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North Korea Launches Rocket and… Hey, Isn’t That Windows Media Player 11?

North Korea Launches Rocket and… Hey, Isn’t That Windows Media Player 11?

Earlier this year North Korea attempted a rocket launch which they claimed was intended to launch a satellite in honor of the new leader Kim Jong-Un.  Many around the globe, however, condemned it as missile testing.

The launch failed, but more embarrassing was the footage released showing the control center, which revealed rows of what looked like computers straight out of a 1960’s sci-fi movie.

However, last week, the reportedly successful rocket launch also revealed a significant upgrade to the foundation of the technology driving North Korean space program’s.  In a video released to the media the control center could be seen using…Windows XP.

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Custom-Made Transparent “Pain PC” Featuring Window8 Moe Mascots, Yuu & Ai Madobe

Custom-Made Transparent “Pain PC” Featuring Window8 Moe Mascots, Yuu & Ai Madobe

First, there was “itasha,” or “pain mobile,” a car so nerdy it hurt.  Then there was a “painful” helicopter created by the Japan Self Defense Forces that featured manga-influenced designs.

Now, there’s a transparent “itaPC,” or “pain PC,” featuring the official, Japan-exclusive Windows 8-themed “moe” mascots, Yuu and Ai Madobe.

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Microsoft to Have Booth at Japan’s Largest Comic Convention, Selling Limited-Edition Windows 8 PC

Microsoft to Have Booth at Japan’s Largest Comic Convention, Selling Limited-Edition Windows 8 PC

Microsoft Japan is getting serious about their anthropomorphic operating systems.

Until recently, these characters, also known as OS-tans, were nothing more than unofficial fan-made creations. However, as we saw last month with the popularity of the  Windows 8 DSP edition, Microsoft has begun to embrace their anime mascots, perhaps realizing their marketing potential among the otaku, or nerd, demographic. And now, for the first time ever, Microsoft will be delving into the belly of the beast and running a booth at Japan’s largest comic book convention, Comic Market.

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Cute Anime Girls Driving Sales of Windows 8 in Japan

Cute Anime Girls Driving Sales of Windows 8 in Japan

On October 29, Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said that since its release on Friday, Windows 8 has been selling at a higher rate than Windows 7, the best-selling version of Windows to date.

Despite confusion over alleged magic touch screen-imbuing capabilities, Windows 8 seems to be doing well in Japan as well— so well, in fact, that limited-quantity DSP editions of the operating system, which feature two unofficial Windows 8-themed “moe” mascots, are already beginning to sell out, proving once again that the Japanese will buy anything with a cute anime girl on it (not that there was a lack evidence).

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Tokyo University Adapting Videogame Technology to Help Physically Disabled Computer Users

Tokyo University Adapting Videogame Technology to Help Physically Disabled Computer Users

The University of Tokyo Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (known as “RCAST” for short、thankfully!), in conjunction with Microsoft Japan, has launched trials of new a computer program that utilise Microsoft’s Kinect for Windows technology as a way for physically disabled people to communicate and interact with computers.

For the uninitiated, Kinect is a motion-sensing camera designed for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console and Windows PCs that tracks users’ body movements and is capable of recognising voice commands. The technology first became available for Xbox users just under two years ago, with Microsoft heralding a new age of gameplay where “you are the controller”, seeing users flapping around their living-rooms like maniacs to control their video games.

While games that utilise Kinect well have been few and far between, it would seem that the technology, once intended as a competitor to Nintendo’s popular Wii console, could soon be changing disabled people’s lives for the better.

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