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"The bodybuilders I know use it on their obliques -- their love handles -- to take away any lingering water weight before shows," (club bouncer Rob) Fitzgerald told ABC News. "The guys in the clubs heard about this, and the use of it spread virally like some kind of Internet meme."Link (via Dose Nation)
Preparation H contains a medication called phenylephrine HCL that -- when used for the drug's intended purpose -- will shrink the swollen tissues of hemorrhoids. It works by constricting the nearby blood vessels that feed blood and fluid to the area.
But the ingredient doesn't discriminate what kind of tissue it will shrink, hence the underground beauty tips of applying Preparation H under the eyes, on love handles or other places. None of which Wyeth, the makers of Preparation H, support.
Now is your chance to spur the comeback of Cosby sweaters with an authentic Bill Cosby sweater that he sported on The Cosby Show in the 1980s. Three handsome styles are currently up for auction on eBay with proceeds going to the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation. Starting bid is $5000.
This acrylic "Anatomica" heart necklace is just one of many lovely, woodcut-based acrylic pendants on offer at Paraphernalia.nu.
Link
(via Craft)
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 iLounge | 3G iPhone watch: What’s in those brown cardboard boxes? CNNMoney.com - A few hours after an enterprising reporter staked out the West Coast distribution center of Quanta Computer - a trusted Taiwan-based Apple manufacturer - and came back with photos of large stacks of brown cardboard boxes presumed to hold 3G iPhones ... The New iPhone's Terrible Talk Time Australian retailers receive sealed boxes from Apple |
 KTTS | Severe Weather Hits Region KAALtv.com - (KAAL) -- Everyone was scrambling to get to shelter as storms rolled through our area overnight. Rain soaked the region, but most areas stayed clear of any major severe weather damage. Weather service warns of tornado outbreak News Three Weather Webcast |
 Business Wire (press release) | Disney Teams Up with Google for Disney World Resort 3D eFluxMedia - By Alice Turner Google has created an extremely detailed Google Earth 3D map of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. The program allows, among others, for visitors to recreate their journey in the dream world by attaching videos, pictures and comments. Disney World preparation 2.0 Google Earth maps Disney theme park |
 eFluxMedia | Google Launches Gmail Labs InformationWeek - Gmail Labs offers a selection of experimental Gmail features for users to evaluate. Check out Email Addict. By Thomas Claburn Google is inviting Gmail users to participate in the testing of new features for the free messaging service. Gmail Labs: Users as guinea pigs Gmail Labs Offers Users Experimental Toys |
Google Inc. to develop technology campus United Press International - MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 6 (UPI) -- Google Inc. said it would construct a 1.2 million square foot campus for technology research at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. Google Leases NASA Ames Land To Develop New Campus Google to build technology facility at NASA Ames Research Center |
 Telegraph.co.uk | Apple Investors Drool as New iPhone Nears TheStreet.com - SAN FRANCISCO -- It's showtime for AppleAAPL as the company gears up to host its annual week-long conference for developers. This year, expectations are running high. Put your money where your WWDC predictions are with prop bets With the Rush to Add Cool Features to the iPhone, the PC May Get ... |
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
See also: Engraved Victorian tentacle-horrors from Dan Hillier
 eFluxMedia | Microsoft Patch Tuesday promises seven fixes Register - By John Oates → More by this author Microsoft's monthly security update next Tuesday will see seven fixes including a critical update for Internet Explorer. Microsoft To Patch Three Critical Flaws Microsoft to patch critical Internet Explorer and Bluetooth flaws |
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 ZDNet | IBM aims to cool chips with water BBC News - A network of tiny pipes of water could be used to cool next-generation PC chips, researchers at IBM have said. Scientists at the firm have shown off a prototype device layered with thousands of "hair-width" cooling arteries. IBM fills chips with water IBM cools 3D chips with integrated water channels |
 Crave | Microsoft is totally jealous of Apple CrunchGear - OMG! Microsoft iz like totally angry at Apple and just sent out a letter where itz all like “We sold nearly 20 million Windows Mobile Smartphones” and it even sent letters to a bunch of analysts saying that and even if it is true WTF right? Microsoft's pre-iPhone `salute' to Apple Microsoft tries to steal iPhone 2.0 thunder |
 bit-tech.net | Firefox 3.0 is so close, we can taste it Computerworld - Browse IT Blogwatch: in which the second release candidate of Firefox 3.0 is out. Not to mention that movie about those four New York women ... with green faces... Mozilla Corp. late yesterday unveiled the second release candidate of Firefox 3.0 and ... Mozilla Firefox 3 Opts For Second Release Candidate Mossberg approves Firefox 3 |
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Stacey Fearnall raised more than $2,700 for charity, but when she showed up for work and refused to sport a wig for her shift, her boss told her to take the summer off.Link (Thanks, Heal Emru!)Her employer, Dan Hilliard, says his restaurant has certain standards prohibiting men from wearing earrings and requiring employees to keep their hair at a reasonable length...
