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Desperate to Pee? Let Someone Else Shoulder the Burden with this Genius Invention: the Pee Baton!

Desperate to Pee? Let Someone Else Shoulder the Burden with this Genius Invention: the Pee Baton!

Gadget-laden robot cat from the future Doraemon is something a national treasure here in Japan. Since the appearance of the original manga of the same name back in 1969, the subsequent TV series has been watched by multiple generations and is still on the air today. As well as remaining popular with adults and kids alike, the Japanese Foreign Ministry once declared the mechanical time-traveller the country’s official “animé ambassador”, meaning that the earless mechanical cat is sure to be around for a long time to come yet.

Perhaps the thing that people love most about Doraemon, though, is his seemingly bottomless pocket, from which the character produces all manner of gadgets and inventions in order to assist his human pal Nobita. Although the “dokodemo doa” (lit. “anywhere door”) is often given as the answer to the age-old conundrum “Which of Doraemon’s gadgets would you most like to have?”, it doesn’t stop people imagining what else could buried deep down in there.

In that vein, Yahoo! Japan recently announced the winner of its 2012-2013 Adults Only Doraemon Contest, in which contestants were asked to come up with an invention that they’d like to pull out of Doraemon’s pocket and use in real life, with the top prize being awarded to 50-year-old Rieko Honjou for her “Pee Baton”.

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The Mine Kafun — An Amazing Invention That Could Save Lives And Make the World a Safer Place

  • Jan 15, 2013 by
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The Mine Kafun — An Amazing Invention That Could Save Lives And Make the World a Safer Place

We all know that life can be cruel, but few things in this world are crueller than landmines that can indiscriminately maim or kill innocent civilians, young or old, decades after they’ve been planted. If ever you needed proof of human foolishness, you only have to think about the countless hidden landmines still buried in different parts of the world, perhaps long forgotten by the people who planted them, but still as capable as ever of maiming or killing unsuspecting victims.

Sadly, mines continue even today to be very much a real threat. In Afghanistan, it is reported that roughly one million people live within 500 meters (about 1/3 mile) of areas suspected of containing land mines and that more than 40 people each month lose their lives to these concealed but deadly contraptions. The tragic, needless loss of life is truly horrifying to think about. But now, there’s a new device that may make a huge difference in improving the situation. It’s called the Mine Kafun, and don’t let its somewhat futuristic yet simple appearance deceive you — this gadget could be a very effective and inexpensive weapon in mankind’s efforts to rid the world of landmines. Read More

Chinese Man Accidentally Invents Cash Magnet, Tunes it up and Turns Pro

Chinese Man Accidentally Invents Cash Magnet, Tunes it up and Turns Pro

With the help of a powerful home-made magnet, a man in Nanjing, China, now spends his days collecting small change dropped in streets, rivers and drains, sometimes amassing enough to pay his daily living expenses.

After accidentally dropping one of his valuable farming tools into a nearby river, Aibao Cheng struck upon the idea of attaching a few magnets from a broken radio to a long pole and fishing around in the water. When he discovered that his quickly assembled device had picked up a small handful of coins after just a few minutes, he wondered what would happen with an even more powerful magnet…

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New Magic Liquid Makes any Pair of Gloves Touchscreen Friendly

New Magic Liquid Makes any Pair of Gloves Touchscreen Friendly

As great as touchscreen-operated mobile devices are, they’re a real pain in the neck when it comes to winter and you have to pull off your gloves to operate them.

It’s fine if you stop in a cafe or restaurant where you can slip your gloves off and type a quick message or check an email, but when an unexpected phonecall comes in and you’re left swiping at the unlock screen like a cat pawing at the TV during a nature show, you soon grow to hate using a smartphone in winter.

Gloves with special metal fibres in the tips have been on the market for a couple of years now, but they’re not always of the greatest quality. And even if you do find a decent pair, what if you already have a pair of gloves that you’re attached to and would rather use instead?

Japanese company Onsight might just have the perfect solution…

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Science Brings Us Yogurts With Stay-Clean Lids, Destroys Cultural Heritage and Deeply Saddens my Cat

Science Brings Us Yogurts With Stay-Clean Lids, Destroys Cultural Heritage and Deeply Saddens my Cat

It’s a routine that many of us have been used to since we had packed lunches at school: peel back the yogurt lid, carefully separate it from the pot, inspect the underside, lick clean. Well, unless you were posh and used a spoon to scrape the excess back into the pot, but where’s the fun in that?

Well those days might soon be a thing of the past.

Like VHS, cassette tapes and Swatch watches, licking the lid of a yogurt pot might soon be something that only people of a certain age will fondly remember…

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Bad at Reverse Parking? Would a Back Seat that Vanishes at the Touch of a Button Help?

Bad at Reverse Parking? Would a Back Seat that Vanishes at the Touch of a Button Help?

The clever minds at prestigious Keio University in Tokyo have created a new device that makes the rear seat “disappear” when reversing, and have released a new video demonstrating how, with its help, the sometimes arduous task of reversing into a space could soon become a breeze.

Tinkering around with a modified Toyota Prius, the university’s graduate research team have been putting their latest technology through its paces by having a driver with a particular fear of reverse parking give the maneuver a shot both with and without the device installed…

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China Invents Floating Bed: Kids Love It, Parents May Fear It

China Invents Floating Bed: Kids Love It, Parents May Fear It

China seems to be a hotbed of independent development of new inventions recently.  Inventing’s a tough business though.  For example, “China’s Noah’s Ark” has dubious financial prospects.

However, in central Chongqing, China, the Wang family has been enjoying their much more promising invention: a floating bed that can be stored in the ceiling!

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Germans Invent Bicycle With no Pedals, Offers “Ergonomic Ride Between Running and Biking”

Germans Invent Bicycle With no Pedals, Offers “Ergonomic Ride Between Running and Biking”

Since the invention of chain-driven transmission in the 1890s, the bicycle really hasn’t undergone any major structural changes.

And what could you possibly want to change? You’ve got two wheels for movement, handlebars for direction, a seat to hold your body weight and pedals to…

“Wait, pedals?”, thought the Germans. We don’t need no stinkin’ pedals.

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