Paralyzed people can now control avatars by their minds

Scientists at the Biomedical Engineering Faculty (web site is Japanese only) of Tokyo's Keio University (which happens to be my university) have developed a method which enables disabled people to control avatars on the Internet with their minds!

The project team is lead by Keio University associate professor Junichi Ushiba (web site is partly Japanese).

Electrodes attached to a person's head and connected to a computer turn thoughts into actual movement by avatars. The project focused on Second Life (a short take on Second Life is here).

The experiment turned out to be a success (OK, otherwise they wouldn't have shown it to the world). Probands can walk, shop and set up businesses in Second Life! No keyboard or mouse is needed.

I have seen machines in the USA which enable paralyzed people to type emails by using their brains but nothing like this new concept. I am not a biomedical engineer but I think the Japanese method is much more sophisticated.

More information and a movie can be found here. The project team's site is Japanese only but the movie is interesting to watch even if you can't understand the language.

The latest Japanese Internet news and business briefs

Some noteworty (business) news from the Japanese Internet scene in the last days:

1)
The Japanese equivalent to NASDAQ, the JASDAQ opened its NEO market last week. Click here for the English press release (PDF).

NEO is aimed at start-ups featuring cutting-edge technology only. JASDAQ also accepts companies operating at a loss if they think the technology behind them is appropriate.

Ubiquitous Corp., a maker of communications software for Nintendo's wildly successful portable game system DS (amongst others), is the first company listed on NEO. Their shares soared from 100,000 Yen to 400,000 Yen on the first day!

2)
Skype collaborates with Excite Japan (website is Japanese only). Yes, Excite is very much alive over here!

Skype has 5 million users in Japan and is apparently not happy with that number. By this cobranding deal, the company said on Tuesday this week it hopes to double the number of customers.

Skype worked with Japanese web heavyweight Livedoor (Japanese only) and chose Excite as their next Japanese partner because of their impressive user base of 24 million (!).

3)
Disney will launch cell phone services in Japan beginning spring 2008. Although Japan has its own anime and manga culture, Disney is VERY popular over here. The company will lease telecommunications networks from Softbank Mobile which is the No. 3 in the Japanese cell phone market.

Moreover, Disney said it wants to design their own handsets based on their popular characters. Also, Disney cartoons will be available for download exclusively for subscribers. The company seems to be bullish about Japan: It hopes to attract 1 million subscribers!

3G cell phones are standard in Japan but not in the US. This reason was cited by Disney when the company gave up similar plans in their home country in September this year.

How to register for Nico Nico Douga (English)

My review of Japanese Youtube "killer" Nico Nico Douga has you hooked?

Learn here how to register for the site in English. Please follow the instructions given in the screenshots below.



Also, please remember:
At certain times, Nico Nico blocks registration for basic membership. In that case try a few hours later.




As for your location, please choose "その他(海外など)" which means "Other (outside Japan)".

After the final step, a page appears stating you have to confirm the registration within 24 hours by clicking on the link the service sends to you via Email after this registration process.

After clicking the confirmation link you will be directed to a "welcome" page. Make sure to choose the link on the right as shown in the screen shot below.


Do so and you are ready to go!

You can find more information on Nico Nico Douga on Joi Ito's Web Log in Fumi Yamazaki's excellent article.

Review: Japan's Youtube killer Nico Nico Douga

It's insane. It's very successful. It's very Japanese. It's a cooler video sharing site than Youtube. It's Nico Nico Douga (web site is Japanese only).

In my guest article for German blog zweinull.cc I briefly described the site in Deutsch (I am a German).

In this post, I will extensively review Nico Nico. Click here for my explanation of how to register for Non-Japanese speakers (this post is long enough).



I will review Nico Nico in the following order:

I) General Info
II) Starting Page
III) Functions and Features
IV) Business Modell
V) Opinion

I) General Info
Nico Nico Douga (ニコニコ動画) roughly means Smiling Videos. The site launched in January this year and since then turned into nothing but a huge success story. And no one knows about it outside Japan but that is what this blog is about, right?

Basically the site works like Youtube. People can upload, view, share and comment on videos of any kind. Basic membership is free.

The user base stands at approximately 3 million (data for October 2007, according to Niwango which is the company behind the site). There are almost 600,000 videos uploaded.

II) Starting Page
Please click at the JPEG below for an English description of the key elements of the starting page.


The whole site may look wild and crazy to Western eyes but lots of Japanese people (and me) love the design. Not long ago, Nico Nico even won the prestigious Good Design award (Japanese only).

In contrast to Youtube, you cannot even view videos without an account. That means you have to register to go further than the starting page.