He says he's already heard from some customers who agree with him and say they would have been "appalled" to have been served at Fearnall's table.
The users were not informed they were being made guinea pigs for a new revenue system for BT and had no way to opt out of the system, according to the report. The JavaScript caused flickering problems for some users as the script reported back information about the content of the web page to a Phorm server. The script also crashed browsers that loaded a website that relied excessively on anchor tags. Additionally, the rogue JavaScript showed up unexpectedly in user's posts to some web forums.Link (Thanks, Robbo!)
It's some pretty crazy reading -- among other things, ACTA will outlaw P2P (even when used to share works that are legally available, like my books), and crack down on things like region-free DVD players. All of this is taking place out of the public eye, presumably with the intention of presenting it as a fait accompli just as the ink is drying on the treaty.
Honestly, it's becoming clearer and clearer that the entertainment industry is an existential threat to the idea of free speech, open tools, and an open communications network.
Who is really behind ACTA? Follow the money:Link (Thanks, Espen!)Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA)[4]
Top four campaign contributions for 2006:
Time Warner $21,000
News Corp $15,000
Sony Corp of America $14,000
Walt Disney Co $13,550
Top two Industries:
TV/Movies/Music $181,050
Lawyers/Law Firms $114,200Other politicians listed also show significant contributions from IP industries.
See also: Anti-counterfeiting treaty turns into maximum copyright free-for-all
Sock puppets (real, not metaphorical) deconstruct the symbolism of George Orwell's 1984 in the latest BBtv afterschool special from Austrian subversive art collective monochrom. Kiki and Bubu explore the age-old question of whether sexuality exists on the internet, and the soft-sculpture proletariat struggle continues.
Link to Boing Boing tv post with discussion and downloadable video.
Paranoid Linux is an operating system that assumes that its operator is under assault from the government (it was intended for use by Chinese and Syrian dissidents), and it does everything it can to keep your communications and documents a secret. It even throws up a bunch of "chaff" communications that are supposed to disguise the fact that you're doing anything covert. So while you're receiving a political message one character at a time, ParanoidLinux is pretending to surf the Web and fill in questionnaires and flirt in chat-rooms. Meanwhile, one in every five hundred characters you receive is your real message, a needle buried in a huge haystack. ~Cory Doctorow (Little Brother, 2008)Link (Thanks, Iain!)When those words were written, ParanoidLinux was just a fiction. It is our goal to make this a reality. The project officially started on May 14th, and has been growing ever since. We welcome your ideas, contributions, designs, or code. You can find us on freenode's irc server in the #paranoidlinux channel. Hope to see you there!
AP - Verizon Wireless' deal to buy Alltel Corp. for $5.9 billion was applauded by investors and should mean a greater range of choices for Alltel subscribers, but some worried that Alltel's commitment to rural coverage will get lost.
AP - South Korea's antitrust regulator said Thursday it will order Intel Corp. to pay $25.4 million for violating fair trade rules.
: To celebrate the Drive-In's 75th birthday, we asked readers to submit their favorite drive-in photos from around the country. The now-dwindling venues have come to represent an American era of coveted cars and mesmerizing movies. Click through to see our favorite reader-submitted drive-in photos, from California to New Jersey.
Left:
Starlite Drive-In, El Monte, California
Submitted by MJ Seitz Vega
Photographer's comment:
"Starlite Drive-In is just outside of Los Angeles. Taken March 2008. Nikon FM-10 with Kodak film. The Starlite has been closed for some time. The space now hosts a swap meet several days a week."
: Winchester Drive-In
Submitted by Anthony Ross
Photographer's comment:
"This drive-in is located in Oklahoma City. Since I am not from there, I'm not sure if it is still standing."
