10500590
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
Four major Japanese car manufacturers and one power company (Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, and Tokyo Electric) have teamed up with over 150 business and government entities in Japan to form a group to promote standardization in electric vehicle chargers and charging stations. The group hopes to leverage current Japanese electric vehicle technology and spread standardization throughout the country, as well as aim towards worldwide acceptance of their standardized charger model. In a very Japanese manner, the group has decided to call themselves "CHAdeMO," a play on the English words "charge" and "move," as well as a Japanese pun that encourages tea-drinking while waiting the 15+ minutes it will take to charge one's vehicle battery.
10436696
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
In honor of Pi Day , March 14 (or 3.14 for those who may need a hint), readers may be interested in reading an interview with Professor Daisuke Takahashi, the Japanese researcher who found 2.5 trillion decimals of Pi back in the famous number back in last August, before being apparently edged out in December by a French computer programmer looking to prove his efficient coding abilities. Professor Takahashi's interview gives a brief unique incite into one man who truly marvels at the number that has drives people to ever greater lengths to find more digits for centuries. Among Professor Takahash's thoughts are that he believes Pi may in fact be a message from God. Also, on a random side note, he commented that he doesn't eat pie often.
10159788
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
A 42-year old man was arrested outside of Osaka, Japan in connection with a Youtube video of him going more than 130km/h (80mph) over the speed limit on his 1300cc motorcycle. The man reportedly borrowed his friend's camera and videotaped himself speeding at well over 180km/h in a 50km/h zone, illegally passing cars multiple times in the process. The man's friend then distributed the video online. Local police say they received an anonymous tip about the Youtube video and investigated. It then took them nearly half a year before making the arrest, but the motorcyclist, who apparently admitted guilt, is now likely facing both multiple fines and jail time. Japanese police say it is the first time they've used evidence from the internet to pursue such traffic violations. With a multitude of similar speed enthusiast home videos on Youtube and other sights, might more careless braggers start facing legal problems?
10134548
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
On March 3rd, a team of researchers from Osaka University in Japan showed off two of the robots they have been developing to the Japanese media. The robots named the M3-neony and the M3-synchy are designed to mimic humans in an effort to shed light on how humans develop skills such as basic movement or non-verbal communications. Of the two robots, the one that took more notice was the M3-neony, which looks and acts like a human infant. The M3-neony learned to move through a technique called "body babbling," where it randomly moved its body parts until it was able to control them properly. From that, the robot was able to learn to rollover, crawl, and stand up using surrounding objects. The M3-neony also reacts to touch, turning its head and eyes towards area that someone has pressed. The Japanese news video clip gives a good visual.
10068104
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
Popular Japanese message board 2ch was kicked off line by a denial of service attack that started at around noon on March 1st (JST). According Japanese and Korean media reports, the attack was carried out by Korean internet users angry over anti-Korean comments written on several of the 2ch boards where Japanese ultra-nationalists are known to lurk. The recent remarks that have reportedly got Koreans up in arms are those defaming 2010 Olympic gold medalist Yu-Na Kim. The company that manages the 2ch message board servers originally claimed that they believed around 50,000 people had caused the denial of service by repeatedly hitting F5 to refresh 2ch pages, overwhelming the 2ch host system. However, it turns out that the Japanese company actually rents their servers from an American company, Pacific Internet Exchange. That company is reported as believing the attack was actually performed by a bot network, although still of Korean origin. Since the affected 2ch servers are physically located in the States, Pacific Internet Exchange is reported as stated that they intend to present the incident to US cyber crime authorities.
9926764
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
A group of thirteen major radio stations in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan are teaming up to stream their programming live on the internet at the same time as they are broadcasting it to the airwaves. While internet radio is certainly nothing new, the radio stations reasoning for teaming up and pursing this avenue is noteworthy. All the stations in the group are located within the two highly developed major Japanese cities, and they feel that there has been an increasing trend towards the deterioration of their radio signals due to city noise pollution. In order to combat this problem, and at the same time improve the overall public image of voice media, they will be offering the service for free to anyone without registration. And while the simulcast service may certainly help fix radio reception difficulties for those who live in the two cities, it will also be a wonderful bonus for all those who do not but still want to hear some Japanese tunes (beginning March 15th).
9722052
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
Apple has been sent a public letter by the Japanese government's Consumer Affairs Agency regarding its security policies and plans relating to iTunes. According to the Agency, they have been receiving an increasing number of complaints from iTunes users about fraudulent charges to their credit cards from the store; in many cases the amounts are in the hundreds to thousands of dollars worth of song purchases that the users claim they never purchased. The public letter asked Apple to explain to what extend it is aware of the problems and concerns being raised, and what the company is and will be doing about it, among other questions.
