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Microsoft condemns Yahoo! Japan-Google alliance (PhysOrg.com)

Microsoft on Tuesday denounced Yahoo! Japan's Internet search alliance with Google, saying it would give Google near-total control over the third-largest market for search queries in the world.

Source : PhysOrg.com (subscribe)

Explore : Google, Japan, Microsoft

Yahoo! Japan adopts Google search engine
Top internet portal Yahoo! Japan on Tuesday announced a search alliance with Google, in a deal that would see both giants dominate the Japanese market in a possible blow to Microsoft.

Microsoft condemns Yahoo! Japan-Google alliance (The Independent)

Source : The Independent (subscribe)

Explore : Food and Wine, Google, Japan, Microsoft, Search Engines

DAILY REPORTS

Jul 16

Rakuten's all-English edict a bold move, but risky too (Japan Times)

Internet shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc. surprised the public by announcing early this year it will make English its official language by 2012. All internal meetings will be in English whether foreigners are present or not. Board meetings and weekly all-company meetings have been in English since March, and President Hiroshi Mikitani has said board members who can't speak English in two years will be fired. Cafeteria menus are now in English. The Rakuten group has 6,000 employees globally, of whom about 400 are non-Japanese, spokesman Naoki Mizushima said.

Jun 18

Twitter a hit in Japan as millions 'mumble' online (bellinghamherald.com)

Twitter is a hit in Japan, succeeding where other social networking imports like Facebook have foundered as millions "mumble" - the translation of tweet - and give mini-blogging a distinctly Japanese flavor. The arrival of the Japanese language Twitter service in 2008 tapped into a greater sense of individuality in Japan, especially among younger people less accepting of the understatement and conformity their culture is usually associated with, analysts say. A mobile version of Twitter started last October, further fueling the Twitter boom in a nation where Internet-connecting cell phones have been the rule for years.

Jun 01

China, Japan launch Asian eBay rival (AFP)

China's largest retail website Taobao and Yahoo! Japan launched a joint service Tuesday in a deal expected to create the world's biggest online marketplace by harnessing Asia's surging ranks of e-consumers. The service is expected to dwarf US rival eBay in terms of users and products on offer, attracting 250 million customers and offering 450 million products. "This marks the birth of the world's largest e-commerce market," Masayoshi Son, chairman of Yahoo! Japan and CEO of mobile phone carrier Softbank, told a packed hall in a Tokyo hotel. Online stores on Taobao will be able to offer products from China to Japanese consumers at Yahoo! Japan's China Mall, the companies said.

May 31

Firms ramp up content for iPad / Publishers, bookstores, game makers set to take up challenge (Yomiuri)

With Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet computer now on sale in Japan, attention is shifting to how the multifunctional device may transform the nation's electronic book and gaming worlds. Users of the iPad can read e-books and newspapers as well as surf the Internet with its touch-screen interface. This gives the device the potential to trigger a remarkable expansion of Japan's e-book and game markets in a manner similar to the success the tablet computer has enjoyed in the United States, according to industry sources. On Friday, the iPad's first day on sale in Japan, major publisher Kodansha Ltd. put an electronic version of the latest work by popular writer Natsuhiko Kyogoku in the Kodansha's e-book library. The book's electronic format price is about half that of the conventionally printed version.

May 31

Ministry plans data centers for cloud computing (Yomiuri)

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry plans to invite companies from at home and abroad to set up large-scale data centers in the nation in expectation of the spread of cloud computing. Cloud computing allows data and information to be stored off-line in interconnected databases. Customers using cloud computing receive such services as e-mail, document management and electronic commerce by accessing data centers established by information technology-related bodies without the need to install software on their computers.

Dec 28 E-shopping site to open in China for Japan goods (AP)

Dec 27 Japanese firms to open Chinese virtual mall (Reuters)

Dec 25 Website of Yasukuni Shrine partially altered by hacker (Kyodo)

Dec 20 5 international social networks to keep an eye on (CNET)

Dec 19 Japanese group asks Google to stop map service (Reuters)

Dec 18 Wi-Fi coming to Japan's bullet trains next year (PC World)

Dec 18 Japan convicts 1st pirate subtitler (Variety)

Dec 18 Online sale of pills in spotlight / 19-year-old used sedative bought via Internet in suicide attempt (Yomiuri)

Dec 17 Culture panel seeks download ban (Japan Times)

Dec 12 A guide to buying your wine online in Japan (Japan Times)

Dec 11 Japanese Site Asks You to Track Your Sniffs (gizmodo.com)

Dec 07 Kaguya moon images posted on YouTube (Yomiuri)