Made in Japan

Kit-A-Day Giveaway: Gakken Mechamo Inchworm

Kit-A-Day Giveaway: Gakken Mechamo Inchworm

To celebrate the release of our latest publication, the Make: Ultimate Kit Guide 2012 (and its companion website), we’re giving away at least one of the cool kits reviewed in the issue each day during the holiday season. Today’s giveaway is for a Gakken Mechamo Inchworm Kit (a $69.99 value.)

Continue Reading
Penrose Tile Architecture

Penrose Tile Architecture

Architect Akio Hizune recently published these variations on an earlier work imagining a “six dimensional monument” based on Penrose tilings.

Continue Reading
Spherical Helicopter Reconnaisance Drone

Spherical Helicopter Reconnaisance Drone

This drone, reportedly a prototype for the Japan Self Defense Force, has a single rotor and is said to be capable of 40 mph flight. And as the video shows, it’s quite nimble. The catch? An 8-minute battery life. But the idea of enclosing the whole thing in a spherical frame so it can maneuver and land heedless of the orientation of the blades is pretty brilliant.

Continue Reading
Angriest Most Useless Machine

Angriest Most Useless Machine

This very entertaining take on the classic most useless machine gag is not quite so patient as its ancestors. Oh sure, it does what they all do: When you turn it on, it turns itself off. And it’ll do that over and over again. But, much like my college roommate, the machine has its limits, and it’s probably wise not to push it too far.

Continue Reading
Japanese Gravity Marimba Plays Bach In An Ancient Forest

Japanese Gravity Marimba Plays Bach In An Ancient Forest

This remarkably beautiful video, uploaded to YouTube one day before the T?hoku earthquake and tsunami, turns out to be an ad for Sharp’s SH-08C handset. It is, nonetheless, entirely worth watching: in a tranquil forest, a single wooden ball rolls down a stepped wooden ramp, continuously, for two minutes. At each step, it falls and strikes a wooden bar tuned to play a single note of the 10th movement of Bach’s Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147, commonly known by its English title, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. Wait till you see how they handle the sustained notes. [Thanks, Rachel!]

Continue Reading