Last weekend at Hachioji Campus of Digital Hollywood University in Tokyo’s surburb, “Make” magazine’s readers and gadget inventors came together and held an annual meeting titled “Make: Tokyo Meeting 03[J]“. For readers who have never heard about Make:, the magazine is a quarterly magazine published by O’reilly Media and it contains articles on hardware hacking… Continue reading Make Tokyo Meeting 03: Where You Can See Future, Magic And Junk In A Place
Category: Community
Users groups, meet-ups, conferences, unconferences, community-disputes, etc.
Giant Partnership of Game and Ad Sets Off New Wave Of Video Broadcast
Coincidentally I write up several stories featuring video services using media other than terrestrial TV broadcast system in this Japan’s serial holidays season. Nintendo and the world’s largest advertising agency Dentsu started Friday a video broadcast service on a 3D virtual world designed for Nintendo’s game platform Wii. The new service is named “Wii no… Continue reading Giant Partnership of Game and Ad Sets Off New Wave Of Video Broadcast
Promotion Character Battle: Digital Deer vs. Analog Bear
Since Tsuyoshi Kusanagi stepped down from the role promoting digital terrestrial TV service (see this for more details), NAB, the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan, were forced to introduce a new promoter, which is Chide-jika[J], punning the words of digital TV and deer. In opposition to the deer’s activity, users of Japan’s largest… Continue reading Promotion Character Battle: Digital Deer vs. Analog Bear
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
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
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
My Time for Sale: Ex-web Designer Girl Exposes Her 24/7 On The Web
Rie Tomimoto(冨本梨恵) is Jibunya 24[J], where she sells her time, does anything her clients ask excluding some exceptions, and blog what she does mostly everyday. She is a 33-year-old ex-web designer, and lives in the west suburban city of Tokyo. Unlike Chen Xiao(陈潇)[C] who does the similar things in Beijing, Rie runs the website not… Continue reading My Time for Sale: Ex-web Designer Girl Exposes Her 24/7 On The Web
Tezuka Manga Works Come To Your Palm Every Week
Tokyo-based mobile app developer Yappa started distributing the manga works of Tezuka Osamu, with a content distribution technology that the company also used to develop the Sankei Newspaper’s iPhone/iPod app also uses (I mentioned the app a bit in this article). The company publishes a new issue online every week, and each issue takes a… Continue reading Tezuka Manga Works Come To Your Palm Every Week
S. Korea’s YouTube Disabled Video Uploading Due To The New Act For Preventing Cybercrimes
In South Korea, where many crimes and suicide cases have been caused by slanderous messages posted on social websites, the country’s telecommunication authority has deployed an act which obligates the Internet user to publish his/her real name when uploading a video or leaving a comment on large social networking sites. The authority expanded its scope of application on April… Continue reading S. Korea’s YouTube Disabled Video Uploading Due To The New Act For Preventing Cybercrimes