Since the iPhone still isn’t available (and can’t function) in Japan, the newish Prada phone will have to slake the uber-trendy folks who want a mobile without a physical keypad.
NTT DoCoMo Develops New PRADA-Branded Handset Tokyo, Japan, May 9, 2008 - (JCN Newswire) —NTT DoCoMo… will begin marketing “PRADA Phone by LG”, a full touch screen mobile phone for the Japanese market, from June. The handset, already available in Europe and other countries/regions, has been redeveloped specifically for DoCoMo…more...
For more info, read the full review if the European version at tweaktown.com.
Here’s a Fart Canon for your mobile. Called the “Mobile Fragrance Communications Emitter”, this device lets download fragrances recipes with your Japanese cellphone and then send those hen send those fragrances via infrared signal to the emitter.
NTT Com to test mobile fragrance service Japan Today: Monday 07th April, 04:52 PM JST—NTT Communications announced Monday that it will conduct a pilot test of its new Mobile Fragrance Communication (Kaori Tsushin Mobile) service, a mobile version of an existing service for enjoying downloaded audiovisual content together with specific fragrances that are emitted by a dedicated device...more…
It’s a toss-up whether Japan or Finland has the highest rate of cellphone use, but I can guarantee that the Japanese need to start wearing tinfoil hats if this scientist below is correct about the Keitai/mobile phone industry needing to reduce exposure to phone radiation (the Japanese spend hours each day crushed in Faraday Cages–train cars–with scores of keitai/cellphones in operation).
Mobile phones ‘more dangerous than smoking’ Independent.co.uk - Sunday, 30 March 2008
Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take “immediate steps” to reduce exposure to their radiation.
The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks…more…
Sometimes just the titles of news can bring me a laugh.
In this case, the image of the “Godzilla of Spam” just breaks me up…
Japan brings down Godzilla of spam The Register - 19 February 2008—Japanese police have arrested a “prolific spammer” who allegedly bombarded inboxes with hundreds of millions of messages punting internet gambling and dating sites. Investigators reckon Yuki Shiina, 25, sent as many as 2.2 billion spam messages using what appears to be rudimentary spamming techniques. He allegedly purchased a list of 600,000 email addresses for a pricey 100,000 yen ($927), earning 2m yen ($18,540) through a subsequent spamming campaign…more…
Japanese robo-cutie, “Hatsune Miku,” sings the national anthems of France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, UK and USA in a amazing Japanese accent. Since Miss Hatsune is a Yamaha-created synthesizer software product, VOCALOID2, she “sings” the lyrics as they are transcribed into Japanese syllables…many syllables in Western languages do not have a match in Japanese so her singing is charmingly twisted.
You can also listen to or download these national anthems by Hatsune Miku in a iPod-ready MP3 format here (if you wait a moment after clicking the song):
As you see in the above screenshot, Oamos is a noisy search engine with what they call in glorious understatement, “audio-visual display interfaces.” I would not attempt to use the Oamos search engine in the office—the wild squeaks, bleats and pumping techno music might be frowned upon in a normally crypt-like Japanese office.
However, I enjoy that Oamos is designed to make Internet searches fun and it encourages exploring weirder connections among the terms you enter into its search function.
The directions for using Oamos are simple: “Let me inspire you to a topic you choose” —‘gaijin’ (alien/foreigner in Japanese) for example. ENJOY.
Similar to a booty call in English, getting a “Morning Call” in Japanese can both mean the regular wake-up call one can ask for in a hotel, and also getting call from a lover first thing in the morning.
The Unilever line of deodorants*, AXE, is offering a sexy “Wake-Up Service” at www.0120-084-544.com and at the Japanese toll-free phone number, 0120-084-544. These wake-up call girls will only work on cellphones with a Flash player in their browser and of course calling a Japanese toll-free phone number from outside Japan is going to be problematic.
*Also problematic for AXE is that Japanese detest using strong deodorants like AXE since they think they only non-Japanese stink.
Japan to pursue new Internet technology The Japan Times, Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007—BRASILIA: Communications minister Yoshihide Suga said Japan will start researching and developing technology for a new generation of network to replace the Internet. The government would like to get the technology into commercial use by 2020, Suga said Friday in Brazil. He said an organization will be established as early as this fall…more...
Japan Inc. failed at this looooong ago in the 80s and early 90s with their “CAPTAIN System” (Character and Pattern Telephone Access Information System) at the same time the Internet was catching on in the real world. The CAPTAIN system is a VIDEOTEX system using existing telephone lines are used for transmission and home TV sets are used for the display units. This “walled garden”—closed set of information services for creating a monopoly—was 100% government controlled, expensive, and unneeded since the Internet was already making its mark.
The only reason why Japan has cheap and high-speed broadband now is that NTT made it defacto impossible to get affordable Internet until the 1996 and Korea’s advances shamed Japan into opening up. The whole purpose of an open Internet: freedom, anonymity, equality of ideal, independence, and creativity goes against Japanese love of elites and top down control. The new Japanese “Internet” will be just like it keitai web for cellphones: expensive, closed, corporate controlled, DRM locked down, and statist approach with two or three times the monthly service charge. Bah.
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Japan to pursue new Internet technology
