Talking heat disorder precaution thermometer

Japanese company Design Factory which sold various convenient goods developed cute heat disorder precaution thermometer with Japan Weather Association. It can "talk".

It measures temperature and the humidity every 10 minutes and notifies users of the environmental risk including the heat stroke with sounds and LED lights.

When it is high-risk, it notify users of it in sounds of the "severe caution" or "danger" and talk the advice of measures in random. The volume is selectable from three kinds. Japan Weather Association original calculation method is used for this, and the design source of this is a PR character of the heat stroke prevention project that they promote.

via https://www.designfactory.co.jp/info/20150416-1/ (Japanese)

[Photo Report] Slush Asia was the coolest startup event in Japan

On April 24, Slush Asia was held in Odaiba(large artificial island in Tokyo Bay), Japan, and 3000 audiences and presses were gathered.

Slush is a startup event held in Helsinki, Finland in every November, and Slush Asia is its Asian version according to the name. However, there was not "slush" there. Rather there were sunburns! :)

Tokyo have some large facilities for international events, but unfortunately these are very busy in spring. Therefore Slush Asia set up huge tents "White Rock" in the large parking and made places. There was totally like rock festival.

And the event itself was like the rock festival, too. Many startup events are held in Japan. However, they are sometimes nerdy and boredom. Uncool dark suit, cheesey PowerPoint templates, the most of speakers are men etc... Slush Asia is different from them. It shows that entrepreneurs are cool like a rock star and establishing a company is same as form a band.

English ability of Japanese people is terrible, but the official language of Slush Asia was completely English. Main speeches, guide map, Pitch contests, apps etc... Anyway, the everything were English! Surprisingly even the mayor of Fukuoka gave a speech in perfect English. He was the only politician speaker in Slush Asia.

Furthermore, we were able to watch the various interesting gadgets in a demo area. There was totally like Oreilly's Maker Fair.

Various food trucks are indispensable for a festival. Of course they were perfect, too, and every light meal including Japanese foods were prepared. Foreigner audiences surely enjoyed them.

The final conclusion is a after party. Speakers, audiences, presses and staff completely burnt it by blast DJ play and cool Installation art. This is one of the characteristics of Slush, too. The after party in the Japanese conference event is boring Buffet party. Exchange of business cards? Hell!

The greatest point of Slush Asia is that a preparation time was only three months. Within the period, Slush Asia became the Japanese general incorporated association, organized volunteers of 300 university students and gathered sponsors. Were core members able to sleep? According to Slush Asia CEO Antti Sonninen, they will hold Slush Asia next year. Please prepare for the trip to Japan from now.

More photos are here.

SenSprout make farming more efficient

Japanese startup SenSprout developed the seed leaf form gadget which could watch water included in the soil. Electronic circuits are printed with conductive ink to a root of this, and measures capacitance included in the soil. An LED light expressing a fluid volume is put on a leaf, and depending on the water level, its color changes to red, blue and green. Farmers can know the fluid volume of the soil by this numerical change.

A power supply necessary to use this is only one size AA battery. They supposes that use in private vegetable gardens and hothouse cultivation. They raised development funds in Crowdfunding site Indiegogo, and achieved the amount of aim in only one day.

The gadget which protects human dignity

Japanese startup Triple W Japan developed a wearable device "DFree" that predicts the timing of bowel movements, and accept pre-reservation in crowdfunding platform READYFOR?. DFree monitor internal movement with a ultrasonic wave sensor and foresees the timing of urination and the bowel movement. Furthermore, it links with mobile application in Bluetooth and notifies users of timings of the bowel movement beforehand.

There is individual difference in bowel movement timings, but the mobile application learns timings by recording the bowel movement time of users, and the accuracy of the notice improves so that users go to the rest room many times. It will help handicapped people and the elderly people and regain their dignity. In addition, it is usable for the education of the infant.