August 2011 Japan IT Links (Part 3)

Please follow this new Asiajin Mixi page if you have a Mixi account.

Continued from (Part 2). Last part of August news which we did not write as a dedicated article.

Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated.

• Dragonslayer Wedding Cake Cut Celemony

  

• Mixi Changes Its Logo. A blog Orange wrote [J] that the new logo becomes more similar to a fancy character Miffy punching you, which was often said even with the old logo

  

• KDDI au To Limit Data Usage On Flat-Rate Users
• Narita Airport Sign For Japanese Samurai

  

• The Japan Times Launches Daily Deal Service For Expats
• Findog - Dentsu Releases Product-Search Camera App For iPhone via release
• Ikea Japan officially answers they do not sells rocket launchers. - another new social media heroin with esprit and humor
• Transgender Boys Gathers At Local Festival With Homage To A Character Boy In An Animation

  

• High-school Baseball Players Who Won Japan's Second Place Accsued By Drinking, Which Is Found On Past Blog
• How Not To Sleep Your PC - lifehack!

  

• Maeda Corp. Estimates Construction Cost For Thunderbird's Island via Slashdot Japan
• Okite - Free iPhone Wake-up Alarm Posting Embarassing Tweets If You Don't Stop It via Cnet Japan
• Yahoo! Japan Makes Partnership With JCB. Consumers Can Connect Both IDs.
• Gree To Redistribute Unity Game Engine For Free With Its Partners Exclusively via Markezine
• Google Adwords (Japan?) Fails To Receive Credit Card Payments By System Trouble, But Stopped Customers Ads. so many complainments
• Artifitial Vampire Tooths To Make Japanese Cute. not really IT but from 2-channel. of course, most Japanese do not imagine Vampire from such shape of teeth but see some cuteness. a good example of cultural difference on what is beauty.

  

• See-through Glass print Showing Different Ads To Different Direction Night And Day [pdf] On the day and night, different ads are displayed to different directions.

  

• Korean Vocaloid Character Design Revealed

  

• Life2Bits release the iPhone app called 'OnSay', which allows you to make an IP phone call to your Twitter follower without dialing his/her phone number.
• Baboo - Baby-Avatar Android Chat App via release

If you want to know any specific news more, but unable to find them in other English blog/media, please let us know.

August 2011 Japan IT Links (Part 3)

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Popular 2-Channel Ascii Arts Animated

It has been 12 years since 2-channel serves Japanese net users. The gigantic anonymous bulletin boards are still kept simple without image/movie, all you type is texts.

You may post URL of images there, and many 2-channel viewer clients, which many users are now using, extracted to display in the posts for convenience. But still, many prefer to use so-called Ascii Art, drawing composed by letters and symbols.

There are a lot of Ascii Art dictionary sites (example [J]) and assisting tools. 2-channel users copy and paste an Ascii Art which shows their emotion.

On a certain thread on 2-channel, users tried to make an animated gif version of well-known Ascii Arts.

Here, the Japanese letters "Ban-ban-ban" in background means a sound you bash not PC.

ﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝ
ﾊﾞﾝ　　　　　　　ﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾞﾝ ﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝ
ﾊﾞﾝ（∩`･ω･）　　ﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾊﾞﾝﾞﾝ
　＿/_ﾐつ/￣￣￣/
　　　 ＼/＿＿＿/￣

Wake-waka-ran = I am in complete confusion.

　　ワケ　　　　　ワカ　　　　　ラン♪
　 ∧＿∧　　　∧＿∧　　　　∧＿∧
　（　・∀・）　　（　・∀・）　　　（　・∀・）
⊂　⊂　 ）　　（　Ｕ　　つ　　⊂__へ　つ
　<　<　<　　　　）　）　）　　　　　（＿）|
　（＿（＿）　　（_＿）＿）　　　 彡（_＿）

whew... uh.. yeah... I am really excited!

　　 ∩＿＿＿∩三　ー＿　　　　　 　 ∩＿＿＿∩
　　 |ノ　　　 　　三-二　　　 　ー二三 ノ　　　 　　ヽ
　　/　　(ﾟ) 　　　(ﾟ)三二-　￣　　 - 三　　 (ﾟ)　　　(ﾟ) |　　
　 |　　　　( _●_)　 ミ三二 - ー二三　　　　( _●_)　 ミ　ウオーオォーアッヒャアウオホーオオオ
　彡､　　　|∪|　　､｀￣￣三-　三　 彡､　　　|∪|　　ミ　　　　テンション上がってきた！！
/　＿＿　 ヽノ　　　Y￣)　三 三 　 (/'　　　　ヽノ＿ 　|　　　　　　テンション上がってきた！！
(＿＿＿）　　　　　　　_ノ　　　　　　 ヽ/　　　　　(＿＿＿）

These animation show well how Japanese are seeing action in few texts drawings.

