DVD Rental Vending Machines turning up in Japan

You must have heard about itunes, Amazon, Netflix, CinemaNow, Movie Link who are battling for the online Movie rental space in the customer`s heart.
At the time when in the US the war is about who will be the biggest online Movie Rental retailer, at the same time in Japan known for its technlogy touching people`s life is gearign up to introduce more and more in DVD Rental Vending Machines in the premises of the main railway stations in across the Tokyo.


THE NAME:
"JiRenKi" as they call it in Japan is the short form of "Jidou Rental Ki" (Automatic Rental Machine), is places just before the exits of the Railway Station. Tokyo is know for its one of the world`s well planned Railway System has already placed such machines in the major stations and growing like anything.This service is introduced from a company called "Astala Vista".

The touch Panel on the machine.




THE OPERATION:

It offers the user with a rental DVD in simple 3 steps.
1. Choose the DVD from a touch panel system.
2. Swap your credit card.
3. Get the DVD just as you get a bottle of Coke from a Vending Machine.

and returing it back is also done in the same order...
1. Touch "Return"..
2. Insert the DVD
3. Press Ok...and you are done.

THE PRICING:
The pricing is also pretty straight foward.

For 24 hours rental
1. New Release : 350 Yens ($ 3.05 approx.)
2. Standard : 250 Yens ($ 2.18 approx.)
3. General : 150 Yens ($ 1.31 approx.)

For 12 hours rental
1. New Release : 150 Yens ($ 1.31 approx.)
2. Standard : 100 Yens ($ 0.87 approx.)
3. General : 100 Yens ($ 0.87 approx.)

As you can make out from pricing its really very aggressive pricing so that its really affordable to people here. This pricing really makes us ponder on Steve Jobs thought process that "people want fix prices". But when I see the above price from customer point of view the pricing really seems to be practical enough, more for new movie and a bit less for a older one.This makes both the customers and Movie banners happy.

The solution may suit well in the Japanese society since the life style moves around the internal railway system network. Will the war like US will start here not is not sure yet, but the introduction of one such service can stir up the competition here too. This also makes us think about what is the best delivery model for a DVD Rental ? is it Manual like this or is it online delivery model or old school DVD rental shops or all together...or something else....well it will be intresting to watch out...

Google adds "Presentation" in its arsenal against Microsoft

Google finally added "Presentation" against "PowerPoint" of Microsoft to complete its suite of Online Office in Google Docs and Spreadsheets. May be the name can change in near future.


I guess this tool can come really handy to all the presenters around the world since nobody it is such a thing that you want to share with someone else and hence on need to carry it to the place of presentation (of course, provided the place has Internet connection). With the addition of Presentation functionality, Google is now ready with weapons against MS`s Word, Spreadsheets and Powerpoint. Now these three application are ready for normal usage , but Google has to toil hard to make it professionally useful to make it look appealing to business world.

I tested with it by creating a slide as follows.


The competition between Google and Microsoft will be interesting to see from now onwards.

Apple Store in Ginza (Japan) ! The new iPods` response.

Was in Apple Store here in Ginza to check out the latest offerings by Apple.It seemed to me , Japan welcomes the
introduction of new iPods with open hands but are waiting for iPod Touch which whose delivery dates are supposed to be this moth end or early october.

Lot of people gathered around the "fatty video nano" and seem to be delighted and amused to see/touch such a small piece of music player from Apple. I guess there no guided tour available for iPod Touch in Japanese hence the smarty employees of Apple Store with Green Shirts(with adv of iLife`08) on them were explaining the customers what was launched in the "Beat Goes On" Event by Steve Jobs. Lot of Apple Store Employees were advertising by taking nano and Classic in their hands.People didn`t seem to be intrested in the iPod classic, even though the lauch of heavy duty 160GB.I didn`t notice the buzz around new red shuffle too. People were saying "Sugoi" (great) and "Chichchai ne"(small) around the fatty along with "Kirei"(beautiful) while seeing the video playing on the 3rd generation nano.