: Apache Drive-In Theater
Submitted by R. Svirskas
Photographer's comment:
"The Apache Drive-In Theater in Globe, Arizona. It's the last single-screen in the state."
: Ford-Wyoming Drive-In, Detroit
Submitted by Jim Rees
Photographer's comment:
"The main theater is five screens; this annex is four. By some measures, this is the largest drive-in theater in the United States. To get this shot, I waited until the end of the movie (note the credits) when they turn on the poacher lights."
: Delsea Drive-In, Vineland, New Jersey
Submitted by Maggie Stewart
Photographer's comment:
"Camden was Jersey's first drive-in and this is the state's last. The Delsea Drive-In is one screen at the edge of Pine Barrens, out mostly in the middle of nowhere. Cars park on a sandy unpaved lot and tune in to movie soundtracks via their radios. Every night is at least a double feature."
: Downhill Racer
Submitted by Calum Davidson
Photographer's comment:
"Each year, the little Scottish Highland town of Cromarty hosts the world's smallest film festival, and the parking lot of the local shop is transformed into a drive-in theatre, for four cars ... This shot shows the haunting documentary Downhill Racer about the famous Highland Fairground -- aka shows -- family the Herchers. Shown projected onto the wall of Ferro Cottage as part of the Cromarty Film Festival."
: Haar's Drive-In (and Flea Market)
Submitted by Phinehas
Photographer's comment:
"Located in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, Haar's has nearly gone out of business more than once in the past couple of years thanks to its being built on a coveted piece of land. But for the time being, one can still drive by and smell the popcorn from the concessions or go whole-hog and grab a double feature."
: Movie Manor Inn, Monte Vista, Colorado
Submitted by Aaron
Photographer's comment:
"The Kelloff's Best Western Movie Manor is an American treasure in Monte Vista, Colorado. Snug up against the Sangre de Cristos Mountains, the Movie Manor is a motel, restaurant and drive-in. There are big picture-windows in the motel rooms, which are piped for sound, so you can enjoy the feature from your room!"
: Valley Drive-In, McAllen, Texas
Submitted by Kevin Trotman
Photographer's comment:
"Taken in 1997 in McAllen, Texas. I hear it was torn down and a truck dealership stands there now."
: Waiting for the Sun to Go Down
Submitted by Danh Hoang
Photographer's comment:
"This drive-in is located in Amarillo, Texas, along the Dumas Highway (U.S. Highway 287). Before the double feature begins, people gather around the park as a social event. Kids are playing on the playground that is set up in front of the screen. The smell of popcorn in the air and the sound of laughter is a timeless event in West Texas."
"A glimpse of the future," trumpet the black vinyl letters plastered on Cyberview Technology's booth at G2E, the gambling industry's annual trade show in Las Vegas. The company's fake-wood cubicle hardly seems up to delivering on that promise. But after two days of trekking through jangling hotel casinos and a convention center filled with even more slot machines wailing "Wheel! Of! Fortune!" I am ready for some Future.
So is the gambling business. Nevada's casinos rake in almost $13 billion a year, and two-thirds of that comes from slots. But the players are conspicuously grizzled. Everyone wants to know how to turn the younger crowd over at the gaming tables into the next generation of slot addicts. Cyberview's answer: videogames.
Alexander Popovich, the jovial lead software engineer of Cyberview's R&D group, seats me in front of his prototype game, Glaxium, and gives me an imaginary credit of $10 to play with. I take control of a blue spaceship hovering over a rocky alien landscape. Enemy fighters and asteroids start coming at me. My fighter swoops left and right, dodging bullets and grabbing glowing capsules that give me extra weapons. When I destroy a boulder, it explodes with a satisfying thud. It's all very familiar. The attacks intensify until eventually I'm caught in hostile fire and my ship explodes. I groan.
Popovich smiles paternally. "It doesn't matter," he says, explaining that gamblers would buy a block of play time, not a single spin of the wheel. As the seconds tick by, a counter at the top of the screen shows a steadily increasing wager. Whenever you blast something, it triggers the same random-number generator that's at the heart of any digital slot machine. In other words, Cyberview has pulled an arcade skin over a one-armed bandit, and each explosion is a pull of the arm.