There are more on a 2-channel summary site Kinisoku [J].

Popular 2-Channel Ascii Arts Animated

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Web Wednesday with Sharon Malaby of Spiral Media and Digital – 14 Sep

This upcoming Wednesday, Sharon Malaby of Spiral Media and Digital will be the speaker of Web Wednesday. She will share about online social gaming, one of the biggest phenonmenon in the digital world and how do brands participate in gaming and build a social branding strategy. As a company, Spiral has brought together the most popular social gaming publishers from Silicon Valley and offers social advertising to brands and agencies in our region.

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Event Details

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When: Wednesday, 14th September 2011
Time: 630pm-9pm
Where: Beer Market at Clarke Quay (Map)
Register here.

 

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Events For The Week – 10-17 Sep

For a one-stop to all events related to or concerning entrepreneurship, certain industry-meets-business forums and seminars in Singapore, check out our Calendar. If not, you can also follow our bite-size updated posts for upcoming events for the week.

Events range from simple get-togethers to full-blown conferences. Get to meet fellow developers, entrepreneurs, startup CEOs & founders, and meet & learn from CEOs of established companies who have seen it all.

Our aim here at SGE is to make it easy for you to pick & choose from the event buffet. Enjoy.

Here are the events for this week. Events are mostly in Singapore (generally 30 minutes drive from anywhere), but we also include key events from around Southeast Asia and beyond.

Saturday 10th September:

(1) BarcampSG7

Wednesday 14th September:

(1) Click Asia MasterClass

Thursday 15th September:

(1) Servcorp Business Shorts with Anthony Coundouris

Thursday to Friday 15th-16th September:

(1) Marketing and PR on a budget with Robin Low

Image courtesy of joyosity.

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Silicon Dragon Rang the Closing Bell

NASDAQ newsSeptember 08, 2011 Silicon Dragon, a news, events and consulting group, visited the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City's Times Square. In honor of the occasion, the force behind Silicon Dragon, Rebecca Fannin rang the Closing Bell.This news, events and consulting group was founded by journalist and author Rebecca Fannin in 2009. The group publishes international newsletters for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, programs business conferences for startup founders and investors in New York, Silicon Valley, Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore, and provides editorial content for multinational tech and financial companies, including KPMG and Sony. Silicon Dragon testified as an expert witness on China's Internet before a U.S.-China Commission in Washington, D.C. Silicon Dragon draws upon a rich library, from Ms. Fannin's extensive reporting in Asia for nearly two decades for Forbes, CEO, HBR.com, The Deal, Red Herring and several other business publications. The content resources include two books penned by Ms. Fannin: Silicon Dragon (McGraw-Hill, 2008) and Startup Asia (Wiley, forthcoming Oct. 2011).

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On Reviewing Startups, Telling The Truth And Firing CEOs

As we woke up to the news of Carol Bartz being fired the other day, not in a very friendly manner, we couldn’t help go back to the Techcrunch interview where Arrington made her spew the F word by asking her too many hard questions. That interview and some recent developments have made some of us think if we can ever have a “no holds barred” reporting and relationship that TC has with the larger startup community in the US.

Will we do a good job for Pluggd.in and the Indian startup community if we say only good things about them or urge you to try them by yourself? Do we become a mouthpiece for PR agency shit? Do we have the balls and the will to write scathing reviews and not care about the repercussions?

This thought brings us to two most probable reactions that readers might have

1. Write the truth but back it up with facts.
2. Always write goody goody stuff and let the reader decide.

Let us take up the second point first. Most of our readers are adults who are interested in, read up on or employed with technology companies. They have toiled their way through engineering school (or medical and law schools) and are now doing relatively well than their previous generations. They are not idiots (and we do not intend to treat them as such). Goody shit doesn’t help anyone. Not the readers – for whom it is an insult, not the founders – who do not get any real feedback on their product and lastly not this site because we do not add any value to the 10 minutes you spent on reading the shitty goody post.

