Tuesday, 2010.03.02 18:09 JST
Opera 10.50 for Windows released!
Finally Opera 10.50 for Windows is out and we are back to the moniker "fastest browser on Earth" with Carakan, a completely new JavaScript engine, and Vega, the new high-performance graphics library. :) Additionally it has gotten a lot prettier now with better Windows integration, desktop widgets can now run as standalone applications, etc. And old goodies like Opera Unite and Opera Turbo are of course still there. Check it out here (Windows that is - Mac/Linux will follow later, but you can grab the betas from the Desktop Team's blog).
 tmk
[technology:work][comments(1)]
Friday, 2010.02.19 09:23 JST
WILLCOM files for bankruptcy
WILLCOM, Japan's 4th largest mobile carrier, files for bankruptcy. They're Japan's sole provider of the personal handyphone system, or PHS, which first drew customers in the 1990s for its relatively low calling fees and better voice quality. Back then they also had better coverage than regular cellphones in the subways due to small and cheap PHS antennas. Not sure how they stack up these days as I've not used a PHS phone for awhile (last I had was a w-zero3[es] Advanced which I used as a secondary phone). I used PHS a lot for data access cards back in the day. Before 3G caught on PHS was the fastest way to get online from anywhere and when it came to latency it was better than UMTS. Last but not least, they were out early with flat rate data plans. Reckon competition got quite tough in that field with HSDPA being so much faster and with the new carrier E-Mobile's aggressive pricing.
Additionally WILLCOM has a long history with us as they were the first carrier - then named DDI Pocket - in Japan to introduced phones loaded with Opera back in 2004. They even had an "Opera-button" on those phones. :)
Links:
- Japan Today: Mobile phone company WILLCOM files for bankruptcy
- Opera press release: First Opera-phone in Japan
- Impress' review from back then, incl. photo of the Opera-button :)
tmk
[technology:japan][add a comment]
Tuesday, 2010.02.16 23:31 JST
Fixing iPhone's notification mess
Notifications might be one of the few things that I prefer on my Android phone compared to my iPhone. Basically the iPhone's notification system is broken by design; overly intrusive, inflexible and not very informative. Figured others might be equally annoyed so dug up some old notes I jotted down awhile back when installing this and that to try to fix the following;
- Status icons so you know what's pending.
- Get rid of that modal dialog that pop-ups and interrupts whatever you're doing.
- Android/Palm Pre wanna-be notification tray.
- More information on the lock screen so you don't need to unlock to see what you missed.
>>
tmk
[read more][technology][comments(1)]
Saturday, 2010.01.23 14:06 JST
Kyo's birthday countdown
In my neighborhood having count down birthday parties seems to be some sort of tradition. This time it was the master of The Bar Place, Kyo, that had to be celebrated and a little before midnight his bar was packed with neighbors and friends who had gathered to count down to his birthday and make sure he would get so drunk that he would forget the whole thing. He survived admirably this year and I don't think we managed to make him pass out before around 2am (there has been birthday kids who haven't even lasted till their own count down so this is pretty good). Great fun.
     
tmk
[life:japan][add a comment]
Wednesday, 2010.01.20 21:53 JST
NJS Shinnenkai 2010
I'm not a member of Norway Japan Society nor have I ever been to any of their events before, but it's always worth giving new things a try and as I got invited I went to out to Blossom in Ginza to attend their Shinnenkai (party for the new year). 2jikai went down at some strange little Japanese wine bar which name I can't remember that we found in the neighborhood afterwards.
     
tmk
[life:japan][add a comment]
Saturday, 2010.01.16 11:10 JST
HARD TO EXPLAIN x Jungle disc-oh!
No idea what the title is supposed to mean, but the party crowds from the Mooo~Parties and Jungle disc-oh! parties teamed up for a bigger happening in Ever in Aoyama. Nice venue for this sort of thing, with two areas with separated DJs etc. Not going to try to write a whole lot more about the party as I frankly can't remember much. People say it was fun though, so I'll just believe them.
     
tmk
[life:japan][add a comment]
Sunday, 2010.01.10 17:42 JST
Iizuka & Goto's wedding
Two former colleagues of me got married today so the day started off pretty early for being a Saturday with a trip out to a chapel in Musashisakai for the ceremony. It was a western, or Christian, ceremony and wasn't that different from what we're used to back in Norway apart from the priest lecturing about married life and being less personal. There was a few hours break between the ceremony and the party so I went back home to eat and to try to sleep off my hangover from Friday - which worked out quite well. Then headed back to Kichijouji where the party was at Old Owl. Was nice to see them get married, was fun to see so many old colleagues of mine from my days at Ashley, etc. Congratulations to the newly weds! (the two photos with proper colours I stole from Janine).
     
tmk
[life:japan][add a comment]
Sunday, 2010.01.03 21:39 JST
Facebook comment import
Now the blog automatically sucks in comments from facebook when people post comments to these entries there rather than commenting here. The comments are marked with a facebook icon and also link back to the thread on facebook. Hopefully it won't make threads too confusing..
tmk
[site][comments(1)]
archive>> |
![[Valid RSS]](images/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
