{"375881":{"#nid":"375881","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Google Car for Sale: Slightly Underequipped","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2014\/05\/when-driver-goes-the-way-of-computer\/371692\/\u0022\u003EGoogle Car prototype\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;sure is cute. And as Megan Garber\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2014\/05\/the-revolution-will-be-adorable-why-googles-driverless-cars-are-so-cute\/371699\/\u0022\u003Ealready explained\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;on these pages, it\u2019s cute because it hopes to convey familiarity and comfort while eschewing \u201ccreepiness,\u201d that scourge of technology that arises when it seems out of place, over the line.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGarber rightly connects the Google Car\u2019s cuteness to Japanese\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kawaii\u0022\u003Ekawaii\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003Eculture. Japanese cuteness produces a sense of protection and innocence that appeals to us; it is neotenic, deliberately juvenile. In Japan, this approach to cuteness has been ingrained in national culture. All Nippon Airways has a series of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pok%C3%A9mon_Jet\u0022\u003Ewidebody Boeing jets with Pok\u00e9mon livery\u003C\/a\u003E. The popular character\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=domo+kun\u0026amp;rls=en\u0026amp;spell=1\u0026amp;tbm=isch\u0022\u003EDomo-kun\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;got his start as the official mascot of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. It even adorns cars, like the service vehicles for the Japanese air conditioning manufacturing company Daikin, which already way out-cute Google\u2019s efforts.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"28008","created_gmt":"2015-02-09 18:27:34","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:23:57","author":"Bobby Macedonia","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"JS Coon Building","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2014\/05\/google-car-slightly-underequipped\/371726\/","dateline":{"date":"2014-05-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-05-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"69599","name":"IPaT"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}