TechWave English

“Becoming a platform for picking up 100 million pieces of trash a year worldwide” PIRIKA/Fujio Kojima

okappan — 2011-11-29T11:00:31+09:00

【Founder's Story】
A interview series hearing for the reason why making the service, process to it and dreams in the future. This time is Fujio Kojima, founder of PIRIKA.

translated by myGengo

PIRIKA (pih-rih-ka) is a web service with the aim of “picking up all the world's trash, and cleaning up the world”. The idea is that the trash collection network will expand and expand as users take photos and share gathered trash using iPhone and Android apps. (“Pirika” is an Ainu word meaning “clean” or “beautiful”.)

What was your impression upon hearing this concept? I personally felt that it was the most truly interesting service I had encountered in a while. There are countless services for sharing delicious meals, apps for decorating photos with cheap filter effects and sharing them; but to ask users to go to such lengths as to pick up trash and photograph it—who on earth would do that? But that is why it is interesting, and I also believe that it is art. But why, for what purpose? My curiosity insatiable, I arranged for a talk with PIRIKA's CEO Fujio Kojima, and CTO Ryota Ayaki.

Fujio Kojima, CEO of PIRIKA (right) and Ryota Ayaki, CTO（Photo:Masahiro Honda）

“Schemes to make Smartphone Developers Happy” Yumi Oyama, axion app M&A business.

okappan — 2011-11-02T11:00:34+09:00

translated by myGengo

Current State of App and App Element Trading Business (1)
There is business in giving new life to apps that have fallen out of use or are not being taken advantage of. In the first of a two part series, we will look at axion, the world’s first “app M&A” business, started in May, 2011.

The setup is as a seller’s market for app M&A businesses.

“App M&A” is a business that involved purchasing iPhone and Android apps from their developers, and selling them to new owners. They began their work in earnest in July of this year. Yumi Oyama from axion shared with us some of the knowhow she has picked up over the last three months.

Ms. Yumi Oyama, CEO of axion
（Photo:Masahiro Honda）

What motivated you to start app M&As?
“I like smartphones and enjoy being involved with them, and I wanted to create a business that would stimulate developers of apps and make everyone in the business happy.”

What was your feeling when you started?
“When we started, there were more people wanting to buy apps than sell. Because of that, we had to search for people willing to sell their apps, and pay high prices, but recently there has been good balance (in supply and demand)”

The most popular apps are mini games (simple games), memo pads, and utility tools such as schedulers. They are not necessarily difficult to develop, but Oyama believes that there is demand for her business because it is quicker and more efficient for companies to buy completed apps.

Apparently the price setting standard is based on the download numbers (and trend) of the last three months, but the details are a corporate secret. (There is a link at the end of the article to an “App Purchase Price Simulator”) 続きを読む

'Treasure Square' Japanese game creater makes daily life Adventure field (@maskin)

masaki_masuda — 2011-06-15T08:15:28+09:00

Geolocation Services are services that use GPS functionality from Smartphones and among them, we can find services that allow you to search for shops and establishments, as well as other types of services such as Facebook Deals and Foursquare that are based on a "check-in & communicate" format. Although in Japan we have Colpl for the popular Garake (Galapagos Keitai) cell phones, in the case of Smartphones, there are only a handful of games available for Sekai Cameras.

Japanese firm Dyno Entertainment will soon be releasing "Treasure Square", a social game that uses GPS functionality and will be available as a free application for iOS. It connects to Foursquare for acquiring positioning information. This the first stage of a service centered on location information which has been created by Mr. Toshiyuki Takasaki, an expert with more than 20 years experience in the games industry.
続きを読む

Facebook has passed the tipping point in Japan

tsuruaki — 2011-01-11T08:09:52+09:00

"Don't you think Facebook has passed the tipping point in Japan?", several friends contacted me around last October. I had noticed something different about Facebook usership myself. All of the sudden I'd started receiving friend requests several times a day. So I checked the Facebook Advertise page where you could create ads yourself and also by targeting the location of the ad only to Japan, you can get the exact number of users in Japan. I was surprised at the number. It was well over 1.5 million.

I have been using Facebook for more than two years. Two years ago, the number of Japanese users was around several hundred thousand, and had stayed there for a long time. At that time, Japanese people who used Facebook were mainly people who had lived abroad and have foreign friends. It was a social networking service to communicate with foreigners. The fact that the usership of Facebook had hovered around the same number for a long time means that who would join the service for the purpose had joined the service already.

Today, people are joining Facebook to communicate with Japanese friends.

It is easy to see the trend because my old Facebook friends use alphabet to write their names and profiles so that their foreign friends could find them. Today almost all my recently joined Facebook friends use traditional Chinese characters for their names. It is a sign that their main purpose in Facebook is not communicating with foreigners.

Once Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook said that Facebook can tell when an explosive growth "tipping point" is about to be reached by who is "friending" who. When Facebook first launches in a country, nearly all the friend connections are with foreign Facebook users.

"We know that a country has tipped when local-to-local connections outnumber local to foreign," he said, according to guardian.co.uk.

If this is true, Japan has tipped already.

Two years ago, Several hundred thousand users were using Facebook for local to foreign connections. TV Tokyo reported that Facebook has some 3 million users in Japan today. More than two million new users have joined Facebook in Japan mainly for local-to-local connections.

