In the land where parody accounts of celebrities brush shoulders with the insipid accounts of real celebrities literally getting paid to tweet, which is layered on top of millions of actually meaningful accounts, it probably isn’t a surprise to anyone that the United States is home to the most Twitter accounts with nearly 108 million accounts. While fathoming that amount is kind of a headache – seriously, that’s an average of roughly 1 account per 3 people in the United States – it only accounts for 28.1% of all Twitter accounts worldwide. Still, the growth of Twittering Americans doesn’t seem like it’ll slow down anytime since 5.6 million accounts were created in the United States in December 2011 alone.

Brazil and Japan are involved in an interesting contest for 2nd and 3rd place in the Twitterscape. Brazil has actually surpassed Japan in terms of the sheer quantity of user accounts but Japan still exhibits more Twitter activity than Brazil. Between September 2011 and December 2011, the study says, 30% of accounts in Japan posted a message whereas only 25% of accounts in Brazil posted a message. It’s all a matter of which metric you want to weight, but then again, it’s not like there’s a trophy for being #2 Twitter Country (not that there is for 1st place, either). Additionally, Japanese is still the 2nd most used language on Twitter after English.

While the United States might be the girthiest nation when it comes to Twitter accounts, they’re certainly not the most active (you like how that’s a metaphor for a lot of things related to the American lifestyle?). In fact, the distinction of most active Twittering country belongs to the Netherlands. One-third of all accounts located in the Netherlands posted at least one public message between September 1, 2011, and November 30, 2011. Japan and Spain follow in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively, while the U.S. places at 4th in activity. Still, even with the U.S. ranking as the 4th most active country on Twitter, that ranking would surely be lower if not for the sheer heft of accounts existing in the United States.

With so much drama in the Twitter lately, it’s a bit hard to anticipate how these figures will look this time in 2013. By then we’ll have a fuller understanding of how Twitter’s new policy of selectively withholding tweets (if and when they do) has affected users’ activity. Additionally, now that Twitter is expanding languages to be included in their Translation Center, such as Arabic and Farsi, it’ll be curious to see how those changes may affect the landscape of Twitter activity.

Anybody out there got any speculations you wanna bet on? See any changes on the horizon for how different parts of the world might use Twitter? Feel free to share below in the comments.

Yes, that means about what you think it means: there is a video game that uses your pee. Urine. Number one. And if you’re a male in Tokyo anytime soon, you may get to take a shake at the bathroom game if you happen by the right urinal.

News of Sega’s urinal video game, Toylet, has been creeping westward for a little while now, but Game On Gaming has put together one of the better demo videos .

Sigh. Dear Japan: Please don’t change for anybody.

The post includes updates to Google’s mapping satellites as well as several upgrades to existing services:

we’ve continued to add new satellite and 45 degree imagery on Google Maps and Google Earth, which reached 1B downloads last year, as well as expand our imagery coverage of Street View to Belgium, business interiors, partner locations like parks and even museums with the Art Project. If you want to follow these imagery updates, we expanded Follow Your World so you can get notifications about locations that interest you.

The post also points out the aesthetic improvements to the existing maps thanks to the introduction of Google Maps GL. Through the use of WebGL, they say, buildings and imagery appear much better and have a sharper 3D quality to them as you duck between city blocks and wander to your next class.

One sobering update Google made this past year was to their maps of northern Japan, which was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami last March. Because of their timely updates, Google said, “relief and aid organizations were able to access imagery after the earthquake and tsunami hit.”

As for 2012, Google says that they’re going to continue to make the “physical world morem accessible and tailored” to our needs. I dunno if they were aware, but my world was pretty accessible with feet before they came along, but then again I suppose I can’t stretch my feet across the Gulf of Mexico and visit Cuba (hell, even if I could, I probably wouldn’t be allowed to stretch my feet to Cuba). Hopefully Google won’t unintentionally shut down anymore major highways as they continue to build upon their 3D model of Earth.

“The PS Vita has had a terrific launch and sold in large numbers. We’re annoyed with these stories, because we can’t find any evidence of widespread glitches. The stories even said that Sony has issued an apology for PS Vita glitches, which simply isn’t true – there’s an apology on our Japanese website for people who are having trouble getting through to our technical help line, but that’s it.”

Apparently, this could be a case of something being lost in translation.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Sony just launched their brand new handheld device, the Vita, in Japan last Friday and although the initial sales figures looks promising, the device sort of stumbled out of the gate.

Customers flooded Twitter and YouTube with complaints about the new gaming system. Users reported numerous problems like lagging out, freezing and even all out crashes during gameplay. Some users reported unresponsive touchscreens as well.

