Japanese mobile users to get advance quake warnings
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Japanese mobile telephone users may soon be warned of an earthquake in their area before it even strikes.
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Subway commuters could get more energetic in Japan through a new motion-sensitive mobile telephone equipped with games that will let people on the move practise their golf swings or shoot up monsters.
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(InfoWorld) - Cellphones in Japan could soon provide a vital warning seconds ahead of a major earthquake. The country's three largest cellular carriers, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Softbank Mobile, plan to develop a way to automatically funnel alerts to cellphones from a new government advance warning system, which went into operation last year. The system, operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), ties together an extensive network of earthquake monitors on a high-speed network to provide data to a variety of users, including TV stations, manufacturers, and cellphone operators. The system provides warnings by measuring the primary waves (P-waves) from a quake, which are weak and fast-moving, to automatically predict when the slower and much more destructive secondary waves (S-waves) will arrive at a given location and how strong they will be. The amount of warning varies and could be anything from a few seconds to up to a minute. People closer to the quake's epicenter get shorter warnings -- and in some cases might get none at all -- but researchers agree that the possibility of any warning is better than none. The government data, which will provide the base for the cellphone system, has already been supplied to a number of groups, including manufacturers and hospitals. The buildings are equipped with receivers to receive data from the government or service providers. The alarm system is designed to automatically stop heavy machinery or save PC data. In the future, it may also be able to automatically shut off gas valves. In the earthquake that hit Kobe in 1995, more people died from resulting fires than from the quake itself. The cellphone companies hope to have a system launched in 2008. Â
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Japan is preparing a set of high-level   alert procedures to follow in the event of a nuclear power   plant accident abroad, out of concern that North Korea may   carry out an underground nuclear test, Kyodo News said on   Saturday, citing government sources.
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COLOMBO, Sep 19 (IPS) - A tsunami alert, last week, sent thousands of Sri  Lankans living along the coasts of this island nation fleeing  inland, but authorities were exultant that the early warning  systems installed after the disastrous Dec. 26, 2004 Indian Ocean  tsunami were working.
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Japan&#39;s biggest mobile telecom carrier gave its strongest support yet to&#160;Google&#39;s Android platform&#160;on Thursday when it said it is considering a cell phone based on the technology.&quot;We are starting discussions to offer handsets that will have the Android operating system,&quot; said Takeshi Natsuno, managing director of the multimedia services department at NTT DoCoMo.The talks include getting support for I-mode, DoCoMo&#39;s hit mobile Internet service, on the Android platform. Nearly 48 million of DoCoMo&#39;s 53 million customers subscribe to I-mode, so having it on Android will be key to the Google platform&#39;s success in Japan.Android is a Linux-based platform for cell phones that will combine open-source components and include an operating system, middleware stack, customizable user interface and applications.NTT DoCoMo is one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, the group developing Android. Until Thursday hadn&#39;t disclosed what it hoped to gain from its participation in the group, which includes about 40 companies including some of the biggest names in the cell phone industry.&quot;When I look at the prototype, the Android-based handset works really well even on some of the cheaper handset designs,&quot; said Natsuno.Natsuno didn&#39;t provide any specifics about when such a handset might be available. When the Open Handset Alliance was launched last year Google said that it expected the first phones running the software to appear in late 2008.Despite its support for Android, NTT DoCoMo is also working with companies developing rival platforms. It has an alliance with Access, a Japanese software company with which is has deep ties, on the Access Linux Platform (ALP). DoCoMo is working on a &quot;carrier pack,&quot; a set of unique products and services, that can run on ALP, which is intended to be a common Linux platform for cell phones.Natsuno&#39;s comments came at a Tokyo news conference held to detail a partnership between the carrier and Google.The alliance will see Google products and applications added to DoCoMo handsets. These will include the addition of a Google search box on the main I-mode menu page from which users will access mobile and PC Web sites. Google Ads will appear alongside search results. The two companies said they are also planning to bring more Google services, such as Google Maps, to handsets and build in support for Flash video so that users can access and stream content from YouTube.Google will appear as the default start page on mobile phones that feature browsers for the full Internet.The deal is Google&#39;s second in the mobile space in Japan. It already has a deal with second-ranked carrier &quot;au&quot; to which it provides search and advertising services. Number three carrier Softbank Mobile has a link with Yahoo Japan, the portal in which its parent company, Softbank, is the biggest shareholder.&#160;
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OSAKA - An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit wide areas from eastern to western Japan Sunday evening, with warnings for tsunami tidal waves issued for Mie and Wakayama prefectures, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
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that have hit the Niigata region, the Meteorological Agency said. A series of smaller quakes followed. No tsunami. hospital after being buried in a landslide and six people who were hurt slightly by parts of a wall that collapsed.
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Tokyo - A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the open-ended Richter scale shook western Japan on Sunday and officials issued tsunami warnings, broadcaster NHK reported.
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A magnitude-6.6 earthquake struck just off the northwestern Japanese coast Monday morning, triggering a tsunami warning for the area, Japan's Meteorological Agency reported.
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Japanese authorities warned of possible  aftershocks after two strong earthquakes hit western Japan on  Sunday, but said the tremors were not directly linked to the  sort of massive quakes that rocked the area six decades ago.
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(InfoWorld) - A powerful earthquake that struck northern Japan Monday morning has caused disruption to communications services in the country. The earthquake struck at 10:13 a.m. just off the coast of Niigata prefecture, which is north west of Tokyo. The magnitude 6.8 quake registered an intensity of 6+ on Japan's scale of 0 to 7, in three locations. Citing figures collected at 1:30 p.m. Japan's NHK television reported at least two people were killed and more than 190 people injured. Television images showed dozens of collapsed buildings and damage to structures such as bridges. At one point black smoke was seen rising from the Kashiwazaki nuclear plant but the operator said this was from an electrical transformer that had caught fire and the reactors had shut down safely with no release of radiation. Japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world and buildings standards are high to avoid widespread damage during strong quakes. As a result of the temblor major telecommunications carriers have imposed restrictions on phone calls into and out of the affected area. NTT East, the major fixed-line provider in the area, has activated its "disaster dial 171" service that allows people in the area to leave voicemail messages that can be checked by those in the rest of the country. An Internet version of the service, Web 171 has also been activated and allows those affected to leave voice, still image and video images for friends. The major cell phone carriers have similarly restricted calls and activated their own disaster message board services on wireless Internet sites. The restrictions are put on telecom networks to keep lines free for emergency purposes and also to avoid a collapse of the network due to the massive surge in calls often seen after a powerful earthquake.
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As the Asian tsunami focuses world attention on natural disasters, experts on Wednesday called for a global early warning system for all such catastrophes as soon as possible.
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Japan is preparing a set of high-level  alert procedures to follow in the event of a nuclear power  plant accident abroad, out of concern that North Korea may  carry out an underground nuclear test, Kyodo News said on  Saturday, citing government sources.
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A Japanese company has created a home  appliance the size of a paperback novel that can warn of  earthquakes seconds before they strike.
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Text messages could soon be at the heart of a system to help people cope in the aftermath of disasters.
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Japan is planning government-backed exams for phone guides  who will help users navigate their increasingly complicated  mobile phones.