Jan 30 2006

A few days ago I posted about Livedoor still selling Horienergy on their site. The energy drink, no longer available from AM/PM, is no longer available from Livedoor either. The site still lists the sale page when you search for it, but the page is now gone. Translated for your convenience.

Games

Jan 27 2006

As part of a new series, I’m going to play a massive series of short games and write about it. Fun or a ridiculous exercise in self-fappery, I leave up to the reader to decide. (

Jan 25 2006

LIVEDOOR’S STRATEGIES DEBATED Will Horie’s impact on Japan business world last? By HIROKO NAKATA Staff writer The arrest of Takafumi Horie, 33, founder of high-flying Internet startup Livedoor Co., has shocked business leaders and prompted some soul-searching. “There are rules and ethics that companies have to follow and should not breach,” Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of […]

Jan 25 2006

So Horie, the charismatic leader of Livedoor, has been arrested. Then he resigned. Someone else has taken his place. You might assume the ride’s basically over for him, and I think that’s probably going to prove to be the case for the short term. Interestingly, Crisscross says Livedoor’s #2 man implicated Horie, but on Mainichi’s […]

Jan 18 2006

I bash Australia a lot. It’s expensive here, and the amenities are few. It’s a beautiful place and the people are nice, but it costs a lot to live here. But now, finally, Australia has won one. Bubblewrap is cheaper than Japan. I thought it was nearly double the price until it arrived and turned […]

Jan 17 2006

Livedoor, a Japanese portal company offering many Yahoo-like services, has long been an underdog in Japan, an unruly upstart challenging the old guard and, generally, kicking ass at it. (intro and recap here) Well, Livedoor’s in the news again. The crime? Basically Livedoor announced they were buying a company they already owned, and the Livedoor […]

Jan 17 2006

It’s bloody weird here. It’s as if Australia’s stuck in some sort of pre-revolution world where corporations are not answerable to their customers, where fundamental services can just go dead without explanation or apology, where things just run out. Last week the power went out for over an hour. It was a clear evening, no […]

Personal

Jan 14 2006

It’s been an interesting night. First I found a microscopic baby gecko in the kitchen. After chasing him around for a while, I coerced him onto my hand. Then I had a nasty, nasty shock. Witness The Lurking Horror!! He’s missing a leg. After hosing him down with enough poison to gas a moose he […]

Games

Jan 10 2006

A few updates for you on this fine summer day (I’m in Australia, remember?): 1. A short story about Nintendo, Atari’s Jaguar, and Tetrisphere. 2. Some ebay auctions of mine. I’m unloading a ton of stuff – PC Engine and Saturn softs, and coming up: a Samsung Saturn, a brand new 64DD, etc. Support NFG […]

Personal

Jan 6 2006

The hard part about writing a book to someone else’s spec: they change their mind and mobiles? What do I know about mobiles?