5m Archive

  • The Economist Comes to the App Store – New apps bring the pages of The Economist to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

    Posted on November 19, 2010 | No Comments
    var AdBrite_Title_Color = '0000FF'; var AdBrite_Text_Color = '000000'; var AdBrite_Background_Color = 'FFFFFF'; var AdBrite_Border_Color = 'CCCCCC'; var AdBrite_URL_Color = '008000'; try{var AdBrite_Iframe=window.top!=window.self?2:1;var AdBrite_Referrer=document.referrer==''?document.location:document.referrer;AdBrite_Referrer=encodeURIComponent(AdBrite_Referrer);}catch(e){var AdBrite_Iframe='';var AdBrite_Referrer='';} document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,83,67,82,73,80,84));document.write(' src="http://ads.adbrite.com/mb/text_group.php?sid=2053203&zs=3436385f3630&ifr='+AdBrite_Iframe+'&ref='+AdBrite_Referrer+'" type="text/javascript">');document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,47,83,67,82,73,80,84,62)); LONDON, UK – November 19th 2010 – The Economist Group today announced the global launch of its flagship title, The Economist, on two...

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  • Robot “I-Fairy” leads nuptials at wedding in Japan (videos)

    Robot “I-Fairy” leads nuptials at wedding in Japan (videos)

    Posted on May 17, 2010 | No Comments
    We all knew this day would come eventually, and that day was yesterday: a robot called I-Fairy conducted a wedding, an official one. Needless to say that the wedding took place in Tokyo and that the robotic wedding conductor is the brain child of a Japanese robot company called Kokoro.

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  • Daily Crunch: Dum Dum Edition

    Daily Crunch: Dum Dum Edition

    Posted on May 14, 2010 | No Comments
    The AERIAL7 Phoenix cans mixes DJ functionality with iPhone compatibility Adobe thinking different, countering Apple’s hate with love For $3,400: Bandai to sell 1.5m tall Gundam figure Portal corporate training program a huge success Tie a knot for quick left/right ear identification

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  • For $3,400: Bandai to sell 1.5m tall Gundam figure

    For $3,400: Bandai to sell 1.5m tall Gundam figure

    Posted on May 13, 2010 | No Comments
    No doubt, Gundam is Japan's favorite anime. They opened a Gundam Cafe in Akihabara, they erected a 1:1 scale Gundam statue in Tokyo bay, and they keep offering tons of Gundam-powered stuff on a monthly basis. The 1/60 Gundam statue replica (30cm) we showed you last November, for example, wasn't bad, but today Bandai unveiled something even cooler: a Gundam model that stands an impressive 1.5 meters (5') and weighs 35kg.

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  • New rescue robot pulls victims inside its body

    New rescue robot pulls victims inside its body

    Posted on May 7, 2010 | No Comments
    This looks much like a robot that actually serves a purpose. Japan-based tool maker Kikuchi has developed a robo vehicle that can pull victims at disaster sites into its body. The obvious goal is to support human rescuers for whom it's too dangerous to reach injured people during certain emergency situations.

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  • Zero Motorcycles Kicks It Into Gear With $5.5 Million Series A

    Zero Motorcycles Kicks It Into Gear With $5.5 Million Series A

    Posted on January 5, 2010 | No Comments
    California-based Zero Motorcycles has taken $5.56M in a Series A add-on according to an SEC Report, filed today. Investors in this round were not disclosed. The company previously raised $5M in April of 2008, bringing their total funding to just over $10.6M. Formerly Electricross, Zero Motorcycles specializes in high performance electric street and dirt bikes--the Tesla of the motorcycle industry so to speak. CEO Gene Banman tells us the purpose of the funding is to "expand the business." He declined to expand upon that statement. Given the emerging sector and the influx of competitors, it seems Zero is simply trying to stay ahead of the curve.

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  • Palm loses $85.4 million in latest reported quarter — hey, it’s an improvement

    Palm loses $85.4 million in latest reported quarter — hey, it’s an improvement

    Posted on December 17, 2009 | No Comments
    We don't know just how quickly Palm (or Elevation Partners, for that matter) thought it'd become profitable following the release of webOS, but it's not there quite yet -- the company is in the process of outing its earnings for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 right now, and in a word, they're still in the red. The good news is that it's a marked improvement from last quarter -- they've gone from a $164.5M GAAP net loss to an $85.4M one this time around. On a non-GAAP gross basis, they actually made $5.5M, which is up from $2.8M a quarter earlier. They've got $590 million in cash and other "short-term investments" on the book right now, which seems like it should be enough to keep the company going without a profit or additional cash infusion for at least a few additional quarters, but then again, burn rate is going to vary with just how much hardware and software R&D they're doing and the kinds of carrier deals they're scoring. We bet they're looking forward to this Verizon business going down, eh?

    Update: Palm's specifically saying that they're looking to grow carrier and geographic coverage right now -- a good plan, if we say so ourselves.

    Update 2: They've sold 784,000 phones in the quarter, which compares to 823,000 in the last -- a 5 percent drop. That's up 41 percent from the same quarter a year ago... but yeah, of course it's going to be way up from the pre-webOS days.

    Update 3: Over 800 apps in the catalog so far, once they graduate from the Early Access Program exclusivity, Palm foresees a "flood" of apps. No plans right now to change SDK strategy to a more native development environment.

    Palm loses $85.4 million in latest reported quarter -- hey, it's an improvement originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Japan field-tests floating wind turbine

    Japan field-tests floating wind turbine

    Posted on September 8, 2009 | No Comments
    There can be no doubt "green" energy is becoming more and more important in Japan. And just like the many other inventions in this area, I am sure this newest invention that's potentially beneficial for the environment can one day make its way outside Japan, too: A floating wind turbine that's currently in prototype mode and is 12.5m tall (5.5m are above the surface).

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  • The Solar-UFO is a UFO-shaped vessel that serves as a water purifier

    The Solar-UFO is a UFO-shaped vessel that serves as a water purifier

    Posted on August 20, 2009 | No Comments
    A Japanese company called NTT Facilities, a subsidiary of telecommunications behemoth NTT, obviously has enough time for something cool like this: The so-called Solar-UFO [JP], a UFO-shaped vessel that serves as a water purifier and is powered by solar energy.

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  • Video: Panasonic’s battery-powered Evolta robot to tackle the Le Mans circuit

    Video: Panasonic’s battery-powered Evolta robot to tackle the Le Mans circuit

    Posted on July 27, 2009 | No Comments
    Panasonic sure knows how to market their stuff. First the company made its cute Evolta robot hoist itself up a 500 meter-cliff at Grand Canyon last year to show off the power of the Evolta batteries. Now the little guy (Mr. Evolta) turned into a tricycling robot and is ready to take on [JP] the famous Le Mans 24 Hours circuit in France.

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  • Video: Sega Toys’ new projector brings fireworks show to your living room

    Video: Sega Toys’ new projector brings fireworks show to your living room

    Posted on July 2, 2009 | No Comments
    Sega Toys Japan yesterday unveiled the Uchiagehanabi, a device that brings fireworks indoors. And it's not only the visuals but also the corresponding sounds (shots, explosions etc.) you get in your very home. The device uses the wall or a ceiling as a backdrop for projecting fireworks patterns. Sega Toys says that some of the images are as wide as 1.5m, and users can even create remixes of their favorite patterns to get personalized fireworks displays. It's also possible to "draw" patterns by yourself and let the Uchiagehanabi project them onto your living room wall.

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