Kazuhiro Haraguchi, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, said Tuesday at the 57th national convention of the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan (NAB) that he is thinking of quitting referring to the committee of communications and broadcasting as Japan's equivalent of FCC.
The idea of establishing the committee originally arose from the DPJ's manifesto that claims the need for an administrative body addressing matters concerning communications and broadcasting that is independent from the government control.
Haraguchi added that the term of Japan's equivalent of FCC would make people confuse the committee with the U.S. FCC too much.
He emphasized that he is trying to create a stronghold for speech, broadcasting, and expression, rather than a regulatory body.
Sat October 31, 2009
Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications quits calling the committee Japan's equivalent of FCC
Fri October 30, 2009
Yahoo! Japan is seeking for decriminalization of election campaign on the Net
Yahoo! Japan announced Wednesday that it launched a website for demanding decriminalization of election campaigns on the Internet during an election period that day.
As of now, changing election-related content on a website of political parties or candidates during an election period is prohibited by the Public Officers Election Law in Japan.
The website is asking the visitors to sign for supporting the decriminalization.
Yahoo! Japan will conduct lobbying activities by using the signing result.
Thu October 29, 2009
Pay video service for Wii
Do you watch videos via the Wii?
Nintendo Co., Ltd. announced Tuesday that it will begin to provide its pay video service for Wii users by the end of 2009.
The users will pay for the video in the same way as they do when they buy software or additional items for the Wii.
The payment depends on the video every time they view it, rather than a flat-rate system such as monthly fee.
Wed October 28, 2009
iPhone/iPod touch application from NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched an application for the iPhone/iPod touch that allows you to view information provided by NASA on October 23, U.S. Time.
Its application, the NASA app for iPhone, is available from the App Store for free.
Tue October 27, 2009
Survival in digitization of TV in Japan (46) -- Chideji devices are increasing
TV sets which are adaptive to terrestrial digital broadcasting are owned by 61% of people living in the Tokyo metropolitan area and in the Keihanshin (Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe) area as of July 2009, according to a survey result.
One-seg cellphones are owned by 55.2% in the same areas.
Mon October 26, 2009
Online-sent scent (39) -- Sniffing in daily life [3]
Aromatherapy would be enhanced if scents can be transmitted online.
You will be able to use online aromatherapy for relaxation some day.
Sun October 25, 2009
Three-dimensional head shot on iPhone
You can now make a photo of your face three-dimensional on the iPhone.
To do that, you need an application that Tokyo, Japan-based video technology firm MotionPortrait, Inc. has released on the App Store.
Its application, the PhotoSpeak, also allows you to record your voice to let your three-dimensional face on the iPhone speak.
The PhotoSpeak costs ¥350.
