I occasionally contribute to The Japan Times technology page. The Japan Times is one of the most widely read English language newspapers in Japan. You can browse some of my articles listed below, or subscribe using RSS.
Over the past few weeks we have seen a barrage of great new laptop offerings from PC manufacturers, all hoping to deliver thin, light, and powerful mobile-computing solutions driven by Intel's new Ivy Bridge processor.
Nostalgic gaming fans old enough to remember "Space Invaders" no doubt look back on it as one of the most memorable video games of years gone by. Japan's Taito Corporation created the arcade game back in 1978, and it has been a classic ever since.
It's obvious that tablet computers are making their mark on the electronics world, with Hewlett Packard this past week citing "the tablet effect" as a reason to consider a spinoff of its PC business. That's big. Especially as the company also said that it will cease production of its own tablet, the TouchPad, less than two months after it hit the shelves — effectively throwing in the towel in the battle with the iPad.
There's no shortage of fun gadgets dedicated to helping you endure hot summer days. Here are just a couple of examples that will work particularly well for anyone battling rising temperatures in the workplace.
View original:The 2011 International Tokyo Toy Show was held last month at Tokyo Big Sight, and Japanese toy-makers were in attendance to show their wondrous wares to potential buyers, not to mention a veritable army of kids. This year saw everything from figures to remote-control vehicles, robots to iPhone games. Here are a few of the more notable products at this year's exhibition.
View original:One of the fun things about writing about Japanese technology is that every once in a while you come across a device that elicits both genuine admiration and a jaw-dropping reaction. And I'm delighted to report on two such gadgets today, both of which have generated some pretty significant Internet buzz.
Over the past week we've seen a stark contrast in how the Fukushima nuclear disaster has been reported. "Panic" read the New York Daily News. "Get out of Tokyo Now" said The Sun. One expects that of tabloids, yet more credible media also described an "exodus" from Tokyo, neglecting to mention that it was primarily foreign residents who were leaving, many with few ties here who preferred to err on the side of caution. Japanese news was sober in contrast. "Radiation exposure can be dealt with" read The Asahi Shimbun. So while rescue workers were searching frantically through the rubble for survivors in Tohoku, non-Japanese-speaking residents elsewhere were tasked with searching for accurate news reports that would ease their growing fears.
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View original:In the wake of the tragic earthquake and subsequent tsunami last Friday, people in Japan — and indeed all over the world — have been scrambling to sort through the news in search of information they can trust. In the first few hours after the quake, telephone service was disrupted in some areas and restricted to emergency access only in others. Internet access was interrupted for many as well.
Read full article at The Japan Times
View original:Last month we brought you a double feature from toy giant Takaratomy. This month we look at another pair of fun products, courtesy of Thanko — the most notable of all the wacky gadget-makers in Japan. Recently Thanko rolled out the mini-cam to out-mini all other mini-cams. Measuring a mere 30 × 27 × 27 mm, this tiny camera is so small that you can balance it on your finger tip.
Read full article at The Japan Times
View original:The Mobile World Congress (MWC) was held in Barcelona last week, and besides the usual fancy phones on display, an abundance of shiny new Android tablets were unveiled at the event as well. And now that the tablet-specific Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS is in the wild, we can finally get excited about these devices.
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