Very important news. Some sanity returning to the courts just as we get ready to kick Dubya out the back door.

This ruling will, however, send serious shockwaves through pretty much every industry -- because software and business method patents are found just about everywhere. Companies that rely on such patents (such as patent hoarding companies) may have just found out their current business model is about to go away. An awful lot of patents are now about to be invalidated, and a lot of patent lawsuits may get thrown out as the patents do not meet the criteria set forth in this decision.

Softbank's comic commercials to promote their mobile service are now promoting the iPhone in Japan with Aya Ueto and Dante Carver and the rest of the White Family clan.

More background on this series here:
Shiba SoftBank Ads - Part I
and
More Shiba SoftBank Ads (ホワイト家族２４)
and
Shiba SoftBank Ads - Part 3
and finally
Shiba SoftBank Ads - Part 4

You have to understand Japanese to get all the jokes. Suffice it to say that Steve Jobs doesn't use a white Shiba-inu to promote the iPhone anywhere else in the world.

via Hector's Kirainet

A conversation with Paul Krugman 2008 Nobel Prize Winner, Economics

As do I.

The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable.

As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.

National Geographic documentary of the development of the new GT-R.

I will be pleasantly surprised if Mixi gets any traction in China. China already has a competitive market for social networks and it's not clear what benefit there will be in using an SNS that is popular in Japan (considering the enmity Chinese online users have for Japan and anything Japanese.)

Japanese social network service (SNS) site Mixi has released a Chinese language site at Mixiu.cn, reports Sohu. The site offers functions for blogs, photos, groups and messaging and is operated by Shanghai Mixiu Network Technology, the sole partner for Mixi's China SNS service, said the report. Reports in February said Mixi planned to establish a Shanghai subsidiary to enter the China market.

Via the angrymoose:

Business

Yahoo!

Boo hoo!


Oct 16th 2008 | TOKYO


From The Economist print edition

More bad news for the struggling internet giant, this time from Japan

The brightest treasure in Yahoo!’s empire has long been its Japanese arm, in which it has a 34% stake. It dominates its lucrative local market and reported increased revenue and profit on September 30th for the year to March. But even this jewel is losing its sparkle.

In September Yahoo! Japan admitted that its online-auction site had suffered a huge security breach. Over the summer it had been flooded with fraudulent login attempts using around 1.5m usernames. Having logged in, criminals used hijacked accounts to sell counterfeit luxury goods.

...

Last month the company acknowledged the problem and agreed to reimburse users who had been charged fees relating to fraudulent transactions. This set off a stampede of further complaints, as other users scrutinised their bills. Yahoo! Japan says it does not know how so many usernames were stolen, but suggests that they may have been leaked by another website. It feebly advised users to change their passwords.

The security breach is terrible news. Users may be less inclined to use a site they no longer trust to protect their personal details. And Yahoo! Japan faces other worries. Google is catching up, revenue growth is slowing and managers are defecting to rivals. Its share price has tumbled by 50% in the past six months.

Jay Leno and Bruce Porter of Arai USA on sizing helmets. Most people are not wearing the right sized helmets.

http://palinaspresident.com/

Japanese video game mistranslations are responsible for the FAIL meme.

It's nearly impossible to pinpoint the first reference, given how common the verb fail is, but online commenters suggest it started with a 1998 Neo Geo arcade game called Blazing Star. (References to the fail meme go as far back as 2003.) Of all the game's obvious draws—among them fast-paced action, disco music, and anime-style cut scenes—its staying power comes from its wonderfully terrible Japanese-to-English translations. If you beat a level, the screen flashes with the words: "You beat it! Your skill is great!" If you lose, you are mocked: "You fail it! Your skill is not enough! See you next time! Bye bye!"