ZOZOTOWN, Japan’s largest fashion e-commerce company, has announced the launch of the ZOZOSUIT, a revolutionary body measurement device. The suit’s technology will allow the company to create clothes that are guaranteed to fit, every time.
Retail giant Aeon Co. has renovated 13 outlets across the country to cater to seniors, offering earlier opening hours and services that encourage asatomo (morning friends) get-togethers.
Kohei Nakahara, a store manager, canvassed elderly people who frequent nearby parks to better understand their needs. “We brought what they want to do into our store, and it resulted in them staying longer. We want to make the store a place like a community hall for neighbors,” he said.
GMO Internet, which operates a range of web-related businesses including finance, online advertising and internet infrastructure, will start paying up to 100,000 yen (£660/$890) monthly by Bitcoin to its employees in Japan from February this year.
“Employees can receive salaries by Bitcoin if they want to,” company spokeswoman Harumi Ishii said. “We hope to improve our own literacy of virtual currency by actually using it.”
The offer will be open to around 4,000 employees of the GMO group in Japan, she said.
On one of the busiest online shopping days of the year, Black Friday, thousands of Amazon employees decided it was also a good day to walk off the job. Warehouse workers in several distribution centers in Germany and Italy took the day off to demand higher wages and better treatment.
A Russian politician proposed labeling American fast food chains like McDonald's and KFC as foreign agents, following recently passed legislation which provides the same classification for international news outlets.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman R.S. Sharma has called for the Internet being kept open and free, and not cannibalised.
“No one owns the Internet... so, it should be open and accessible to everyone,” Mr. Sharma said, suggesting that service providers should not indulge in gate-keeping of this important platform.
The TRAI issued the much-awaited recommendations on Net neutrality and has sought to bar service providers from any discriminatory practice on Internet access.
Critics of media consolidation are decrying an announcement that the media company Meredith Corp., with a $650 million boost from conservative billionaires David and Charles Koch, will buy Time Inc.—which owns Time, Fortune, People, and Sports Illustrated magazines—for an estimated $2.8 billion.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, became the world's richest man, defeating Bill Gates, co-founder Microsoft.
The recent surge in Amazon stock has pushed Bezos' fortune to over $90 billion, vaulting him past Bill Gates. Bezos has been chasing Gates for the number one spot for a few years now and finally succeeded in superseding him. But this dream run was short-lived. On Thursday, Bill Gates was crowned again as the world's richest man as Amazon stocks went down by 1%.
Forbes Coaches Council contends that boredom at work, far from being a terrible thing, offers a chance “to reflect, strategize and create”.
Here are some of the more constructive aspects of boredom, in their opinion:
1. Boredom Inspires Us To Expand Horizons
Boredom provides a great opportunity for us to examine ourselves and seek new ways to expand our world and thinking, so go and learn something new. Get out of the rut that is creating the boredom. Do more. Be more. Live more.
David O. Russell’s crime drama “American Hustle” could be a big winner at the Academy Awards. But for the movie’s many international fans, it may take a little longer to realize it. In their country, there is simply no word that captures the true essence of “Hustle.”
So in Israel the film is known in Hebrew as “American Dream.” In France, it’s translated as “American Bluff.” In Argentina, it’s “American Scandal.” In Portugal, it’s “American Sting.” In Quebec, it’s “American Scam.” In Spain, it’s the “Great American Scam.” And in Turkey, it’s merely known as “Trickster.”
The Japanese government is urging steelmaker Kobe Steel to clarify the extent of manipulation of data on steel, aluminum and other metals used in a wide range of products, reportedly including rockets, aircraft and cars.
A government spokesman on Wednesday criticized the apparently widespread falsification of data as "inappropriate," saying it could undermine product safety.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kotaro Nogami told reporters that about 200 of Kobe Steel's customers were affected.
In a global study of IT security architecture, IT practitioners from Japan (79%) and Canada (74%) are the most concerned about millennials in the workplace posing a significant risk to security.
As the world’s first “connected” generation, millennials are hyperactive on their mobile devices, using apps and social media platforms for both personal and professional purposes.
What happens when the oil runs out?
We cannot go on using oil forever. We can do so for a few more decades - perhaps until 2070, then it will run out - or at least, there will be hardly any left.
At present, there is still plenty of oil under the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Engineers keep finding new sources of oil, but there are some unavoidable issues with fossil fuels which cannot be ignored.
Japanese Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii said on Friday that unauthorized technicians had been found certifying vehicles at five Nissan plants that the ministry has been inspecting.
The unauthorized technicians included contract workers, Ishii told a news conference.
"It's extremely regrettable, causing anxiety for users and shaking the foundation of the certification system," he said.
You’re probably going to be driving an electric car soon.
On Saturday Oct. 21st—just two weeks after a top Russian banking authority hinted that Bitcoin exchanges would be banned in the country—Russian President Vladmir Putin released five Presidential orders related to the regulation of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
National regulations have been proposed as mechanisms to reduce scams and crime facilitated by cryptocurrencies, but in the case of Russia it may be tied up in the country's alleged plans to launch a national cryptocurrency.
The world will need "carbon sucking" technology by 2030s, scientists warn.
As efforts to cut planet-warming emissions fall short, large-scale projects to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere will be needed by the 2030s to hold the line against climate change, scientists have said.
“If you’re really concerned about coral reefs, biodiversity [and] food production in very poor regions, we’re going to have to deploy negative emission technology at scale,” said Bill Hare of Climate Analytics, a science and policy institute.
Imagine a world where your daily activities were constantly monitored and evaluated: what you buy at the shops and online; where you are at any given time; who your friends are; how many hours you spend watching content or playing video games; and what bills and taxes you pay (or not).
On Wednesday, Melinda Gates joined LinkedIn (now owned by Microsoft) and penned her first column about changing the high-pressure culture.
She writes that in fact technology has made it harder to pull away from our jobs, and easier to wonder whether a night off or a long weekend is damaging our careers.
The result is a work ethic that hurts everyone. When companies demand that employees work themselves into the ground, those that want to balance career with family life lean out. Some of them leave the corporate world altogether, which limits diversity.
Once upon a time, the American dream was built on the ideal that hard work leads to success. But today, with the rise of technology, the message has become: work all the time or you will fail, Melinda Gates argued in her first column on LinkedIn.
This workaholic culture is particularly harmful to women, Gates writes, because women are still being told by society that home care and child care is up to them as well. She explained:
