Armchair Theorist

The relationship between IBM and Microsoft can be perplexing sometimes. Although the two IT giants can be strange bedfellows occasionally, more often than not, IBM and Microsoft are sworn enemies.

Therefore, I was pretty amused when I saw them share the same booth at this year’s Tokyo International Anime Fair:

Even the promoters at the booth wore tags which displayed both “IBM” and “Microsoft” prominently with equal billing.

Normally at trade shows, companies like IBM and Microsoft give away tons of free stuff. Usually these gifts are nothing more than marginally useful trinkets such as notepads, sticky notes, or pens. However, realizing that the crowd braved through single-digit temperatures just to come to the event, the ever-ingenious and practical Japanese gave away IBM-branded heating pads at the booth.

And they really do work! Just press the metal capsule inside the green liquid, and you have a 40-50 degree Celsius blob which lasts for about 45 minutes. After the heat wears off, the whole thing hardens and it then becomes a pretty decent paperweight.