Launched in Japan as early as 2005, “Colopl”, a simulation in which cell phone users manage a virtual colony, is probably one of the earliest geo-aware games out there. The namesake company made “Coloni-na Seikatsu Plus” (Colony-like Life) available to subscribers of NTT Docomo, SoftBank Mobile, and KDDI au. In the game, players collect a… Continue reading KDDI Buys 5% Stake In GPS Game Provider Colopl For US$6.2 Million
Category: News
ex-Livedoor CEO Takafumi Horie Sells His Road To Prison Live
Takafumi Horie, ex-Livedoor CEO, who had challenged several Japanese traditional companies and thought as one of Japanese IT-industry icon, who recently got rejected his appeal of innocent by supreme court, unveiled on his personal blog that the day of imprisonment is today, around 13:00 June 20, 2011 [J]. He is planned to be in jail… Continue reading ex-Livedoor CEO Takafumi Horie Sells His Road To Prison Live
Attempted Rapist Arrested By Browsing His Mixi Profile On The Victim’s Cellphone
Sankei reports [J] that Kanagawa prefectural police arrested a 19 yo university student in Yokohama on June 16 for attempted rape. The boy raided a flat of 20 years old victim, an university student, through an non-locked front door around 21:30. Just before waking her up to threat, he used the victim’s cellphone, logged-on Mixi… Continue reading Attempted Rapist Arrested By Browsing His Mixi Profile On The Victim’s Cellphone
Groupon Japan Gives Away $50 PC Game For New Members
The market for daily coupon services in Japan has developed into a a two-horse race in the last few months: Groupon Japan is leading the market with an estimated $18.6 million in sales in April this year against Recruit’s Ponpare, which racked up $14.5 million in the same month (according to daily coupon search service… Continue reading Groupon Japan Gives Away $50 PC Game For New Members
Meet Japanese Start-ups on Fri and Sat in Singapore
Picture courtesy: Flickr user edwin.11 (used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license) Singapore is very hot on tech throughout this week, since Echelon 2011, one of the largest tech conference in South East Asia, will be taking place at the National University of Singapore, where the region’s best start-up companies and services will… Continue reading Meet Japanese Start-ups on Fri and Sat in Singapore
Japanese Social Marketplace FlutterScape Raises USD750K In Second Seed Funding
FlutterScape, a social marketplace specializing in introducing “Japan-only” or “Japan-made” products for online shoppers outside the country, recently fundraised JPY60M (approx. USD750K) in their second seed-round from three VC firms, which are Japan Venture Capital (NVCC)[J], ngi group and Innovation Engine. In their first seed round, the company fundraised JPY25M (approx. USD310K) from Digital Garage,… Continue reading Japanese Social Marketplace FlutterScape Raises USD750K In Second Seed Funding
Yahoo! Japan To End Social Network Yahoo! Days
Yahoo! Japan announced [J] that they would cease a social networking service Yahoo! Days on October 3, 2011. On July 6, most of activities around messages, photos and community will be disabled. My page above showed me no recent diaries and messages of friends… Yahoo! Days, which started in February 2006 as Yahoo! 360°, the… Continue reading Yahoo! Japan To End Social Network Yahoo! Days
Sassor Urgently Introduces Power-saving Support Device To Meet Consumer Needs On Time
Due to the tragedic accident of the Fukushima nuclear power plant that was caused by the massive earthquake on March 11, Eastern Japan and the Tokyo Metropolitan Area are still afraid of unpredictable and large-scale blackouts. In town, or at railway stations, we see many digital signboards that shows us a real-time statistics of power… Continue reading Sassor Urgently Introduces Power-saving Support Device To Meet Consumer Needs On Time
Docomo Opens Official Facebook Page
Docomo, Japan’s No.1 cellphone carrier, has opened an official Facebook page today. “New Smartphone Review” page introduces their latest 9 smartphones and asked users to comment. “Message Card” corner lets you send a Docomodake message card to your Facebook friends. Docomodake is a mashroom character of Docomo. No.2 KDDI au announced its alliance with Facebook… Continue reading Docomo Opens Official Facebook Page
NHK To Start Internet Simalcast Radio
AV Watch reports [J] that NHK(Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is going to broadcast its three radio channels, Radio1/2 and NHK FM, over the internet from September 1st. Those simulcast channel will be listened on website on PC. For Smartphone(Android/iPhone), apps will be released after October 1st. Some private radio stations have already been airing their program… Continue reading NHK To Start Internet Simalcast Radio