Quantcast
  • Frontpage Banner 
• Shopperati Home
• Shopperati Blog
• Top Shopping Bloggers
• Style Chronicles
• Gadgets and Advice
• Gift Guides
• Help for Shoppers
• Best of the Blog
 
Advertisement

Found in Translation: Gadgets from Japan
Blogged under Electronics and Computers, Gadgets, New items by Katherine Tanney on Thursday 17 July 2008

Japan’s Rare Mono Shop sells far-out, amusing and somewhat useful gadgets, most of them involving USB devices. I only know because the company is poised to open a U.S. store in August and the English language catalog gold-ingo-usb-hub-raremonoshop.jpgis now online. I highly recommend a visit to browse products such as “bone conduction headphones,” which transfer sound through the cheekbone rather than into the ear. If you love the unintentional results of bad Japanese-to-English translations, there’s plenty to enjoy here. (“Outside sound can be heard as it does not close your ears!” reads the copy beside a male model demonstrating the headphones with ears uncovered.) The funniest mistake in translation I found was a $2,980 price tag for a combination USB hub/tape dispenser that looks to be worth $29.80 at best (or else our currency is in much worse shape than I thought). Actually, not many of the items are priced yet and the site warns visitors, “We do not accept return of the product due to misuse or misunderstanding of the product. If you have any concern, please wait until we introduce officially for international market.” That should be in August. I can hardly wait to learn more about the gold ingot USB hub, pictured, which looks like a real gold brick into which one can plug eight USB devices. Also of interest: the compact, portable USB AC charger, which powers USB-driven devices without a computer. Just plug it into an outlet and plug-in up to two devices. The Rare Mono Shop sells all sorts of gadgets to use with it, such as a USB eye warmer and USB aroma diffuser. You get the idea.

Please Share and Enjoy:

  • Mixx
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • del.icio.us
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment


• Vlog with Jessica Roska
Watch our summer shopping spree

• View Recent Product Recalls
View a list from the Consumer Product Safety Commission

Advertisement
>> Many Happy Returns
Some advice on reading the fine print before trying to return gifts that were bought online

>> HDTV Headaches?
It's big. It's beautiful. Everyone is excited about that great new flat-panel TV. But before you start plugging in cords and getting confused, here are 5 important things to know

>> Shoppers' Resources
We've got loads of helpful, relevant links to make you a better informed online shopper

>> These are a Few of Our Favorite Things
We've broken the Shopperati Blog into categories to make it easier to find just the product that you need - from clothing to toys, tools to sporting goods

>> 10 Classic Fashion Gifts
blue-nile-diamond-earrings-white-box.jpgNot sure what to get that beautiful woman on your gift list? You can never go wrong with one (or more) of our classic fashion recommendations - from diamonds to pearls, Hermes to Chanel

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


Search Shopperati



About Shopperati   Contact Shopperati   All contents copyright © 2008 Noofangle Media

Copyright (c) 1998-2008 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.