Voices

Nissan Fig Leaf? Blogger Raises Privacy Concern

Does Nissan Motor Co.’s Leaf electric vehicle leave a trail of digital bread crumbs? A U.S.-based blogger on SeattleWireless.net who says he owns a Leaf claims that the car’s telematic system automatically sends pinpoint data on the car’s location to any third-party RSS feed to which drivers subscribe.

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YouTube Adds Video Channel for Evacuees

Google this week launched a video version of its popular Person Finder application, allowing Japanese evacuees in shelters to communicate with people who might be looking for them.

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NEC's New Remote Control: The Human Arm

Many stressed workers and maybe even one or two looking for marriage partners, pound the well-trod circuit around Toyko’s Imperial Palace Gardens each day with earphones funneling music to match the mood. But as any jogger can tell you, reaching for the portable music player to press pause, or fast forward to the next track mid-stride can be tricky, or even embarrassingly uncool.

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Nintendo 3DS: Nearly Sold Out in Japan?

It may come with a health warning but Nintendo Co.’s 3DS game system nearly sold out its first batch of shipments to retail outlets in the first two days since the new 3-D portable game machine debuted in Japan on Saturday, according to a local research firm.

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The DoCoMo-Baccarat Phone: Smart in Another Way

In Japan’s mobile phone market, as in many other countries, Apple Inc.’s iPhone and rival smartphones based on Google Inc.’s Android platform are undoubtedly the hottest commodities right now. Still, Japanese mobile carriers haven’t forgotten about those who are looking for a different kind of style and glamour when choosing new handsets.

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Nintendo Chief Mum on Sony After iPad Lesson

The children’s game “telephone” offers a valuable lesson on how a message can get warped and distorted as it passes from one person to another. For all of its positive attributes, the Internet can function at times like a giant, global game of “telephone.” Just ask Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata.

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Apple, Softbank Told to Beef Up iPhone Web Filtering

It may be Japan’s favorite smartphone, but Apple Inc.’s iPhone isn’t above the law. The Internet access law, that is. A Japanese government panel said Monday it requested Apple’s Japan unit and its sole official distributor Softbank Corp. to improve the iPhone filtering system to prevent users under 18 year old to access unseemly sites.

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Lights, Camera, Stretch: Viral 2010 for YouTube Japan

The second most-watched video on YouTube in Japan this year is of an exercise routine. Not just any old exercise routine, though–it’s a take by sportswear maker Reebok on the same one that rules state broadcaster NHK’s airwaves for up to 10 minutes every morning.

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Japanese Publishers Threaten to Bite Apple

So it turns out that maybe not everyone in Japan loves Apple Inc. A Japanese consortium of book, e-book, magazine and digital comic publishers issued a stern rebuke of Apple’s enforcement of copyrights on its App Store. The group said certain works by renowned Japanese authors Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino have been illegally scanned and distributed over the App Store.

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Virtual Driving Just Got More Real

Picture the road you always drive on. It has two lanes, one for each direction. Now, imagine the same road expanded to four lanes. Is it much better or will the doubled capacity only double traffic? Does it shorten your commuting time? Those are difficult questions to answer, but they may become easier if new technology from Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd is successful.