Archive for April, 2004

Microsoft Bloggers

« 28 April 2004 | 13:28 | Japan, scitech, worklife | No Comments »

Interesting entry on development of one of the most used computer applications (Word), with an extra on the Asia-sphere, particularly Japan. Continue on down to the comments for a peek into Microsoft’s culture, especially this comment.

“Walmart” in Japan

« 26 April 2004 | 12:34 | Japan, biznomics | 2 Comments »

Walmart finally made it to Japan under a different name – Seiyu. Here’s the AP wire. Sad.
A massive single-floor store like the Super center is so unusual that benches had to be placed in some spots to accommodate Japanese who complained they needed a rest.
Odd – I always find myself walking more in this [...]

Camera life

« 26 April 2004 | 0:53 | diary, geekery, scitech | No Comments »

There’s still a life for disposable cameras. Very cool idea. Tried similar tactics at parties with amusing success. How many years before RFIDs and WiFi combine to make real-time moving “windows” to random locations?

Accelerating Returns

« 23 April 2004 | 12:19 | biznomics, geekery, scitech | No Comments »

An old article published back in 2001, but Ray Kurzweil writes on the Law of Accelerating Returns.
Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to The Singularity — technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history.
(Courtesy of The Weekly Read)
Interesting stuff; reminds me of [...]

Jay Samit on NYT

« 19 April 2004 | 20:41 | biznomics, macnuttery, scitech, sonystyle | No Comments »

Gen posts on Jay Samit’s NYT profile. He gives no comment — here’s my two cents :)
I wonder how many top managers actually own an iPod; i wonder if Samit has one of his own. I get the impression not.
I think Jobs is right. Removable media won’t pick up in the states; [...]

東京大学 iMac Power!

« 19 April 2004 | 16:04 | Japan, biznomics, education, macnuttery, scitech | No Comments »

Picked up this month’s MacPower, and opened up to a great picture of 1149 iMac’s at a computer lab in Tokyo University. Very impressive. Google images couldn’t find a pic yet, but someone will probably scan it in soon enough. Funny thing is, they’re all connected to a “Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite [...]

Qualia

« 19 April 2004 | 12:17 | America, geekery, sonystyle | 1 Comment »

Sony’s Qualia line to debut in the U.S.
Good luck.

Bushmockery

« 15 April 2004 | 1:37 | America, Internet, humour, politics, web2.0 | No Comments »

Two amusing sites for testing your creativity, courtesy of mefi:
Make your own Bush speech
Make your own Bush comic

Penny Arcade Remixes

« 14 April 2004 | 1:35 | Japan, geekery, humour, media, music | No Comments »

From Mefi comes Penny Arcade Remixes. Cute and clever. Japanophiles may catch the nuances.

Restricting Imports

« 12 April 2004 | 15:11 | Japan, biznomics, law, music, politics, tokyo life | 1 Comment »

The Japanese government is at it again with their sneaky ways. Their most recent success has been making prices tax-included, which went into effect on April 1st. This means they can now raise sales taxes all they want w/o the general public getting full disclosure. Now, they want to restrict imports of copyrighted [...]