Watching TV on your cellphone

This is nothing special for Japanese, but I just found that this service might be available only in Japan, and thought it is one of the most advanced information technology in current world.

Yes, in Japan, you can watch TV on your cellphone. Currently, TV in Japan is Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV or DTT), which is "an implementation of digital technology to provide a greater number of channels and/or better quality of picture and sound using aerial broadcasts to a conventional antenna instead of a satellite dish or cable connection" (Wikipedia). You can watch this DTTV on your cellphone anywhere in Japan. I saw many people using this service in subway too when I went back home for a visit this spring. This service is called "1seg" (ワンセグ Wan Segu). It a mobile terrestrial digital audio/video and data broadcasting service in Japan. It began experimentally during 2005 and commercially on April 1, 2006

I personally think it is not necessary, because I don't usually watch TV. Well, I have a TV but cable here. So I dont think watching TV is not that attractive. But couch potatoes may like it, and this is one of the advanced ICT that is actually implemented now. So I posted a blog about it.
This 1seg service is available on the most of cellphones in Japan such as Sharp, Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba, Panasonic, and other devices such as PSP and Walkman from Sony, Nintendo DS, and even a digital dictionary from Sharp.

The development of ICT is unlimited. It is hard to predict what is possible in the future. To me, anything is possible. However, I strongly hope that the ICT will not controll humans...

Social Networking

Social networking can be an awesome tool to make a bigger or even more communities. Some people are crazy about putting every single detail about themselves on social networking websites. This type of communication did not exist back in 2002. Now, majority of Brock students are on "facebook", americans on "myspace", or Japanese people on "mixi". However, I am not comfortable with social networking, because it could be a worst harmful tool for you. some people say, "not everybody is interested in you" or "you think too much". But it is true that so much information flows and anybody can access to your information within social networking site unless you block privacy (which is not default privacy setting). Nowadays, I feel very insecure when I share my personal information online although I need to be on facebook since I can easilty contact with my friends and could be a great tool for group meeting or studying. My solution for this problem is "putting less personal information" and blocking my pictures. I personally believe that people are not "that" interested in other people. So we do not have to put much personal information online. Social networking in Japan is one of the factors of raping or kidnapping. Each of us carefully consider the purpose and use of social networking again, and people should nicely behave online with manners.

ICT

Today, technology is everywhere around us. I found myself being surrounded by computer and it sustains people’s lives. For example, I am doing this assignment with my laptop. I used to have no laptop, but I decided to buy this laptop for schoolwork such as assignment, registering courses and taking notes. I would be having a problem if I didn't have the laptop at school, because I need to type essays, handwrite very slow, and have to quickly select courses online. Other ICTs that I often use are ATM, self-checkout machine at grocery store, cell phones, email, online Gibson library etc. I live in Canada by myself so that I need to manage my budget at my bank and ATM. It allows customers to use banking service 24 hours. The traditional way is waiting for the next day if the bank is closed. I always use self-checkout because I simply don’t like the way they put my grocery into bags. This saves labor. The traditional mean is hiring more people for cashier. I always want to put heavy or hard stuff underneath, I contact with my friend, workplace before, and dentist through my cell phone. I even had one when I was in high school back in 2002. Cell phone in Japan is more developed and has been demanded way earlier than in Canada, so pretty much 99% of high school students, a majority of junior high school students, and even some elementary school students have cell phones today. People used to use home phone. Now, people tend to have no home phone, In Japan, every cell phone has both text messages and email. I check my email everyday here. It is for keeping touch with my mother in Japan. I email directly to my mother’s cell, and she timely receives email from me, and reply to my hotmail. Its traditional mean is sending letters. It takes a week at the shortest with the express. There is 12-hour distance from Japan to Canada, but the technology shortens the space and let us tightly connected all the time. I also need Brock’s online searching system of library. This lets me search books not only at school but also home, and I don’t have to spend much time to look for books because it tells me the book is exactly stored. The traditional way used to be looking for a book with a thick book, like a dictionary, with location information. Today, ICT plays an important role for my life. I think people take ICTs for granted to be around our lives. However, I should appreciate that my life has been more convenient because of them. This tells that the current society is filled with much information. I also feel the ICTs are overwhelming our lives. People get affected by some radiation of machines, can’t figure out how to utilize the ICTs, and even get stressed because of complexity of life. We shouldn't be regardless about the negative side of ICTs.

Introduction

I usually spell my name in this way so that English speakers can correctly pronounce my name. My uncle is not David Suzuki. My grandfather is not the founder of Suzuki motor.

I am from Japan. I came all way down to to St.Catharines from Tokyo alone in 2005. I have studied English for the first year of Brock in the English program, "I.E.L.P.". I am currently in second year in communication major. This is my 4th year in St.Catharines, and I am sick of this city to be honest lol, because there is nothing to do and its winter is way colder and longer comparing to Japan. However, I did not grow up only in Japan. I have lived in Hong Kong, Bahrain, Japan and Canada. I look extremely Asian, according to many of my friends, but I have lived abroad a little longer than in Japan so far. I believe I have a wide field of vision through experiencing counties' cultures. Therefore, I would like to make a great use of my background, and view how the information society flows from my perspective.