Where the action is

Hi All,

Just another quick update. As mentioned before this blog is suspended for now.

Instead all of the action will be on DailyJ

ALSO
Anyone who wants to contribute to Nipponster development can check out the new Nipponster Lab on the JapanLabs social networking site!
See you there!

Kaizen and the Nipponster Japan Toolbar

Kaizen, Baby!
We are trying to make the Nipponster Japan Toolbar better and better all the time

Kaizen (改善) - continuous improvement

If you are out of the loop when it comes to our Japan Toolbar, and the cool tools we've been working on, check out this previous post: Free Internet Broadcast Japanese TV!

And it you haven't downloaded it yet DO IT NOW! --> Nipponster Japan Toolbar download page. We think you will thank yourself for it later ;)

The Nipponster Japan Toolbar is the first Japan Toolbar, the first Japan-enthusiasts toolbar. It is the first toolbar to bring all the gadgets a Japan-enthusiast needs together in one place: Japanese dictionaries, Kanji cards, free Japanese typing software (Japanese language support), language practice, radio language lessons, 24 hour Japanese TV, and all kinds of useful links. And don't forget Nipponster Search (the first Japan-related search engine).

So how did we improve a toolbar so chocked full of goodies?
We've added three cool new things to the Japan Toolbar:

1. More new free Japanese internet TV links
2. A web app that let's you type in Japanese without software
3. Cool gadgets from Labpixies

New free Japanese TV channels:
We've added Impress TV, Channel J, Biglobe, and NHK (English & Japanese). Here is a screenshot:



Type in Japanese without software:
A great tool to use if you do not have a Japanese OS and you don't have (or don't want to install) Japanese typing software.
It is a good idea to bookmark this link (http://ajaxime.chasen.org/index.html) on Google bookmarks, etc. (or save it somewhere like in your gmail). Here is why: Let's say you take a little trip to Australia and midway through your trip you need to email someone in Japanese. But there's a problem, none of the PCs available have Japanese typing software. Not good. But wait, now all you have to do is visit this link and you can type in Japanese without installing software! Awesome.
Here is a screenshot:



Cool gadgets from Labpixies:
There are a lot of gadget goodies but the best in my book is Labpixie TV. This is probably of more interest to foreigners in Japan, whereas the Japanese TV is interesting to people outside of Japan. Missing TV from home? LabPixie TV has programmable TV stations. Click on the first button on the right and it will take you to their website where you can choose your channel,... by country!
Screenshot:



They even have some Japanese stations on there but it is all user submitted and some of the .asp links (streaming tv links) may have been changed. They seem to get changed pretty often, that is why in our tv section we link to the homepages too.

Well, that's it for now. What's next? Video search?! (uh. oh. looks like I let the cat out of the bag...) Stay Tuned!!

And let us know what you think by giving us some feedback!
We do it for you, the Japan-enthusiasts.

-Tori

Dreamers Never Give Up

I have to be honest, sometimes I feel like giving up...

Trying to affect change and carry out a vision is hard work!

That's what we are trying to do with Nipponster.com

We are trying to make the web a better place for Japan-enthusiasts

But it is not easy.

I did not think that it would be.

But I did not expect it to be this hard.

The main problem boils down to how to create buzz about our mission.

How can we get lots of people behind it?

How can we make them passionate about revolutionising Japan-related content on the web?

How do we get people involved in projects (like making a free comprehensive Japanese text book)?

We don't know the answers yet.

And we could always use your input.

But one thing is for certain...

We are dreamers.

And Dreamers never give up!

-Tori

Free Internet Broadcast Japanese TV!

Extra! Extra! Nipponster Japan Toolbar just got better!

What can be better than FREE JAPANESE TV?

Free Japanese TV right on your browser!

To our loyal users:
We are dedicated to making
the Nipponster Japan Toolbar the BEST toolbar of Japanese language and entertainment resources available!

We have recently made some improvements to it.

In case you haven't downloaded it and taken it for a spin yet, it is located here.


It has Japanese internet broadcast tv stations available at the click of a button, so you can passively practice Japanese while surfing the net (or just enjoy the show).

Here is a preview of one of the free Japanese tv broadcasts!


It has Japanese internet radio stations (some with Japanese language lessons), jim breen's dictionary, and other language tools, etc. etc.

It let's you search for info about that Japanese Pop Idol (for example) that you love using Nipponster Search; from anywhere on the net!



We have been making little improvements to it here and there. We tweaked the rikai function and added Japanese text functions from Open Japan and a search Wikipedia function. All of those open up in little toolbar windows where you can type in your search etc. without having to go to the page (saving you time and hassle).

So if you haven't, TRY IT OUT!

-Tori
p.s. We are also tinkering with more features like more free Japanese TV channels, easier dictionary search functions, and later on a user chat box. All part of the mission to make the web a better place for Japan-enthusiasts!

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised!

That's right!

The revolution will not be televised.

It will not be on C-SPAN, CNN, or NBC

The revolution will not be brought to you by FoX

With special news breaks about Britney Spears' shaved head.

Because the Revolution will not be televised... :)

We want to revolutionise the way you find Japanese content on the web!

Nipponster's Mission?

To organise and enhance All of the Japan related content on the web,

making the web a better place for Japan-Ethusiasts!

Find out how:

Nipponster's Personality :)

Nipponster "Social" Search
Nipponster Toolbar
Nipponster Labs
Nipponster Hot Search Archive

And if you are a blogger or webmaster, Nipponster wants to help YOU. So Contact Us

About Nipponster

We


We have to come clean and confess that we are big Google groupies. We love Google and since imitation is the biggest form of flattery (or however that saying goes) we are endeavoring to imitate its greatness and it's motto: "Don't Be Evil"

Our mission is "to organize and enhance ALL of the Japan-related content available online."
We want to make Japan-related content easily accessible and easier for you to play with.

The Nipponster Search Engine has a number of features that do just that.

In addition to the search engine we are working on a powerful tagging and rating system that will let you discuss and rate content, websites, and articles). The prototype for this is the current hot search archives.

There is also our Nipponster toolbar; bringing power tools (like Rikai, jim Breen's dictionary, flashcards, and audio lessons) together with entertainment (like TV and radio internet broadcasts) to make an easy to use language resource.

We plan to improve on these things (you can help by giving feedback) and bring you a lot more.


Keep an eye on us because we are moving along and will keep rolling out new stuff.
We do it for you, the Japan-enthusiasts of the world.
-Tori