Author Archives: Lisa Katayama

About Lisa Katayama

I'm a contributing editor here at Boing Boing. I also have a blog (TokyoMango), a book (Urawaza), and I freelance for Wired, Make, the NY Times Magazine, PRI's Studio360, etc. I'm @tokyomango on Twitter.

$600 robot hands for hard core hobbyists

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Lisa Katayama

These intricately designed toy robot hands created by Craft House go on sale tomorrow in Japan. They have five jointed fingers that can grab small objects like fruits and ping pong balls. This version is called the Melissa Hands, and … Continue reading →

Photo of laptops in zero gravity

Posted on September 6, 2009 by Lisa Katayama

Over on the front page, Xeni posted this fabulous photo of astronauts from the STS-128 NASA mission to the International Space Station. It’s actually a screenshot from a silent YouTube HD video taken on their seventh day in orbit. I … Continue reading →

$1000 iPhone cases belong to samurai, at least in spirit

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Lisa Katayama

These iPhone cases from Japanese phone company Softbank were designed specifically to look like they belong to samurai. Each design is themed after a famous warrior’s characteristics &mdash for example, the one with the crescent moon would have belonged to … Continue reading →

The Black Diamond Sprinter, a headlamp for traveling night runners

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Lisa Katayama

Some people like to run in the morning. Others like to run in the mid-afternoon. Yet others wait until the sun goes down to hit the pavements &mdash maybe because the air is cooler and streets are emptier, or they’re … Continue reading →

Pretty designer juicer with integrated seed-stopper

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Lisa Katayama

Not only does this lemon squeezer look good, it also has a little scoop that catches seeds and prevents them from falling into the juice. [Joseph Joseph via Dezeen]

Review: Two weeks with the Dyson DC31

Posted on September 3, 2009 by Lisa Katayama

According to its inventor James Dyson, the DC31 handvac has the fastest motor in the world at 104,000rpm &mdash five times as fast as a Formula 1 race car engine! That’s cool, but what I really want to know is, … Continue reading →

Building in Shanghai made out of CD cases

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Lisa Katayama

The Shanghai Corporate Pavilion, which will be part of the Shanghai World Expo in 2010, has a facade made from thousands of plastic tubes that were originally CD cases. [via Inhabitat]

Kindle Hacking: It’s a “lovely little Linux box”

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Lisa Katayama

I took this photo of a Kindle 2 hacked by Jesse Vincent at Foo Camp this past weekend. Apparently, aside from being a popular e-book reader, the Kindle is like Lego for Linux geeks. Here’s Jesse’s description of what we’re … Continue reading →

Review: A shower with the SimpleHuman bamboo adjustable caddy

Posted on August 31, 2009 by Lisa Katayama

I recently switched out my dinky plastic Target two-tiered caddy for this $50 bamboo adjustable shower caddy made by simplehuman. They’re both the type that hang over the showerhead, so it didn’t seem like it would be a huge change … Continue reading →

Birdhouses made from modded roof tiles

Posted on August 31, 2009 by Lisa Katayama

These birdhouses were made by combining reclaimed terracotta roof tiles cut by water-jet and laser with wooden boards etched with Victorian facades. Usually, roof tiles aren’t recycled, but a team of artists led by Japan’s Tomoko Azumi wanted to change … Continue reading →