You’d think after creating one of the world’s best-selling games the man behind it would find a tropical beach, kick back and spend all those millions. Right?
He would if he wasn’t Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, the scientist that created the phenomenally successful Brain Training games for the Nintendo DS. To date, 17 million copies have sold. In fact, even though he’s entitled to $22 million in royalties, he hasn’t touched a penny himself.
Speaking to AFP, the 48-year old inventor said: "Not a single yen has gone in my pocket. Everyone in my family is mad at me but I tell them that if they want money, go out and earn it."
Instead, the self-confessed workaholic has spent his share building new laboratories at the Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer where he works in Tohoku University in Japan. Hell, he doesn’t even like games and bans his four sons from playing all week, except for one hour.
"What is scary about games is that you can kill as many hours as you want. I don't think playing games is bad in itself but it makes children unable to do what they should do such as study and communication with the family.”
And what about his own brain?
“I'm confident I'll go senile,” he jokes. “Researchers, especially those in medical fields, are said to die of what they are studying. Since I've been studying the brain, I'll die of a brain disease.”
Hats off to the Doc.-Martin Lynch
games DS nintendo
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I know some of you might feel a little flush sometimes but would you seriously consider paying £375,000 for a PC?
Of course, not all PCs come with a custom chassis made from platinum and encrusted with jewels that map the stars in the heavens.
This ridiculous offering comes from a Japanese firm called Zeus PC and this one is called the Jupiter. After you take away the £373,000 for the gold, jewels and whopping profit margin, you are left with a collection of components you’d find in any other high-end PC.
These include a 3Ghz Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB of RAM, 1TB hard disk drive, a 256MB GeForce 8400GS graphics card, 24in LCD monitor and some decent Onkyo speakers.
Of course, if you’re a peasant like me you can save yourself a cool £95,000 by opting for the Mars PC, which comes in yellow gold and costs just £280,000.
You’d think for that kind of money they’d at least throw in an SSD. Jump to see the cheapskate Mars PC.-Martin Lynch
[Zeus PC]
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We may dearly want to kick our unruly children in the ass now and then but when it comes to driving them around we want out little rugrats trussed up safe and sound in the back seat.
Which is why this new odd-looking, egg-shaped child seat, the Nestt, from Think/Thing might be of interest to some parents. It’s a prototype right now but conforms to the key US vehicle safety standards and offers some enticing features. Not least of which is the ability to swivel the chair easily to get the child in and out without the usual fuss.
The skeleton is made from a steel cage with side-impact protection for babies and toddlers. The seat uses memory foam to nestle wee passengers right into the seat too. The company boasts that it's the safest child safety seat in the world. And the coverings are washable too for those unplanned bodily eruptions.
There’s no price on this because, well, it’s yet to go into production. Don’t they know how many parents would kill now for a seat like this?-Martin Lynch
[Moco Loco]
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YouTube is offering UK home-grown video talents the chance to make lots of cash from their bedroom.
The company is extending its YouTube Partner Programme – currently running in the US – to the UK, allowing video posters the chance to earn a slice from the videos they post.
YouTube says it’s all about making some cash from your creativity. The more views your videos get the more cash you get – that simple – and the company claims that many YouTubers are currently making thousands of dollars a month from their posted videos. There are a few rules and here they are:
Who qualifies for partnership?
*You create original videos suitable for online streaming.
*You own the copyrights and distribution rights for all audio and video content that you upload - no exceptions.
*You regularly upload videos that are viewed by thousands of YouTube users.
*You live in the US, Canada or the UK.
If you want to apply for the YouTube Partner Programme, go here.-Martin Lynch
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GPS market leader, Garmin, has thrown its hat into the mobile phone arena with an interesting first product, the “nüvifone”.
The stylish looking device combines phone, mobile Web-browser and GPS into one touchscreen handheld. The company boasts that it’s the ‘ultimate multi-tasker’ and the “first of its kind to integrate premium 3.5G mobile phone capability with an internet browser, data connectivity, personal messaging, and personal navigation functions in one device.”
When powered up, users are greeted by a simple menu on the 3.5in touchscreen with three icons: Call, Search, and View Map. The phone automatically enters GPS mode when docked in a car and is made ready for hands-free calling. The system used is the same as Garmin’s popular Nuvi GPS product line.
“The nüvifone is an all-in-one device offering unmatched integration of utility and function in a single mobile device,” claimed Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO. “This is the breakthrough product that cell phone and GPS users around the world have been longing for - a single device that does it all.”
The nüvifone is Garmin’s first device to include Google local search capability. It also includes the “Where am I?” feature for those nights when you get sloshed and lost in the wrong part of town and, offers access to Garmin Online for up-to-the minute info on real-time traffic, fuel prices, stock prices, sport scores, news reports, local events and weather forecasts.
It has a camera with video capability and will play back your tunes and MPEG4 videos. It’s due out in Q3 – no prices yet. Jump for another shot.-Martin Lynch
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Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
