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Having brunch in Fujimama's right now. I'm typing away on my new HTC Shift which arrive late last week.
The keyboard is nice, but will take a little getting used to. Still I can type faster already that using anything smaller that I have tried to date.
Really happy to get ecto working on it. This makes mobile blogging a breeze and the addition of spelling check is critical.
Having a nice, leisurely morning so far, and will do a bit of shopping later. Kind of flipping between crazy busy and oddly quiet lately. I feel that my life right now is in some weird mode and I have no idea how long it will last.
Well, more to come...
]]>The first mobile carrier in Japan to get HTC's current flagship smartphone is actually going to be EMobile!
Quite a scoop considering how close HTC has been playing with Softbank and Docomo in the past. Then again, I'm sure that handheld sales of the TYTN in Japan were pretty disappointing to the carriers.
What is particularly interesting is that the TYTN II (aka Kaiser, aka ADSP) appears to have been modified with a single band 1.7Ghz cellular modem. This means that it will only work on Japan's EMobile 3G network. I'm kinda hoping that the specs are off and that this is one of the new quadband 3G modems that should be appearing this year.
EMobile has the best urban 3G network in Japan, offering unlimited HSDPA speed for around 50$ a month. About half of the rate on Docomo's FOMA or Softbank 3G's 21Ghz HSDPA networks.
I'm starting to get hopeful that we might see a quadband variant of the HTC Shift that will allow me to use it on EMobile's network.
]]>Stopped by Starbucks. Didn't know that the Matsuyadori Starbucks was the first one in Japan. Been there a bunch of times, but somehow I like the feeling of history.
Also saw these ccats sitting on top of a sign. Not sure what it was about, but lots of people gathered around to snap cellphone pics.
As a matter of fact, I shot this with my new Nokia E90. (actually I moblogged this wholeentry with it) this is my first entry with my new mobile platform. Was actually quiite easy (but going to need to bump up my data plan. More to come on this later.
Been a tought year so far. Lot's of uncertainty, could be a bit more hope. Anyway, it was as good a day as I can remember.
]]>Another link from United Hollywood
Bill Moyers on the movement taken by big media to gain unprecedented control over communications and information. To me this is a step backward similar in size to taking back the printing press. This is the opposite of progress and the doom of America if it is allowed to come to pass.
After a few sconds of digging, I'm pretty sure that Kevin Miller is the anti-christ.
]]>Not just because I think that writers deserve more money. Writing is a pretty crappy job and much of the greatest works in history have been written while the author was starving to death or locked in some prison or some such nightmare. Torturing writers actually seems to make for better art, so I can live with that.
No, I support the strike because media companies just plain suck. They are awful, terrible groups filled with horrible human beings who should be recycled into some more useful material like seat cushions for football bleachers or flyswatters. Media executives should be cut into tiny pieces and their offspring shunned by society for generations.
I do not think I am exaggerating here. They are worse than #@% Yankee fans!
They refuse to discuss residuals for so-called "new media". In other words, yes we make money off of advertisements that we force people who watch our programming over the internet, but you can't have any because the whole internet is just so new and strange that we don't understand how it all works! It's like a bunch of tubes or something right? Heck, it might just be some fad and in a couple of years people will go back to the good ol fashioned wireless like my granpappy *those were the days*.
So their excuse for not discussing this is that they don't understand how to make money off of it. Meanwhile they continue to track down anyone who shares media and threaten to take away their milkmoney or medicare or whatever hardened criminals have these days. So they don't "understand" the internet, can't think of how to make money using it, and abhore people using it to use it for free entertainment.
Can someone just put these guys out of their misery? I mean they must have a horrible life scared of all these modern contrivances like airplanes, electric lights, and the wheel.
I support the strike because I hope that some television starved fans will go all zombie on the networks and snack on their lower intestines. I support it just because I don't like waking up in a world with people so dense that they are threatening to pull down the moon by their own personal gravitational pull. You should support it too. cause if you don't the zombies will get you too.
Support it now at United Hollywood
Hearing lots about the fires in SoCal from friends nearby. A real tragedy. Hope everyone is OK.
Google Maps btw has been a great source to look at for information regarding the fires (and other recent disasters). I really have to start thinking of ways to incorporate tools like this into practical tools.
]]>Back from the dead so to speak. Let's see how much
]]>No. I don't mean that one.
Check it out.
The Softbank 913SH G by Sharp actually doubles as the monocle visor from a replica Char Gundam head.
Not only does the head pull double duty as a the cellphone charger, but the cellphone itself is covered in Gundam related markers, special screens and wallpapers.
Geek heaven.
Coming soon...
http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/special/913SHG/
Yes, it has been a VERY long break. Feels like a couple of lifetimes... at least. But now, another go, complete with new systems in line with my crazy lifestyle. Will blog more about it *I hope* in the days to come.
anyway. nice to be back.
]]>In yet another wildly clueless governmental program to waste taxpayer money, The Foreign ministry of Japan has admitted defeat after their online passport registration system fell flat on its face.
The ministry pissed away over 2 billion yen developing and managing a system that only created a couple of hundred passports in it's short 3 year lifespan. The cost for registering for a passport online comes out to about 4 thousand times more expensive than the current method.
I think the government was surprised by the lack of enthusiasm for the project. After all, them people seems to like that inter-web thingamajig.
Sure, the current way is a pain in the neck, requiring citizens to go to ward offices and fill out forms. The new system is much better, Now instead of going to the government office, filling out the forms and showing your ID, taking a picture at the booth in the office, paying a fee and waiting in a long line, the e-process has been streamlined to, go to the government office, fill out a form to gain another id and pay a fee, wait in another line to fill out another form and pay another fee, take a picture, then go to a store and buy a computer, go to another store and buy a IC card reader for your computer (there are at least 18 stores nationwide that you can do this in), pay another fee to do this online, buy an online ic card reader compatible payment card, wait... I think i forgot a step. Ok after you take a photo, then you get... oh nevermind.
yeah. my tax money at work...
]]>Mostly because... well... They just really suck. ok?
Anyway, Things have been going downhill for them for a while now. over the last couple of years however the downhill slope is starting to resemble Niagra Falls though.
First they lose thier licence in Japan for thier private banking group. You know, the one where really rich people give them money and they get to charge them super high fees to manage it. Pshaw. who needed that anyway.
Then last month the regulators ding them again for basically lying and cheating and stuff.
Now because of a computer "glitch", they pooch a quarter of a million transactions over a weeklong period.
yeah, Whoops!
Mainichi Online: Computer glitch at Citibank Japan misplaces 275,000 transactions
]]>Maybe it's just because I really don't like people. And anything that inconveniences others for my amusement just rocks my boat.
This group really amazes me. Style, organization, excecution. They got it all man.
Here is a rundown on thier recent attack on a Best Buy store in New York.
