Yamanote Train Piggy Bank that toots platform music

More kitsch collectibles for fans of Tokyo's busiest subway line. If you thought it a pity that the overpriced tacky Yamanote Line Watch didn't toot some tunes, the Yamanote Train Piggy Bank is likelier to get people reaching for their wallets with its medley of platform music that replays each station's signature tune. There's even a Web site dedicated to the list of the melodies. Apparently, this little quirk has a more noble purpose of guiding blind passengers as well.

But anytime you feel nostalgic for a bit of Japan railway culture, particularly since the expensive yen has made vacations in the country costly, just drop in a coin. The headlights will flash and the music will play, though you get a selection of only six Yamanote tunes (Shibuya Station, Shinjuku Station, Tokyo Station, Shin-Okubo Station and Ueno Station). If you're willing to fork out the 5,198 yen (US$54.52) for this, stop by DIY department store Tokyu Hands on your next visit, or pay double online. Or if you're on an austerity drive in the new year, just hit the YouTube video below for some free virtual platform music.
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O2 Xda Zest: The Xda brand lives on

Before O2 got involved with the iPhone and its wondrous touchscreen, it used to shout about its Xda range of Windows Mobile handsets a lot more. But if you thought the Xda was dead, then think again, because O2 (branded as MWg in Asia) has been quietly releasing a whole bunch of new handsets, including the Xda Zest.

The Xda Zest is a small chubby Windows Mobile 6.1 handset that packs in a lot of modern features, but can't help looking like a blast from the past. You get HSDPA, GPS, Wi-Fi and a 3-megapixel camera--all lovely, but let down by an inexpensive plastic casing that picks up fingerprints very easily.
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A longer delay for the Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider will come back online in late summer 2009 at the earliest, and not in June as previously expected.

The LHC was shut down in September, nine days after it was first fully powered up, following a helium leak caused by an electrical fault. The world's most powerful particle accelerator is designed to smash beams of protons into each other, test fundamental physics theories, and help understand the nature of matter.

The machine is located at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), where it straddles the Swiss-French border.

CERN director Robert Aymar said in October that the LHC would come back online at the beginning of April 2009, following CERN's annual maintenance period. Earlier this month, that date was revised to June 2009.
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Does product placement work?

After watching the latest Bond film, we're beginning to wonder whether Bond's so angry just because of all the products he's meant to spruik. We wonder whether he's reading this story right now on his Intel-inside PC...

In fact, it wasn't the comical excuse for a story, the rapid fire action scenes nor the plot holes so large that you could drive a small sultanate through them that really got our brain juices flowing--well, actually they were, but I'm neither David nor Margaret--but product placement.

You see, when the movie was introduced by the folks at Sony, we were told to keep an eye out for the Sony Ericsson phones used by the guys and gals at MI6. That's all well and good, but instantly my mind dropped back to the ignominous scene in GoldenEye where 007 tools away in a four-cylinder BMW Z3. As a Q special, I couldn't think of a car less fitting of Bond's martini-swilling, femme fatale-wooing image. And all this because BMW drove up to EON headquarters with a stretch limo filled with cash.
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Tidy recycling with the Mode All-in-One

Typical order of operations for gathering recyclables: Place empty paper grocery bag next to trash can. Fill bag with paper, bottles, and cans, but procrastinate on carrying it to the building's recycling bin. Accidentally kick the overstuffed bag, spewing bottles and cans across the kitchen floor. Run through a full vocabulary of profanities while cleaning up the mess and grumpily taking recyclables downstairs. Repeat.

Typical order of operations with the Mode All-in-One Recycling System: Crush cans and plastic bottles in the mechanical compactor, which drops them into the 8-gallon bin. Add glass, metal, and other non-crushables via a bypass lid; place newspapers, magazines, and junk mail in the separate 5-gallon paper bin. When alerted by the Recycle Day Reminder, take the recyclables down to the building bin. Consult the Eco-Track system to see how much you've recycled. Feel smug.

I know which one I'd prefer. The Mode All-in-One Recycling System is made of stainless steel, includes a charcoal filter to reduce odors, and stands 30 inches tall. Priced from US$250 to US$300, it'll be available at the end of the month from Frontgate, Amazon, and other retailers.

Via CNET Blogs

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