gHacks technology news » japan http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:24:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Japan: Mandatory DRM Software In All Mobile Phones To Fight Music Piracy http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/13/japan-mandatory-drm-software-in-all-mobile-phones-to-fight-music-piracy/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/13/japan-mandatory-drm-software-in-all-mobile-phones-to-fight-music-piracy/#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:29:58 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=16304 Japanese mobile phone developers, companies and the recording industry of Japan are in talks currently to agree on new anti-piracy measures to fight music piracy in Japan according to the Financial Times. The proposed solution offered by the recording industry suggest digital rights management to be build into every mobile phone sold in Japan. The software would query an Internet server (DRM server) whenever a user would try to play a song to check if the song was purchased legally. It would play if the return would be positive and otherwise refuse to play the song. The proposed system could be launched as early as 2011.

The mobile phone market in Japan is different from that of the rest of the world as Japanese mobile phone companies control the software on the mobile phones meaning it would be very unlikely that these measures, if agreed on, would be introduced in other markets as well.

The article fails to address several difficulties of such a system. The most important ones are the following:

  • What happens to songs that have been ripped from legally bought CDs? Won’t they be played at all? (this assumes that it is legal in Japan to rip CDs)
  • What happens if no connection is available currently? (Will it be possible to play songs without net connection?)
  • Who pays for the traffic that the song checks create?

Please post your opinions in the comments.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/13/japan-mandatory-drm-software-in-all-mobile-phones-to-fight-music-piracy/feed/ 8 The Silent Japanese Game Show http://www.ghacks.net/2007/01/18/the-silent-japanese-game-show/ http://www.ghacks.net/2007/01/18/the-silent-japanese-game-show/#comments Thu, 18 Jan 2007 14:13:36 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2007/01/18/the-silent-japanese-game-show/ Silence can sometimes be really funny. The following videos are taken from a Japanese game show where the candidates have to be silent most of the time. The “do not laugh” or “gaki no tsukai” show is funny but might be unsuited for some of the viewers, it can be quite disturbing at times if you are used to European or American tv shows. The first videos show the candidates in various situations where they are not allowed to laugh, the last two shows take part in a library where they play a silly game. It is a little bit like jackass..

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2007/01/18/the-silent-japanese-game-show/feed/ 1 Japanese Daily Life Tips http://www.ghacks.net/2006/03/09/japanese-daily-life-tips/ http://www.ghacks.net/2006/03/09/japanese-daily-life-tips/#comments Thu, 09 Mar 2006 08:07:58 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=346 Japanese people show tricks like a fast and easy shirt folding technique, how to refresh 5 hours old sour coffee or How to put on a Band Aid so it stays on all day.]]> This is not really tech related but I think it has a nice geek factor and I therefor decided to post the link to videos that show fantastic tricks that you can use for your daily routine. Japanese people show tricks like a fast and easy shirt folding technique, how to refresh 5 hours old sour coffee or How to put on a Band Aid so it stays on all day.

There are literally dozens of videos to watch, all with an title and screenshots so you know what it´s about before you play it. Make sure you take a look at my post on how to save youtube videos to your hard drive if you want to preserve some of the videos.

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