Bit-Sized

Back to Contents of Issue: September 2001



DEVIL'S DICTIONARY
The July issue of Cyzo, one of our favorite Japanese mags, provided observations on the hot tech keywords of the day. Here are a few (translated by us):

Broadband: A communications environment that NTT didn't really want to promote, but had to because others did.

DSL: Until last year, the broadband technology that NTT hated the most.

VoIP: The broadband technology that NTT will hate the most next.

iAppli: Java apps that run over i-mode. Sun Microsystems never imagined Java being used by high-school girls in Japan like this.

"CHARTING" THE FUTURE ...
At a recent telecom conference, a rep from a certain telco monopoly in Japan said: "There's a famous chart that shows how data traffic will exceed voice, but there's also a secret chart ..." At this point, he whipped out a revenue chart showing data far below voice not only currently, but well into the future. Guess which company is going to make loads of money either way?

NOTHING BETTER TO DO ...
What does a guy do after starting a (later huge) tech publishing company (ASCII), helping Microsoft Japan get started (but then breaking up with Bill when he wanted ASCII for his own), and then losing his tech-celeb status after selling out to systems integrator CSK? Apparently, he hangs around in BBS discussions. At least that's what Kazuhiko Nishi did. We assumed it was an imposter - "I'm Joi Ito and you all suck!" wasn't too convincing, after all - but eventually we confirmed that it was indeed the man. The thread had well over 10,000 postings - here are some of his rants (our translation):

Anonymous: Crayfish and Cyber Agent were disasters - how could you be
so successful when you were so young?
Nishi: I have no idea.
A: The fat guy is here again?
N: Are you talking about me?
A: Would you buy Xbox?
N: I would buy it, take it apart, and remodel it as a PC.
A: I'm so stupid that I have no idea what .NET is. Gates seems to be
emphasizing it, but can you explain its purpose so that a stupid guy like me
can also understand it?
N: To kill Java.
A: Pay your debt, Nishi!
N: I'm doing it now.
A: Hey Nishi! I'll lend you some money!
N: Thanks, but no thanks.

"Nishi-tan," as he became known, went from being angry about the derisive
comments about him to inviting everyone to a Yoshinoya beef-bowl party at
the ASCII office.

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