Kenji and I have had countless conversations on a number of very different topics. From attitudes of people at work, to Japan's suicide problems, to netbooks in the workplace. Nothing is off limits. So it should come as no surprise that he and I engaged in a rather heated discussion earlier this year on the possibility of finding intelligent lif
Read Full StoryAfter six incredible years of exploration, it seems that NASA's Spirit Rover has reached the end of its mobility. That said, just because it can't move anymore doesn't mean the robotic explorer is going to be put down forever. According to the news report on NASA's website, Spirit is going to continue conducting scientific experiments as a sta
Read Full StoryThe time of the blog may have peaked three years ago, but there's still money to be made from the platform. The question, however, is 'how much can you hope to gain'? Way back in May of 2007, I had written a short little post talking about how this site was being valued at $12,419.88 according to a little tool that relies on Technorati ranking
Read Full StoryMicrosoft Outlook has played an important role in my life for the better part of a decade. Aside from the added benefit of easily synchronizing with the various Palm and HP PDAs I've owned throughout the years, it has offered the ability to easily synchronize with the Exchange servers found at various employers. However, after many years of fai
Read Full StoryIt seems that every six months or so somebody declares that the human race is at a crossroads and we need to choose which path to travel: one that results in the ultimate good for human kind, or one that is fraught with pain and suffering. As history has shown us time and again, humans often want the former and consistently choose the latter. S
Read Full StoryWho knew that a drought in Australia would have such long-lasting implications for the rest of the world? In 2008, the land down under suffered a devastating blow when it failed to reap sufficient yields of staple grains like wheat. As a result, countries like Japan that rely heavily on imports to feed its people had to pay much more to get the
Read Full StoryShortly after the release of Windows 7, I upgraded my Acer AspireOne netbook and have enjoyed the incredibly beautiful Operating System without too many headaches. This seems to have changed since the new year, though, as I'm starting to get a number of Blue Screens of Death whenever the network is transferring large files. Typically when Wind
Read Full StoryTo Cloud, or Not to Cloud. That is the question many people are asking as people's mobile computing needs continue to grow. That said, for people who store mammoth amounts of data at home, putting all of our data into an intangible and fuzzy concept doesn't sound very convenient or financially feasible. Luckily, hard drives are cheap. A fe
Read Full StoryA few days ago I had written a post talking about two little projects I'd like to see Microsoft take on this year, one of which involved doing something about their inconsistent data transfer abilities. Yesterday the post received a comment from Nicholas Orr who said that he had "resorted to downloading the same files from Usenet at max speed", a
Read Full StoryThe amount of time, money, and energy people spend being terrified of terrorists is downright incredible. Everyone has probably heard about the supposed "failed attempt" of a Nigerian man to ignite his underwear bomb on a flight bound for Detroit a few weeks ago by now. I say supposed because according to a quick Google definition, terrorism is
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As anyone who knows me will attest, I have avoided using Apple products since the Apple II was released so many years ago. Was it because of the interface? Was it because of the fanbois? Was it because of the arrogant advertising suggesting that a product containing last year’s technology is worth twice the price [...]
12.29.09 | Development, Featured, Technology | Jason
The Russians have been quite active recently with regards to their space program. A little over a year ago saw the start of the Mars-500 project, pitting six people in a sealed off capsule against things like boredom and cabin fever, and next they plan on setting their sights on the red planet. Unlike their [...]
With 2010 around the corner, it seems like as good a time as any to update the look and feel of this blog to something a little less … noob. As a result, I’ve spent the bettter part of the afternoon putting together this design and making the whole thing look as professional as possible, [...]
12.27.09 | Development, Featured | Jason
It seems that all is not well in the 2.9 release of WordPress. There’s a small problem being reported by a number of people where scheduled posts fail to publish and instead report “Missed schedule” on the Admin panel. Although I no longer use scheduled posts as often as before, this is clearly not cool [...]
12.25.09 | Internet, Technology | Jason
So here it is, yet another Christmas posting like a million others before it. Unlike the others you might read on other sites, though, this one is written by me. That said, there really isn’t anything I could say here that couldn’t be said in a Tweet.
Merry Ho-Ho. Don’t get too drunk, and try to [...]
Yesterday there was a strange little icon on my cell phone. One of the great things about many cell phones in Japan is that they can show you a weather forecast for the next day or so. Mine was showing a snowman. The first thing that ran though my head was “Really? Could it be?”
Since [...]
12.19.09 | Featured, Home, Living in Japan | Jason
There are several things that I like about the public transportation system in Japan. It’s almost always on time, relatively quick, and clean enough that we don’t have to examine the seats for various unpleasantries before sitting down. Very rarely do I ever have a problem with the system which has become my most effective [...]
12.16.09 | Featured, Living in Japan, Working in Japan | Jason
It’s hard to believe that we’re in the final weeks of 2009, and even harder to believe that mobile development has only just recently started to go mainstream. If you would have asked me ten years ago when I thought the mobile development scene was going to take off, I would have said 1999. If [...]
12.9.09 | Development, Featured, Technology, Windows Mobile | Jason
Imagine, if you will, having all of your money and important documents in an impenetrable safe, and that safe had a complex combination. If the combination was forgotten, you would no longer have access to any of your money. To think that we could so easily lose all of our savings and crucial files in [...]
12.6.09 | Technology | Jason
The countdown is almost up on this year’s winter Japanese Language Proficiency Test, and thousands of people residing both inside and out of Japan are studiously preparing for this important rite of passage. So, with only a few days remaining before the big test, I have one question: are you taking it this year?
Since having [...]
12.2.09 | Living in Japan | Jason
The countdown is almost up on this year's winter Japanese Language Proficiency Test, and thousands of people residing bo...
A few days ago I had mentioned that a client of mine has been considering a rather large career change and had asked me ...
Do you ever wonder about your neighbours? I wrote a few months ago about how one of my neighbours has the same camouflag...
Believe it or not, I had a terrible habit back in Canada. It wasn't one with drugs, alcohol, women, or even excessive ...
Over the last decade or so I've been battling a bunch of minor problems such as insomnia, headaches, chest pain, and blo...