In addition to that, Facebook fad is expected to take over Japan soon with the movie "Social Network" coming to theaters from Jan.15, and many books on Facebook rushing to the bookstores.

Tonchidot's "DOMO" enables Transparent Society

masaki_masuda — 2010-12-31T17:33:21+09:00

translated by myGengo

Takahito Iguchi, CEO of Tonchidot, developer of AR (augmented reality) application "World Camera," announced on Dec. 9 plans for a new product, called "DOMO", to enable communication linking people, things and businesses in the same place, on the same timeline.

Mr. Iguchi said, "It has been one year since Tonchidot began offering World Camera service. We thought it was time to move past camera view to the next generation of AR, or to remake AR," declaring that DOMO would be an unprecedented and important concept. "In the real world, it is a waste when people who are in the same time and place cannot get connected. That's what made us think of DOMO, as a front end people can use to share experiences and things in communication in a real-world space," Mr. Iguchi explained. 続きを読む

"Chirpstory" simply organizes tweets, videos and images

okappan — 2010-12-31T16:32:14+09:00

translated by myGengo

"Togetter", a service for creating a "summary page" for organized voluntary tweets from Twitter. It received the Good Design Reward.

To describe togetter in one word, it would be "violin". Because it appeared in the year 1550 and it's shape hasn't changed since. Monthly PV 9 million, UU 2 million. Tweets can be organized by drag and drop.

We will develop it as organized media while targeting the planet's 7 billion people. The service's name will be "Chirpstory". Story of a tweet. We will enter into the world as a simpler service than the Japan-oriented togetter. It will be possible to add media contents such as YouTube.

We will localize with native translation and design renewal. Features will also be simplified. In addition, we will add a media contents feature. We will change from a the current focus on the user to a focus on contents like foreign news sites. It will be possible to create contents in the form of a combination of tweets and videos and images from GROUPON, etc.

"Unifying the world by gathering the tweets of humanity"

Original article:Twitterまとめで世界進出togetter改め「Chirpstory」(#IVS Launch Pad [6/14])

Sharing your list of Android Apps "＆Friends"

okappan — 2010-12-31T15:32:57+09:00

translated by myGengo

Installed on Android Terminal, the "& Friends" app is a service that can be shared. It automatically collects your list of apps and is even able to make them public on the site. Today it was combined with IVS LaunchPad and a beta version was released. "Control the distribution of Android apps".

It is possible to view the apps of celebrities. However, since you are able to choose between "public" and "private" privacy settings, in actuality, you will only see those they have permitted to have viewed.

The development period is six months. You can log in using Google ID and connect to friends on such sites as Twitter or Facebook. If a friend's app catches your eye, you are then able to download it on the spot. Furthermore, the apps order table presents the order of apps that are popular among your friends, as well as those corresponding to your own social trends. 続きを読む

"CHeeRZ" - interacts us at any web sites with avatars

okappan — 2010-12-31T14:32:37+09:00

translated by myGengo

With Klab's "CHeeRZ", people can interact with others looking at the same site via avatars. It is a social layer service compatible with all web sites. There are a plethora of ideas such as using it as a site's concierge. We are assuming it to be an SLS (social layer service).

Just like Facebook's "Like", users will be able to "Cheer" contents or contrarily boo them with a "Zreech".

Avatars of those viewing the site at the same moment will appear in the rear of the browser. At the same time, your avatar will appear in their browser with chat possible between avatars. For a fee, users may purchase items and decorate their avatars to make them cuter.

User can make friends by smiling at and sending gestures to people met on the site. It is a social platform where anyone can create a group. Users can even enjoy gathering their avatars to watch on curiously at fires, etc on the site. In addition, it seems that users may also take their pets on walks anywhere on the internet.
(Voice is partly lost because of a technical failure)

Orijinal article:サイトで出会った人とアバターを介して交流できる「CHeeRZ」(#IVS Launch Pad [12/14])

Real-time correcting your English "Lingo"

okappan — 2010-12-31T13:31:27+09:00

translated by myGengo

It is a technological service that plugs in your web browser to help users study English. Type in English and the service corrects it in real-time. Use this service while typing in English in Gmail or Twitter, comments will pop up with corrections in real-time.

The technology supports non-native English GLOBISH writers. It shows you awkward phrases as you write in English in real-time. "Lingo" can show you the reasons for these corrections. Click on the icon to start reading an explanation.

What happens when it analyzes the contents of what you write on Gmail and Twitter? It points out and corrects errors and gives you the green light to post what you' ve written. It tells me that "happy" seems to be too emotional a word, but I wonder what kind of logic is being used here? I suppose it judges things based on the overall context. 続きを読む

Hottolink's “Stock Robot” won the first place on IVS's LaunchPad

okappan — 2010-12-20T09:50:58+09:00

translated by myGengo

New services and technology are gateways to success: Hottolink's "Stock Robot in a social networking-era" shines in the first place with IVS's LaunchPad. By analyzing informations on blogs spread by word-of-mouth, the "Stock Robot" program advises investment.

Besides the "word-of-mouth Chief" tool, which analyzes word-of-mouth information on Hottolinks, is released as a marketing tool, the "Stock Robot" also earned a financial engineering. It allowed for studying blog entries and price fluctuations in the Nikkei future tradings over the past 3 years. 続きを読む