The Sony PVM-4300 is an ultra-rare television set that achieved legendary status for being the largest Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) TV ever sold.

Announced in late 1988 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Sony’s Trinitron brand, the PVM-4300 was an incredibly expensive, made-to-order device that most people could only dream of buying. It went on sale in Japan at a retail price of 2,430,000 Japanese yen ( about $17,500 by the 1988 exchange rate) and featured advanced technology designed to reduce eye-straining flicker and improve image clarity on large-size screens and a 108cm picture tube, the largest of its kind ever made. The world’s largest CRT TV was so heavy that it had a special, forkliftable casing, as well as handles that bolt onto the sides of the monitor for improved grip. According to Sony’s installation manual, at least six people were required to lift the TV set safely.

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A Japanese company came up with the genius idea of selling plastic bags of popcorn as an edible alternative to conventional cushioning materials like styrofoam pellets and cardboard.

Azechi Foods, a popcorn manufacturer and delicacy wholesaler in Japan’s Kochi City, has become famous for using and selling popcorn not just as a snack but as a cushioning material. The company’s manager, Shihoko Wada, had been struggling to promote popcorn on the Azechi Foods online store where people mainly bought delicacies when she was inspired by a laptop repair technician at a management seminar. The man used Umaibo sticks (cylindrical puffed corn snacks) as a cushioning material, and while some in attendance found it funny, for Wada it was a revelation. Not only could the popcorn be used as an actual snack after use, but it was also an incredible opportunity to attract attention.

“If Umaibo can be used as a cushioning material, then I thought the popcorn that our company makes could also be used as a cushioning material,” Shihoko Wada told Gendai Magazine. “Once it’s finished serving its purpose as a cushioning material, it can be eaten, so it doesn’t become useless garbage. Above all, I thought that the customers who received it would be happy with the surprise, they would get a sense of value, and it would also help improve the company’s image.”

Wada’s idea was to package the popcorn in a transparent plastic bag that had “not edible” printed on it, only with the ‘not’ crossed out, and then use the bags as cushioning material in the packages they sent all over the country. People loved the idea and before long, photos of the bags started going viral on Japanese social media.

Azechi Foods filed for a trademark registration and soon started receiving orders from all sorts of businesses, like a company that sells used video games, a greengrocer, a wine seller. etc. As photos of its unique cushioning material went viral online, the number of orders increased and they even got requests for coverage from national TV outlets.

Although the bags of popcorn are more expensive than conventional cushioning materials like styrofoam or cardboard, they also come with a few definite advantages: they can be eaten, and thus eliminate the risk of waste, which can’t really be said about other cushioning or filler materials, most of which end up in the trash after one use.

Azechi Foods currently offers two package sizes – 40g and 13g – but Azechi Foods hopes to start offering it in other sizes, as well as other styles of packaging to keep customers entertained.

Ligament tears occur about 60 milliseconds, but a startup claims to have created a knee airbag that inflates in just 30 milliseconds, enough to prevent ACL and MCL injuries.

Hippos, a startup founded by Kylin Shaw and Bhavy Metakar, recently raised a $642,000 pre-seed round from investors Possible Ventures and Silicon Roundabout Ventures for their revolutionary “knee sleeve,” a sort of high-tech airbag for the knee that uses sensors to rapidly detect incoming stress and deploy tiny air canisters that fill up small airbags around the knee, thus preventing critical injuries. It only takes 30 milliseconds for the knee airbag to inflate, considerably faster than the 60 milliseconds that ACL injuries typically occur in. If the device works as presented by the company, it could save athletes thousands of dollars in medical expenses and much more in inactivity.

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Osaka-based showerhead maker Science Co. has developed a cutting-edge washing machine for humans aptly named “Mirai Ningen Sentakuki” (Human Washing Machine of the Future).

