Archive for May, 2007
Exploring iTunes U and Buying my first non-DRM song on ITunes Plus
iTunes plus, the new service in iTunes where you can buy DRM free music is now up and running in iTunes Japan store. its not available yet in the US store.
The latest single by Utada Hikaru, “Kiss and Cry” is available as a iTunes Plus version. You can buy either DRMed version or the non-DRM version.
Read the rest of this entry »
Second LIfe in Education Workshop at NIE
I am at the National Institute of Education in Singapore today conducting a workshop on Second Life in Education.
Some resources/links for the session.
Read the rest of this entry »
Taiping - The city of everlasting peace
I love traveling in Malaysia. I used to land up in Kuala Lumpur or Johor Bahru and just take a random bus and end up in a random city. Once, on the way to Penang, the bus stopped for a while in Taiping. I had heard about this towns history and I knew some people who call Taiping their hometown. I decided to spend a couple of days in Taiping.
In colonial Malaya, Taiping was a tin mining centre. The Chinese groups involved in the mining always ended up fighting with each other. Fed up, the authorities got some troops from India and managed to subdue the groups after a long and bloody fight. Then they named the city Taiping - The city of everlasting peace.
Read the rest of this entry »
PyongYangGwan, A North Korean Restaurant in Bangkok
I had heard about this restaurant in Bangkok. It is in a not so central area of Bangkok called Pattanakarn. I was wondering why anyone would open a restaurant in such an area, then I found that the North Korean Embassy is also around this area. North Koreans have been opening these type of restaurants for a while now. They have a couple of them in China and Cambodia. The one in Bangkok seems to be a joint venture between North Koreans and local Thai businessmen. Thailand is one of the bigger trading partners of North Korea and for a while Koryo, the North Korean airlines, used to fly to Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport.
Read the rest of this entry »
In Japan mobile phones are not for making calls
I was listening to a recent episode of a Japanese learning podcast. This episode had a conversation between a school kid and his mom. The dialogue went on something like this
Elementary School Kid: Mom, would you buy me a mobile phone
Mom: Why does an elementary school kid need a mobile phone?
Elementary School Kid: Everyone has one.
Mom: What will you do with the mobile phone.
Elementary School Kid: Play games and do Mairu (mairu = mail. When the Japanese use the word mail, they are generally talking about email. When they refer to snail mail they use the word yubin)
Mom: If you are going to make a phone call then I will buy you the mobile phone.
Elementary School Kid: Sorenara, I don’t need it. (Sorenara = in that case, this is the new word I learnt in this episode of the podcast)
Many Japanese youngsters use mobile phones primarily for messaging, games and browsing the mobile web. Making phone calls in not a priority. I guess, part of the reason for this is that making or taking a call in a public place is considered as impolite. And I think the youngsters prefer textual messaging to verbal speech because the emoticons on their phones lets them leave somewhat ambiguous and non committal replies. There is a rich vocabulary of such text based emoticons in Japan in use both on the web and mobile.
I was at a SoftBank outlet looking for a phone. This SoftBank phone has a Yahoo! button in the top right corner.
SoftBank is the largest stockholder in Yahoo! Japan. SoftBank also recently acquired Vodaphone’s Japanese operations becoming a mobile operator. Even though its name has the word bank, SoftBank is not a bank. They had actually have a notice outside their Kyoto train station outlet saying “SoftBank is not a bank” in English to stop foreigners who go in asking to exchange money etc.
Another model with the Y! button on the top right.
Here is a Kodomobile. Kodomo in Japanese word for Kid. Kodomobile is a good reason to buy your kid a mobile phone. If your kid is accosted by a bad man then the kid can pull the tab at the bottom. The phone will sound of an alarm and the lights on the cover will start flashing. A Kodomobile has a built uses GPS whereabouts can be tracked so you can check where your kid is at any given time.
Another interesting thing I found was that Softbank sells iPods in their stores. One would think that a mobile operator would prefer its users to download music from the network and play using the mobile phone as this brings in additional revenue to the operator.
Then why is iPod so popular ?
I asked a friend of mine and she said it is mainly because of the battery life on the phones. People are reluctant to use the mobile phone music player because they are afraid that they may run out of power. They don’t mind carrying two devices. Its not an uncommon sight on Tokyo or Osaka metro to find people with their phone and an iPod nano decked together between their fingers.
Technorati Tags: ipod, kodomobile, softbank