My ship immediately reappears. It seems I have an infinite number of lives. Nevada laws force Cyberview to deliver the same odds to everyone, Popovich tells me, so the worst player has the same shot as the best.
"Even if you do nothing, your ship will run into something and break it," he says. I lift my hands from the buttons and let the craft drift into an oncoming boulder. Both explode. "See, you just won some money."
Indeed I did, and when I finish my two-minute demo, I have a pretend $20.24. I'm a pretend winner!
Cyberview hopes to persuade state regulators to allow skill-based payouts by 2009. Of course, as in any casino game, odds and payouts tilt toward the house — skilled gamers will merely lose less.
I slide over to the company's other offering, a pinball machine that wagers credits every time the ball hits a bumper. I feel oddly relaxed, and I suddenly realize why: My ears aren't being assaulted by the irritating clanks and aggressive C-major arpeggios of slot machines. I feel like I'm in a video arcade. It feels good.
Some war injuries are obvious at first glance, like missing limbs or facial burn scars. Others remain invisible to the casual eye -- post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries, broken hearts.
Yes, broken hearts. The recent Army Suicide Report revealed that in 2007, 50 percent of suicides among active duty personnel occurred just after their partners broke up with them, and cites "failed intimate relationships" as the most common reason for suicide attempts even after soldiers return home.
The military does not have a fabulous track record for making sex and relationships a priority, other than promoting heterosexual marriage and families as the foundation of stability and an ideal worth defending. Yet how can you simultaneously encourage marriage while ignoring the emotional toll of deployment and combat on a relationship?
But finally, even the military is beginning to acknowledge the importance of sexuality as a crucial component of overall health. And as mental health professionals and policymakers gathered in Washington, D.C., last month for the Wounded Troops and Partners: Supporting Intimate Relationships conference, it became clear that technology is the key.
"Technology is allowing us to provide more services and to make services available to more people," says psychologist Barbara V. Romberg, Ph.D., founder of Give an Hour, which matches soldiers and their partners with volunteer mental health professionals. "We can do so many wonderful things we couldn't have done a decade ago. Think of the veterans who came back from Vietnam; they were isolated and alone. Maybe they were lucky to find someone who could help them, but it was so much harder."
One application in the works is eHART, an extensive online assessment tool developed by Sexual Health Network founder Dr. Mitchell Tepper and Chief Operations Officer Kelly J. Ace, Ph.D., J.D. The tool asks extensive and detailed questions about sexual functions, romantic relationships and general health history, then returns information tailored to you and a summary you can take to a health care provider -- if you want. None of the information is shared with anyone else unless you want to share it.
"People are more comfortable revealing sensitive information about sexuality to a computer than to a person," Tepper says. Especially when military approaches to sexual health are often delivered by people without any training in addressing sexual issues.
Tepper cites an example of a servicewoman hospitalized with a spinal injury who had lost her interest in sex. She was asked as part of a routine screening after deployment whether she had experienced sexual trauma during her tour. She said no, even though she had been raped, because she was asked in an impersonal manner in front of other men and women who could overhear her answer. She also did not mention the rape to her doctor -- nor did she receive any counseling or education about sex.
She eventually did tell a psychiatrist about the experience, who then helped her talk to her husband. But her reluctance to report the rape or to ask for sexual information after her injury is common.
Many service members worry that admitting to mental or sexual health issues will negatively affect their military careers. It's especially difficult for young people to publicly address sex, as you don't have a lot of practice in your early 20s talking about relationship and sexual issues with partners, much less with doctors.
Advances in prosthetics and other hardware (like Darpa's mind-controlled robotic arm or the iBot wheelchair) can provide more mobility and independence for those who acquire a disability during their service (assuming the government will fund this level of care), but no matter how sophisticated the devices, they cannot address the psychological issues that accompany the permanent injuries.
"These young men and women have formed their identities around being brave, strong, courageous, hard-bodied, brilliant," Romberg says. "Then, if they receive an injury or a brain injury or PTSD, how do you help them cope with this loss of identity? It's added on top of the normal discomfort of dating, of asking, 'Do you like me? Do I have something of value to offer? Am I attractive enough?' and wondering whether someone will love them."
Romberg sees a number of ways in which technology is helping troops and their partners cope as they return home. She is talking with one organization that might partner with Give an Hour to create online communities where people affected by the wars can share their experiences and ask questions of others who have gone through similar events.
