2005-12-27
偶然のトッケン
ヤフーの検索に「特研」を入れたらこのサイトが出てきた。偶然なことに、鳥取県米子市にある会社です。なんだか、俺が探していた特研とまったく違って、しかし俺が行ったことある、遠い街のことが現れたらびっくりした。ちょっと不思議。
2005-12-26
Unicode BOM
The Unicode Consortium site has a FAQ regarding byte-order marks. I found out some very useful info, such as about surrogate pairs (D800-DBFF for prefix, DC00-DFFF for suffix), and the invalid values in UTF-16 (FDD0-FDEF, as well as unpaired surrogates).
2005-12-21
More Random News
Japan may create its own search engine - Cool! But I'd find it hard to believe that it would be able to compete with Google.
Linux screensaver for Windows - Why ask why?
The Internet Is Broken Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 - No kidding.
New Standard Keyboard - It's not just ugly, it's fugly! Apparently, this is old news. NSK website currently out of service.
The Men Who Came To Dinner, and What They Said About Email - Quirky. Is that anything like a Naked Lunch?
Linux screensaver for Windows - Why ask why?
The Internet Is Broken Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 - No kidding.
New Standard Keyboard - It's not just ugly, it's fugly! Apparently, this is old news. NSK website currently out of service.
The Men Who Came To Dinner, and What They Said About Email - Quirky. Is that anything like a Naked Lunch?
Seagate to buy Maxtor
Coverage from:
New York Times via c|net
Reuters via Yahoo!
Mercury News
With "Quaxtor" gone, the HDD industry is left with Seagate, HGST, WD, and Samsung in Desktop 3.5" and Seagate, HGST, Toshiba, Fujitsu, WD, and Samsung in Mobile 2.5".
New York Times via c|net
Reuters via Yahoo!
Mercury News
With "Quaxtor" gone, the HDD industry is left with Seagate, HGST, WD, and Samsung in Desktop 3.5" and Seagate, HGST, Toshiba, Fujitsu, WD, and Samsung in Mobile 2.5".
IP Prior Art
Lately at work I've been tangentially involved with a patent discussion. Apparently one of our competitors has a patent on something and our IP guys are trying to invalidate it. Unfortunately I know fairly little about understanding patents other than "said" means "the", "comprised of" means "including but not limited to", and "consisting of" means "limited to". So I started reading up on what constitutes "prior art".
When is something prior art against a patent?
Considering What Constitutes Prior Art in the United States
I/P Updates
Wikipedia - prior art
Fight the Patent
Of course, the USPTO's patent search is where the heavy junk is at.
When is something prior art against a patent?
Considering What Constitutes Prior Art in the United States
I/P Updates
Wikipedia - prior art
Fight the Patent
Of course, the USPTO's patent search is where the heavy junk is at.
2005-12-20
Japanese Business
Other than JETRO and ACCJ, a few sites scattered about have notes on how to start a company in Japan:
Japan Reference (good info)
CCCJ (albeit Canadian)
Japan Today (by the infamous Terrie Lloyd)
JETRO's info is the most reliable.
It looks like a yugen kaisha is the way to go. One executive must be a Japanese resident. Minimum paid-in capital 3 million yen, or 1 yen with a bunch of paperwork and the minimum within 5 years.
Japan Reference (good info)
CCCJ (albeit Canadian)
Japan Today (by the infamous Terrie Lloyd)
JETRO's info is the most reliable.
It looks like a yugen kaisha is the way to go. One executive must be a Japanese resident. Minimum paid-in capital 3 million yen, or 1 yen with a bunch of paperwork and the minimum within 5 years.
2005-12-16
MogileFS
Reading about the setup at the Internet Archive which uses petaboxes for storage, there was mention of MogileFS. I'm very interested in filesystems, so I had to investigate. This is kind of what I've been looking for; I thought about writing a similar client, but it figures that it already exists. Perhaps not all the features I want are there, yet it's easier to use existing software than to build from scratch.
petabox info: manufacturer, specs, and block diagram
petabox info: manufacturer, specs, and block diagram
2005-12-15
Taxes
Frequently Asked Tax Questions And Answers - U.S. tax FAQs from the IRS.
U.S.-Japan Income Tax Convention - Rules on treatment of income taxes between the U.S. and Japan.
Offshore Avoidance of U.S. Income Taxation - A dated (1996) but interesting background.
U.S.-Japan Income Tax Convention - Rules on treatment of income taxes between the U.S. and Japan.
Offshore Avoidance of U.S. Income Taxation - A dated (1996) but interesting background.
"Katamari Damacy" T-Shirts
Wired's Game|Life linked to Panic Goods', which feature t-shirts of the celebrated J-game, "Katamari Damacy" (in English). The shirts are cool. Moreover, the shopping cart interface is pretty fly....
2005-12-14
Serial ATA and Microsoft's OSes
Because it's relevant to me at the moment:
Serial ATA in the Microsoft Operating System Environment
Whew -- the HDD I thought I'd killed actually only had a mangled pin (caused by a connector with a blocked pin for the key pin, but no tab for the recepticle key). A bit of soldering and it's as good as new.
Serial ATA in the Microsoft Operating System Environment
Whew -- the HDD I thought I'd killed actually only had a mangled pin (caused by a connector with a blocked pin for the key pin, but no tab for the recepticle key). A bit of soldering and it's as good as new.
2005-12-12
石井とも杞のイラスト
When I got back from vacation, I found a business card on my desk. Apparently there was a supply of them in the cafeteria, and MRG had picked one up and left it.（俺のオフィスはゴミ箱じゃねー！）Anyway, there was a website link and I checked it out. Interesting style; might make good t-shirt prints. ちなみに、日立ＧＳＴのmentionはここ（２００５年１２月９日）。
New Hitachi Company Store
In case you really want to buy Hitachi goods, there's a new place to do it. Really, the only thing worth having is the "sumo stress man". I have one on my desk.
