Less than a month to go until the deadline for the Intel Core Challenge, which is accepting entrants from Japan.

According to the Intel Core Challenge site “We’re challenging enthusiasts like you to create an incredible desktop that will envision the possibilities of tomorrow’s technology – from awesome gaming PCs to outstanding platforms for home automation.”.

The competition coincides (and celebrates) the launch of a new family of processors, including the Intel® Core™ i7 and Core™ i5.

Submissions will not be accepted after (11:59 p.m. PDT) on November 16, 2009.

Entries from Japan can be in English or Japanese and video (optional) and imagery should be used when entering.  With more than $10,000 USD in prizes for the winners, there is also a prize for the winner of Japan in a country-specific category of a 160GB Intel® Solid State Drive.

Categories

You will be required to select from the one of categories below and can enter both if preferred, but can only win in one of them:

Mod Creativity: Who can build the world’s most creatively futuristic mod desktop for powering extra-intense gaming – a desktop that showcases innovations in lighting, cooling, liquid emersion, cut case creativity, and more?

Lifestyle Innovation: Who will develop the world’s best and most futuristic home automation platform – making their lives better through wireless media centers, lighting automation, security integration, and more? – Show us how you incorporate and improve your everyday life with your mod. What can it do to make your life easier, and how does it fit in to your lifestyle? Would anyone know it was a desktop if they didn’t know it was a desktop?

For more information on the competition, go and check out the Intel Core Challenge website.

Best of luck and let us know of your entry and post links of your mods in the comments below!

photo: Intel Core Challenge

Ever wondered how dentists train to remove a cavity or fix a crown?  As long as she doesn’t come back from the future and try and get John Connor then everything is rosy in the world of dentistry.

Yamaha shows off its latest in Humanoid Robots – info and photos from ceatec.com

In its 10th Anniversary year, the 2009 CEATEC Cutting-edge IT & Electronics show in Tokyo (Chiba) proved to be another special feast of all the latest in technological advancements and signs of things to come. Asia’s largest exhibition of its kind encourages visitors to experience the newest technological products and software and then present it to the world.

There’s always a lot of robots and this year was no exception.  From bicycle riding Murata’s “Seiko-chan” to Yamaha’s Humanoid Robots (above).  In terms of home entertainment there was a huge Organic EL display from Mitsubishi and lots of 3D products from Panasonic and Sony.  The most interesting of those has to be the Panasonic 3D camera recorder.  Holiday videos will never be the same again.

With the rise of the popularity of the iPhone (even recently in Japan) there was also some interesting iPhone integrated technologies.  Toshiba’s Speech recognition type translation software could be very useful for those holidays abroad and Yamaha’s finger piano share looks like a good finger workout-noodle on the piano.

The most interesting of them all though looks like the Nissan Eco-Driving support module (left) and certainly support’s CEATEC’s aim of “supporting industrial development and contributing to lifestyles, economies and society in the digital network age”.

This great little app tells the driver (in real-time) how efficiently they are driving and gives them an ECO score.  Rev at the lights?  Minus points.  Accelerate out of a corner and pull a handbrake turn into McDonald’s?  Minus points.  But, put the pedal down just enough to get you to the lights before they go red and that is a high points scoring move (switched.com).  There’s a few people we’ve seen around town that need their driving tracked.  You know who you are ; )

A step in the right direction for fuel and carbon emissions when you can measure your “ECO score” in your pocket.  Keeps your fuel use down which is of course good for the environment, but efficient on your yens as well.

What ever will be next on the iPhone?

Japan’s biggest game convention, the Tokyo Game Show, has been going on over the past few weeks and this is one of a line of exciting new titles coming to Japan that may not be released elsewhere.  Apart from the usual good-guy meets bad guy, let’s kick some ass routine, this game has a few interesting mini-distractions in it.

1up.com reveal that the game allows you to

“pass the time fishing, playing golf, hitting the batting cages, and even gambling all your money away playing Pachinko. A resort area lets you take your character to relax with the ladies in a relaxing hot spring. Or you can spend your time cultivating your own “hostess,” a girl who sits, talks with patrons, and serves drinks at certain swankynightclubs. You control everything from her outfit to her hair, helping her become the best hostess she can be.

I’m sure many people here can relate to this kind of daily routine whilst living in Japan.  Still, as 1up.com point out quite astutely, it’s a good enough reason to keep up the Japanese learning to experience something such an unusual as this.

Usual for most of us anyway.

For more screenshots of Yakuza 4and videos, check out 1up.com

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