How Charles Lindbergh Can Save Japan (Part 1)
Reading the news these days, one cannot escape the sense that Japan is burdened with immense problems with no good solutions in sight. The clean-up of a highly toxic nuclear plant in Fukushima and the ongoing energy shortage it has exacerbated are only two of the most obvious. The government is talking about how many trillions of yen will be needed to respond to these problems, although any figure agreed to this year will surely turn out to be inadequate next year. Discussions of the inevitable tax increases have only begun; there will be more to come. What people don’t …
Sensors, Vulnerabilities, and Data Protections
Many of us find ourselves with multiple gadgets – in our pockets, our homes, our cars, our offices – and these gadgets are increasingly built to talk to each other, often automatically and invisibly. Camera phones upload straight to the Web and connect through WiFi and Bluetooth to unseen computer networks; the printer next to your desk can suddenly start printing out documents sent from a branch office on the other side of the world, and our cars automatically pull down information from the sky on the latest traffic and weather conditions. Even common documents (licenses, passports, payment cards) that …
Mitsubishi’s Long-Lived Success Points to Weakness in Japan’s Economy
Author: Eric Pfanner and Atsuko Fukase Originally posted: The Wall Street Journal TOKYO—They’re building Japan’s tallest skyscraper, manufacturing its first commercial jetliner and trying to sell stealth submarines to Australia for some $38 billion. The companies of the Mitsubishi group are capitalizing on the big projects that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes will restore national pride. The prominence of the nearly 150-year-old group points to the stability of Japan’s corporate titans and their ability to steer through wars, financial crises and technological change. At the same time, the concentration of capital and talent in a single set of companies underscores …
Foxconn’s Deal for Sharp Now in Question Taiwanese assembler of iPhones said it is delaying the signing of takeover agreement
Author: Eva Dou in Beijing, Wayne Ma in Hong Kong and Takashi Mochizuki in Tokyo Originally posted: The Wall Street Journal Board members of struggling Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. met Thursday and agreed to sell the company to Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group for almost $6 billion, a decision hailed as a symbol of a push by Japan’s government to open up the country’s notoriously insular industries. There was a snag. Foxconn, which assembles most of Apple Inc.’s iPhones, was having second thoughts. In a written statement released hours later, Foxconn said it would delay signing any deal because it …
IoT and Your Health
Having attended medical school, I understand that the Internet of Things (IoT) offers health-management solutions beyond the medical devices used to address problems faced by an aging society. My wife and I have a daughter who turned four last year. When she was born, I got the notion that it would be useful to attach various sensors to her crib to assist in her upbringing. At that time, IoT-related devices were not as obtainable as they are now, so I scrounged around Tokyo’s Akihabara district for sensors that I linked to a personal computer to devise a makeshift IoT crib. …