We have faced some flak on (1) as well on a particular post we had written. Most of them are personal insults to the author – which are duly ignored. But some of them were regarding the blog, writing style, mode of analysis (judgmental or otherwise) and finally on not being specific or a startup not being ready for review.

Let me cut paste an internal email thread that we had on the mentioned startup

————–

Author – These guys are pitching a very good thing in the wrong way. They are actually offering a hosted site to local retailers with feature to showcase products/ deals etc. Have written to them with feedback. The product is not ready to review now. They will gain nothing. should we still review it?

Editor 1 - I personally think that if a company does a PR, they think its good to release. Our feedback in that case should be in terms of the review. The decision to review / not review is a different one – but I found your point below extremely relevant and by itself worth a review

Editor 2 – good point. Here is the thing: If not us, others will profile them. If we want to be relevant, we shd profile them and actually share the feedback in the post. That adds value (others will only do PR).

————–

That is the thing guys. We REVIEW. We are not mouthpieces of your PR agency. If you want to hear good stories – hire a nice PR agency, make them write up about your startup in glowing words and mix it up with some Koolaid or Bhang (depending upon where you are from) and drink it (Recommended Read: Fuck the Accolades. Seek the Criticism).

We have reviewed and showcased a lot of startups in the past – many of them critically. But some of them (to quote one example) – e.g. Flipkart has been mature about it (ref: the Flipkart story). They have taken pains to call the aforementioned author and clarify their point and actually take notes on points where they can improve. And that’s just one example of many.

As far as critics are concerned, maybe we should have ignored it – as Nikhil suggests and as the author himself suggested. But we are not in the business of ignoring.

That is, we are not your PR agency and will never be one. We are a site that gives you an unbiased feedback on your product (we aren’t journalists). We will review startups. We will give credit where it’s due and pan a startup when necessary. Getting feedback, getting discouraged, failing and trying again are part of being a startup. If you can’t take it – well too bad.

But the reality is world isn’t going to be fair just because you are doing a startup. So stop drinking your kool aid and brace yourself for the road ahead.

It ain’t easy.

-

Ashish/Pratyush/Team Pi.

[Image credit: h.koppdelaney/Flickr]

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M-Trix: Android Market Specialized For Anime Porn Apps

Japanese company M-trix launched its own Android Apps Market "M-trix Market", which targets Japanese-style bishoujyo (Wikipedia) games.

The site has an age confirmation screen,

The games list looks like this,

Exdroid reported [J] that there were over 10,000 apps downloaded only for the launch day, though the number may include free apps.

The initial launch was in July [J], and they added another category "Rejected Apps Market" where they accept Android Apps which was rejected by the official market.

There seems to be already a porn-specific Android App Market in West for long. It might be a Japanese answer to it. With Android's system which boasts more freedom than iOS App Store, it is natural that category app stores emerge.

via Famitsu

M-Trix: Android Market Specialized For Anime Porn Apps

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Hatsune Miku’s L.A. Performance To Be Sold On Blu-ray/DVD/CD

MIKUNOPOLIS in LOS ANGELES “Nice To Meet You, I’m Hatsune Miku” [Blu-ray] [J]

Sega [J] is releasing a Blu-ray/DVD as well as a Live CD of "MIKUNOPOLIS in LOS ANGELES `Nice To Meet You, I'm Hatsune Miku,`" in which Hatsuon Miku makes her first overseas performance held on July 2nd, 2011 at Nokia Theater in Los Angeles [J].

The Blu-ray/DVD is planned to go on sale on December 21st, and the Live CD will be available from November 20th, 2011.

The performance of "MIKUNOPOLIS in LOS ANGELES `Nice To Meet You, I'm Hatsune Miku,`" was part of with the yearly established Japanese festival "ANIME EXPO 2011."

Tickets sold out, and on the day of the concert, over 5,000 audience members were in attendance. The Blue-Ray/DVD and Live CD being sold are complete recordings of this performance. Special features include the "making of" video and the opening act featuring the opening MC and two members of the dance unit "DANCEROID."

MIKUNOPOLIS in LOS ANGELES "Nice To Meet You, I’m Hatsune Miku" [DVD]

Translation licensed by VSMedia

Hatsune Miku’s L.A. Performance To Be Sold On Blu-ray/DVD/CD

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Mobage Pre-installed On KDDI’s Android “REGZA Phone IS11T”

DeNA [J] has announced that they will offer pre-install smart phone version "Mobage" applications for Fujutsu Corporation’s Android equipped KDDI smartphone "REGZA Phone IS11T," which is released for sale on September 9th, which is today.

