Bluem[J], the Tokyo-based tech start-up which have been founded by the person who worked formerly with Japan’s second largest ad agency, expects to launch a Groupon-like daily deal service for cinemas next Monday, which is called Drepass[J]. First of all, a cinema puts a special programming notice on their website and broadcasts it on Twitter. … Continue reading Daily Deal Service For Movie Watching To Be Launched Next Monday
Month: August 2010
Vending Machines Get More Intelligent, They Recommend You What To Drink
Wherever you go in Japan, vending machines are serving drinks and beverages at every corner of the country. We’re experiencing the hottest summer for the first time in a long time, which devotes to almost 50% increase in beverage sales at vending machines compared to their average sales revenue. A subsidiary of a public transport… Continue reading Vending Machines Get More Intelligent, They Recommend You What To Drink
[Update 2] First Offline, Now Unstable: Japan’s No. 1 Social Network Mixi In Trouble
Update: August 12, 11.30am: Mixi just issued a press release saying the service is back up. Apparently, Mixi had serious Memcached server trouble. Update: Mixi seems to have serious problems. As of August 11, 7.15pm Japanese time, the site is still down after it was accessible again for a few hours (as reported below). Here’s… Continue reading [Update 2] First Offline, Now Unstable: Japan’s No. 1 Social Network Mixi In Trouble
Gree Releases Beta Version Of iPhone Page
Gree, a Japanese social network service competing the No.1 position with Mixi and Mobage-Town around 20-million-users-line, released its iPhone site as a beta version today. Their release tells that they developed iPhone version of Gree as “the new third version”, different from both PC and mobile(Japanese feature phones) version, especially for touch panel interface. The… Continue reading Gree Releases Beta Version Of iPhone Page
BREAKING: Facebook Rolls Out Special Mobile Version For Japanese Feature Phones
Facebook, which opened a Tokyo office back in February this year, has just pushed out the long-awaited “optimized” version for Japanese “feature phones”. Well, kind of, as the company itself isn’t too sure about the result and is quite cautious in the wording of the announcement (see screenshot below). The site can be accessed through… Continue reading BREAKING: Facebook Rolls Out Special Mobile Version For Japanese Feature Phones
SEO Of Love – Japanese Song and Game On SEO
“Koi no SEO”(SEO of Love) is a Japanese song by Kyoto-based SEO company Web Rider Inc.. Of course, this SEO means “Search Engine Optimization”. “Today I got my page ranked up, farewell to scroll-down”, “Now I noticed that tangled links. The important thing is to optimize our hearts.”, “Rhythm of Love is Algorithm” They also… Continue reading SEO Of Love – Japanese Song and Game On SEO
Mixi To Enter Asia, The US And Europe
Earlier this week, I read a quite interesting interview Fumiaki Koizumi, the CFO of Japan’s biggest social network Mixi, gave to the Nikkei (the country’s leading business daily). In the interview, Koizumi touches upon a few interesting points on how Mixi wants to internationalize after all these years. Here’s a summary: Mixi now has over… Continue reading Mixi To Enter Asia, The US And Europe
NICT Introduces iPhone App Interpreting What You Speak Or Type
NICT, Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, introduced the iPhone app called VoiceTra which interprets what you speak. It allows voice input (original) in five languages of Japanese, English, Mandarin, Indonesian and Vietnamese, voice output (interpreted result) in these five languages and text output (interpreted result) in 16 languages of Arabic, Brazilian… Continue reading NICT Introduces iPhone App Interpreting What You Speak Or Type
July 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 2)
Continued from (Part 1) Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated. iDish For Sushi, Sashimi, BBQ Or Whatever Bukkake Jougi Is A Ruler Containing White Liquid In Which You Can Set Any Pictures (supposed, ahem, naked women) Rakuten’s Zenryaku Profile Certified By EMA KDDI Developped Cellphone Stress Tester App on K-tai Watch Docomo… Continue reading July 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 2)
KDDI To Acquire Stake In AR Start-up Tonchidot
The Nikkei, or Japan’s economic journal, reported today that Japan’s second largest telecom giant KDDI announced it would invest in Tonchidot, the Tokyo-based tech start-up who is well known for augmented-reality(AR) smartphone app Sekai Camera. Tonchidot plans to allocate new shares to KDDI to raise approximately USD530,000 in order to develop social games using Sekai… Continue reading KDDI To Acquire Stake In AR Start-up Tonchidot