New rules for getting a visa in Japan

From the GaijinPlot blog;

Next year the rules for renewing a visa in Japan change, requiring every foreign resident to undergo a new process in order to extend their stay. Listed below are the key things to keep in mind.

1. Proof of Social Insurance to be Required for Visa Renewals, Status Changes

One important new change to Japan’s visa rules is the introduction, from April 1, 2010, of the requirement to provide proof of enrollment in Japan’s Social Insurance programs to be eligible to renew or change visas. Although enrollment in Social Insurance (health, pension) has always been required of all residents, this marks the first time proof of enrollment will be required for visa renewal. There may be some limited exemptions for those on short-term stays from countries with a reciprocal Social Security Agreement with Japan if they can provide evidence of enrollment in their home country’s social security programs.

2. New Visa Application Forms

The Immigration Department has also revised its visa/COE application forms. The new forms are already available on the Immigration Department website (http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/keiziban/sinnsei-kaisei/nintei/). They will continue to accept the old application forms for a limited time, but eventually these will be phased out.

3. Government to Issue new Resident Cards for Foreigners

The government also recently announced that they will phase out the current Alien Registration Card system within the next three years and that all foreign residents will be issued a new “Zairyu” Resident Card. This new IC-chipped card will be issued by the Immigration Department, rather than the Ward or City Office and will include information such as; name, date of birth, sex, nationality, address of main residence, status of residence, period of stay, etc.. The card will combine the data currently collected separately under the Immigration Control Act and Alien Registration Law.

Cardholders will be expected to carry their card with them at all times and must report any changes to their employment, residency, or spousal status to the Immigration Department within 14 days or risk fines up to JPY200,000 or imprisonment.

4. Relaxation of Re-Entry Permit Requirements and Increase to Maximum Period of Stay

Other Immigration Law changes to be implemented within the next 3 years include an extension of the maximum period of stay from the current 3 years to 5 years, and the relaxation of requirements to obtain re-entry permits. Residence Card holders with a valid passport will not be required to apply for a re-entry permit if they are to re-enter Japan within one year of their departure date. More guidance on these changes is expected in the future.

The GaijinPot In Japan Visa pages offer more advice and info for applying and renewing a visa for Japan.

Robert Crane blogs from Solid Japan K.K

Windows 7 Shortcuts

Window Management Shortcuts

One of the best changes in Windows 7 is the ability to "snap" windows to the side of the screen, maximize them by dragging to the top of the screen, or even move them to another monitor with a shortcut key. Check out the video for a demonstration of how some of the keys work.

The full list of keyboard shortcuts includes:

• Win+Home: Clear all but the active window.
• Win+Space: All windows become transparent so you can see through to the desktop.
• Win+Up arrow: Maximize the active window.
• Shift+Win+Up arrow: Maximize the active window vertically.
• Win+Down arrow: Minimize the window/Restore the window if it's maximized.
• Win+Left/Right arrows: Dock the window to each side of the monitor.
• Shift+Win+Left/Right arrows: Move the window to the monitor on the left or right.

You can also interact with windows by dragging them with the mouse:

• Drag window to the top: Maximize
• Drag window left/right: Dock the window to fill half of the screen.
• Shake window back/forth: Minimize everything but the current window.
• Double-Click Top Window Border (edge): Maximize window vertically.

Taskbar Shortcuts

You can use any of these shortcut combinations to launch the applications in their respective position on the taskbar, or more:

• Win+number (1-9): Starts the application pinned to the taskbar in that position, or switches to that program.
• Shift+Win+number (1-9): Starts a new instance of the application pinned to the taskbar in that position.
• Ctrl+Win+number (1-9): Cycles through open windows for the application pinned to the taskbar in that position.
• Alt+Win+number (1-9): Opens the Jump List for the application pinned to the taskbar.
• Win+T: Focus and scroll through items on the taskbar.
• Win+B: Focuses the System Tray icons

In addition, you can interact with the taskbar using your mouse and a modifier key:

• Shift+Click on a taskbar button: Open a program or quickly open another instance of a program.
• Ctrl+Shift+Click on a taskbar button: Open a program as an administrator.
• Shift+Right-click on a taskbar button: Show the window menu for the program (like XP does).
• Shift+Right-click on a grouped taskbar button: Show the window menu for the group.
• Ctrl+Click on a grouped taskbar button: Cycle through the windows of the group.

• Ctrl+Shift+N: Creates a new folder in Windows Explorer.
• Alt+Up: Goes up a folder level in Windows Explorer.
• Alt+P: Toggles the preview pane in Windows Explorer.
• Shift+Right-Click on a file: Adds Copy as Path, which copies the path of a file to the clipboard.
• Shift+Right-Click on a file: Adds extra hidden items to the Send To menu.
• Shift+Right-Click on a folder: Adds Command Prompt Here, which lets you easily open a command prompt in that folder.
• Win+P: Adjust presentation settings for your display.
• Win+(+/-): Zoom in/out.
• Win+G: Cycle between the Windows Gadgets on your screen.

