phones
Japanese train stations get the self-proclaimed “vigilante” heroes they neither need, nor want.
Whether you’re swiping at a mobile game or making a point, these cats keep their paws on your finger everywhere you go!
This customer experience is blowing up all over social media, or it would be if anyone could get to their cell phones.
There’s a Japanese phrase, yutori sedai, that you’ll hear in just about any established company after the new hires start showing mid-spring. The term refers to people who’ve grown up in Japan’s modern, less strict educational system (which is still stricter than those in many other countries), and while yutori sedai literally translates as “relaxed generation,” it’s real meaning is closer to “damned kids today,” as it’s almost always used in a derogatory sense by an older worker who’s exasperated at a younger employee’s lack of proper manners, business acumen, or just plain common sense.
A lot of times, the people muttering under their breath about the yutori sedai do so out of a combination of stubbornly resisting change and convenient memory gaps that don’t include any of the many mistakes they made in their own youth, but this experienced salaryman may have a point, given that his yutori sedai coworker can’t seem to grasp the finer points of how to hang up a phone.
Last week, we looked at some adorable liquid-filled Disney iPhone cases from smartphone accessory manufacturer Hamee that let you play with the cast of Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and Frozen. If you happen to suffer from acute aquaphobia, or just love Disney so much that you can’t look at the studio’s characters without wishing you yourself were one, though, Hamee has still got you covered, with these clever iPhone cases that will transform you into Mickey or his closest pals every time you hold up your phone to snap a picture.
We’ve been hearing for months that Samsung may be designing the Galaxy S6 “from scratch,” but now we might have a better idea of what that actually means. Blog Phone Arena published a photo that reportedly shows an early prototype of the Galaxy S6.
We’re still pretty happy with our new iPhone 6, but if we’re being completely honest, just a bit of our euphoria has faded. Sure, we were all giddy smiles on launch day (especially since we were first in line, again), but truth be told, we’re already on the lookout for the next big thing.
So imagine our excitement when we saw a print ad for a new apple product, and yes, that’s apple with a lowercase “a.”
As awesome as smartphones are, do they really help us to better communicate with one another? Sure, it’s nice to be able to instantly talk with anyone, regardless of whether you’re at home or out and about, but there are certain things we lose by doing it with the help of technology. Even as mobile phones’ audio and video capabilities continue to improve, they’re still not perfect. Without talking face-to-face, you can’t pick up on every facial expression, hear each subtle change in inflection, or reach out and hold someone’s hand should the conversation turn emotional or romantic.
Unless you’re using this iPhone case that’s an eerily detailed replica of a human hand.
Almost none of the streets in Japan have names, and even when they do, civil planners are pretty haphazard about putting up signs to let you know what they are. As a result, it’s hard to get anywhere in a car without a GPS system guiding you.
But after enough time behind the wheel, you might find yourself getting bored of the default voice chirping out you to “make a right turn in 30 meters.” So if you’re feeling a little burned out on your navigation system, or nabi as it’s known in Japan, now might be the time to update it with the voice of Evangelion’s Asuka, Attack on Titan’s Arumin, or one of dozens of other available anime characters.
While the English edition of RocketNews24 is primarily focused on Asia in general and Japan in particular, our Japanese-language sister site, Pouch, covers stories from around the world. Sometimes, the source information they work with is in English, so Pouch’s team members are always on the lookout for ways to brush up their language skills.
So we weren’t shocked to hear that one of Pouch’s writers, Marie, had recently gotten really into a new English-learning smartphone app. What did surprise us, though, was when we took a look at the phrases she was learning, including such nuggets as, “I just took a dump.”
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus went on sale last Friday, and we were pretty psyched. In fact, our very own Mr. Sato was so excited about the launch that he was, once again, first in line to get his hands on the latest version of Apple’s smartphone, and we’re sure others in the U.S. and Hong Kong felt just as happy with their new purchases.
Not everyone in the world got to be in on the fun, though. Apple is staggering the launch of the iPhone 6, and while Japan was lucky enough to be in the first batch of territories where it has become available, mainland China wasn’t. This has led to some extra cash for iPhone resellers, as well as customs officials who spent the weekend steadily confiscating smuggled iPhones.
Apple has officially announced the iPhone 6, and also its big-screen sibling, the iPhone 6 Plus. This is great news for technophiles who’d already started lining up for the new device before it was officially unveiled, but there’s one slice of the Japanese population that’s completely unimpressed: hard-core fans of idol singer video game and anime franchise Aikatsu! The otaku subset has compiled a list of seven reasons why, compared to one piece of Aikatsu! merchandise, the iPhone 6 is a piece of junk.
A complaint that some video game fans have with the current crop of mobile titles is their unambitious scale. Designed to played in short bursts, their aim is often limited to providing a way to enjoyably kill a few minutes of spare time, which can leave those looking for a more engaging experience feeling cold and uninterested.
But everyone who’s shunned mobile gaming for that reason might have to rethink their stance come October, with the launch of a new cloud gaming service from Square Enix, Japan’s most storied developer of grand adventures.
About this time last year, we brought the story of a group of fans who spent over a week camped out on the sidewalk, just so they could be first in line to snag an iPhone 5S on launch day at the Apple Store in Tokyo’s Ginza. But while we can understand the appeal of the fun and comradery that comes from braving the elements with your fellow technophiles, we were a little shocked when we recently strolled by the same store in the swanky neighborhood and saw there’s already a line forming for the iPhone 6, which Apple hasn’t even announced yet.
As technology continues to advance and influence the way we communicate, it’s important for rules of etiquette to evolve along with the devices we use to keep in touch with each other. For example, by now most of us know not to type our emails in all caps and to turn off our cell phones inside movie theaters.
So why is it that we’ve learned to mind our manners in those situations, yet continue to commit the social faux pas of not making our iPhones wear proper underwear? That seems to be the question Bandai asked, and now we have the answer in the form of Hello Kitty panties for smartphones.
Yesterday, Nintendo’s Famicom, known internationally as the NES, celebrated its 31st birthday. While it may not have been the first video game console, the way Nintendo’s 8-bit system combined, for its time, high-end processing power, pleasing aesthetics, and user-friendliness elevated it to a level above both its predecessors and would-be rivals.
The Famicom was the sort of sweeping, segment-defining success that didn’t come along again until the iPhone took over the smartphone market. Now, you can combine those two iconic pieces of Nintendo and Apple hardware with a Famicom protective film for your iPhone.
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