Asiajin

Yahoo Japan released 16 free iPhone Apps simultaneously at Japanese iTunes Store. By locating each app on the screen correctly, like solving a number slider puzzle, you can depict a face of the most famous character in Japan, Doraemon.

Each app icon is designed to be a part of the face of this character. Usually, iPhone app icons have a unique gradation effect  common to all, but icons of those apps don’t have such kind of effect on them.

These apps were released as a part of the campaign to promote the animation movie of Doraemon. Apps are comprised by 11 comic book  apps, a battery level checker app, mini-game apps and etc.

Currently, 16 apps are all ranked in the top 20 free apps in Japanese iTunes App store.

Tags: Japan, Joke, Software by Hiroumi Mitani
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Following Google’s Japanese IME (input method editor) newly introduced in the beginning of this month, the Japanese subsidiary of China’s largest website search portal Baidu[C] also introduced a new one for our language, which is named Baidu Type[J] (in beta).

By referring to the Japanese input method which has been adopted for cellphone handsets, Baidu has developed it with aiming at the user’s comfort when keying the Japanese language.   As well as Google IME, Baidu Type also uses a bunch of the Japanese expressions accumulated on the blogosphere to gain the accuracy to convert the user’s pronunciation-based inputs to Japanese words exactly as he/she wants.

See Also:

• Baidu Japan’s Official Blog[J]

Tags: China, Company, Japan, Software by Masaru IKEDA
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Tokyo-based system integrator developing LBS (location-based service) and GIS (geographic information system) applications Wave On[J] just introduced a convenient iPhone/iPod touch app for golf lovers.

This is called Question Yards[E/J] and allows you to measure the approximate distance to the pin on a green that marks the hole by taking a picture having the pin and your golf ball with the iPhone-embedded camera.   The app will calculate the distance based on the ratio of the pin’s length on-screen to its real height.   The golf pin is usually seven feet high as every golfer knows, and you need not to enter the number of the height on the app.  It does work on the same principle as the golf scope monocular.

The company expects that the population of amateur golfers will be rapidly growing because golf is intend to be introduced as an official summer Olympic sport in 2016, and it also expects the app to be purchased by beginner golfers who have suffered from reading the distance when making an approach.

All the processes are completed within the app and require no Internet connectivity, which allows you to use it on a green sometimes located out of the cellphone service coverage.

Tags: Cellular Phone, Japan, Software by Masaru IKEDA
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Following the company’s stupid iPhone/iPod touch app serial release (like this), Kayac, a funny web app developer based in Tokyo’s suburb, just made something new to make our hard days more cheerful.

Tanimania, it is a breast enhancer that enables to make the breast of you or your girlfriend much sexier than ever – but unfortunately it’s available only on an iPhone screen, not real one.

Just shoot someone’s portrait including a specific part of her (a male’s breast is not recommended), and adjust the image position so that it should be corrected as you expect.   Additionally, the app allows you to put a mole on her face virtually.

Tanimania is available at AppStore for almost USD1.28 (JPY115), and the app’s title comes from Japanese slang “tanima” standing for a sexy woman’s cleavage formed by the breasts.

Tags: Cellular Phone, Company, Japan, Joke, Software by Masaru IKEDA
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Motion Portrait, a tech spin-out of Sony Computer Science Laboratories(CSL) and now a subsidiary of So-Net Entertainment, introduced an iPhone app that allows you to animate your favorite picture and let it blink and speak anything you want, Photo Speak today.   Now it’s available at AppStore for JPY350.

The app uses the company’s state-of-the-art technology to create a portrait animation with an emotional motion from a still image, and it enables lip-sync with recorded voice.

In order to get the animation, you just need to shoot a picture with an iPhone-embed camera or to choose a picture taken.  After the app complete uploading it to the company’s server, it will get a processed animation in several seconds.

The company is planning to enhance the app by adding features that allow you to add a hat or a pair of glasses on the animated result and to share it with your friends.

Tags: Cellular Phone, Japan, Software by Masaru IKEDA
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