III) Functions and Features
The biggest difference between Youtube and Nico Nico is the way users can communicate with each other. Youtube users usually write private messages to each other or share their opinions via the comment function just below the videos.

With Nico Nico however, people can actually communicate WITHIN the videos themselves! Users can write comments about a particular part of a video. The comments then "float" across the screen from right to left (easier for Japanese people to read) at a time users are free to choose. Now it happens that some videos feature hundreds of comments from hundreds of users overlaying the picture. Please see the video below for an example.


It may sound stupid but Nico Nico users particularly love this feature. It is the point of the service actually. As of November 22nd, almost 600 million comments were made (!).


Now, please click at the JPEG below for an English description of the overview page you see after logging in.

The main categories of videos can be found in two rows (the grey buttons). Categories marked with an "*" are explained separately.

1st row (left to right):
ALL MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT ANIME GAMES SURVEYS* RADIO* SPORTS POLITICS CHAT* SCIENCE HISTORY COOKING NATURE

In the "surveys" category, users can start video surveys. For example, users can ask the Nico Nico community which star they prefer in a 1on1 "duel". See the screen shot below for an example.


In the "radio" section, one can listen to and comment on radio programs recorded and shared by Nico Nico users! It sounds weird to have a function like that on a video site but people seem to like it.

Videos uploaded in the "chat" section give users the opportunity to communicate more easily. The videos here usually just serve as a background.

2nd row (left to right):
VLOG ME DANCING* ME SINGING* ME PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT* NICO NICO TIPS* PREMIUM USER AREA TAIWAN* MISCELLANEOUS TEST VIDEOS RESTRICTED-18* COMPANY VIDEOS*


In the "Me dancing/singing/playing an instrument" sections Nico Nico users can show how they can do just that. There is a lot of fun stuff to be found here.

In the "Nico Nico tips" section users can provide other users with hints on using the service.

For some strange reason Nico Nico is popular in Taiwan. This is the reason for setting up this special category.

The "Restricted 18" section is particularly interesting. Things get steamier here but there is no really "hard" stuff if you know what I mean.

The "company videos" category features commercial material. At the moment, especially music companies use Nico Nico to present the latest mucic clips from their artists.

IV) Business Modell
There are various ways Nico Nico makes money.

Firstly, there are advertisements on the site.

Secondly, Nico Nico aggressively promotes its premium accounts. The upgrade costs 525 Yen (4,85 USD/3,26 Euro) a month. Premium members get more bandwith, access to Nico Nico on their mobile phones, 2 GB more storage (4 GB total), additional comment colors etc. In October 2007, there were 86,000 premium account holders.

Thirdly, there is the Nico Nico market. Users can choose products from Amazon related to a certain video and put the corresponding links below it. Nico Nico gets the commission.

There are no advertisements embedded in the videos.

V) Opinion
Pros:
1)
Cool design (mangaesque characters, crazy appearance, I love that)

2)
Very good usability (good interface, clear selection of categories, simple navigation etc.)

3)
Videos load really fast

4)
No time restriction on the videos

5)
Very good selection of high quality, crazy and "exclusive" videos

6)
New and fresh concept (comments streaming over the screen leading to a new and direct way of communication between users)

Cons:
1)
Limitation of access at certain times for Non-premium members

2)
I want an English version really fast ;)

3)
Amount of videos still limited compared to Youtube

If Youtube is the king of quantity then (at least for me!) Nico Nico is king of quality and fun. Actually, one can't compare the sites. I wouldn't necessarily put family videos on Nico Nico. That's what Youtube is there for. Nico Nico is meant to be crazy and entertaining (for the most part). And I think they really achieve that goal.

Nico Nico is not worse or better than Youtube but -as I said above- certainly cooler.

Here is my explanation in English of how to register.

PS
There is a Taiwanese version of Nico Nico available already. Maybe there will be an English Nico Nico soon?

Japanese online game market grows rapidly

I just stumbled upon a fairly interesting article from Japanese news agency Kyodo.

As an Ex-Videogame-Otaku (I still love Sega, Konami and Capcom) I found it pretty interesting.

Maybe you agree. The article from last month is very short and not really deep but a quick read.

As Japan is the No. 1 country in the world as far as producing high quality game content is concerned, there should be lots of chances for Japanese online game companies to make money by internationalizing fast.

Hmmm, maybe I can help some of those companies since I both love games and have a deep knowledge of the gaming culture and business.

Get the LebWeb3 admission code I won at Blognation Japan's Web 2.0 party

Just yesterday I blogged about Blognation Japan's launch party to be held in Tokyo after the Web 2.0 Expo's 2nd and final day.

And I won the big prize: An admission code for Europe's biggest Web exhibition, the LeWeb3 which takes place in Paris, France on December 11 and 12, 2007! Value: 1,000 USD! That's quite cool, isn't it?

Here is your chance: I cannot make it to Paris although I would really, really like to. So grab the code for a mere 500 USD. Just write me an email: serkantoto (at) gmail com.

The party itself was great fun. I got to know lots of interesting people, for example Naotori-san who is CEO of brandnew Japanese web start-up 7ns.

Naotori-san won the Mash-Up award from Sun Microsystems Japan (both links are Japanese only) a couple of weeks ago. Check out his cool and useful application here. The service (designed and programmed by him alone!) is also available in English!

The party lasted 4 hours (although only 2 hours were planned) and Robert did a great job hosting it although he had to entertain approximately 25 people ;).

Web 2.0 Expo in Tokyo: My opinion

Today, I took part in the Web 2.0 Expo in Shibuya, Tokyo (other locations include San Francisco and Berlin).

Well, what can I say. It was full but not awfully good.

Pros:
- the event is well organized
- the food is good ;)
- the people attending the Expo were really nice

Cons:
- not enough exhibitors
- no spectacular news (maybe that would be asking too much)
- VERY low level of internationalization

Especially the last point made me a little angry. I can read Japanese so it is not really my problem. But I think it is just disrespectful not to give any kind of information in English to visitors. No English guide books, no English texts on the booth displays, almost no staff capable of giving information to foreigners.

That means people coming from Europe and the US go to Tokyo and the exhibition part of the Expo is totally useless for them. The conferences/speeches etc. were translated of course.

Another thing:
Some of the presentations - especially from companies from abroad - were serious catastrophies. It is not my intention to nag here but I was really puzzled how companies can throw out money out of the window like that. People were standing at the podium and speaking English with heavy accents about products nobody understood due to poor presentation skills.

That was a shame, really, because some of the products who were marketed that way are really good.

Also, tomorrow I will attend the official Launch Party of Blognation Japan. I will report if I won a prize tomorrow ;).

Review: Japan's Uber-social network MIXI

I think we can all agree Facebook and Myspace are the world's leading social networks. However, both sites play a negligible role here in Japan. Ususally only Japanese people having a lot of international friends are registered.

Over here, there is only one social network that matters: Mixi. Nothing else.

I could write novels about Mixi but I keep it short. I will review the site in the following order:

I) General Info
II) Starting Page
III) Functions and Features
IV) Business Model
V) Opinion

I) General Info
Mixi is by far Japan's biggest social network. It boasts the biggest user base and excellent corporate development. More than 10 million people (over 99% are Japanese, there is no international/English version) are currently registered. Japan has a population of 125 million.

Mixi is also the first Web 2.0 company in the world which did an IPO. In September 2006, the company managed to raise 1.9 billion USD on the Tokyo stock exchange. Mixi's founder Kenji Kasahara* became a billionaire at the tender age of 30. The company started operations in February 2004.

ALL of my Japanese friends and acquaintances use it ALL the time: In the university, in the office, in the train, in their free time. The mobile version is almost as often used as the "normal" one. Mixi's popularity in this country is really insane. The main target group consists of Japanese people aged 15 to 35.

A few days ago, Mixi officially announced it will take part in Google's "Open Social" system.

II) Starting Page
The starting page is as simplistic as it can get. Check out the screenshot below.


III) Functions and Features
The main functions are depicted in the screenshots below. This is how Mixi looks like directly after login. Please click on the shots to enlarge them, otherwise it could be hard to read my translation of main links in the top rows.



Let me briefly cover the functions:
1) Diary lets you access the latest blog entries from people in the community. Actually Mixi offers the most popular blogging platform in Japan!

2) Community in Mixi basically means forums. There are tens of thousands of discussion forums here: sports, relationships, politics, music, movies etc. A lot of Mixi members also use these forums to sell and buy stuff. So we have a bit of a Japanese Craigslist here as well ;).

3) Mixi allows its users to upload videos and photos. Naturally they can be tagged and commented on as well. Linking to Youtube is also possible.

4) In the music section, users can view the current the community's most popular songs and artists.

5) Mixi users can also review different products and services in a number of categories. For example, it is possible to post personal opionions on the newest CDs, restaurants, toys, movies etc.

6) The news section covers, well, news from all over the world and Japan itself. Like Google News, Mixi does not edit articles but uses outside sources (mainly Japanese newspapers). Unlike Google News however, the articles are integrated into Mixi. That means there are no outbound links and members can directly comment on news and easily integrate them into their Mixi blogs.

