It seems Japan is getting more serious as far as cloud computing adoption is concerned. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, better known as NTT, is planning to invest about $470 million into cloud computing system-related R&D over the next three years. This decision may just right come right in time (or possible half a year too… Continue reading NTT pumps $470 million into cloud computing by 2012
NTT DoCoMo To Start Cellphone Banking Service, While KDDI Runs A Year Ahead
NTT DoCoMo and Mizuho Bank are reportedly planning to launch a micro payment banking service using cellphone handsets. By using the bank agent system that permits non-financial companies to deal with financial services, the cellphone giant will launch the service in this summer as soon as Japan’s monetary authority approves it. The new service allows… Continue reading NTT DoCoMo To Start Cellphone Banking Service, While KDDI Runs A Year Ahead
Japan’s No.1 TV web portal acTVila tops 1 million subscribers
It took 28 months, but now it has happened. Japan’s answer of sorts to American video platform Hulu, a content-on-demand service called acTVila, has racked up one million subscribers [JP, PDF]. acTVila is surely benefiting from the sharp rise in popularity of Internet-enabled TV sets, which are required to used the video-on-demand service. Users can… Continue reading Japan’s No.1 TV web portal acTVila tops 1 million subscribers
Make Tokyo Meeting 03: Where You Can See Future, Magic And Junk In A Place
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
Time Trip on Tokyo Decade
Lat Long Lab is an experimental services showcase by Yahoo! Japan‘s map division (Alps-sha before Yahoo’s bought). Their new service Tokyo decade shows you two maps of the same point in Tokyo, with current and 10 years ago. The top page shows a good example, on the right, you see Tokyo Mid-Town (Roppoingi), where a… Continue reading Time Trip on Tokyo Decade
Kenko.com and Wellnet Sues Japanese Government around Drug e-Commerce Ban
Today, two online pharmacy stores Kenko.com and Wellnet had a press conference to announce that they had filed a lawsuit against Japanese government. They claims that the ban of online and postal drug sale, which is going to be effective from June 1st, is against the constitution. After we reported Rakuten, Kenko.com and others claimed… Continue reading Kenko.com and Wellnet Sues Japanese Government around Drug e-Commerce Ban
We waited so long: Hot-girl-gadget Bijin Dokei gets an iPhone app
My personal favorite web concept of 2009, the Bijin Dokei (Hot Girl Clock) gadget, which I was happy to introduce in March, gets an iPhone app (App store link). Finally. The clever people from PHIRIA Design offer the gadget worldwide for $2.99/2.39 Euros (they even provide a German description in the German App Store). Similar… Continue reading We waited so long: Hot-girl-gadget Bijin Dokei gets an iPhone app
Make Your Blog Catchier With Yellow Paper’s Know-How
Kayac[J], a funny web app developer based in Tokyo’s suburb, and Tokyo Sports[J] (a.k.a. Toh-spo), a daily sports newspaper company, jointly introduced a blodget[J] on Wednesday, which may make your blog much catchier. Toh-spo covers sports and show biz news everyday, and it is an yellow paper having a large circulation. Tokyo businessmen love… Continue reading Make Your Blog Catchier With Yellow Paper’s Know-How
This Weekend’s Three Tech Events You Must See
On this weekend, here we can get a chance to witness three great tech events in a row. As first of all, a Tokyo-based social entrepreneur Todd Porter, the co-founder of Tokyo International School Patrick Newell and their companions will have the first event of TedxTokyo on this coming Friday at the National Museum of… Continue reading This Weekend’s Three Tech Events You Must See
Joker Racer – “Truly-Remote” Control Car Over The Internet
A team of Joker Racer, a project by Tokyo-based Jokerworks Corp. to make remote control cars (and possibly real cars) controlled over the internet to provide virtual-but-real driving experience by using on-car linux and web cam, is visiting the Silicon Valley for their demonstration trip including O’Reilly Where 2.0 and Ignite + Launch Pad. Yoski… Continue reading Joker Racer – “Truly-Remote” Control Car Over The Internet