Another issue seems to involve the registering of PlayStation Network accounts. According to Computerworld, there was a little bit of over-complex tooling necessary to fix the problem:

The process of configuring a PlayStation Vita is excessively complex. Cheap Ass Gamer founder David “CheapyD” Abrams uploaded a video explaining how he had to set up a temporary PSN account to download the update due to a glitch stopping him from using a pre-existing PSN account. While the update only took a few minutes and fixed many of the problems, the process involved is something that’s bound to infuriate many new Vita owners until it’s rectified.

And while some kinks are expected on a huge gaming system launch, these problems have more than annoyed customers in Japan.

PlayStation’s Japanese site has issued an official statement on the problems, saying that they are sorry and that some problems can be fixed from home. (Translated)

Currently, our information center regarding PlayStation Vita as well as our usual customer service center are receiving many inquiries. We apologize if your phone isn’t connected straight away. Some issues regarding PlayStation Vita can be addressed by simple procedures at home.

PlayStation has given Japanese customers a FAQ database for getting their device up and running.

Good news for Sony, however – the Vita sold incredibly well in its first two days. According to initial estimates, the Vita sold a little over 321,000 units over the weekend. By comparison, the Nintendo 3DS sold 371,000 in the same timeframe and the PlayStation Portable only sold 166,000.

The PlayStation Vita is set to launch in the States on February 22nd. Let’s hope that it isn’t marred with the same issues when that time comes.

The Vita is Sony’s handheld PlayStation gaming device. “The new PS Vita 3G/Wi-Fi, powered by AT&T’s Mobile Broadband Network, will change the way you game with real-time scores and game ranking news feeds, competitive multiplayer game sessions, and cross-game text messaging with Party.,” Sony says.

Here’s a video showing off the device:

The PlayStation Vita hits the U.S. on February 22. I guess Sony is hoping people are tired of the gadgets they got around the holidays by then. It’s an interesting move considering that last year, 40% of Sony’s Christmas revenue came from the U.S and Europe.

It’s available to pre-order online through Sony, Best Buy, Amazon and Gamestop for $299.

In case any of you didn’t already agree, Japan offered up another example of their awesomeness by blowing away the record for tweets per second over this past weekend. The previous record had been established earlier this year when legions of Beyoncé fans tweeted a deluge about Babyoncé. It’s fitting that Japan should reclaim the title since they had been the previous owners of the tweets-per-second record before Babyoncé exploded on the Twitters in August. Then, during the MTV Video Music Awards, Beyoncé fans posted 8,868 tweets in one second, besting the record 7,196 tweets submitted when Japan defeated the United States in the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals.

So how many tweets per second did Japanese tweeters post? An astounding 11,349!

Now what, you may be asking yourself, occasioned the staggering amount of tweets from Japan? Hayao Miyazaki’s animated classic, Laputa: Castle in The Sky, which is an annual television broadcast in Japan during this time of year. The raison d’être of the tweeting fusillade came during the climax of the movie, in which the two main characters, Pazu and Sheeta, cast the one-world spell, “Balse,” in order to defeat the villain. Viewers of the movie had readied their Twitter silos to post the “Balse” tweet in unison with the two characters.

And post they did! So what does nearly 12K tweets in one second look like? It looks a little something like this spire of data:

You’ll notice in the graph that the “Balse” tweets peaked at 14,594. That’s actually the grand total number of tweets worldwide that contained the word “Balse;” the 11,349 figure is specific to Japan. In the United States, I imagine this being the equivalent of tweeters posting thousands of “Fuuuuudddddgggggge” at the precise scene when Ralphie swears in front of his dad in the annual broadcast of A Christmas Story. So good luck, festive Americans, trying to top that whopper of a record.

Today, they’ve announced that the project has come to fruition. 44,000 kilometers worth of driving has yielded some unbelievable before and after photos that are now available for everyone to see using Street View.

In the bottom left corner of each image you’ll also see a month and year that tells you when a particular photograph was taken. When looking at images of the magnificent cities side-by-side with images of the ruins left in their place, this additional context demonstrates how truly life-changing this tragedy has been for those who live there and witnessed the destruction of their homes, neighborhoods and even entire districts.

This timestamp feature has been the most requested Street View feature for the last few years, and it is now available on Street View imagery worldwide. Professionals such as historians, architects, city planners and tourism boards—as well as regular users including travelers and home-buyers—can now get a sense of how fresh the online photos are for a locations that interests them

You can access the new Street View photos by simply going to Google Maps and entering Street view in the specific areas, but it’s better if you visit the Build The Memory site, which is devoted to the before and after shots.

It might be a little tough to find perfect before and after shots, but if you search up Japan’s Northeast coast, it won’t take you too long. Once you zoom in on a particular area, you can hit the “before” or “after” buttons at the top and see a photo of the same location, either pre or post tsunami.

