Tokyo and tech through the eyes of a split pea

Sony vs Apple

Walkman vs. iPod, via SFGate. Since the NYT finally woke up and smelled the coffee, the EMD winner will be the one who provides selectable bit-rate downloads.

Engadget on MD

Right on – Engadget rants on the MiniDisc after the recent NYT article. Amusing, though I’d like to see some numbers regarding the LP/MD comparison.

NYT on the MiniDisc

NYT covers the minidisc.
No comment.

Bilingual Benefits

According to recent studies, looks like I’ll still be able to chew gum and walk when I’m 80 because I’m bilingual! :)

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 [...]

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!

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.

Bubblegeneration

Bubblegeneration, by Umair, always has inspiring if not eloquently put thoughts. Love his most recent post, from which I quote:
Like many media industries today, the games industry is dying a death by incrementalism. That’s because of it’s economics: as the industry’s matured, publishers (suits and droids) have iron-clad economic control over what gets produced [...]

Why I love BSD

Maybe the other *nices have it too, but I’d completely forgotten about the “yes” command. While trying to exit the debugger which had already done so, I inadvertantly typed “yes” at the command line. Try it. Then run the man page and see what other fun you can have :P