Undercover Cops Dispatched To 1,500 Cellphone Shops To Check If They Explain Kids Filtering Service

Jiji reported [J] that Japan’s National Police Agency is planning to send secret agents to 1,500 cellphone shops nationwide, to check if shop clerks ask a customer who will use the cellphone, and if s/he says it is for their children, then if they introduce kids filtering service and explain what bad things could happen without it.

The National Police Agency tells that it is to enforce “Act on Establishment of Enhanced Environment for Youth’s Safe and Secure Internet Use”, which commenced on April 1st, 2009 in Japan.The act requires cellphone carriers to set on the filtering for users less than 18 yo, but the Cabinet Office research says only 48.2% of children aged between 10 and 17 are using it.

Major Japanese mobile websites form self-regulating organization EMA(Content Evaluation and Monitoring Association) and EMA accredited members services as wholesome sites, which can be reached over the kids filter (some of the services are partially approved by excluding communication feature like forums). Small services by start-ups who do not have enough money to join EMA and foreign services like Twitter/Facebook are blocked by the filter.

Recently, the Ministry of Internal Affair sent inquiry [J] to Apple Japan not having kids filter by default. Japan’s exclusive iPhone distributor Softbank Mobile explains that it needs to get an personal ID on Apple’s website to turn it on, so they cannot force the purchaser to use the filtering app.

See Also:

“Act on Secure and Safe Internet Use Environment for the Youth” site [J] on the Cabinet Office

How much it costs to be examined by EMA [J]

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Want To Share Only With One In Your Social Network – Use Iddhis

How many times have you wanted to share those secret pics with just one friend? Or wanted to write a status update that you wanted only that one special friend to read? Unfortunately none of your social networking sites let you do that.

Iddhis is a social platform that connects you with just one person. An ideal tool for one to connect to a friend or spouse or parents, one at a time and start sharing updates, photos, videos, day’s summary and much more. Updating on Iddhis can be done by web or by sending email to post<at>iddhis.com.

Iddhis.com is build around keeping user’s privacy at top priority. Iddhis.com is a kind of reverse social network, while on social network everything is by default public, on Iddhis.com , everything is private. With an Iddhis.com account one can connect with exactly one person. Social networks are not the ideal way to communicate with someone who is very important to you. That’s where Iddhis comes in.

The team has worked on the UI with a very ajaxy feel to it and making the actions most intuitive. The one basic question lies as to why can’t all this be done over email? Here’s what the founder has to say:

In one word the answer to your question would be  - Motivation. While everything can be done on email, the motivation to actually update on email doesn’t just happen naturally. Iddhis does a lots of things other than being a private space for two close people. There are various categories of updates, like short updates, day’ Summary, complaint, poems, photos, which one may not share on email regularly. Also there is too much noise in the mail box and conversations lose their importance very quickly. In Iddhis, everything remains very fresh as it’s just two of you who would share.

It’s true that everything is a subset of email, from social networking to forums, yet the need of dedicated platform for one particular task is always needed.

Motivation is the right word but does Iddhis solve the issue? Would you adopt to one more platform for that special person you want to interact with?

Do give Iddhis a try and lets know if the team has cracked it.

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3Pundits Helps Your Child Find The Nearest School [Education]

3Pundits.com is an answer to, obviously, the 3 idiots story. Now you can search for the best & nearest school for your kid whenever you make shift. The website has a smart & simple interface that cuts across several type of searches which parents would like to undertake while finding the right school for their ward.

For example you can find search on a coed school around your home or look for a only girls school in a locality. There is a possibility of reviewing a school as well, which we believe is a powerful and desirable approach for the parent-teacher fraternity. Also 3Pundits  have separated playschools from the regular machinery which gives parents a better resolution of where their kid fits in. I think this is particularly helpful for the very young & anxious parents whose toddlers are just about to step inside a school.

Find Nearby Schools

Overall I will rate the intent and quality of results at A+ but here is what I feel that 3Pundits can improve upon: The logo and the interface. Getting some professional designer to do the 3 Pundits logo instead of using the  Paint Brush Curl MT font might give a better look to your identity. Also a question that I have for the three pundits (three co-founders) behind 3pundits.com is: What is the main action call for a user on your home page? Is it search for schools or sign up to contribute?

3Pundits looks like a useful site for young working parents in Indian metros and also for those who live outside of India and yet are looking for a school near their Grandparents’ home.

What do you think Pi readers?

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Mixi Releases Android App

Mixi, Japan’s leading social network, already offers a decent mobile web site for smartphone users (Mixi Touch, which was launched in September). And today, the company finally announced an app for Android users (you can pretty much forget their much older iPhone app).

The new app makes it possible to use Mixi’s main features, including Mixi Voice (Mixi’s Twitter-like function), Mixi Photo, or Mixi Check (which works like “Share” on Facebook), and others on Android phones.

Here are two screenshots (click to enlarge):

The new Mixi app is available for download from the Android market today (or scan the QR code below):

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The Tencent vs government Puzzle

Tencent is the largest internet company in China and it might be also the most misunderstood one. I chatted with a friend in Hong Kong yesterday. And she asked whether Chinese government will be suppress Tencent. This is not the first time I heard about such query. A few months ago, a hedge fund manager asked whether Chinese government would take control of Tencent, given it has such an important position in China. “It has more users than China Mobile,” he said.

Yes, given Chinese government like to control everything important, the doubt is reason.

But, I don’t think Chinese government has anything to gain by taking over Tencent, if control is what it wants.

All the large internet companies in China are working closely with Chinese government, in term of political control, sex, violence and different kind of censorships. I once chatted with a leading online video operator. He said in order for them to get the licence, they talked with the government for over a year. A key point the government want to make sure is how well they can censorship the materials posted by their users. How they use technology, as well as human editors, to screen out problematic materials.

Tencent, obviously, will be following similar guild lines from government to make sure no political sensitive issues can spread among its 600 million plus registered users. (That is almost half of Chinese population.)

Another friend once told me, to run a instant messaging service, actually, the message can go directly from one user to the other, without going through a central server of the operator. But in Tencent’s case, messages on QQ pass through its central server before going to the other users. This obviously provide a good channel for control and censorship.

So, if Tencent is doing a great job, why replace it? And if Tencent’s QQ fail, the most to gain will be Microsoft’s MSN. (If fact, during Tencent’s dispute with 360 Guard, number of MSN users shoot up in China.) And MSN would not be as cooperative as Tencent, regarding to government’s requests.

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Bijo Linux – Photo Site Where Girls Are Displaying Linux Commands

Bijo Linux [J] is a new website offers Tokyo girls holding up a signboard showing one Linux command. The Japanese word “Bijo” means “beautiful lady”.

Every time you reload the page, a different girl with a different Linux command will be shown up. Each photo comes with the girl’s nickname, dob, blood type(how important!), occupation, hobby, etc.

The list of girls/commands are here.

You may also use a blog widget to show them on your blog.

Other apps like iPhone/iPad applications are planned.

The site is run by Linux Japan [J], a company established in 2009. Despite the name, the company does not seem to officially represent Linux but provides Linux training/consulting.

See Also:

Press Release [J]

Bijin Tokei: Japanese company offers Hot-girl-clock gadget

Bijin-Tokei Gots Inevitable Follower – Adult Version

We waited so long: Hot-girl-gadget Bijin Dokei gets an iPhone app

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