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.
Sat October 24, 2009
Fraud emails feigning to be from MS are proliferating
Japan Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (JPCERT/CC) warned on October 20 that fraud emails with a malicious program (install.zip) attached to them are prevailing which are sent from those who pretend to be Microsoft.
One of the fraud emails has the subject name “Conflicker.B Infection Alert.”
The program “install.zip” is a compressed file containing fake software.
Fri October 23, 2009
Special Twitter for cellphone (3)
Twitter, Inc. has released its official micro micro-blogging service Twitter special for Japan's mobile carriers.
What makes it special for them?
The most important feature of “mobile Twitter” is to convert emoji characters to maintain the compatibility between different mobile carriers.
Is mobile Twitter so intriguing that you tweet on cellphone?
Thu October 22, 2009
Special Twitter for cellphone (2)
What does special Twitter for cellphone mean?
Twitter has been available for cellphone on some types of handsets, via an external service, or by using a dedicated application in Japan.
In Japan, as many as 95% of Twitter users get it on from their cellphone, according to a result of the survey conducted in early 2009 by Twitter, Inc. and Digital Garage, Inc.
Therefore Twitter, Inc. and Digital Garage launched the service special for Japan's mobile carriers in order to increase users.
However, what is special for them?
Wed October 21, 2009
Yahoo! Japan phishing email is proliferating again
The Council of Anti-Phishing Japan announced on October 16 that it has confirmed a new phishing fraud committed by those who pretend to be Yahoo! Japan.
The phishers target Yahoo! Japan's registered users by sending a phishing email so that the users will visit the fraudulent website.
The website is intended for stealing the user's address, name, credit-card number, and so on, though it is under operation as of October 16.
Tue October 20, 2009
Special Twitter for cellphone (1)
Twitter, Inc. began to provide its official micro micro-blogging service dedicated to Japan's mobile carriers on October 15.
It has developed the service along with its business partner in Japan, Digital Garage, Inc.
The service is available as beta version for the time being.
Mon October 19, 2009
Online-sent scent (38) -- Sniffing in daily life [2]
Do you sniff something in the kitchen every day?
For instance, you may do while cooking.
Could you run a great cooking school by transmitting scents on the Internet as part of distance learning?
Sun October 18, 2009
Weekender via Wi-Fi
Wire and Wireless (Wi2) Co., Ltd., a Wi-Fi service provider in Japan, announced on October 15 that it collaborates with Bulbous Cell Media Group K.K., publisher of the free paper Weekender.
Wi2 began to provide information sourced from the Weekender magazine on its portal site on October 1.
Sat October 17, 2009
Twitter as an official menu on mobile phone
Do you often tweet on mobile phone?
Willcom, Inc. adopted Twitter as an official menu on its mobile phone Thursday.
Willcom claims to be the first mobile carrier in Japan that connects users to Twitter in such an official way.
Its new handset, the HONEY BEE 3, which is due out on November 12 will allow the user to place a shortcut designed for Twitter on the screen and connect to it more quickly.
Fri October 16, 2009
Twitter helps improve skills to command English? (2)
As many as forty percent of Japanese people who have ever used English on business know about Twitter: a result of the survey conducted in September by GABA Corp., an English conversation school in Japan.
The survey results also say 65.1% of Japanese people who view the English version of Twitter think that it helps brush up their English.
Thu October 15, 2009
Twitter helps improve skills to command English? (1)
Do you tweet to improve your English skills?
According to the survey conducted in September by GABA Corp., an English conversation school in Japan, about forty percent of Japanese people who have ever used English on business know about Twitter.
Wed October 14, 2009
DoCoMo halts operation of stolen cellphone (2)
Did you get a DoCoMo cellphone from an auction website?
Is that working today as usual?
NTT DoCoMo Inc. is deactivating its cellphones that have been fraudulently procured by the users -- for example, the ones which were stolen and sold in secondhand market like an auction website.
You can confirm that you've got your DoCoMo cellphone legitimately by entering its 15-digit identification number on DoCoMo's website.
Tue October 13, 2009
DoCoMo halts operation of stolen cellphone (1)
Your cellphone may be suddenly out of order today.
NTT DoCoMo Inc. has begun to forcibly halt operation of stolen cellphones.
Some of the stolen cellphones are handled in the secondhand market.
Mon October 12, 2009
Online-sent scent (38) -- Sniffing in daily life [1]
Do you sniff something every day?
Do you do in the kitchen?