9679410
story
Hugh Pickens writes
"Scott Harris writes on Moviefone that the economics of Hollywood are often baffling, as DVD sales, broadcast fees and merchandising tie-ins balance against advertising costs and pay-or-play deals to form an accounting maze. The latest example is the untitled sequel to The Chronicles of Riddick, released in 2004 to a slew of negative reviews and general viewer indifference. Despite its hefty $105 million budget, most of which was spent on special effects, the film topped out at a paltry $57 million domestically. So how can a sequel be made if the movie lost money? The answer has to do with ancillary profits from revenue streams outside the box office. While the combined $116 million worldwide probably still didn't cover distribution and advertising costs, it likely brought the film close to even, meaning DVD sales and profits from the tie-in video game franchise may have put the movie in the black. In addition, Riddick itself was a sequel to Pitch Black, a modestly budgeted ($23 million) success back in 2000. Extending the franchise to a third film may help boost ancillary profits by introducing the Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick DVDs and merchandise to new audiences, meaning that the new film may not even need to break even to eventually turn a profit for the studio."
9678784
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
A Japanese satellite named Ibuki has been measuring and recording worldwide carbon dioxide and methane levels since Spring of 2009. That data is now being opened to the public for free download by Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) as of February 18th (with a valid email registration of course). The data is made up of sub-continental readings over much of the world, including many regions without previous recordings. Data sets include April, June, July of 2009 and the end of October to the end of January this year. NIES says they expect "the data from 'IBUKI' will be fully utilized to assess the climate change prediction and its risks."
9209266
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
A small programmable humanoid robot named Palro is going on sale in Japan next month. The robot, manufactured by Fujisoft, runs on a Linux (UBUNTU) system, and contains specs that are very similar to many current laptops and netbooks. Palro features a number of sensors and movable parts that allow it to navigate on its own through rooms. It has a digital camera, as well as a speaker and microphone system, allowing it to recognize individual users and communicate directly with them. The robot can communicate with other household products, such as TVs, and access the internet to retrieve information via a wireless system. Palro can even communicate and cooperate with other Palro units. Fujisoft says one of the robot's characteristic features is its open architecture — Palro can be programmed in C++! While Palro is still slightly on the expensive side, the initial asking price for educational institutes will be ¥298,000 (~$3,300 USD), it does seem like a good start for getting quality programmable robotics in hands of everyday people.
9144356
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
Might we one day be able to use our cell phone cameras to pick out the best piece of meat on display at the market? Some Japanese seem to hope so. A team of scientists are using infrared camera technology to try and determine the tastiest slices of high-grade Japanese beef. The researchers believe that the levels of Oleic acid found within the beef strongly affect the beef's tenderness, smell, and overall taste. The camera's infrared rays can be tuned to pick out the Oleic acid levels through a whole slab, a process that would be impossible to do with the human eye. While the accuracy is still relatively low, a test tasting this month resulted in only 60% of participants preferring beef that was believed to have had a higher level of Oleic acid, the researchers hope to fine tune the process for market testing by next year.
8979436
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
Central Japan Rail, the company the controls a vast majority of Japanese train tracks, announced on Jan. 25th that they want to bring their bullet train, known as the Shinkansen, to America. The company is hoping to take advantage of President Obama's call for high-speed rail and the potential for billions of dollars in funding from the federal stimulus package. While JR is looking at over 100 possibilities for tracks around the States, their top first pick so far would be a line in Florida, connecting Tampa, Orlando, and Miami. Other options include a track connect LA and Las Vegas, or a track in Texas. The company is also hoping to sell their MAGLEV technology, which has created some of the fastest test trains in the world (at over 300+ mph/ 500+ kmh). JR mentioned track options for the MAGLEV include a line between Baltimore and Washington D.C, a line between Chattanooga and Atlanta, or a line in Pennsylvania. While there is already steep competition coming from American and European companies with similar ideas, JR is pitching their complete train systems as extremely safe and environmentally efficient.
8830544
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
The Mayor of Nagoya wants to remove the city of around 2.26 million people from Japan's digitized national ID system used for voter registration, health care, and social security payments. The system was created about 10 years ago for reasons such as efficiency, accuracy, and cost. Currently, only two small cities in the entire country do not connect to the system, citing privacy concerns. However, Nagoya's Mayor argues, "To say 'let's administrate by sticking people with numbers,' is the same as branding cows with numbers. It's the unification system for people that Stalin's Soviet Union tried to use. I have to strongly oppose the idea of introducing to Japan a mechanism that would even surprise Stalin." If such a large city were to withdraw, others may be inclined to follow. So, that begs the question, do we become "cattle in the system" when we digitize?
8656318
submission
JoshuaInNippon writes:
Popular Japanese video sharing site NicoNicoDouga(9) has launched a new service which allows anyone who understands the language to share written comments with each other within DVDs. As with other NicoNico's video sharing site, comments made on DVDs can be set to scroll strangely across the video screen in the site's characteristic style. However, since comments are timed within videos, one must manually match up the start of program with the start of the DVD. The service is currently only available to a limited number of titles (which happens to include "idol" videos). For those curious about what sort of comments people are posting while watching DVDs for others to read later, one available movie title which already has a number comments (in Japanese) include: "0:13:25 The flying scene is awesome, isn't it?" "0:25:22 Tits!" and "1:56:55 It's over."
7707378
submission
samzbest writes:
So are are fed up with the over mass of your social media life? Especially on Facebook? Social networking makes you want to end it all? You may be ready for online ritual suicide with the aid of a new website that helps your social identity but with honor using the “anti-social network” Seppukoo.