At the 1970 Osaka Kansai Expo, Japanese tech giant Sanyo Electric Co., now Panasonic Holdings Corp., launched the world’s first-ever human washing machine. Its futuristic egg shape and bubble technology captured people’s imagination and drew huge crowds to the manufacturer’s booth. Yasuaki Aoyama was one of the many people who got to see Sanyo’s washing machine in action. He was only a curious fourth-grader at the time, but the feeling of awe stuck with him all through adulthood, and today, as the chairman of Science Co., a company specializing in bathtubs and showerheads, he is preparing to launch his very own modern washing machine for humans.

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The Zefiro is a clever little MIDI controller that plugs into the USB-C port of your smartphone essentially turning it into a playable musical instrument.

Developed by Italian startup ARTinoise, the Zefiro is one of the most ingenious gadgets we’ve seen in quite a while. The small, colorful mouthpiece may look like a vape, but it’s actually a lot more than that. It’s a MIDI controller that plugs into your smartphone’s charge port and relies on an app to turn the handheld into a variety of playable instruments, from the humble flute, to violins and even fantasy sounds. Equipped with lip sensors and an air pressure sensor, the Zefiro sends breath power data directly to the dedicated app, which is then used to adjust the volume, length, and harmonics of the sound. Keys or air holes are displayed on the screen of the smartphone, so you can effectively play the instrument with your fingers, as you low into the mouthpiece.

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Australian scientists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have developed a method of accurately checking if milk has gone bad by using the vibration motor inside every smartphone.

The modern smartphone has been a jack-of-all-trades for a while now, but the ubiquitous gadget is getting new functionalities virtually every day. On of the most ingenious ways you’ll probably be able to use your handheld in the near future is to test if milk has gone bad, either in the comfort of your own kitchen, or at the store,without even having to open the container. Reserachers at UNSW Computer Science and Engineering recently developed a new smartphone sensor called VibMilk that relies on the gadget’s vibration motor and inertial measurement unit (IMU) to check the freshness of milk without having to open the container. The high-tech method could one day curb the current waste of 20% of dairy products.

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The ThinKing by Russian watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin is only 1.65 mm thick, making it the world’s thinnest mechanical wristwatch.

The “arms race” for the world’s thinnest wristwatch has been in full swing for a few years now, with some of the most prestigious watch brands on Earth trying to one-up each other with ingenious designs. The latest to claim the coveted title is independent watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin with its ThinKing prototype, a 1.65-thick masterpiece that is so incredibly thin it needs a special wristband. The ThinKing’s case is so delicate that the simple pressure from being worn is enough to damage it, so the special strap made of alligator leather and elastic inserts with titanium has to absorb some of the shocks, twisting and bending.

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Chinese scientists recently unveiled an innovative brick type that they hope will be used to build the world’s first base and inhabitable houses on the surface of the moon in the near future.

It’s no secret that China has big plans when it comes to moon colonization. Earlier this year, it became the first country to land a probe on the dark side of the moon and bring it back with valuable soil samples, and putting people on the moon appears to be the next logical step. However, the Asian giant is already planning for the day when we’ll be able to build bases and other buildings on the Earth’s natural satellite, and to that end, it has developed an ingenious type of brick designed to withstand both physical pressure and high levels of radiation from the sun. The so-called “moon soil bricks” will be sent to the moon to be tested until the end of next year.

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Japanese toymaker MegaHouse recently unveiled the world’s smallest Rubik’s Cube, an aluminum cube measuring only 0.19 inches per side and weighing just 0.33 grams, but with a price tag of $5,320.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original Rubik’s Cube invented by Hungarian sculptor Erno Rubik, Japanese toymaker MegaHouse set out to create the world’s smallest Rubik’s Cube. The company came up with the idea for the project about four years ago and started working on it in 2022. Although making a metal square only 0.5 cm in width doesn’t seem that difficult in this day and age, making a functional Rubik’s Cube with rotating faces was a big challenge. MegaHouse had to team up with a precision-cutting company to ensure that all the tiny parts worked as intended.

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The Arc’tryx MO/GO Hiking Pants come with a built-in exoskeleton powered by powerful motors that can increase the wearer’s leg strength by 40 percent and make them feel 30 pounds lighter.