She also sees great potential in virtual worlds, which are already being used to treat PTSD in veterans, not just of Iraq and Afghanistan, but of Vietnam as well.
The Army has begun offering telepsychiatry, which offers soldiers therapy over a private web videoconference. In addition to obvious privacy factors, it also enables them to receive therapy over long distances -- even in the field.
"One thing we're all calling for is more training up front, before deployment, to help people deal with this and build up emotional resilience," Tepper says. "I'd like to see sexual health services become more comprehensive, not just offered when someone has an STD or a pregnancy. It should include how people feel about themselves -- the touchy-feely aspects. That's quite important when people start thinking they're no longer capable to be in their role as (partner)."
I'm living proof that virtual spaces can be highly effective in treating sexual trauma, as it was cybersex that healed me from the effects of sexual abuse. They're also an excellent "practice ground" for transitioning back into life as a single civilian and for meeting potential partners who understand what you've gone through.
I asked Tepper whether soldiers were making the best use of technology to stay intimate while they are apart, and he laughed. "People do know they can use the internet to stay in touch, and I don't think we need to teach them how to talk on the phone in a sexual way," he says. "Not that cybersex isn't a good way to stay connected, but we want something beyond that."
See you in a fortnight,
Regina Lynn
Regina Lynn offers a number of strategies for using tech to enhance your sexual relationships in her latest book, Sexier Sex.
TOKYO -- Steve Jobs' new iPhone, expected to be unveiled Monday, is headed to Japan by the end of the year. But the device's famed ease of use may actually be a turnoff in Japan, where consumers want features, not simplicity.
Indeed, Japanese handsets have become prime examples of feature creep gone mad. In many cases, phones in Japan are far too complex for users to master.
"There are tons of buttons, and different combinations or lengths of time yield different results,'" says Koh Aoki, an engineer who lives in Tokyo.
Experimenting with different key combinations in search of new features is "good for killing time during a long commute," Aoki says, "but it's definitely not elegant."
Japan has long been famous for its advanced cellphones with sci-fi features like location tracking, mobile credit card payment and live TV. These handsets have been the envy of consumers in the United States, where cell technology has trailed an estimated five years or more. But while many phones would do Captain Kirk proud, most of the features are hard to use or not used at all.
"Some people care about quality, but first and foremost it's about the features," says Nobi Hayashi, a journalist and author of Steve Jobs: The Greatest Creative Director. He estimates that the average person only uses 5 to 10 percent of the functions available on their handsets.
Japan is a culture of spec sheets. When consumers go to electronics stores to buy a cellphone, they frequently line up the specifications side by side to compare them before deciding which one to buy.
Hayashi owns a Panasonic P905i, a fancy cellphone that doubles as a miniature but crisp 3-inch TV. In addition to 3G and GPS, the device has a 5.1-megapixel camera and motion sensors that enable Wii-style games to be played sitting on the train.
"When I show this to visitors from the U.S, they're amazed," Hayashi says. "They think there's no way anybody would want an iPhone in Japan. But that's only because I'm setting it up for them so that they can see the cool features."
In actuality, Hayashi says, the P905i is fatally flawed. The motion sensors are painfully slow, and the novelty of using them is quickly replaced with frustration. And while being able to watch TV anywhere is a spectacular idea, there's no signal in the subways, and even above ground, the sound cuts out every few seconds.
"There's nothing more annoying than choppy TV noises," Hayashi says.
Aoki, who carries two phones, a Sony W44S and an iPhone for accessing the web, has only a vague idea of all the things the Sony cellphone is capable of doing. "Every once in a while, you find an incredible function via the complicated menu," he says.
The manufacturers, who realize the absurdity of piling on features that don't work well, are caught in a vicious cycle of materialistic consumers who always want the newest high-tech handsets, and carriers that have complete control over what products and services are provided to their customers.
"The most important thing for us is to provide our end users with a unique user experience through our products," says Toshi Kawamura, a spokesman for Sony Ericsson Japan.
They're also at the mercy of the all-powerful carriers, like NTT DoCoMo -- the company that created the localized 3G network that makes Japanese handsets virtually obsolete in the rest of the world -- who get to decide what applications and functions are compatible with their networks.
