IPhone Gets First Major Corporate Customer in Japan

Japan's Softbank Mobile has signed its first major corporate contract for the iPhone 3G.

The deal, with management and technology consultancy BearingPoint, will see 1,000 of the phones put into the hands of the company's analysts and workers across the country, the two companies said on Monday.

BearingPoint said it is adopting the iPhone with the aim of improving the productivity of its consultants and helping them access information more easily. Right now the consultants carry both a cellular telephone and a data modem card for a PC.

@pacificIT Jailbreaking worked without a hitch (knock on wood). Customized thy iPhone: http://tinyurl.com/3taqlw You next? ;-)

@pacificIT I’m actually trying to jailbreak mine right now. Wish me luck! ;-)

The ‘Brick’ is…

The Apple “Brick” is…

Tokyo: City Overview

There's a sci-fi familiarity to areas like Shibuya, Shinjuku and Akihabara; the skyscrapers glowing with illuminated signs, subway stops inside shopping malls and taxis with automated doors could be straight out of "Blade Runner" or "The Fifth Element."

But the space-age topography of Tokyo has been shaped by a history of catastrophe. In the 20th century alone Tokyo suffered earthquakes, fires and devastating bombing. The result is a city that has repeatedly been forced to rebuild, shedding its past with each successive redevelopment. In Tokyo, the future is a long-standing tradition.

GooSync

Synchronize your Google Calendar with your mobile phone or PDA.

GooSync will seamlessly synchronize almost any mobile device with your Google Calendar. It's quick and simple, sign-up and start syncing.

Upgrade your free account to our premium subscription and get access to GooSync Contacts and Tasks as well as advanced calendar sync features.

Fox News: Hey Look, Palin has a bigger flag pin than Biden!

This morning, the hosts of Fox and Friends discussed last night’s vice presidential debate, concluding that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) was the “big winner.” Steve Doocy then jumped in by pointing out the fact that although both Biden and Palin were wearing flag pins, Palin’s was “about three times the size of his.”

@matrael what did you use to implement your own mobileme-like system? Using free, opensource or commercial software?

TIME (Joe Klein): McCain is Angry, Obama is in Control

While McCain blusters, teeth clenched and oozing sarcasm and disdain, Obama has kept his head — and now he’s taking control of the election.

Phone-Service Bill Disputed after Outages

The former phone service provider for Allied Telesis at Yokota contends the recent disruption of base customers’ incoming calls was because Allied owed it money and not the result of “service problems,” as Allied initially told customers.

Carl A. Maybin II, president of Hawaii-based IP Triple Communications Inc., said Friday in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes that Allied has owed them more than $140,000 since January and that his company blocked incoming calls to Yokota customers because Allied wouldn’t pay the bill.

Is MobileMe yet a worthwhile push email and over-the-air calendar and contact sync service?

Kadena Servicemembers Article 32 Begins with Revelations

The second bombshell was testimony from a doctor at the U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa that Hazel is genetically male.

Testifying by telephone, Cmdr. Elizabeth Tipton said she examined Hazel in August and found the young woman had "androgen insensitivity syndrome." She said Hazel had the outward appearance of a woman, except she had no cervix.

"She is someone who is chromosomally a male," Tipton said. However, the condition made her resistant to testosterone and she developed female genitalia.

@pacificIT I think most iPhone users can _receive_ email from AU keitai users but they receive the email garbled. Encoding is hosed. YMMV.

The Truth About Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin's credentials as a "reformer" are nothing but spin. She has sided with Big Oil, lobbied to increase pork spending and abused her public power to carry out personal vendettas. Here's a guide to separating myth from fact.

Witnesses Differ on PTSD at Cisse Trial

During a murder trial here Tuesday, two expert witnesses wrestled with the touchy subject of what events can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder.

A forensic psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist squared off — the latter by telephone from Florida — during testimony at the court-martial of a Marine sergeant accused of murdering his 6-year-old daughter last October.

At issue was whether Sgt. Bassa Cisse, 33, was suffering from PTSD the day he struck and stepped on his daughter, Naffy, in their Kishaba Towers apartment on Camp Foster on Oct. 21.

Stainless for OS X Leopard

Stainless is really just a technology demo and is likely to stay that way (though we might add some novel ideas we have for bookmark, history and download management).

So, why did we create yet-another-WebKit-browser? Because building a multi-process browser for OS X was a cool way to leverage the multi-processing technology we developed for one of our products, Hypercube.

Search Continues for Americans Missing at Sea After Typhoon

The Japan Coast Guard is continuing to search for four Americans reported missing Sunday near the Okinawa prefectural island of Ishigaki after their yacht encountered battering winds and crushing waves from Typhoon Jangmi, a Japanese official said Monday.

The four men were sailing from Malaysia to Okinawa aboard the 66-foot yacht Jade Princess on Sunday, when they sent out a radio distress signal at 11:06 a.m., said Takamichi Higa, Japan Coast Guard spokesman in Naha.

Jury Hears Tape of Confession in Child Killing Case

A jury watched five hours of taped criminal investigation videos Monday in the court-martial of Marine Sgt. Bassa Cisse, who faces a murder charge in the death of his 6-year-old daughter.

During the afternoon viewing, Cisse sat at the defense table with his head in his hands and cried along with a scene of him breaking down during the taped interview. In the interview, Cisse confessed to beating his daughter, Massey.

"I was upset," he told the Navy Criminal Investigative Service agent. "I lost it. I wasn’t controlling myself."

The weather in Yokosuka really sucks so far. Sure would be nice if the rain went on vacation and allowed the sun to shine for a few days.

New Japanese Minister Steps Down

The resignation will be seen as a setback for new Prime Minister Taro Aso, who took office on Wednesday.

Mr Nakayama was criticised over a series of controversial remarks. He called Japan's largest teachers' union a "cancer" in the education system.

He also angered Japan's indigenous Ainu people last week, when he described the country as ethnically homogeneous.