Author Archives: mm145490

1: What does this mean for Sprint Subscribers?

I think this bring a good change for Sprint subscribers. As I mentioned in my previous post, technologies in Japan, Japanese mobile technology is very innovative. Sprint can add Japanese mobile phone technologies to their smart phones, and the bill could be cheaper from expanding the market.

2: Should AT&T and Verizon be concerned about Sprint’s new global partner?

Yes! Because these two company together, they will become third biggest mobile company in the world. With Japanese mobile technology and sprint’s LTE network, they can invent a new smart phone or improve network performance. It also could produce more price competition in the United States.

Reference:

http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/15/technology/sprint-softbank-purchase/index

http://wired.jp/2012/10/16/sprint-softbank-20-billion/

http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2012/10/15/softbank-from-japans-number-three-to-the-worlds-number-three/

Mai Moore

How people in Japan are using technology to improve their lives?

I’m from Japan. There are many technologies that people are using in my country. For example, mobile phones have many features, train computer system is very accurate and all the trains are on schedule and rarely late, there are high-tech toilet and vending machines, and QR code for everything (from snacks to on the magazine. People scan QR code by their cell phone and go to its web page and get more information, shop…etc).

Here is some interesting technology in Japan I’d like to introduce.

Japanese mobile phone technology is very innovative. There are variety of designs and colors available. Interesting features that Japanese mobile phones have are; watch TV on time, waterproof, use it as a metro card (it called Suica in Tokyo), use it as a credit card (you can pay anything from at the store to cab), and automatic earthquake alert. Not every mobile phone have these features and it depends on what type of mobile phone you have. So you have many choices depending on your needs when you purchase a mobile phone.

An application called LINE is more popular than Skype in Japan. When you download LINE on your mobile phone, you can make free calls and messages through LINE by using cell phone number. You don’t have to sign in every time, and it’s very convenient especially for an international phone call.

In Japan, vending machines are everywhere and it is also innovative. You can buy many kinds of things depends on the machine; soda, juice, hot and ice coffees, soups, alcohol beverage, cigarette, snacks, and hot food. Some machines are touch panel and talk to you. If you are standing in front of the soda/juice vending machine, it recognizes your face or mood and recommends you some drinks.  You can also pay by using your mobile phone. The designs vary, also. For example, when a vending machine is placed where there are many children, the machine is painted with cartoon characters and it talks in a cartoon voice to attract children. This is the link for the youtube video of two people introducing Japanese vending machine.

http://youtu.be/aLL2BpTqzaY

Also, Japanese toilet is very interesting. I was even surprised when I went back to Japan last March. Usually, the cover is electric open, seat is warm, and it has bidet. The sink to wash your hand is on top of the tank, and it automatically runs the water when you flauh. There’s a button to play some music or stream sounds for people who feel embarrassing to cover the sound. Here’s a youtube video that introducing Japanese public and private toilet.

http://youtu.be/WfnJ26KI2GU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km3xt49fHq4

Mai Moore

I’ve never have an experience to use  Microsoft Access before.  According to the website “office.microsoft.com”, you can use Access to organize large amount of data such as customer orders.  You can make the table that contain the list of customer’s names, and another table for their orders. Then you can connect these table and once you set up the relationships ,  you can also create reports with the data. Unlike excel, multiple users can access the date at the same time, it is great for large organizations.

Reference: Nelson,Emma.http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access-help/using-access-or-excel-to-manage-your-data-HA001042918.aspx

Mai Moore