The REGZA Phone IS11T, on which these smart phone version Mobage will be pre-installed, has slide keyboard and touch panel, which when used together will ensure operability. In addition, because off the high efficiency 1.4 GHz chip set, it’s an Android cell phone which supports comfortable character entry. It is loaded with Mobile Relaxation 4.0 for video screen, and you can enjoy high quality video.

I think that because "Mobage" applications will be pre-installed by DeNA on this device, "Mobage" can be easily accessed and a wider class of users will enjoy this service.

Translation licensed by VSMedia

Mobage Pre-installed On KDDI’s Android “REGZA Phone IS11T”

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Baidu Launches Baidu Yi, Partners with Dell on Devices

China’s top search engine Baidu Inc. recently launched a new mobile software platform, Baidu Yi (meaning “easy”), previewed at its annual World forum in Beijing. According to people familiar with the matter, Dell is teaming up with Baidu for manufacturing mobile devices and smartphones based on the Yi platform, which is expected to unveil this November.

Baidu Yi platform is currently based on Google’s Android mobile OS, which will include various applications from Baidu, such as maps, Shen Bian (like Google Places), Ting music platform, Yue (reader app). The new Yi platform will also feature strong cloud integration for storage, back-up and sharing with up to 180GB of online storage space - all the contents on the mobile are always synced and stored both on the mobile and in the cloud for anytime-anywhere access, including pictures, documents, contacts, calender,music, and videos, etc. The search box of Baidu Yi phone allows users to search the web even before the operating system have fully loaded.

According to the vice-president of Baidu, Wang Jing, Baidu has not ruled out the possibility of launching its own OS at a later date.

Baidu hasn’t said anything publicly about the new agreement with Dell yet, but did note that it had existing deals with other device manufacturers. Dell, however, is the first to commit to building hardware that utilizes Biadu Yi.

Baidu isn’t the first Chinese company to announce a mobile operating system with a cloud-based focus. Internet commerce site Alibaba recently introduced Aliyun OS, an Android-based OS designed to run mobile web apps.

Related posts:

1. Baidu Launches Mobile Box Computing Effort to Seize New Opportunity
2. Baidu Releasing Revamped Homepage and Mobile Platform At Annual Conference
3. Lee Kaifu's comments on Baidu's mobile phone OS

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Tech Briefings: Tencent Invests In 3C Site 500CCC.com; Lashou To Initiate IPO Soon

1. Tencent Invested In B2C 3C Site 500CCC.com

Newly founded B2C 3C site 500ccc.com confirmed its partnership with Tencent. The site was founded on June 28 this year with an sharpen focus on 3C products ranging from computer, mobile, home appliance.

The new comer differentiates itself from 360buy.com or NewEgg China by its “city-focus” strategy, that means, 500CCC.com builds an independent website for each city it operates in. It also delivers and provides after-sale service through the city branches, just like a local store next to your neighborhood. That’s exactly what the big names are missing.

 

2. Serial Entrepreneur Wang Xin Launches Tumblr-like Service Mibuo.com

Serial Entrepreneur, founder of Fanfou (Twitter-like service), Xiaonei (aka Renren.com) and Meituan Wang Xin marches into social media forefront again with the debut of Mibuo.com, a Tumblr-like service.

The site is sill in beta version and you need an invitation to sign up, but for those who already are fanfou.com users, just login in with you Fanfou account and try it out.

3. Lashou To Initiate IPO Soon, Rumor Says So

According to unconfirmed rumor, Lashou, the China’s Groupon copy, will initiate IPO process soon. And hold on, there’s a rumor yesterday saying the company is delaying its IPO due to the retreat of investment banks.

The latest spreading rumor said that Lashou actually is looking for new underwriters to replace Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Interestingly, Groupon puts off its IPO plan due to market turmoil, if Lashou’s IPO rumor is true. Then Groupon will have to see the swift-footed newcomer go public even before itself.

 

Related posts:

1. Chinese Groupon, Lashou and Meituan both Confirm They Raised Venture Capital
2. Tech Briefings:Mecox Lane Loses $ 3.4 M; Tencent Launches Mobile app Center With Money Incentive
3. Tencent Invested in Daily Deal Site FTuan for an Undisclosed Sum

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