Year: <span>2003</span>
Year: 2003

Official played pachinko during quake crisis

The deputy Akita governor is in hot water for playing pachinko instead of returning to his office after a massive earthquake rocked northern Japan on Monday, it was learned Wednesday. Deputy Gov. Takashi Chiba was the highest-ranking man at the Akita Prefectural Government when the quake occurred at around 6:30 p.m. on Monday because Gov. Sukeshiro Terata was away on a trip to South Korea.

KDDI Develops Mobile Terminal Linking Communications

KDDI has been actively developing technologies and services that fuse communications and broadcasting. As a part of these activities, the KDDI subsidiary KDDI R&D Laboratories, in conjunction with NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories has developed a prototype mobile terminal that supports linked communications and broadcasting services in an environment similar to actual usage conditions. The services combine mobile phone services and data broadcasting for mobile terminals that support digital terrestrial broadcasting.

USA: Better than Europe for i-mode?

In the US, data speeds rock: “With my Sprint PCS service I’ve had long downloads with speeds of 59 to 84.4 kbps. In a video test I had a burst of up to 104 kbps.” But is culture significant? “People in the United States have less trouble talking to each other than do people in Japan – many teenagers here actually prefer sending mail to talking, not only because it’s cheaper, but because it’s easier for them to say what they want to say.”

KDDI and Okinawa Cellular Launch 5 New 3G Handsets

KDDI Corp. and Okinawa Cellular recently announced plans to launch five new handsets from the end of May increasing their new lineup of 3G mobile phones (CDMA 2000 1x), a format that enables high-speed data transmission of up to 144 kbps. All the new phones are Movie Mail-compatible, a function that allows users to shoot and send seamless movies. The new handsets scheduled for launch are the A5401CA manufactured by Casio, the A5402S produced by Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, the A5306ST and A1303SA both made by Sanyo, and the A5303H II manufactured by Hitachi.

Wireless Watch Japan Update

Wireless Watch Japan UpdateWe’re hard at work preparing our new site and July line-up which will include an exclusive look at NTT DoCoMo’s 505i-series launch event held in Tokyo to announce the latest of their super-sophisticated i-mode handsets, visits with several mobile technology-focused ventures being fledged at Tokyo’s Venture Habitat, and a profile of a unique mobile health-care management service. Make sure you’re subscribed to the Wireless Watch Japan mailing list to stay up-to-date on our relaunch activities and to receive the first issue of the new and improved WWJ mail magazine.

DoCoMo and Seiko Unveil Wristomo

Yatta.. an actual Wireless Watch – and Mobile Phone! Will this new model design set the pace for future of wearable devices, seems that time is coming. While it does look ‘kinda’ bulky, and retail price runs pretty rich at about $400, but the geeks in us will still be out shopping this weekend.. maybe we can get a special WWJ discount.. =@_@=