17423636
submission
ThinkPad760 writes:
JapanToday gives us the scope that Seibu Railways is planning to have maids on trains. Maid cafes are very popular in the Akihabara (a.k.a. Electric Town) district of Tokyo with anime otaku. The new trains web site is here if you need to make reservations. I guess is this will already be sold out for months ahead. http://maidtrain.info/
387445
submission
ThinkPad760 writes:
Amazon's new Kindle may be really cool or a complete joke, we'll just have to wait and see. Have you seen the list of available material to download (wirelessly they keep saying)?
Well one of those daily downloads that will greet you in the morning is your old favorite; SlashDot for.... $1.99 a month & includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet!!
So are Amazon misadvertising? They clearly state "Amazon pays for Kindle's wireless connectivity so you will never see a monthly wireless bill for shopping the Kindle Store." yet they are charging an access fee to a free web site. I think I'm missing something. What do /.ers think?
348797
submission
ThinkPad760 writes:
Japan Today is reporting that NEC Corp have released the world's most powerful computer. The SX-9 runs at 839 teraflops and is targetted at the scientific community.
The press release from NEC is here.
From the release: "In addition to the newly developed CPU, the SX-9 combines large-scale shared memory of up to 1TB and ultra high-speed interconnects achieving speeds up to 128GB/second. Through these enhanced features, the SX-9 closes in on the PFLOPS*3 range by realizing a processing performance of 839 TFLOPS. The SX-9 also achieves an approximate three-quarter reduction in space and power consumption over conventional models. This was achieved by applying advanced LSI design and high-density packaging technology."
272311
submission
ThinkPad760 writes:
ANA (All Nippon Airways) of Japan will on September 4 complete their rollout of a completely ticketless checkin and boarding pass called SKiP! That's right. You book the ticket online thru either a computer or your mobile phone and then use your ANA Mileage card that has a IC chip or have the booking dowloaded into your IC enabled phone (most phones in Japan have wireless IC chips in them now). When you get to the airport, you go straight to security, place you mobile or IC card on the reader. It confirms your booking, the light turns green and off you go to the gate. At the gate the same thing. 2 peeps and you are in your seat!
I've been using this service out of Haneda to Osaka for the past year. It is fantastic. Since I never have to checkin bags, I turn up to the airport 15 minutes before my flight, walk straight thru security and on board.
From the article.
"Passengers who wish to SKiP, choose their seat after booking and paying for their ticket, in advance of going to the airport. Through mobile Internet technology, seats can even be chosen or changed on the way to the airport. On arrival, they bypass check-in and simply touch one of the following to a reader at security, and then again at their boarding gate: an IC-chip equipped ANA credit card or mileage club card, IC-enabled mobile phone, or printed 2D barcode. The process of buying to flying is thus made very simple and convenient."
See the full story here. http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/416706
207553
submission
ThinkPad760 writes:
Japan Today is reporting that Japan, Korea and China are concidering developing a common IC card for public transportation in the 3 counrties! From the article:
"The decision came during a meeting of tourism ministers which brought together Japanese Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tetsuzo Fuyushiba, Chinese National Tourism Administration Director Shao Qiwei and South Korean Culture and Tourism Minister Kim Jung Min. Fuyushiba proposed unification of the three nations' different standards for public transportation IC cards."
Full and very short story here http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/410593. A little more here; http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070626/kyodo/d8q0f1e00. html.
Raises some interesting questions. Like; will they be able to track who is where? What about the exchange rate when not used in the holders home country? After all, you have 3 currencies? Will the make us load the card with each currency, or somehow work out a 3 country settlement system for an IC card??