Google Joins Forces With Japanese Astro Labs To Create Virtual Moon

In commemorating the 40th anniversary of the first human landing to the moon, on Tuesday, Google introduced a 3D map showing you the entire surface of the moon, named “Moon in Google Earth”, which is available on version 5.0 or later of Google Earth. Besides moon surface photos supplied by NASA, Japanese astronomical laboratories such… Continue reading Google Joins Forces With Japanese Astro Labs To Create Virtual Moon

Tata DoCoMo To Start News Ticker Service On Cellphone Stand-by Screen In India, Which Is Very Common In Japan

Tata DoCoMo, which is a joint venture of a Tokyo-based giant mobile operator and the telecom arm of an Indian conglomerate group and started cellphone service in southern part of India last June, announced it would start i-Channel which helps subscribers to get latest news updates on cellphone stand-by screen. When you find an interesting… Continue reading Tata DoCoMo To Start News Ticker Service On Cellphone Stand-by Screen In India, Which Is Very Common In Japan

MCF Announces This Year’s Award-Winning Mobile Projects (2/2)

Continued from the previous post. ———- Excellent Award (Mobile Solution Category) Won by McDonalds Japan[J] and the JV, a McDonalds’ joint venture with NTT DoCoMo, with their customer relationship marketing project by using cellphone wallet and mobile apps. Every Friday they distribute virtual discount coupons for McDonald’s meals to participating members’ handsets, which is valid… Continue reading MCF Announces This Year’s Award-Winning Mobile Projects (2/2)

MCF Announces This Year’s Award-Winning Mobile Projects (1/2)

Last Friday, Mobile content forum (MCF)[J], a consortium of many Japanese mobile device developers and mobile app developers, announced this year’s award[J] winning projects, which were chosen from brand-new innovative projects that were released in the last twelve months. ———- Excellent Award (Mobile Content Category) Won by Weathernews, the world’s largest private meteorological company headquartered… Continue reading MCF Announces This Year’s Award-Winning Mobile Projects (1/2)

Japan’s Best-known Midnight Radio Program Goes Mobile

Most Japanese, who are younger than 40 years old, would have listened to this program.   “Allnight Nippon[J]“, which is aired live every midnight on Nippon Broadcasting System(NBS)[J] and its affiliate AM radio stations nationwide and has 43-year history, now goes to mobile. One of Japan’s oldest private radio broadcaster NBS and ringtone content provider Reco-choku[J]… Continue reading Japan’s Best-known Midnight Radio Program Goes Mobile

Startup Showdown: Two Business Contests Announce Finalists

A couple of tech-oriented business contests announced the finalists on Friday. At first, Tokyo-based VC firm ngi Group and online game developer Aeria[J] jointly held the 1st edition of business contest for potential student entrepreneurs, which is titled “I-SHIN” meaning revolution in Japanese. The plan entries were open from last April to last May. The… Continue reading Startup Showdown: Two Business Contests Announce Finalists

Smart.fm Fundraises USD3.37M From NTT

Japanese telecom giant NTT and Cerego Japan, an owner of a UGC-based social learning site Smart.fm(previously known as iKnow!), announced both had reached the agreement of the partnership in boosting online education business.   NTT is now considering to set up a new subsidiary focusing on online education business, and will create a number of mash-up… Continue reading Smart.fm Fundraises USD3.37M From NTT

Two Ventures Jointly Introduce E-Publishing Business Targeting Android Users

Probably this move must prepare for the market deployment of a brand new Android phone from NTT DoCoMo[J], which is scheduled to start tomorrow, Celsys, a Shinjuku-based developer of e-book online viewer, and Voyager[J], a Shibuya-based e-book and e-magazine publisher, jointly announced today they would release an online publication viewer for Android handsets on the… Continue reading Two Ventures Jointly Introduce E-Publishing Business Targeting Android Users

Ad Agency Giant Lets Publishers Digitize Their Business, Now More Than Ever

Dentsu, the world’s largest ad agency, announced today it would join forces with Yappa, an iPhone/iPod software developer which is strong in developing e-publication online reader, and launch a marketplace dealing with digital periodicals this summer.  Twenty publishers will put their thirty magazines on sale at the marketplace called Magastore[J]. Magastore uses an original DRM… Continue reading Ad Agency Giant Lets Publishers Digitize Their Business, Now More Than Ever

Rakuten To Start P2P Online Political Donations For The First Time In Japan

Rakuten, one of Japan’s e-commerce giants, announced it would start a service enlightening voters on political participation in late July. The website accepts credit cards to donate your money to politicians whom you support. In the previous U.S. presidential election last year, Barack Obama carried a large amount of money from individual fundraisers on the… Continue reading Rakuten To Start P2P Online Political Donations For The First Time In Japan