Motor-powered exoskeletons have been a reality for years, especially in the medical field, but not so much in the leisure department. That is about to change, as outdoor brand Arc’teryx and Google spinoff Skip recently teamed up to create the “world’s first powered pants”. Called MO/GO (short for ‘mountain goat’), the innovative garment is more than a piece of clothing; it comes with bespoke carbon fiber support structures that feed power from integrated AI-controlled motors at the knees to the wearer’s leg muscles during ascents and decreasing pressure on their knees during descents. Marketed as a mobility device, MO/GO pants are designed to make hiking more accessible to people who may not have the endurance for it.

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23-year-old Tapala Nadamuni holds the Guinness Record for the World’s Smallest Functional Vacuum Cleaner, with an electronically-powered suction device smaller than a pinky fingernail (0.65 cm).

If you ever find yourself searching for meaning in whatever it is you are aiming towards, remember that someone spent two years of their lives putting together the world’s smallest vacuum cleaner. Indian student Tapala Nadamuni previously held this record from 2020 until 2022, with a tiny gadget measuring just 1.76 centimeters. However, he lost the record to someone who managed to build a functional vacuum cleaner less than half the size (0.85 cm), so Tapala spent the last two years of his life trying to win it back. After having some of his attempts rejected by Guinness and pouring hundreds of hours into research and development, the 23-year-old student achieved his goal with a vacuum cleaner measuring 0.65 centimeters.

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Crocs teams up with DC Comics to create a surprisingly cool-looking version of its ubiquitous Classic Clogs inspired by arguably the best Batmobile ever designed.

The Croc brand has always been associated with comfort, but rarely with style. Nevertheless, the company has always come up with ways of surprising its faithful fans, teaming up with various other brands for intriguing collaborations. Its latest such venture resulted in the recently-released Batman x Crocs Classic Clog “Batmobile”, a limited-edition version of its Classic Clogs inspired by the design of the Batmobile featured in the 1989 Batman movie and its sequel, Batman Returns.

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Dylan Phillips, a car mechanic from Pembrokeshire, England, recently set a new Guinness Record for the world’s fastest wheelbarrow with a contraption capable of speeds of up to 52 mph (84 km/h).

The idea of a super-fast motorized wheelbarrow came about in a pub, after a few drinks, but Dylan Phillips, being the tinkerer that he is, decided that it was just the kind of crazy project he wanted to work on. The 38-year-old mechanic started working on the wheelbarrow in his shed in Crymych, Pembrokeshire, and before long, he had a working trial version. He reached 37 mph during a test drive, and that’s when he started looking into the world record for the world’s fastest wheelbarrow.  He learned that the Guinness record stood at 46 mph, and decided that it was worth a shot to challenge it.

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Researchers at the University of California recently created a self-powered throat patch that uses machine learning to translate muscle movements into speech, helping people to speak without vocal cords.

Jun Chen, an assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, came up with the idea for a non-invasive speech-enabling device after feeling his vocal cords get tired as a result of lecturing for several hours at a time. He began thinking of ways of helping a person speak without using their vocal cords, and with the help of his colleagues at the University of California, he designed an innovative patch that sticks to the user’s throat and uses AI technology to decode their muscle movements into speech. The lightweight device is resistant to skin sweat and also harnesses the user’s muscle movements to generate electricity, which means that it doesn’t require a battery to operate.

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VabsRider, the ‘world’s first virtual axis bicycle seat,’ is an innovative bicycle saddle featuring two sides that move independently as you pedal to distribute the load more evenly for a more comfortable ride.

Australian engineer Robin Macan had always wondered why no one had come up with a more comfortable bicycle seat. The flaw of the common saddle was obvious – “no amount of cushioning can compensate for the inherent pain points on the human body,” so he came up with a concept for an articulating bicycle seat that would dynamically distribute body weight as the rider pedaled. He took his prototype to the Inventors Association of Australia, a nonprofit offering support to inventors, and that was where he connected with industrial designer Philippe Guichard. The two set out to refine the design, and after two years of work, they combined forces with Whistle, an industrial design and engineering company, to develop a market-ready product. Now, the vabsRider split-seat bicycle saddle is ready to offer users the most comfortable bike ride of their lives.

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