"The flashy little functions are cool, but they're carrier-specific," Hayashi says. "Once you take this out of Japan, it's just a piece of metal." Japanese companies only make 5 percent of global mobile phone sales, and all of those sales are domestic.
Neat-looking gadgets are also a core aspect of one's identity. Daiji Hirata, chief financial officer of News2u Corporation and creator of Japan's first wireless LAN, admits to changing handsets more often than is probably necessary.
"Cellphones are always part of any conversation," he says. "People are always using them and holding them, even in the middle of a meal, so they might not think you're hip if you're carrying an old one."
However, it's unclear whether Japanese consumers will ditch their complicated cellphones for Apple's easy-to-use iPhone, which will be sold in Japan by SoftBank by the end of the year.
A survey conducted by Japan Railways showed that just more than half of those polled were interested in buying the iPhone, but that less than one-fifth really knew what the iPhone was.
"It doesn't have 3G, the camera is only 2 megapixels, and it lacks fun little features like mobile wallet functions and an LED flashlight," Hayashi says. "It may sell modestly as a smart phone or as an upgraded iPod, but it's not quite cutting it as a competitor in our mobile-based culture."
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro revels in freakish spectacle, the more elaborate the better. Comic book artist Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy, likes to keep it simple. In pursuit of a fiendishly perfect Hellboy universe, they filled reams of sketchbooks with variations on Mignola's sinister bestiary.
Now, their intense collaboration on the upcoming movie sequel to 2004's Hellboy is bound for all eternity — in hardcover. Hellboy II: The Art of the Movie (Dark Horse Books) offers a sneak peek at the menagerie of mutants primed to swarm the world-weary demonoid, portrayed again by the heavy-browed Ron Perlman. "Del Toro created such an interesting world in Pan's Labyrinth," Mignola says, "that we wanted to do more this time." New creeps include albino elf-warrior Prince Nuada, his tusk-toothed henchman Wink, mummy-tootling street musicians, and a flock of leafy-winged "tooth fairies" with a taste for blood.
The Art of the Movie witnesses the evolution from Mignola's initial ink sketches to the film's densely detailed 3-D computer renderings. As if having a mechanical hand weren't enough, Wink picked up an armor belt and porcupine quills en route to his final form. "Del Toro and [3-D artist] Francisco Ruiz Velasco would talk about my drawings in Spanish," Mignola recalls, "but I knew damned well what they were saying: Add 600 gears, make sure smoke comes out of it, and get it to spin around so the guy's head comes off.' What you see in the book is how a simple thing gets turned into something much more."
1933: The world's first drive-in movie theater opens in Camden, New Jersey.
The concept was developed by Richard Hollingshead Jr., who experimented with various projection and sound techniques in the driveway of his house. Using a 1928 Kodak projector mounted on the hood of his car and aimed at a screen pinned to some trees, Hollingshead worked out the spacing logistics to make sure that all cars had an unobstructed view of the screen.
He received a patent for his idea in May 1933 and opened his first drive-in theater only three weeks later. They quickly fanned out across the country.
Their popularity soared after World War II, when Americans started having kids in droves. (Can you say "Boom"?) The drive-in offered cheap family entertainment, a place where parents could take the kids without having to shell out for a baby sitter, or worry about them bothering other patrons.
In fact, that was Hollingshead's original hook: "The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are."
Drive-in theaters tended toward B movies -- Muscle Beach Party, Tarzan, Creature From the Black Lagoon and stuff like that -- and always included a snack stand and a play area where the kids could go when they got bored. Which is what kids do.
Another feature of the early drive-in theater was the tinny sound, delivered to the car through a single, monaural speaker. As the technology improved over time -- the car's FM radio became the receiver in some cases -- so did the sound.
The drive-in's heyday lasted from the late 1950s until the mid-'60s, when nearly 5,000 theaters were operating in the United States. No cultural survey of the period would be complete without including the iconic drive-in movie theater.
Since drive-ins offered a certain amount of privacy, making out in the back seat of the car was a rite of passage for Teenus americanus, circa 1963. You could get it on in the front seat, too, if you had a column shift, or even a bench seat with four on the floor. But bucket seats? Forget it.
The rising cost of real estate was one of the factors that led to the decline of the drive-in. Especially for those theaters located in urban areas or heavily populated suburbs, the cost of doing business was becoming prohibitive. The popularity of walk-in theaters and video rentals didn't help, either.
