Tokyo and tech through the eyes of a split pea

Japan Patents Court

Some good, progressive news for Japan in a while – Japan’s first intellectual property disputes court.
The Government also planned to send lawyers and judges to Britain, Brussels and the US to study recent cases, and invite overseas legal experts to teach in Tokyo, Japanese cabinet sources said.
These things take time – and the U.S. is [...]

Hornik on D2

Fascinating account of the All Things Digital conference hosted by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. David Horniki of Venture Blog gives his rundown here. The bullet points, followed by some choice quotes:

Gates hates Google
Jobs hates HP, Dell, Gateway
Fiorina hates Dell (and pities Sun)
Rollins hates HP (and R&D)
Ellison hates Gates

When asked why it was [...]

Tokyo the Expensive

The fact that Tokyo is once again the most expensive city in the world for foreigners (as was the focus of the study) does not bode well for increasing the diversity of the population. It would be interesting to see a comparison of standard necessities between native vs. foreigner costs, such as Docomo’s [...]

Left Hand, Right Hand

A clear example of how the left hand ain’t talkin’ to the right hand – Sony’s XYZ Car Navigation system to support Adobe PDFs. What other group should have done this? The Sony Libre. It’s just so … dUH..

Semacode phones

Semacodes (aka QR codes) have existed for a while, but Docomo is finally banking on it with some interesting advertising. Can’t say it’s obvious what the benefits are just by looking at posters (on the Chiyoda and Yamanote lines, at least). Now to keep an eye out for semacodes plastered around the city!

Org charts lie

Fascinating excerpt on how social-networking software reveals hidden truths about the org-chart and structure of a workplace/organization. I have no doubt mapping out Sony’s members would reveal some very interesting findings!

SF Auctions!

Check out this auction in SF with some nice office toys and furniture. Sheesh, I sure wouldn’t mind an Aeron around this windowless room.

Strategic Justice

Umair hits the nail on the head with exactly why Sony has been struggling and going down the tubes. Ugh, the more I think about it, the more obvious and pure it just seems. Many decisions are not simply black and white, but Sony’s problem is that it complicates even the ones that [...]

Appled

Yep, Jeff Jarvis says it well. Within 3 years, 1/2 my family is using Macs. Don’t think it will be long before the other 1/2 joins in.

MacWorld on Express and iTunes

MacWorld on Express and iTunes. The part I found interesting:
For those wondering if AirPort Express supports MP3, AAC, or any other specific file formats, the answer is no. AirPort Express supports Apple’s Lossless Compression technology — and everything that your iTunes streams across the network to Airport Express is compressed using that technology.