On Friday, a joint venture of the Tokyo-based emerging music company Avex Group and Japan’s largest cellphone operator NTT DoCoMo, Avex Broadcasting & Communications Inc. launched a TV service called BeeTV[J], which is fully designed for cellphone handsets viewing. Unlike 1-seg TV service using a segment in terrestrial digital broadcast wave to carry visual and… Continue reading Avex and NTT DoCoMo Launch TV Station Exclusively For Cellphone Users
Year: 2009
Be More Punctual And Smarter With NHK
On Thursday, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK released the iPhone/iPod app imitating its originally designed clock which used to be seen by almost all of Japanese people at the beginning of every evening’s news program. (This link will launch your iTunes to download the app.) As Japanese terrestrial TV broadcast switches into digital, broadcasters can no longer… Continue reading Be More Punctual And Smarter With NHK
Netprice.com and Alibaba Start B2B Service For Mainland China
On Tuesday, the Tokyo-based Internet conglomerate Netprice.com launched a service specifically focusing on Japanese manufacturer’s wholesale exporting to Mainland China, in partnership with China’s largest B2B platform provider Alibaba. The service helps the manufacturers to find new China’s local merchandisers / distributors by match-making needs among users on Alibaba’s website(B2B) and its B2C edition called… Continue reading Netprice.com and Alibaba Start B2B Service For Mainland China
Nico Nico Douga Introduces Its iPhone/iPod App
Niwango[J], the owner of Japan’s most popular video sharing site “Nico Nico Douga[J]“, released its iPhone/iPod appon Monday. The app is for free and available only at Japanese AppStore. With 3G or WiFi connectivity, the app allows you to search/play videos and leave your comment on Nico Nico Douga, however it does not cover the… Continue reading Nico Nico Douga Introduces Its iPhone/iPod App
Major Publishers Co-launch Non-UGC Encyclopedia Site
Asahi Newspaper, the Internet portal company EC Navi[J] and major publishers like Kodansha and Shogakukan jointly launched Thursday an online encyclopedia containing 430,000 words, which is called “Kotobank[J]“. The service is provided for free, and the joint venture expects to earn USD1M in FY2009 from Overture[J] ads appeared on the result pages of Kotobank. The… Continue reading Major Publishers Co-launch Non-UGC Encyclopedia Site
Weather On Desktop: Expert Perspectives, Weather Blogger’s Eyes And Idol’s Loveliness In One App
The world’s largest meteorological company, Weathernews Inc., will launch next Monday its 24/7 live show channel, with its Adobe AIR-based client application, bringing weather updates to your PC desktop every minute. The new service is named “So LiVE 24[J]” (So-La is similar to So-Ra in Japanese pronunciation, meaning sky), eleven weather girls and meteorologists are… Continue reading Weather On Desktop: Expert Perspectives, Weather Blogger’s Eyes And Idol’s Loveliness In One App
Amateur Paparazzis Livecast A Pop Star Under Arrest For Indecent Exposure
As you might hear from the news, the Japanese pop star Tsuyoshi Kusanagi（草彅剛, a.k.a. 초난 강 or Chonan Gang in South Korea）, a member of popular group SMAP[J], was arrested Thursday for public indecency after being found drunk and naked at a park near Roppongi, Tokyo. On the popular video sharing site Nico Nico Douga[J],… Continue reading Amateur Paparazzis Livecast A Pop Star Under Arrest For Indecent Exposure
Mixi Appli Conference 2009
Mixi [JP] (TSE:2121) held a conference to introduce their new service “Mixi Appli”. Mixi Appli provides an OpenSocial-based application platform for developers. Mixi Appli is one of the three services provided on “Mixi Platform”. Mixi Platform provides Mixi Appli, Mixi Connect (OAuth) and Mixi OpenID. CEO, Kenji Kasahara briefly introduced Mixi and Mixi Appli. And… Continue reading Mixi Appli Conference 2009
Mixi Connect Powers Eye-Fi’s Picture Upload
Eye-Fi, makers of the wireless memory card for cameras and Mixi has partnered to support automatic upload of photos to Mixi. Eye-Fi SD share-card (2GB) utilizes mixi-Connect, Mixi’s application API to automatically upload photos over WiFi connection to the user’s Mixi’s account. As Mixi’s press release states [JP]: “Uploading Photos becomes easier”. Eye-Fi supported applications:… Continue reading Mixi Connect Powers Eye-Fi’s Picture Upload
Another Way To Have Mobile Broadband, It’s Neither WiMax Nor HSDPA
Japan’s only PHS operator Willcom announced today it would start trial of new high-speed mobile data service next week, which is called XGP and enables logically 20Mbps Internet access not only in downstream but also in upstream. Starting on April 27th, the trial will be in operation until the end of coming September, and the… Continue reading Another Way To Have Mobile Broadband, It’s Neither WiMax Nor HSDPA