Was just thinking about that will iPhone can also be successful in Japan, I guess it will be taken with quite a lot reluctancy because of one major reason. People here are so much used to writing mails using the phones specially designed for Japanese language that it might be difficult to replicate that thing in iPhone since Apple. Apple will have to do something of the keyboard before launching the iPhone here. E-Mail/SMS is the life line here. Since people follow "Mobile Manners" here in Japan inside a trains, the use of mailing/SMsing becomes more in the trains. All mobile phones have a setting called "Manner Mode" which put the mobile phone on silent vibration mode. People are not suppose to talk on mobile phone inside a train near a priority seats for elederly and handicapped people . But I am sure the genius of Apple can overcome such problems. But this is something which cannot be ignored here in Japan.

The above ginza Apple Store is the same store whose opening resulted in the greatest queue in Tokyo.
See it to believe it

We are the world - The classic song (with lyrics) !

This post will be a kind of retro pick, "We Are the World" is a 1985 song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and sung by popular musicians named as USA for Africa. This song was intended to raise funds to help famine-relief efforts going on in Ethiopia, which experienced unusual drought in 1984/1985. There were in all 35 singers who sung this song together for a cause !

Sit back and enjoy the song with lyrics.So don`t miss the words and message. Really "We are the world, We are the children !"
The message of the song is
"We are the world, we are the children,
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving"
i.e Undiscrimination, Unity and charity !

Steve Jobs - The lord of Innovation !

In the world of technology innovation, one name will always remain in the hearts of millions - Steve Jobs.
His legs are always on the accelerator of innovation and he drive his competitors nuts with the launch of "WOW" products one after the other.Steve Jobs becomes very restless if he doesn`t ship out some fantastic product at least every year.Call his insecurity to be at the top of his product line, call his brilliance and passion towards designing such products, each and every product Apple comes out which shows a kind of taste of excellence and design wizardry.

After steve stongly covered the PMP market right from 1GB to 160GB , with such an elegant technology, every competitor must be doing something as follows !


iPhone is still just 2 months before story when the world went "Ga-Ga" over its beautiful touch screen technology. People started waiting for the same kind of technology update in iPods too. Jobs acknowledge that demand and released today the best PMP experience in the world ! iPods competitors hardly reached to a situation where they were able to replicate some of the functions of iPod in their products, with the launch of iPod Touch, they will be again left behind in dirt to figure out how to do that in their products again. Steve Jobs is such a person who stretches its company`s limits internally to that maximum for innovation and in turn compels the competitors to accelerate thier process of developing new products. With iPod Touch Apple again goes miles ahead of the other products of same category.

See it in motion to believe this marvel once again


People apart from USA were not able to use the iPhone since it was locked with providers and they had to wait till it comes through thier local providers. There were people in such countries who wished "Forget the phone, I want to use the rest of the iPhone". I was among them too :) And guess what, it really turned true.Now iPhone minus mobile phone function = iPod Touch is available to rest of the world for holiday season. The timing is so right. the people who really want the functionality apart from mobile phone functionality , they will buy it certainly.
It comes with spectacular specs as below:

• Thinner than the iPhone - only 8mm
• Same multitouch pinch & spread zooming controls for photos as the iPhone
• Same coverflow as the iPhone
• 3.5" diagonal screen
• Wi-Fi 802.11b & 802.11g - it can save your home network setup
• Home button
• Slide to unlock - same as the iPhone
• Sensor for auto-landscape viewing
• Safari - connect to the internet via WiFi
• YouTube via WiFi
• 22 hours audio, 5 hours video playback
• Shipping worldwide this month - already localized into many languages
• 8GB - $299
• 16GB - $399

Apart from iPod touch - iPod Shuffle (red) and fatty nano with video and iPod Classic (Video) were also refreshed from the ground up all set for the holiday season.

One more thing..the iTunes Wi-Fi Music store and the partnership with starbucks is again a trend setting ventures in the digital age where people will buy songs on the go!

"Man thinketh, Jobs Giveth"

Google`s "Street View" is actually a "Human View"of the world we see !

It was May 29, 2007 when google launched its new street search called "Street View" in selected cities of USA.
Why is it that whatever new feature google launches become an instant hit. Everybody says "Oh my Gosh, I really wanted this ?" These all are simple and superb ideas which help us to navigate through life more conveniently.

Street View is such a simple concept where user is able to see the images of the street from a view equal to driving a car or bike or better walking.

Look at the video below to find out what it can do ?
This is the demo from Google to explain what wonder can this thing can do when stitched together on Google Map Service.



