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Michael Rollins
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
Jun 12, 2003
Internet at light speed
Here we go again. Just when I thought I was enjoying affordable, high-speed Internet access, along comes yet another new technology that makes my once-fat data pipe look like a swizzle stick. I'm talking fiber.
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
May 29, 2003
IP telephony: Let your modem do the talking
Like me, you may have noticed a recent noisy addition to Tokyo's otherwise drab urban landscape. Clad in garish red or brilliant white, teams of Yahoo BB "parasol troopers" have suddenly landed everywhere, and trying to locate a station exit or street corner free of their hawking antics is like trying...
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
May 15, 2003
Is your wireless network airtight?
I'm sitting with my ThinkPad in a Starbucks near Akasaka. The cafe isn't advertised as a WLAN hot spot, so I'm pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying high-speed Internet access courtesy of some nearby wireless network.
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
May 1, 2003
New Wi-Fi accessibility unleashes the Internet
After enjoying the speed and always-on convenience of broadband Internet for about a year, I was surprised one afternoon to feel an odd pang of disconnectedness when staying at a friend's cottage in Izu. With nary a phone line or fiber-optic cable for miles around, I briefly found myself wishing my friend...
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
Apr 10, 2003
Sifting online study aids
Just a few years ago, I was certain I could never get by without Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary and the venerable Nelson close at hand. Today, however, these and other weighty tomes gather dust on a nearby bookshelf, banished to obsolescence by my favorite desktop reference, the Web.
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
Mar 27, 2003
Heading off spam at the pass
It's been just over a year since my personal e-mail account started getting upwards of 20 junk mails a day and I ditched it for a new, spam-free one. I created another -- simple enough when you have your own domain -- but found in mere months that I was right back where I started. Even taking great care...
LIFE / Digital
Mar 27, 2003
Getting to know you
The following are some of the main resources used to harvest e-mail addresses:
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
Mar 13, 2003
How to get people to look at your site
It's a simple matter these days to build and host a Web site. What's less simple is getting others -- potential customers, readers and other users -- to find your site among the millions of others already out there. In this column I'll discuss Japanese search engines, particularly how best to use Japanese...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
Feb 27, 2003
Avoiding the 'mojibake' bugaboo
Just about everyone uses e-mail today, and many of us in Japan do so in English, Japanese, and other languages as well. But anyone who corresponds in Japanese via e-mail knows that we still have a long way to go in terms of ensuring that our e-mail reaches the intended recipient both intact and readable....
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
Feb 13, 2003
Japanese get real on 2 Channel
It was 1975 when University of North Carolina graduate student Steve Bellovin developed a handful of short programs to facilitate communication via UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy) between the University of North Carolina and Duke University. The scripts were later rewritten in the computer language "C" and...
LIFE / Digital
Apr 25, 2002
Broadband security: put a lock on the back door
It's late one evening last July, and a green activity light is blinking on the front of the DSL modem next to my desk.
LIFE / Digital
Apr 18, 2002
Navigating the broadband connection
Last week we discussed the different broadband services available in Japan and how to subscribe to each. This week we'll take a look at the steps necessary to configure your system to connect to the Internet using your new broadband service, and also consider some of the options available to users with...
LIFE / Digital
Apr 11, 2002
End the wait, get really connected
The waiting is over, at least for Internet users tired of herky-jerky Web video, all-night downloads, and pay-by-the-minute dialup access. Broadband has arrived in Japan, and in cities like Tokyo and Osaka we probably enjoy the best, least expensive high-speed Internet access in the world.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?