Growth of Home Video

A media player is one that can playback various media types like pictures, videos, music, etc.

From the time we started knowing about a playback device, it was either the VCR or VCP or Tape Recorder.  These were playback and recorders on magnetic tapes with only mono sound.  While the VCR/VCP could only playback video and not music/radio, the Tape Recorder did the vice-versa of it.  There was no integrated device to do both.

Then came the era of CDs which birth to CD Audio and VCDs which were 1000 times durable, better in quality and supported stereo playback.  While a CD player could not playback video, a VCD was always capable of playing back Videos and Music.  This was the beginning of an era of Integrated Playback devices that gave new products which could play Audio CDs, Video CDs and also have Radio tuners.  Going forward with the advent of computers becoming common, such players also supported MP3 audio discs which could cram in audio found in 15-20 Audio CDs.

Later was the advent of Digital Versatile Disk or DVD.  No format in history has ever tasted the success which DVD has tasted so far.  It was capable of higher capacities, greater quality, easier to implement copy protection, up to 5.1 channels of distinctive sound, etc.  It was truly a mindboggling experience for a movie buff to experience movie and music at par to theater like quality.

That DVDs fuelled Home Theater Systems will be an understatement.  With more technological innovations and speedier electronics, DVD players were literally a household device.  While a typical 4.37GB DVD could hold DVD quality video and Dolby 5.1 audio, a 8.5GB Dual Layered DVD could hold the high bit-rate DTS audio tracks as well.  The parallel improvisation of Home Theater receivers was simply attracting more into the custom home theater bandwagon.

DVD Home Theater Systems became more cheaper with never thought of capabilities at that price.  Manufacturers started adding playback of non-DVD formatted media like DVD rips, .wmv files, DivX playback, JPEG playback.  USB ports was becoming a mainstream feature which enabled playback of files loaded on to a USB memory Key or HDD.

Now is the age of High Definition content.  HDTVs started becoming the regular TV for any household and older CRT based TVs were phased out.  SONY had completely stopped producing CRT TVs. HDTVs capable of playing content up to 1080p resolutions have become common with prices falling drastically.  The technology is also improving so quickly that a HDTV bought 6 months ago is going into oblivion. This demanded an equivalent source of HD content. 

And now is the age of Blu-ray.  Bluray is the next generation optical media format that succeeds DVDs.  It was pioneered by Sony.  Bluray or BD is capable of holding 25GB of data on a single layer and about 50GB on a dual-layered disc.  While BD players and recorders are dwindling in prices, the price bracket has not reached a level for mass penetration. BD can hold movie content encoded at 1080p resolution, interactive playback, Lossless HD audio for Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD formats, etc.

While HDTV's were rapidly replacing SDTV's, it was much much faster than BD replacing DVD.  When a DVD was played on a HDTV, it was not a true experience that one would want for.  In fact many would be in for a rude shock because a SD content looks worse on a HDTV when compared to a SD content on a SDTV.  A SDTV can playback a SD content in it's full glory and we know what to expect.  But a HDTV has more pixels per inch than a SDTV and hence when supplied with a SD content it stretches to to an unbearable extent.  This is particularly worse for Full HDTVs.  So to truly enjoy HDTV, one has to upgrade to BD players and also upgrade the SD Setop boxes to HD if the cable company has one to offer.

BD players have come far in terms of loading times, features, etc.  Today's BD players can play BDs, upscale SD DVD content to HD, connect to your home network  and stream playback from various DLNA enabled devices, connect to Youtube/Netflix, etc., support playback of media out of the box for Divx, WMV, etc. files.

Simultaneously, the power of the internet and computers has been catching up so rapidly that Internet downloads of movies is becoming very common.  Rips of movies and various other media files have started hogging the storage space of many media enthusiasts.  While not every video or audio file is stored in it's original format, it is imperative to have one device that is capable of playing back such ripped and stripped content.

Here comes the era of Media Players. Media Players are devices that enable playback of content from attached devices or network devices with native support for the most widely used codecs and formats. While there are a host of Media Players in town, an ideal Media Player will have the following capabilities;

• HD playback over HDMI
• Minimum Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 playback and Dolby-TrueHD/DTS-HD pass through.
• USB Ports and eSATA ports for supporting external storage devices.
• Wireless capability or Ethernet for streaming content from Media Server connected to the home network.
• Support for the various widely used formats and codecs out of the box.

A Playstation3 is a true media player but lacks support for some widely used codecs and containers like MKV.  Hope Sony will release a software update to do that also.