Nevertheless, drive-ins endure. Although fewer than 500 remain today, the industry appears to have stabilized. Those that survive often rely on additional sources of income to pay the rent, hence the popularity of drive-in-theater parking lots as flea markets, swap meets, motorcycle schools and even outdoor churches.
Source: Drive-ins.com, DriveinMovie.com, Wikipedia
TOKYO -- Steve Jobs' new iPhone, expected to be unveiled Monday, is headed to Japan by the end of the year. But the device's famed ease of use may actually be a turnoff in Japan, where consumers want features, not simplicity.
Indeed, Japanese handsets have become prime examples of feature creep gone mad. In many cases, phones in Japan are far too complex for users to master.
"There are tons of buttons, and different combinations or lengths of time yield different results,'" says Koh Aoki, an engineer who lives in Tokyo.
Experimenting with different key combinations in search of new features is "good for killing time during a long commute," Aoki says, "but it's definitely not elegant."
Japan has long been famous for its advanced cellphones with sci-fi features like location tracking, mobile credit card payment and live TV. These handsets have been the envy of consumers in the United States, where cell technology has trailed an estimated five years or more. But while many phones would do Captain Kirk proud, most of the features are hard to use or not used at all.
"Some people care about quality, but first and foremost it's about the features," says Nobi Hayashi, a journalist and author of Steve Jobs: The Greatest Creative Director. He estimates that the average person only uses 5 to 10 percent of the functions available on their handsets.
Japan is a culture of spec sheets. When consumers go to electronics stores to buy a cellphone, they frequently line up the specifications side by side to compare them before deciding which one to buy.
Hayashi owns a Panasonic P905i, a fancy cellphone that doubles as a miniature but crisp 3-inch TV. In addition to 3G and GPS, the device has a 5.1-megapixel camera and motion sensors that enable Wii-style games to be played sitting on the train.
"When I show this to visitors from the U.S, they're amazed," Hayashi says. "They think there's no way anybody would want an iPhone in Japan. But that's only because I'm setting it up for them so that they can see the cool features."
In actuality, Hayashi says, the P905i is fatally flawed. The motion sensors are painfully slow, and the novelty of using them is quickly replaced with frustration. And while being able to watch TV anywhere is a spectacular idea, there's no signal in the subways, and even above ground, the sound cuts out every few seconds.
"There's nothing more annoying than choppy TV noises," Hayashi says.
Aoki, who carries two phones, a Sony W44S and an iPhone for accessing the web, has only a vague idea of all the things the Sony cellphone is capable of doing. "Every once in a while, you find an incredible function via the complicated menu," he says.
The manufacturers, who realize the absurdity of piling on features that don't work well, are caught in a vicious cycle of materialistic consumers who always want the newest high-tech handsets, and carriers that have complete control over what products and services are provided to their customers.
"The most important thing for us is to provide our end users with a unique user experience through our products," says Toshi Kawamura, a spokesman for Sony Ericsson Japan.
They're also at the mercy of the all-powerful carriers, like NTT DoCoMo -- the company that created the localized 3G network that makes Japanese handsets virtually obsolete in the rest of the world -- who get to decide what applications and functions are compatible with their networks.
"The flashy little functions are cool, but they're carrier-specific," Hayashi says. "Once you take this out of Japan, it's just a piece of metal." Japanese companies only make 5 percent of global mobile phone sales, and all of those sales are domestic.
Neat-looking gadgets are also a core aspect of one's identity. Daiji Hirata, chief financial officer of News2u Corporation and creator of Japan's first wireless LAN, admits to changing handsets more often than is probably necessary.
"Cellphones are always part of any conversation," he says. "People are always using them and holding them, even in the middle of a meal, so they might not think you're hip if you're carrying an old one."
However, it's unclear whether Japanese consumers will ditch their complicated cellphones for Apple's easy-to-use iPhone, which will be sold in Japan by SoftBank by the end of the year.
A survey conducted by Japan Railways showed that just more than half of those polled were interested in buying the iPhone, but that less than one-fifth really knew what the iPhone was.
"It doesn't have 3G, the camera is only 2 megapixels, and it lacks fun little features like mobile wallet functions and an LED flashlight," Hayashi says. "It may sell modestly as a smart phone or as an upgraded iPod, but it's not quite cutting it as a competitor in our mobile-based culture."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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