Category: News

New Singer Debuts From Video Sharing Site, Then Performs In Real Space At Record Shop

New male singer “Clear” introduced his first album last Wednesday, its sales surpassed 13,000 copies by the end of last week.  It’s ranked in the 9th place for Japan’s Billboard-like company Oricon’s weekly album sales chart[J]. He started his ‘singer’ career by posting his performance videos into the “I just tried singing out” section of… Continue reading New Singer Debuts From Video Sharing Site, Then Performs In Real Space At Record Shop

The iPhone Makes You Much Easier To Park On City Streets

Tokyo-based mobile service integrator IMJ Mobile[J] and its subsidiary developing iPhone/Android apps Bottle Cube have introduced the iPhone app that allows you to find available parking lots near where you are by using GPS. IMJ Mobile has a database consisting from more than 36,000 parking lot location data, and they’ve been presenting the data to… Continue reading The iPhone Makes You Much Easier To Park On City Streets

Mixi Introduces New APIs; Enabling To Integrate Home Appliances With The Social Graph

There’s one more thing to tell you on Mixi[J]. Mixi upgraded the interface that has been introduced for two years to those who have partnered, and introduced two APIs – “mixi Plugin[J]” and “mixi Graph APIs[J]” on Friday.   mixi Graph APIs are designed for the third parties to integrate their social web services and apps… Continue reading Mixi Introduces New APIs; Enabling To Integrate Home Appliances With The Social Graph

Mixi Launches Social App Platform For Smartphone Users, Too

Mixi[J], needless to say, one of Japan’s largest social networks, had a briefing conference entitled Mixi Meetup 2010 today, announced they had launched a social app platform for their smartphone-optimized user interface called mixi Touch. As of today, the following social apps are available on the platform. (Links given to app names in the list… Continue reading Mixi Launches Social App Platform For Smartphone Users, Too

Itochu Technology Ventures Invests $2 Million In Ooyala’s $22 Million Series D Round

As TechCrunch reported yesterday, video publishing platform Ooyala from the US plans to bolster its activities in Asia after raising a $22 million series D round (the company is now funded with $42 million in total). TechCrunch quotes CEO Fulcher as saying that future markets include places like Japan, Taiwan, China, and Korea. What’s interesting… Continue reading Itochu Technology Ventures Invests $2 Million In Ooyala’s $22 Million Series D Round

Mochi Media “Scores” Hit Virtual World Ameba Pico From Japan’s CyberAgent

Virtual world Ameba Pico (Ameba Pigu in Japan) is a success story. The service was launched by Tokyo-based web powerhouse CyberAgent in February 2009 and went on attracting four million members [PDF] in Japan. CyberAgent announced an English version in November 2009, which went online in March 2010. And if The Nikkei, Japan’s biggest business daily,… Continue reading Mochi Media “Scores” Hit Virtual World Ameba Pico From Japan’s CyberAgent

Mixi Goes Facebook (II): “Mixi Check In” Is “Facebook Places”

With “Check”, Mixi copied Facebook’s “Like” function today, and while they were at it, Japan’s biggest social network copied Facebook’s location-based function, “Places”, as well. It’s just that on Mixi, “Places” is called “Check In”. So historically speaking, it took Mixi two years to follow Facebook’s Apps platform, half a year for “Like” and now… Continue reading Mixi Goes Facebook (II): “Mixi Check In” Is “Facebook Places”

Mixi Goes Facebook (I): “Mixi Check” Is Facebook’s “Like”

Facebook announced (and rolled it out) earlier this year, and now Japan’s biggest social network, Mixi, announced it, too: A function to share what you “like” on external sites with your friends. On Mixi, that function is called “Check”. As you can see on the screenshot of my Mixi profile below, Mixi Check is now… Continue reading Mixi Goes Facebook (I): “Mixi Check” Is Facebook’s “Like”

Tokyo’s Social App Provider Pokelabo Fundraises USD12M From DCM And Mobage-Town

On Wednesday, Tokyo-based social app provider Pokelabo[J] announced that they had fundraised USD12M from Silicon Valley-headquartered VC firm DCM and IncubateFund[J], an investment fund by DeNA owning social app and mobile game platform Mobage-Town. Pokelabo was founded three years ago by the company’s CEO and his “Mixi[J]-mates”.  It has developed flash games for feature phones,… Continue reading Tokyo’s Social App Provider Pokelabo Fundraises USD12M From DCM And Mobage-Town