Remedy:

Atomicpunk Computer

merchan — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:53:38 +0000

It’s only the 5th, but 2010 already has wonderful neolgisms like terror-prone and environmental refugee. May we humbly introduce another one? Atomicpunk. Not to be confused with the Van Halen album or the tribute band, atomicpunk describes the literature, art, design, pop culture and subculture happening now that references the Atomic Age, with all of its technological progress, paranoia, destruction, and optimism. Why should all ye new-olde tech be lumped into steampunk (which we love on its own way) that references the Victorian era? Atomic-era designs need to have their own classification. Examples of atomicpunk include the Brionvega tv and the Philco PC redesign by California-based SchultzeWORKS. There are even comments debating whether this is or isn’t steampunk. This isn’t, but it is atomicpunk.

Nerdy Knits

merchan — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:59:21 +0000

For some reason, nerds and knitting go hand and hand, and we love it! Check out Discover Magazine’s slideshow of geek knitting.

Maybe because knit one, purl two is so binary? As someone said, “Knitting makes me happy, computers keep me humble.”