Doing so will give you amazing contrasts like these from Onagawa, Oshika Distrcit, Miyagi Prefecture:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

As you can see, the devastation is immense. At least this sort of thing can provide context for people who were too young to remember the disasters or perhaps hadn’t even been born yet. Another interesting visualization of the Japan disasters was released by Twitter back in June. It shows the volume of tweets being sent during the earthquake and the chaotic period afterward.

The reason I ask this is because the Fujitsu “Arrows” F-01D tablet has been spotted in the wild, and it looks like it likes to be submerged in water. The existence of said tablet was confirmed back in late August, and the speculation was to whether “waterproof” meant it could survive a splash or be used in the bath.

Now, thanks to ndevil.com, we see that it can take a pretty good soaking. This video shows the tablet loading up a web page while being pretty much immersed in water. As you’ll see, the tablet sports micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports, that can be sealed up nicely with little waterproof covers:

And here are some specs, courtesy of Android Community –

Obviously from the name you’ll know that this tablet will be rocking 4G LTE. The specs include a 10.1″ 1280 x 800 HD display, Android 3.2 Honeycomb, a 1.0 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor is on board, not the TI OMAP 4430 as original leaks suggested. We have 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage with 32GB being optional.

As you might have heard during the video, this tablet is currently only available in Japan.

Here, in another video from the same demo, you see in the background (around the 1:30 mark) that the tablet can be submerged for a pretty long period of time. Unfortunately, you wont be able to take much else from it unless you speak German.

Considering that it is truly as water resistant as it looks, this could be pretty successful if and when it’s launched overseas. What do you think? Can you see a use for this kind of device? Let us know in the comments.

This spherical flying machine, developed by the Japan Ministry of Defense, is the first of its kind. As you’ll be able to see in the video, it has the properties of a helicopter (and some other flying machines) – in that it can take-off and land vertically, as well as hover in place. But unlike the helicopter, it works like a propeller plane in order to zip forward at high speeds.

And why is it round? Here’s what they have to say, courtesy of diginfo.tv:

Because the exterior is round, this machine can land in all kinds of attitudes, and move along the ground. It can also keep in contact with a wall while flying. Because it’s round, it can just roll along the ground, but to move it in the desired direction, we’ve brought the control surfaces, which are at the rear in an ordinary airplane, to the front.

In our aircraft R&D, we have a plane that can stand up vertically after flying horizontally. But the problem with that plane is, take-off and landing are very difficult. As one idea to solve that problem, we thought of making the exterior round, or changing the method of attitude control. That’s how we came up with this machine, to test the idea.

Oh yeah, and gyro sensors make it so that it can keep its altitude, even if it hits something.

Check it out:

We’ve been on a roll when it comes to awesome scientific demonstrations popping up on YouTube. If your thirst for awesome technological breakthroughs has yet to be quenched, why don’t you take a look at quantum levitation, this awesome oil spill cleanup device, and this Holodesk that lets you interact with objects in virtual reality.

What possibilities can you see with this spherical flying machine? Let us know in the comments.

According to reports in the Associated Press, Twitter indicated that, during the game, tweets were coming in at 7,196 per second. If you expand that out to 120 minutes, the final game’s duration, the amount is an even more staggering 51,811,200 tweets. Furthermore, the 120 minute tally does not include halftime, the penalty session, or the subsequent celebratory tweets during the trophy presentation. Needless to say, Twitter’s total is undoubtedly larger than 51 million.

The record-breaking tweet total for the Women’s World Cup Final broke the previous record established during the most recent Japanese New Year celebration, which was 6,939 per second. Clearly, the choice of social media communication in Japan is obvious. Oddly enough, the newly-established record was almost broken the same day during the Brazil/Paraguay match in the Copa America Cup. Twitter’s data reports that there were 7,166 tweets per second, which is good enough for second place.

While the numbers point to Twitter’s popularity in Japan, they also point to just how popular soccer — not just men’s, either — is across the globe. Coupled with the fact that the Women’s World Cup Final had no competition in terms of viewing in the United States, sports-wise, the plate was set for recording-breaking Twitter numbers. The drama of both matches also contributed to these substantial numbers, no doubt.

As for the Women’s final, it was indeed good drama, even if you were rooting for the United States (which explains why Alex Morgan’s brilliant goal is leading this post). Every time the United States would take the lead, their defense would falter and the Japanese would make them pay, pushing the Final into a precarious penalty shootout to decide which country would take home the World Cup trophy.

Where the United States faltered, the Japanese prevailed. Quite simply, the U.S. made a complete gaffe of the penalty shootout portion, giving the Japanese the opportunity they needed:

From here, the Twitter eruption continued with images and video, much of it coming from the infamous Jose3030. And then, there’s this simple truth:

As indicated, TwitPic got a workout as well. Some of the finds:

Courtesy

Courtesy

Courtesy

Courtesy