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September 26, 2005
Am I an "Otaku"?
At a friends urging I started watching the TV drama version of the bestselling story "Densha Otoko". It's a love story about a "otaku" geek guy who meets and woos a pretty, trendy Japanese woman with the help of a 2channel chatroom.
I have to admit it's warping my brain a bit. I've always fought againt my own otaku-like tendeniess. I thank a childhood in America and enough tv during my developmental years to counter my natural OCD with a dose of ADD. As long as my disorders balance out it's all good right?
I guess I still have some strong ties to my geeky side. My electronic gadget fetish being perhaps the strongest holdout. I could be a bit more at peace with it, but I am still happy to supress. The fact that Akiba-kei are gaining popularity this year strikes me as a seasonal fad that will soon be replaced with the usual disgust and suspicion.
The pic is from the new Yodobashi Denkiya in Akihabara. Went there over the weekend to help a friend buy a computer. While the crowd definitely reflected a newrer trendier version of Akihabara, my friend and I agreed, Akihabara will always be Akihabara.
Posted by Kakyou at 01:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 20, 2005
Moblog
Testing moblog posting via flickr
We'll see if this works. I'd like to be able to use this system on the road.
Posted by Kakyou at 01:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Flickr
This is a test post from 
, a fancy photo sharing thing.
Posted by Kakyou at 12:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 14, 2005
Sun Microsystems. funny, funny guys
Friends of mine sent me this link for *rejected* ideas for advertising materials.
My favorite? "Benchmark Studies Prove That Dell Sucks"
update: looks like Sun has taken off the cool pictures (too mutch bandwith? Maybe not.
Anyway I found some copies (Luv caching sometimes), so
Posted by Kakyou at 05:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
To- to- to--- Tottemo Daisuki
Doraemon!
Finally, a theme phone that is really a theme phone (well, actually the Matrix phone Samsung made waay back was pretty cool).
Slashphone has the scoop on a Doraemon theme phone from Taiwanese maker Gigabyte featuring
Special Edition Certificate
20 Doraemon wallpaper
5 new games
2 ringtones
unique phone icons
Special leather protection case
Desktop cradle for charging
Posted by Kakyou at 04:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 13, 2005
Apple vs. Sony, You decide
So Apple comes out with the Nano and sony comes out with... whatever those things are called.
How the mighty have fallen. And if history has taught us one thing, it's that when the mighty fall, all there one-time supporters will gather together and kick the corpse and rifle through thier pockets. So as a long long long long time Sony fanboy, let me chime in with my own personal "you guys suck! I always hated you. I just pretended to like you when you gave me cool toys!"
To complete the ritual, here's my take on Sony's attempt to recapture the digital portable media market.
(Click to enlarge)
This is the stock performance of Sony vs. Apple over the last year. interestingly enough, plot a chart over the last week since each company announced thier new product line and the cart looks pretty much the same.
I'd say that investers know who's paying for the Christmas party this year. Pretty sure most consumers do too.
Now if I had just bought Apple back when it was $10 a share..
Posted by Kakyou at 04:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 08, 2005
New features with the iPod nano?
I've been playing with the settings folder on the nano and ran across some things I havn't notices on my old iPod Photo.
1) The clock is now a World Clock, I can continue to add new locations and then scroll through the cities showing local times. Very handy for me.
2) Stopwatch. Standard. Also something I never noticed before. Is it new?
3) Screen lock. A 4 digit combo lock deal. Think this is new too.
4) Compilations. what the heck is this?
I don't know if these are new features just for the nano, or even if they are new at all. Gotta check my photo. Maybe there is a firmware update avail. Anyway, pretty cool stuff.
Posted by Kakyou at 06:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Am I that predictable?
So I hear the news this morning.
What do I do with my lunch hour?
It is soooo small (I know, that's not always a compliment. but... WOW!)
Of course, not to be outdone, Sony announced today a new Network Walkman and updates to thier popular flash series.
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20050908/sony1.htm
As with other attempts, this one is pretty cool, but suffers a few too many points on the "but still kinda boring" meter.
OLED displays are cool and battery life is great and...
*yawn* what was I talking about?
Anyway. 4 GB flash memory and did I mention how small it is?
On sale now.
Posted by Kakyou at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 06, 2005
Geeks help out Hurricane victims
Joel Johnson (formerly of Gizmodo), is now putting together a team and equipment to help FEMA get some communications networks running for Katrina effected regions.
When a gadget geek asks himself what he can do to help, it's nice to know that there is in fact a lot that can be done.
Hey folks, it’s Joel. I’m getting ready to leave tomorrow morning for Houston, as part of a team of volunteers working with CU Wireless (under the auspice of the FCC and FEMA) to establish wireless communications networks in the Gulf Coast region. We’re in need of equipment and supplies in the Houston or Baton Rouge area.If you’re in Houston we really, really could use your help (or if you are a corporate agent outside of Houston, we could use your help, too). I’ll list what we need after the jump (preview: it includes a bitchin’ van, preferably with a wizard on the side).
Gizmodo: Help Joel Help Katrina Victims
Posted by Kakyou at 03:36 PM | Comments (0)
Serious Issues
Natural disasters, a mojor political milestone in Japanese politics, BIG things going on...
So of course I gotta give some perspective on everything.
From Gen Kanai's Weblog
*love* the Godzilla!
Posted by Kakyou at 01:00 PM | Comments (1)
a bit more done
Woohoo!
Eeyore is back, Harbbot it back. Also got some basic links and icons for RSS, MT and junk.
Next up I still need to put up a blogroll, fav links, and tweak the stylescheet a bit (I hat underlined links).
The new Flickr photobadge is cool. Hope it doesn't get too annoying after a while.
Posted by Kakyou at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)
Once more, into the breach
Yes, it's been a while.
I've upgraded to MT 3.2, and am starting to reformat my page. My goal is to have things in some kind of shape by the end of the week. Hopefully we'll see more posts by then as well.
I'm now going to try to use my new Mac mini as my primary blogging tool. I've upgraded most of the software and even have a blogging tool (ecto) on demo. We'll see how things go.
There has certainly been a lot to blog about, and it remains to be seen whether I'll be back-blogging, or just taking it from today.
Well, more to come.
...i hope.
Posted by Kakyou at 12:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack