On Wednesday, Tokyo-based tech start-up in media rep service and speech recognition technology development Catalog just released the closed alpha version of the brand new service that enables speech-recognize what is spoken in a movie on the video sharing services such as YouTube and Nico Nico Douga[J]. In this release, the first 1,000 applicants can… Continue reading Enabling Speech-To-Text YouTube Videos Enhances Business Potential
Kanojo Camera – iPhone Memorial Photo Taker With Virtual Girls
A Japanese company A2c Co, Ltd. released a new iPhone application which enables you to take pictures with 5 virtual girls. “Kanojo Camera” (“kanojo” means girlfriend). You may choose from 5 different girls, each of who has more than 3 costumes, who can also change facial expressions. You can scale, move, rotate the girls to… Continue reading Kanojo Camera – iPhone Memorial Photo Taker With Virtual Girls
Japan Public TV NHK Intensely Promotes Twitter
Following to Biz Stone’s first Tokyo visit for media interviews and Tweetup event, media is reporting a lot about Twitter in Japan now. Public, and the biggest TV station NHK broadcasts about Twitters three time in two days, each of them are totally made differently. As a public TV, NHK usually does not show specific… Continue reading Japan Public TV NHK Intensely Promotes Twitter
Japan’s Biggest Social Network Mixi Buys 20% Of Foreigner-Led Social Gaming Company Pikkle
Mixi [JP], Japan’s largest social network (17.4 million members at the end of June), yesterday announced [JP, PDF] they acquired a 20% stake in Pikkle, a Tokyo-based social gaming company that was founded in 2005. What’s particularly interesting about this deal is that Pikkle was founded by David “DC” Collier, a veteran in the videogaming… Continue reading Japan’s Biggest Social Network Mixi Buys 20% Of Foreigner-Led Social Gaming Company Pikkle
30min. Fundraises USD275,000 To Go Next Round
Japan’s best-known LBS (location-based service) app 30min.[J] (pronounced “san-zero minutes”) allocated new shares to Mitsui Ventures (MVC), and Mr. Yohei Nishikubo joined the company as the managing director today. Mr. Nishikubo is a venture partner of MVC and formerly served as the president of search ad agency and SEO (search engine optimization) consultancy J Listing[J].… Continue reading 30min. Fundraises USD275,000 To Go Next Round
Amazon US Begins Same Day Delivery A Fortnight After Japan
When I reported Amazon Japan’s Same Day Delivery at the beginning of this month, I thought it would only be possible in a small dense country like Japan. I was wrong. Amazon US announced its same day service on October 15th in the following 7 cities, New York City – Order as late as 10… Continue reading Amazon US Begins Same Day Delivery A Fortnight After Japan
Japan-Only Twitter Mobile Page Takes Off
As implied by teaser page, Twitter Japan has launched an official Japanese cellphone site http://twtr.jp. Here is the teaser page changed to a guide page which has both cellphone site URL and QR Code. The current mobile site http://m.twitter.com/, which is not really usable (it did not work with many of Japanese phone browsers) for… Continue reading Japan-Only Twitter Mobile Page Takes Off
Chinese Government To Shut Out Foreign Online Games
China’s national copyright administration[C] announced the government would ban the market entry of online game services which are operated by non-Chinese service providers. According to the country’s state-run news website Xinhua-Net, the deputy commissioner for the sci-tech department of the administration says, regardless of whether it’s an independent entity or a joint venture with a… Continue reading Chinese Government To Shut Out Foreign Online Games
Technorati Japan Closes Service October 23
Technorati in the US relaunched today, introducing a set of new features and a fresh overall look, and received a 2 million USD cash injection yesterday, but a few hours ago Technorati Japan has announced [JP] it will cease to exist as early as October 23. The move itself isn’t too surprising to many people… Continue reading Technorati Japan Closes Service October 23
Twitter Launches Video Service From Japan
Twitvideo, a new video tweeting service working with Twitter, was released on October 5th 2009 by DG Mobile Inc., a subsidiary of Digital Garage Inc., a Japanese Twitter partner which invested in Twitter and has been running Twitter Japan’s localization and promotion since January 2008. Using the site, Japanese twitter users can post and share… Continue reading Twitter Launches Video Service From Japan