japan
China and Japan Covet the Same Rare-earth Metals
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from The Australian: “Japan’s increasingly frantic efforts to lead the world in green technology have put it on a collision course with the ambitions of China and dragged both government and industry into the murky realm of large-scale mineral smuggling.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Will Google’s Chrome Shine?
Google has slated a serious of TV ads to promote its Chrome browser to help polish its lackluster performance. At number four, behind Firefox, Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer, Google hopes its ads, designed by the company’s Japan-based team, will give the company the needed boost to outshine its competitors.
Fluorescent Monkeys Cast Light On Human Disease
Hugh Pickens writes “BBC reports that a team of Japanese scientists has integrated a new gene for green fluorescent protein into the common marmoset, causing them to glow green under ultraviolet light, creating second-generation, glow-in-the-dark monkeys in what could be a powerful new tool in human disease research. Though primates modified to generate a glowing protein have been created before, these are the first to keep the change in their bloodlines. If a fluorescent protein gene can be introduced into the monkey genome and passed onto future generations, other genes could be too opening up a world of possibilities for medical research, such as the generation of specific monkey colonies containing genetic defects that mirror human diseases aiding efforts to cure such diseases as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. However many people are likely to find the routine use of monkeys in medical research far less acceptable than that of rodents, drawing action from animal rights activists. “I’m worried that these steps are being taken without any overall public discussion about whether we want to go down that road. We may find ourselves gradually drifting towards the genetic engineering of human beings,” says Dr David King, from the group Human Genetics Alert. “‘Slippery slope’ is a quite inadequate description of the process, because it doesn’t happen passively. People push it forward.”"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google Earth Raises Discrimination Issue In Japan
Hugh Pickens writes “The Times (UK) reports that by allowing old maps to be overlaid on satellite pictures of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, Google has unwittingly created a visual tool that has prolonged an ancient discrimination, says a lobbying group established to protect the human rights of three million burakumin, members of the sub-class condemned by the old feudal system in Japan to unclean jobs associated with death and dirt. ‘We tend to think of maps as factual, like a satellite picture, but maps are never neutral, they always have a certain point of view,’ says David Rumsey, a US map collector. Some Japanese companies actively screen out burakumin-linked job seekers, and some families hire private investigators to dig into the ancestry of fiances to make sure there is no burakumin taint. Because there is nothing physical to differentiate burakumin from other Japanese and because there are no clues in their names or accent, the only way of establishing whether or not they are burakumin is by tracing their family. By publishing the locations of burakumin ghettos with the modern street maps, the quest to trace ancestry is made easier, says Toru Matsuoka, an opposition MP and member of the Buraku Liberation League. Under pressure to diffuse criticism, Google has asked the owners of the woodblock print maps to remove the legend that identifies the ghetto with an old term, extremely offensive in modern usage, that translates loosely as ’scum town.’ ‘We had not acknowledged the seriousness of the map, but we do take this matter seriously,’ says Yoshito Funabashi, a Google spokesman.” The ancient Japanese caste system was made illegal 150 years ago, but silent discrimination remains. The issue is complicated by allegations of mob connections in the burakumin anti-discrimination organizations.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Japanese College Makes All Students be Tracked With iPhones
The university is phasing out normal attendance-taking methods in favor of forcing all students to carry free iPhone 3Gs equipped with GPS. That way, the school will automatically know whether they’re in class, and for that matter, their exact whereabouts at all times.
Where Are the High-Res Head-Mounted Displays?
vivian writes “Ever since 1996, when I first set eyes on a Sony GlassTron head-mounted display in Japan, I have been awaiting a lightweight, head-mounted display that actually has decent resolution and doesn’t look like a brick tied to your face. The closest contender to date seems to be the WRAP 920AV from Vuzix, and they are partially transparent too, which is great, but as with every other unit I have found, they only offer video quality — 640×480. Given that there have been a number of other discussions on Slashdot, I can’t be the only one here who is eagerly awaiting something that could actually be a viable alternative to a PC monitor — especially for gaming or 3d graphics work. Perhaps we could petition a manufacturer to make what we actually want? Something with a minimum of 1024×768 @30-60hz refresh, say, and capable of stereo vision. Extra karma if they incorporate head tracking.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
World’s fastest CPU clocked at 128 gigaflops
Reports from Japan say that a new supercomputer processor has taken the crown of world’s fastest by not just beating, but obliterating the old record. Fujitsu’s eight-core SPARC64 VIIIfx Venus CPU was clocked at 128 billion computations per second, which destroyed the previous Intel-held record by a factor of 2.5.
Turn Your iPhone Into a Web Server
miller60 writes “A Japanese company called Freebit has released ServersMan, an app that turns the iPhone into a web server. It debuted in Japan in February, has now been launched in the US, and is being touted as a ‘Personal Data Center.’ Freebit also has a video with additional information on server-enabling your iPhone. ‘Once the app is installed, PCs on the internet can access the iPhone to upload or download files through a browser or they can use the webDAV protocol. If the PC and the iPhone are on the same network, the PC can connect directly. If they are on separate networks, then FreeBit’s VPN software will engage the connection.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Turn Your iPhone Into a Web Server
miller60 writes “A Japanese company called Freebit has released ServersMan, an app that turns the iPhone into a web server. It debuted in Japan in February, has now been launched in the US, and is being touted as a ‘Personal Data Center.’ Freebit also has a video with additional information on server-enabling your iPhone. ‘Once the app is installed, PCs on the internet can access the iPhone to upload or download files through a browser or they can use the webDAV protocol. If the PC and the iPhone are on the same network, the PC can connect directly. If they are on separate networks, then FreeBit’s VPN software will engage the connection.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