The superb T400s... now with MultiTouch LCD panel!!!!

Boost Your Memory Power with a 30-Second Eye Exercise

From Lifehacker;

http://www.howcast.com/videos/4670-How-To-Improve-Your-Memory

Memory declines with age, but if you'd like to remember where you placed your keys well into your golden years, try implementing a 30-second daily eye exercise.

Video how-to site Howcast provides some tips on how to improve memory. Among the more simple suggestions is to start each morning out with an eye exercise. The goal is to get both sides of your brain to work together, achieved simply by moving your eyes side-to-side for 30 seconds before going about your day's activities.

The video also suggests memorizing information on an empty stomach. Why? "The hormone that improves the memory is highest when the stomach is empty" (though we'd add that if you're too hungry, you might not be able to focus at all).

Digital Television

Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV.  There are many DTV standards prevalent.  But about 3-4 are widely used across the globe and are specific to their respective continents like Europe/Asia, North America, Japan/South America, China, Korea, etc.

This is again one very good example of competing standards which though results in better features but makes things confusing for a consumer.  For e.g., a device adhering to one standard may not work with any other standard and if the consumer is moving to that region, the device becomes useless.  Anywayz, keeping away politics in electronics, lets look at some of the most prevalent and widely used standards across the world. 

DVB

Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium with more than 270 members, and they are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and European Broadcasting Union (EBU). DVB systems are used in Europe, Africa, Middle East and most of Asia except South Korea, China and Japan. DVB systems distribute data using a variety of approaches for the various medium of transmissions.  They are;

Satellite: DVB-S, DVB-S2 and DVB-SH
Cable: DVB-C, DVB-C2
Terrestrial television: DVB-T, DVB-T2
Handhelds: DVB-H, DVB-SH

ATSC

ATSC is a set of standards developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable, and satellite networks. ATSC-M/H (Advanced Television Systems Committee - Mobile/Handheld) is a standard in the USA for mobile digital TV, that allows TV broadcasts to be received by mobile devices.

ISDB

Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB) is a Japanese standard for digital television (DTV) and digital radio used by the country's radio and television stations. The core standards of ISDB are

ISDB-S (satellite television)
ISDB-T(terrestrial)
ISDB-C (cable)
2.6GHz band mobile broadcasting

They are all based on MPEG-2 video and audio coding as well as the transport stream described by the MPEG-2 standard, and are capable of high definition television (HDTV). ISDB-T and ISDB-Tsb are for mobile reception in TV bands. 1seg is the name of an ISDB-T service for reception on cell phones, laptop computers and vehicles.  The concept was named for its similarity to ISDN, because both allow multiple channels of data to be transmitted together (a process called multiplexing).

There are some more standards DMB by China and T-DMB by South Korea too.

Guys,

The latest model announced from Lenovo in it's ThinkPad range of computers. Amazingly light and thin with a great performance.

Multi-Touch Touchpad, Dual Digital Array Microphone, e-SATA port, etc.

Definitely a winner.

Specs and pics for you.

Meet the ThinkPad T400s. Sleek, highly portable, ergonomic and loaded with user-friendly features to help you work efficiently.

At just 3.91 pounds and .83 inches thick, the T400s is the lightest, thinnest T Series yet—without compromising power or ease of use.

An integrated Web camera offers 2MP resolution, truer image consistency and lower light capture capability—perfect for Web conferencing.

Zoom, scroll and rotate right from the TouchPad using two-finger gestures. With multitouch functionality, a larger TouchPad and widened TrackPoint® buttons, who needs a mouse?

Meet the ThinkPad T400s. Sleek, highly portable, ergonomic and loaded with user-friendly features to help you work efficiently.

Power-on quickly using the Integrated Fingerprint Reader with convenient built-in LEDs: Green means ready to swipe, and yellow indicates an error.

Optimized for VoIP, the T400s features louder speakers, dual-channel digital microphones, a 2MP camera and a Fn+F6 hotkey that launches a camera and microphone on-screen display.

T400s back and side views

A combination port on the back acts as a USB 2.0 or eSATA port by plugging into either the top or bottom edge

Keys and buttons with built-in LEDs make it easy to see what's on and what's not—in context. And fewer LED status indicators keep your laptop uncluttered

Run two independent external displays without a mini dock while enjoying crisp 2560x1600 WQXGA resolution.

Link to Lenovo website.

Tour of the ThinkPad T400s

(http://www.lenovovision.com/lv2/mediaplayer.php?fid=thinkpad_t400s_tour_06-2009)

A380

Flew from Tokyo to Singapore on board the Airbus A380. It is the largest passenger aircraft in the world.

Super size air plane with very nicely done interiors by SIA. Very quiet cabin. The noise from the engines is not heard to much extent. When travelling on an B737 after travelling on the A380, the last point made so much difference.