Red and White Singing Contest tweets on New Year's Eve

Digital Garage, Inc., the Japanese operator affiliated with Twitter, announced on December 24 that it will help NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai: Japan Broadcasting Corp.) leverage Twitter features for the TV program Kohaku Utagassen (Red and White Singing Contest) on New Year's Eve.

The leverage strategy Kohaku nau (Red and White now) is to promote the TV program using #nhk_kouhaku61 and @nhk_kouhaku.

Onkyo launches Android tablet (1) -- Only for businesses

Onkyo Corp. began to sell a series of Android-based tablet on December 27.

Its TA series is intend for corporate use only.

Sticker makes iPhone 4 pretend to be an osaifu-ketai (1) -- Just a sticker

Softbank BB Corp. announced on December 27 that it will release FeliCa-enabled stickers for the iPhone 4 in or after February 2011.

The stickers “E-money Shiiru (Sticker) for iPhone 4” will not work with any applications on the iPhone 4: they are only stickers affixed on the back of an iPhone 4.

DoCoMo's LTE has begun (3) -- Smartphone in winter of 2011

NTT DoCoMo Inc.'s LTE service Xi began with a data-dedicated device L-02C on December 24.

DoCoMo will launch a smarphone that works on the network of Xi in the winter of 2011 to increase the number of users.

DoCoMo's LTE has begun (2) -- Coverage all over Japan in FY2012
DoCoMo's LTE has begun (1) -- Data in limited areas

DoCoMo's LTE has begun (2) -- Coverage all over Japan in FY2012

Xi -- pronounced like ‘crossy’ -- is the LTE service that NTT DoCoMo Inc. launched in the areas of Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo on December 24.

The area of coverage is expected to embrace prefectural capital cities in FY2011 and major cities around Japan in FY2012.

DoCoMo's LTE has begun (1) -- Data in limited areas

DoCoMo's LTE has begun (1) -- Data in limited areas

NTT DoCoMo Inc. began to provide its LTE (Long Term Evolution) service in the areas of Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo on December 24.

DoCoMo put on sale a data communications device L-02C for the service on that day, which is manufactured by LG Electronics Inc.

KDDI launches e-book reader (3) -- Monochrome electronic paper

The biblio Leaf SP02, an e-book reader that KDDI Corp. will put on sale, has a 6-inch monochrome electronic paper with a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels (SVGA).

It connects to the wireless networks of KDDI's mobile data and Wi-Fi.

E-books are available from KDDI's LISMO Book Store.

The biblio Leaf SP02 is a device dedicated to e-book reading, so the user cannot explore the Web or send/receive any e-mails on it.

KDDI launches e-book reader (2) -- About 15,000 yen
KDDI launches e-book reader (1) -- Kansai and Okinawa first
E-book business planning company has been established in Japan
Sony to establiksh an E-book delivery business planning company
Japan's newspapers deliver articles to Sony's e-book Reader