NicoNicoDouga FUYU!
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.05 – 00:50 -
ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga) is currently under maintenance. Why?
The new version is here. 冬 (fuyu)! But, apparently, rather soonish, ββ (double beta) will be up. The theme of the new versions is community or gathering or THE MOB (as in a group of people who spontaneously act as one, as opposed to organized crime). There is going to be a live news channel, not to mention like a NicoNicoNetwork where there will be over 100 channels of programming. I hate to say a lot of that stuff doesn’t really tickle my fancy really… ><; We’ll see though.
The only thing that I’m actually looking forward to is the new version of NicoNicoMovieMaker. When they show it though, they say that it goes on sale soon. Sale?! Dammit. Now that it actually does something, they are going to be charging for it. But, if it has excellent features, it might just be worth it. Most video editing software is amazingly expensive.
Anyway, the maintenance is over at 12:00 JST or so (3:00 GMT, 19:00 PST). Log in then to try out some of the new stuff!
Tags: ニコニコ動画, fuyu, Internet, maintenance, NicoNicoDouga, NicoNicoMovieMaker, software, version update, winter, 冬
Posted in Internet | No Comments »
Gmail’s Japan-Themed… er… Themes
Written by Jeshii on 2008.11.25 – 16:57 -
If you are a Gmail user, you may have noticed the recent ability to add themes! I was all over it as a loyal Gmailian. I first went to the Terminal one for some old skool text mail fun, but then I noticed “Ninja” and “Tea House.” Yes!
Ninja is a theme where there are little ninja guys sticking out everywhere. The stars are of course 手裏剣 (shuriken, aka “Ninja Stars”) and there are little things going on at the bottom between a ninja and a geisha. Sometimes they are courting each other, and other times they are quarreling. The background message is もしもし (moshimoshi), which is what people say for hello over the phone. Not exactly sure how that relates to ninjas or even Gmail, but it is interesting.
The tea house theme features an asian looking house and garden where various cute animals have tea with each other. It looks like the fox is the proprietor of the tea house and it seems to be tied to the season or time of day or something. Not quite sure. It is very Animal Crossing/SnoogleZoo. If you are into either of those, you’ll probably like it.
I’m personally partial to the ninja one since the cartoons at the bottom of messages are just so awesome and slightly less girly than the whole tea house one. Apparently these Japan-related ones were designed in house at Google, so I don’t have the name of the designers/artists. Too bad, I’d love to see more by them!
There is another vaguely Japanese one called Cherry Blossom. It was designed by Vania Sofandi. But it is hard to really call it Japan-themed for sure.
Tags: animal crossing, art, どうぶつの森, computers, cute, design, e-mail, email, gmail, google, ninja, snoogle zoo, software, tea, tea house, web, websites
Posted in Internet | 2 Comments »
Keep going until you cry Anki!
Written by Jeshii on 2008.10.11 – 21:09 -Some people ask me, “Jeshii, how do I learn Japanese?” I then hold back the urge to scream, “MOVE TO JAPAN!!!” and give them the following advice:
1. Download firefox and rikai-chan. Use firefox to visit Japanese pages that interest you.
2. Download Anki. It’s a fantastic flashcard program that will automatically add ふりがな.
3. Everytime you use Rikai-chan to look up a word you don’t know, hit “c” on the keyboard. This copies it to the clipboard.
4. Go in to Anki and paste it in a card.
Voilà, you are now building an extremely relevant flashcard library!
Tags: anki, firefox, flashcards, Japanese, language, learning, rikai-chan, rikaichan, software, study, 勉強, 日本語
Posted in language | 1 Comment »
Rikai-chan
Written by Jeshii on 2008.08.30 – 18:42 -
Are you using rikai-chan? This excellent firefox extension is made by the folk(s) over at polarcloud.com. I love this program. Basically, you install it, install a dictionary, and then toggle it in firefox. Then, when you mouse over some Japanese, the dictionary will do its best to find the reading and a translation of the word you are mousing over.
Seriously, this program is a life saver for 漢字 (kanji) impaired people like myself. Give it a shot and then go try and read the perfume blog! 
Tags: language, nihongo, software, technology
Posted in language, technology | 3 Comments »
