Oh, Japan. You’ll never cease coming up with the best stuff. Why, just last night I was regaling a friend about ‘head bath’, which is a bathtub. For the top of your head. It’s a hat, that– no, really, this exists. Don’t give me that lip. I’m not taking any guff today. Not from you. Guff-free Thursdays up in here. Anyway, I guess I was talking about something. We’ll get back to head bath later; right now, let’s rap about Smell-O-Vision. You may remember Smell-O-Vision – a technology from the 1960′s, Smell-O-Vision was a fad that was designed to release smells in sync with on-screen action. Of course,…

Six Slovenian volunteers have been undergoing a bizarre test: being punched in the arm over, and over, and over, and over again by a robot. A researcher at the University of Ljubljana, Borut PovÅ¡e, has somehow coerced six of his colleagues to agree to let an industrial robot repeatedly sock them in the arm, in an effort to discover the threshold of robot power. Honestly, had I known this is the kind of stuff I could be doing with my life, I’d have paid more attention in science class. “Even robots designed to Asimov’s laws can collide with people. We are trying to make sure that when they do, the collision…

Good afternoon. Have you got boobs? If you’ve answered ‘yes’, you might be a woman, and if you’re reading Techi, you might be a woman interested in technology. There’s every chance I’m wrong on both counts, but for the purposes of this article I’m writing, we’ll assume I’m not. So, being female, ‘The Man’ is not going to stand for the flippant display of your assets (though a man might). You’ve got to hide your nipples somewhere, lest you incur the wrath of your local Indecent Exposure law. But bras suck, right? Yeah, I hear that (said the large, scruffy man with the beard)….

“There is what I call the creepy line,” Eric Schmidt said last Friday at the Washington Ideas Forum. “The Google policy on a lot of things is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.” The statement was made in response to a question by The Atlantic’s James Bennet, asking if Google had any plans to implant technology into people’s brains. “I would argue that implanting something in your brain is beyond the creepy line,” explained Schmidt, “at least for the moment, until the technology gets better.” Eric, I’m not gonna tell you how to do your job, but isn’t that something you shouldn’t say when…

“People love hugging”, states designer Celina Alvarado. I dunno, Celina, that’s pretty broad. I mean, I like hugging – hugs are pretty fly. But to say I love hugging implies a level of commitment I’m unsure I’m ready for. …and with apprehension of that magnitude, it’s no wonder I’m not even close to married. Anyway, hugs. Alvarado is a fan of them. So much so, in fact, that she has gone to the trouble of developing a wearable device that not only logs the duration and intensity of hugs, but passes judgment on them – and tweets the results. Of course it tweets the results. Because I want to read the Twitter…

This is where it’s at, guys. Remember the 5th gen Nano? Wimpy capacity aside, that thing was the tits. Truly the best Nano to date, and much rockin’er than that poufy little square screen Steve dares pass off as an ‘iPod’ today. Anyway, in the event you’ve still got one of those things, I don’t suppose you’d like to strap it to your head, would you? Actually, don’t answer that. That’s a stupid question. Everyone wants to strap an MP3 player to their head. Well, then, have I got a treat to tickle your lust for first-person videography. Courtesy of Rampant Gear is just the piece of molded plastic to satisfy…

Tell you what: I’m just gonna leave this here, and you can totally just talk amongst yourselves. Or buy it. I just know there’s a joke that could be made about, like, pizza, and the Delta Quadrant, or something, but I can’t find it. Do me a solid and throw out some Star Trek/pizza puns, will ya?…

Google’s currently working on an underground path for the previously-aerial fiber connected to its data center in the Dalles, Oregon. But why? What could possibly necessitate an expensive move underground? Birds? Weather? According to Google, it’s hunters. In a conference in Australia last week, Google’s network engineering manager Vijay Gill let fly with the reasonably bizarre tidbit. “Every November when hunting season starts,” explained Gill, “invariably we know that the fiber will be shot down, so much so that we are now building an underground path.” So dudes with guns are actually…

Remember when internet refrigerators were attempting to become popular, way back in, like… 2001? Or, rather, I’m pretty sure all they did was attempt – I dunno anyone with an internet-ready fridge. Anyway, speaking of, the internet is in the garbage now. No, for real. This is Big Brother stuff, right here. In an attempt to increase recycling awareness, the city of Cleveland is installing RFID chips into new garbage and recycling bins, to keep tabs on your waste-handlings. What are those chips for? Why, to tell on you. If you haven’t brought your recycling bin to the curb for awhile, sanitation…

Engineer Marc DeVidts is my favourite person today. Marc’s unconcerned with not being totally fly and getting all the ladies. Marc is completely above looking like a square. Marc is the future of fashion. If you were at Dragon*Con 2010 in Atlanta, perhaps you saw Marc. He was the totally bomb-ass guy in this LED suit. I can’t explain it, so you’ll have to watch that video you’re already watching. Isn’t that awesome? Yeah, it’s awesome, right? Yeah, it is. You just don’t know what true taste is. Seriously, though, the effect is really great – utilizing his clothing as a means to diffuse the lights is…