7) Mikly is Mixi's weekly Web magazine. Topics usually include music, news from the community, the latest events etc.

In the second row (see screenshot above) the major functions can be found again. There are some additional functions though.

1) Message means private messaging between Mixi users. Nothing special here.

2) The Favorites section lets users bookmark specific Mixi members or communities (=forums).

3) The ashi-ato function basically means tracking who accessed one's personal Mixi profile.

I could write on and on about these and more features on Mixi but for now this summary should be enough to give you a good picture.

IV) Business Model
As to be expected, Mixi makes approximately 80% of its money with advertisements.

However, there are more ways for the company to monetarize their site.

For example, in the "music" section, Mixi users can not only view the community's most popular titles but also buy them. Moreover, Mixi set up categories of its own (Hip Hop, Jazz, Rock, J-Pop) in this section of the site. Users then can decide which songs are the most popular in those categories and (of course) they can buy music here as well, i.e. via iTunes.

Mixi applies a similar approach in the "review" section. If a user reviews a random DVD for example, Mixi earns money from Amazon or other shops by using affiliate links. This is not really a new idea. However, there are tens of thousands of items reviewed so they must make a handsome amount of revenue with this method as well.

Mixi also offers premium accounts. For 315 Yen a month (2.75 USD/1.95 Euros) members can upload more videos, more photos etc.

V) Opinion
What is the big buzz about? To put it bluntly: There is absolutely nothing spectacular about Mixi. This may be one of the reasons the site is so successful. There are no shiny shiny functions anyone needs. I would say this social network is a very Japanese mix of MySpace's chaos and Facebook's lucidity.

Personally, I like Mixi a lot just because it offers great usability through a simplistic design. Also Japanese acquaintences and friends are usually all registered which makes it easy to keep track of them. I really hate having to log into MySpace and Facebook separately, meddling with features no one needs and going through ordeals with chaotic interfaces (MySpace is still terrible in that respect).

An interesting final fact to be mentioned is Mixi's "invite system". You cannot just register but must be invited by a Mixi member. This approach is very, very Japanese.

Thus Mixi sees to it that trolls, vandals and other annoying people cannot access the site without them having anyone to hold responsible. Neither a new nor spectacular idea but very welcome nonetheless.

*
In December 2007, CNN conducted a quite interesting interview with Kenji Kasahara (English language, 8.33 min.). Watch it here.

Usage of Mobile TV in Japan on the rise

Nowadays, it is quite hard to get a cell phone in Japan without a TV tuner built in. The first phones able to make use of the Japan-only "1seg"-system (broadcasting of digital audio and video signals) came out as early as 2005 (!).

Yesterday, Sharp -the king of the ring concerning TV displays- announced sales of cell phones equipped with its TV systems topped the 5 million mark since they were introduced in May this year! The JEITA (Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association) said the total number of phones with a TV function built in totaled 13,2 million units until August this year.

Quality issues
Now, I have to say the quality of the 1seg-system is just great: The video is crystal clear and the audio is of superb quality, too. This means the Japanese really have a technological edge here. By the way, Sharp also announced they will produce TV cell phones with a thickness of just 1,8 cm, making the hardware even cooler (they reduced thickness by 5 millimeters).

However, there is one big problem: As of now, watching TV on a Japanese cell phone (even if it is digital and all that) is crap. Can you do it in a train? No. Can you do it in the metro? No. Can you do it in a car? No. Can you do it in a building? It depends (!). That is right, sometimes watching TV in a normal house is just impossible because there is no signal....

But I am sure Japanese companies will solve these problems someday. And: It is free to use for us consumers.

In the future, mobile TV could also be linked to mobile Internet meaning lots of opportunities for new applications, advertising models, marketing approaches, etc. etc.

Japan airs world's first show recorded in Second Life

It is 1.30 AM in Japan now and I stayed awake to witness the world's first TV show recorded in Second Life. Second Life is available in Japanese since summer and since that time registration from users from over here increased significantly.

I personally don't like the idea of being represented by ugly avatars and living in virtual worlds (including clubbing/dancing - now that's particularly stupid in my opinion).

Anyway, the show is not officially from Linden Lab and titled デジタルの根性 (Dejitaru no Konjou: Digital Spirit). It is made by Nihon TV (web site is Japanese only). Nihon TV is a major network based here in Tokyo.

The show runs 30 minutes and for a person who is as indifferent as me, it is of no value, really. This is the show's official home page (Japanese only).

Three Japanese celebrities are the hosts for the show - represented by avatars of course. They are talking about future events taking place in Second Life and promoting some movies the TV station produced. Some trash-talking and comedy is also thrown in.

Check out the screenshots taken below (I apologize for the size and poor quality):