When I saw it I got very curious about "How do they do it ?".First of all how can they take such snaps ? I could understand the satellite view maps are taken by satellite but Street Views ? How ? I soon discovered the trick.Those snaps are actully taken by a automatic 11 lens camera mounted on a top of a car running through the streets and clicking the roads.The camera is called Dodeca 360 which takes the snap and also records GPS co-ordinates for that place. I heard that the camera is 100 mega pixel camera which takes 30 frames per second. Google don`t do it themselves.A company named Immersive Media gets thsi job done for Google.Ths camera is capable of giving 360 degree view + Top view(i.e if you are on your vehicle then using this View you can see all the sides except just below you.) Excellent views, what else we can demand for ? Yes for Google map to have all the maps of the world they have to run the car throughout the world streets to ge it included in the map. Well its a hard way to do, but there is no shortcut for such tasks. The images are so crisp that you can read the Car Parking timings, hoardings and all which we can`t even see through naked eyes. Simply great. See the images of the car and the camera below, the real hero behind the "Street View"

The car carrying that Super-Camera:


The 11 lens camera at the top of vehicle:



We can guess where the future is going. First there were Paper Maps with rough maps. Since that was not enough more detailed street name maps came up. Then the digital form of it with Google Maps. While that was not enough there came satellite images and now street views. Still these are static images of the world we see.I guess with this pace people will wish that they could see the real 3D world that too in real time. Ya you guessed right for that you will require Video Camera shots from every nook and corner of the world instead of static images short and like we stitched images we will stitch videos to see everything come to life, real. Well just an imagination :)

We sometimes think that everything in technology is rocket science which is in reality based on such a simple aspect or idea on which Street view is based on. This street View concept is still new in the US, not even avilable in Japan, Europe yet, and Google is trying to cover US streets as far as possible.

Will such views will come to India too ? Not sure, since the present google earth or Microsoft`s Virtual Earth poses a danger to National Security. If this is done, then it may add to the trouble if we view it from sercurity aspects. What do you think ? Do we not deserve such detailed navigation in India too or should we found out some other way ? What can be that way ? If you have some inputs please share it here. Japanese people too feel a bit insecure with such detailed maps.

While the world politics and security related people are defending their stance, Google is buying companies like one goes for grocerry shopping. History proves that google has always bought the best of the lot like Youtube, Blogger, Writely, Panaromic and what not.And also finding it new ways to make the search as easy as posssible. Street View is just one more example to it.

P.S
Earthmine way of collecting data.


Updated; I came to know about few such street video technologies like

http://www.immersivemedia.com
http://www.yellowbirdsdonthavewingsbuttheyflytomakeyouexperiencea3dreality.com/

When I wrote the above article was not aware of such services.

Have some fun with your snaps !

If you have Internet Connection, Browser and a webcam then you can generate following results and can use these snaps in any of your "Web presence Sites" or can take the hard copy of it from your nearest photo developer store or you can just take it for fun to share with your family/friends.

You can have following fun with your snaps.

Clear :


Filter:
(You can select any one of it by clicking on one option amongst them.)


Distorted:
(You can select any one of it by clicking on one option amongst them.)


Scenes:
(You can select any one of it by clicking on one option amongst them.)


Frames:
(You can select any one of it by clicking on one option amongst them.)


So how do you do this ? The answer is pretty simple and straightforward ! MAC users must be quite aware of a built-in software called Photo Booth. This is its brother on internet which works both on MAC and Windows. So the process is as follows.
1. Fire Up your Browser
2. Go to this link.
3. It may ask you "Can I use Camera" Allow or Deny...? Choose `Allow`(at least it asked on MAC,)
4. Then you will see your snap on your screen. Then experiment with the right vertical strip on the right side.Try Different
options and select your options like Clear, Filter, Distort, Scenes and Frames. Select your fav among it and then press "Camera" mark to take snaps.

When you are through taking the snap, you have three options to do,
1. You can save it to pulic Gallery
2. You want to download the taken snap
3. Print it to full page
4. Delete it

We will most of the time like to download, so download it and see the result. Use the snap then where ever you want, print it and have fun.So take some snap and share with me too if you like.

Technology like this one can really bring some fun in our lives.