Niconico Douga welcomed “the father of the i-mode”

On Friday 4th July, Niconico Daikaigi 2008 (Daikaigi = Big meeting) was held by Dwango/Niwango at JCB Hall, Suidoubashi, Tokyo, with 2,000 atendees and over 10,000 users via broadcast. This biggest event for Niconico Douga had a lot of new services/functions release, with a secret surprize. Niconico Douga Update New version code is “Niconico Douga… Continue reading Niconico Douga welcomed “the father of the i-mode”

Waseda University opens campus in Second Life

On Tuesday, one of Japan’s most renowned universities, Waseda Daigaku, opened a virtual campus in Second Life. Waseda aims at making it easier for their students to cooperate with those from Princeton University, which has opened a campus on an island in Second Life last year. Waseda says it wants to explore the possibilities of… Continue reading Waseda University opens campus in Second Life

Nico Nico Douga forced to delete copyright-protected video material

It was inevitable and actually long overdue: Mega-popular video-sharing site Nico Nico Douga, Japan’s answer to Youtube, announced it will remove movies and anime clips infringing on copyrights held by various Japanese companies. The move was triggered by a request coming from the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), the Japan Video Software Association and the… Continue reading Nico Nico Douga forced to delete copyright-protected video material

Firefox3 Release Party Tokyo

Celebration of new Firefox 3 launch was held at a hotel in Shinagawa, Tokyo, with over 300 people, Mozilla Japan staff, developers, translators, web designers, engineers, bloggers and others. Contributors, Mozilla’s new CEO John Lilly, Mozilla Japan chairperson Satoko Takita Firefox Ice Trophy Foxkeh!!, Japan made mascot to appeal Japanese internet users The next Firefox… Continue reading Firefox3 Release Party Tokyo

Mobile Party – mobile wedding party assistant service

Mobile Party is a website which supports Japanese wedding celemony afterparty, by utilizing atendee’s cellularphones. In Japan, usual wedding day goes with the celemony (one of Shinto, Buddism, Christian-style, etc. no matter what their religion), formal reception and casual after-party. The first two usually involves families and relatives with few close friends (the size depends… Continue reading Mobile Party – mobile wedding party assistant service

Online video and music rental deal worth $5.3 million announced in Japan

Movie and music rental store operator Geo said yesterday they plan to buy all outstanding shares from Posren (post rental), Livedoor’s online DVD rental service for 560 million Yen ($5.3 million). The deal is supposed to take place July 1st. Geo tries to close the gap to market leader Tsutaya, which operates Discas for renting… Continue reading Online video and music rental deal worth $5.3 million announced in Japan

Firefox3 Release press conference

Firefox 3 release press conference was held at Takanawa Prince Hotel, Tokyo Japan. Satoko TAKITA, chairman of Mozilla Japan gave the first announce of Firefox3 release in the morning at 2:00 a.m. 18th June (in Japan Standard Time), with looking back how they have been updating Mozilla products for years. Mozilla Japan’s two missions Firefox… Continue reading Firefox3 Release press conference

Lunascape opens subsidiary in Silicon Valley

Following Fenrir’s announcement of internationalizing their Sleipnir browser just a few days ago, now Japan-based Lunascape announced today they opened an office in the USA to promote their web browser of the same name more efficiently overseas. Lunascape, Inc. with a capital stock of 300,000 USD will be located in Silicon Valley. Founder and CEO… Continue reading Lunascape opens subsidiary in Silicon Valley

RubyKaigi will be held this week

The Japan’s biggest conference on Ruby, RubyKaigi 2008, is going to be held on 20th(fri)-22nd(sun) June. Tickets for main sessions are already sold out. However you can attend to sub-sessions, poster sessions without ticket. I will give a talk as a part of sub-session on 21st (in Japanese).

The Happy Web Weekend

On Sunday, 15th June, The Happy Web Weekend, the event around microformats/Web Standards event was held in Ochanomizu, Tokyo, with John Allsopp, microformats authority and microformats book author from Australia. Semantic Microblogging / Masahide KANZAKI Masahide KANZAKI, who is well-known by his web standards and RDF infomation website The Web KANZAKI, which has been providing… Continue reading The Happy Web Weekend