Buckeye Recipes
A couple recipes for those tasty little buckeye chocolates:
About.com
RecipeLand.com (also at RecipeSource.com
About.com
RecipeLand.com (also at RecipeSource.com
2005-12-08
Young's Jersey Dairy
Young's has a website. Talk about advanced farmers, hehe. Some of the best milkshakes around. Their BBQ sandwich and fish sandwich are excellent also. I haven't actually been to the separate sit-down restaurant yet.
PGP Desktop & Forum Support Rant
This past week I bought PGP Desktop Professional 9.0 for Macintosh. I had some problems, so I posted a note on the support forum.
I'm kinda pissed that I shelled out $150 for the software and have had problems with it. I've wasted at least a couple hours tinkering with the thing trying to get it to run as it should. Granted, my setup is more complicated than most end users'. Still, most people that use Macs probably have more money than time -- which is the main reason I use them, other than that Microsoft overcharges for their software -- which means that problems like this are especially bad for the user. Strange how many software companies think they can just charge more for the Mac version without added functionality or even the same stability as the Windows version (that comment wasn't directed at PGP specifically).
What really pisses me off about the software industry is that there's this trend toward forums rather than real support. I have to read a bunch of other people's issues first, and I don't have that kind of time to spend. Forum admins should be responsible for putting together FAQs of previously answered questions. And why should I have to pay more for support when I already shelled out several hours' wages for a product that's not working as it should?
I'm kinda pissed that I shelled out $150 for the software and have had problems with it. I've wasted at least a couple hours tinkering with the thing trying to get it to run as it should. Granted, my setup is more complicated than most end users'. Still, most people that use Macs probably have more money than time -- which is the main reason I use them, other than that Microsoft overcharges for their software -- which means that problems like this are especially bad for the user. Strange how many software companies think they can just charge more for the Mac version without added functionality or even the same stability as the Windows version (that comment wasn't directed at PGP specifically).
What really pisses me off about the software industry is that there's this trend toward forums rather than real support. I have to read a bunch of other people's issues first, and I don't have that kind of time to spend. Forum admins should be responsible for putting together FAQs of previously answered questions. And why should I have to pay more for support when I already shelled out several hours' wages for a product that's not working as it should?
Gold Prices
An article on CNN describes the gold high and possible causal factors. Looks like it'll be best to hold off on buying until after the holidays are over.
For unfathomable reasons, people tend to buy after the price has already gone up. I suppose that's because they think it's an upward trend and want to ride it up. Still, the point is that the market usually corrects upward for undervalued securities and downward for overvalued securities, so it only really makes sense to take action if you were one of the people who discovered the true value ahead of time. With these kind of things, the market will overshoot and stabilize, so latecomers buy too high and get stuck paying too much. It's thanks to them that others can make a profit. Ah, the perils of the stock market.
For unfathomable reasons, people tend to buy after the price has already gone up. I suppose that's because they think it's an upward trend and want to ride it up. Still, the point is that the market usually corrects upward for undervalued securities and downward for overvalued securities, so it only really makes sense to take action if you were one of the people who discovered the true value ahead of time. With these kind of things, the market will overshoot and stabilize, so latecomers buy too high and get stuck paying too much. It's thanks to them that others can make a profit. Ah, the perils of the stock market.
2005-12-07
link dump before reboot...
Fuel Up With Banana Peels - "I need fuel!" Mr. Fusion may become a reality after all.
The Quintessential Japanese Game - Like one of the commenters said, it would've been better had it been the DoA girls. Still, some people are too hardline about their prejudices and short-circuit judgements of other people. Like that this game represents the "quintessential Japanese" mentality. If so, one might characterize American society by the tired antics of Eminem, which is FAR more disturbing than this little video game.
The Quintessential Japanese Game - Like one of the commenters said, it would've been better had it been the DoA girls. Still, some people are too hardline about their prejudices and short-circuit judgements of other people. Like that this game represents the "quintessential Japanese" mentality. If so, one might characterize American society by the tired antics of Eminem, which is FAR more disturbing than this little video game.
2005-12-06
More Tech News
From Wired's Gear Factor:
Search With Your Camphone - Not terribly impressive...just OCR wired to one's cellphone and pulling results from a search engine.
Japanese Segway Goes Extreme - Hmm, maybe I need one of these.
Flexi-Displays Get Bigger, Better - Now this is cool. I want.
Search With Your Camphone - Not terribly impressive...just OCR wired to one's cellphone and pulling results from a search engine.
Japanese Segway Goes Extreme - Hmm, maybe I need one of these.
Flexi-Displays Get Bigger, Better - Now this is cool. I want.
Random Apple News
Predominantly from Wired's Cult of Mac:
Fun Shirts Blend Anime and Apple - Hmm, I smell copyright infringement....
Beautiful Papercraft Mac and iPod - I need to print these out and put them on my desk at work.
Airport Express Mod - Extending the range of the APX using various household items.
Sony "rootkit" CD had designs on iPod - Reports that the Sony rootkit copy protection had the capability to convert tunes to Apple's FairPlay. Sony is so screwed on this one.
Fun Shirts Blend Anime and Apple - Hmm, I smell copyright infringement....
Beautiful Papercraft Mac and iPod - I need to print these out and put them on my desk at work.
Airport Express Mod - Extending the range of the APX using various household items.
Sony "rootkit" CD had designs on iPod - Reports that the Sony rootkit copy protection had the capability to convert tunes to Apple's FairPlay. Sony is so screwed on this one.
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