The Puzzle & Dragons X Evangelion collaboration that began in Japan back on February 24 has now extended to global versions of the hit mobile game, including the US.
It will likely be a smart tie-up for GungHo Online Entertainment, since the intricate artwork that helped make Puzzle & Dragons such a big hit at home will certainly be appreciated by anime fans abroad.
You can read more about the collaboration on the P&D Facebook page.
NTT Docomo recently launched a pet dog-monitoring service called PetFit. It is available for a 25,900 yen fee (approximately $255), which includes a deposit fee for the monitoring device and one-year data transmission charge. By attaching a bluetooth-enabled tag to your dog, the service’s mobile app keeps you updated about how you dog is behaving (is he walking or sleeping, for example). If the device’s base station loses the signal from the tag, the service recognizes he that he is out of range and sends you a notification e-mail to encourage you to find him. You can record history of his past behavior, as well as the atmospheric temperature around him, in the cloud, and even consult a veterinarian using the service. via CNET Japan
NTT Docomo recently launched a pet dog-monitoring service called PetFit. It is available for a 25,900 yen fee (approximately $255), which includes a deposit fee for the monitoring device and one-year data transmission charge.
By attaching a bluetooth-enabled tag to your dog, the service’s mobile app keeps you updated about how you dog is behaving (is he walking or sleeping, for example). If the device’s base station loses the signal from the tag, the service recognizes he that he is out of range and sends you a notification e-mail to encourage you to find him.
You can record history of his past behavior, as well as the atmospheric temperature around him, in the cloud, and even consult a veterinarian using the service.
via CNET Japan
Here’s a fun UI demo from Japan that takes us a step closer to the kind of interface we saw Tom Cruise use in Minority Report. Professor Masatoshi Ishikawa of the University of Tokyo has developed something called an ‘AIRR Tablet’, which – if I understand correctly – uses a retro-reflective sheet to create a display that seems to be floating in the air. Then by using the high-speed vision technology for which the lab is now rather famous, the system can receive user input such as hand-writing in the air. The exact details are somewhat tricky to grasp (they aren’t the most clear), but the demo video below is rather cool. Coincidentally, this is far from the only writing-in-air technology we have looked at recently (see here and here for more). Fun stuff here in Japan!
Here’s a fun UI demo from Japan that takes us a step closer to the kind of interface we saw Tom Cruise use in Minority Report. Professor Masatoshi Ishikawa of the University of Tokyo has developed something called an ‘AIRR Tablet’, which – if I understand correctly – uses a retro-reflective sheet to create a display that seems to be floating in the air. Then by using the high-speed vision technology for which the lab is now rather famous, the system can receive user input such as hand-writing in the air. The exact details are somewhat tricky to grasp (they aren’t the most clear), but the demo video below is rather cool.
Coincidentally, this is far from the only writing-in-air technology we have looked at recently (see here and here for more). Fun stuff here in Japan!
Tokyo-based system integration company Cybridge recently announced it has launched a recipe site in Vietnam called Eccook. The company has a local subsidiary called Cybridge Asia in Ho Chi Minh, responsible for managing the website. via Venture Now
Tokyo-based system integration company Cybridge recently announced it has launched a recipe site in Vietnam called Eccook. The company has a local subsidiary called Cybridge Asia in Ho Chi Minh, responsible for managing the website.
via Venture Now
Based on the original article in Japanese We’ve been seeing many flavors of curation media here in Japan recently, including Iemo, focused on interior design, and Mery, focused on women’s interests. Those entities aim to compete with other online media by providing selected information and presenting it with sophisticated design, rather than creating their own content from scratch. We’ve seen popular curation media thrive in the US, and Upworthy was a prime example of that. Back on February 22, a travel curation media site called Tabilabo was launched. It was started by Yuki Naruse and Shotaro Kushi, both of whom studied in the US and have traveled around the world, and each has experienced starting a business more than once. We spoke to them about how and why they launched Tabilabo. Naruse: There are many books and media that introduce world culture or show pictures of beautiful scenery from around the world. But on the other hand, when you visit a travel agency or on online reservation site, they have very small amount of information, perhaps just a thin brochure. There is often no connection between motivating people to travel and the place (on a site) where users actually take…
Based on the original article in Japanese
We’ve been seeing many flavors of curation media here in Japan recently, including Iemo, focused on interior design, and Mery, focused on women’s interests. Those entities aim to compete with other online media by providing selected information and presenting it with sophisticated design, rather than creating their own content from scratch. We’ve seen popular curation media thrive in the US, and Upworthy was a prime example of that.
Back on February 22, a travel curation media site called Tabilabo was launched. It was started by Yuki Naruse and Shotaro Kushi, both of whom studied in the US and have traveled around the world, and each has experienced starting a business more than once. We spoke to them about how and why they launched Tabilabo.
Naruse: There are many books and media that introduce world culture or show pictures of beautiful scenery from around the world. But on the other hand, when you visit a travel agency or on online reservation site, they have very small amount of information, perhaps just a thin brochure. There is often no connection between motivating people to travel and the place (on a site) where users actually take action. We want to make these two points more seamlessly connected.
There are three categories on the website: “feel the world,” “know the world,” and “travel the world.”
Users can see curated content in the “feel the world” section and Talilabo’s own content in “know the world” section. They are planning to sell travel packages in the “travel the world” section, where they aim to monetize the business.
Kushi: Consider how Uber stands between users and taxi companies, and matches the supply and demand. But the important part is that Uber handles the payment part, and they can expand their business by utilizing a vast amount of payment information. We have not decided yet if we will get a license to run our own travel agency, or if we’ll tie up with other companies – but either way we believe handling users payment on our own is very important for business.
The company will target users ranging from their late teens to early thirties, or digital natives to be more specific. They want to attract not only those who have a great interest in travel, but also those who haven’t travelled much before. I expected to hear they were targetting people earning above a certain salary, but they have a different approach. They’ll try to change the way people decide to go travelling.
The user interface of Tabilabo is very similar to that of US-based digital news site Quartz. It implements some promising aspects from other successful cases both inside and outside Japan.
Naruse: Currently we post about two articles a day, but we always have dozens of articles in stock. We believe that the titles of articles are very important to reach as many readers as possible, so we get support from 120 people we called “ambassadors” who choose the best title out of about 50 ideas for articles.
Only 10 days after their February 22 launch, they reached 600,000 pageviews. They hope to eventually reach 100 million monthly pageviews.
The company plans to reach an exit resulting in billions of yen in about two years. They are currently looking at possibilities of fundraise from a few angel investors, so don’t be surprised if we bring you more good news from them in the near future.
Rick Martin
Here’s a fun app for any freelancers or homeworkers based in Japan. Dengen Cafe, released this past December, gives you a mapped view of cafes in your area that have a power outlet, so if you’re running low on juice, you can stop and plug in. It’s in Japanese (and is focused on Japan) but is pretty easy to navigate. Check out Dengen Cafe on the App Store.
Here’s a fun app for any freelancers or homeworkers based in Japan. Dengen Cafe, released this past December, gives you a mapped view of cafes in your area that have a power outlet, so if you’re running low on juice, you can stop and plug in. It’s in Japanese (and is focused on Japan) but is pretty easy to navigate.
Check out Dengen Cafe on the App Store.
Masaru Ikeda
