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Novels Composed on Cellphones Topping Japanese Best Seller Lists

Posted by Zonk on from the tiny-text-long-tail dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The New York Times has up an article examining the rise of blogs/novels that make the transition to published books. Recent Japanese best-seller lists have been heavy with these texts, many of them actually written on cellphones for a cellphone reading audience. Commentators note the popularity of this form of literature coincides with cell providers moving to unlimited data packages. 'The affordability of cellphones coincided with the coming of age of a generation of Japanese for whom cellphones, more than personal computers, had been an integral part of their lives since junior high school. So they read the novels on their cellphones, even though the same Web sites were also accessible by computer. They punched out text messages with their thumbs with blinding speed, and used expressions and emoticons, like smilies and musical notes, whose nuances were lost on anyone over the age of 25.'"

81 comments

  1. Say Grandma... by AndGodSed · · Score: 0

    What big thumbs you have?

    It's the better to txt u with, my child...

    --

    Seven Days with Ubuntu Unity

    1. Re:Say Grandma... by dotancohen · · Score: 1

      Don't you mean, What whittled thumbs you have

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  2. yeah well by User+956 · · Score: 1

    Recent Japanese best-seller lists have been heavy with these texts, many of them actually written on cellphones for a cellphone reading audience.

    IDK MY BFF JILL is apparently the new Shakespeare.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
    1. Re:yeah well by AmberBlackCat · · Score: 1

      Suddenly the blogger's union idea seems worth a second thought. Maybe not a third, but at least a second.

  3. cellphone novels by H0D_G · · Score: 5, Funny

    2 b or not 2 b tht is th ?

    --
    Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home!
    1. Re:cellphone novels by ArwynH · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The thing is, Japanese is far easier to enter on a keypad phone than English, meaning short-cuts like you see in English are not required. In fact due to the predictive text software, using weird language slows down typing speeds. Predictive text software also works a lot better with Japanese than it does with English. Well used phrases and sentences can be reduced to just a few key-presses and the average word, around 3-7 key presses (~2 characters). The result is the ability to write a 30-50 character reply email, with decent grammar within 1 minute or so.

      BTW that 25yrs age limit is way off-mark. The youngsters maybe faster than the rest of us, but everyone uses smiles, as well as a selection of graphical images available with the phone. I've even got them from my mother-in-law, who is way past the official retirement age.

    2. Re:cellphone novels by Toam · · Score: 1

      My boss using "u" and "2" and such as words when she emails me. It really shits me.

    3. Re:cellphone novels by Rakshasa+Taisab · · Score: 1

      That's not really how japanese messages look like. They have predictive and self-learning writing aid for completing words and kanjis, so they might just write "ka" and it will automatically give you a selection so you can instantly select "carburator".

      --
      - These characters were randomly selected.
    4. Re:cellphone novels by jrumney · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The thing is, Japanese is far easier to enter on a keypad phone than English,

      I don't think its really any easier, just that Japanese have to use "predictive text" type input methods on computers too, so its the same interface for them, just with fewer keys. For English speakers, its a whole different way of inputting, that many people still can't get their heads around. The fastest English txters I know turn off predictive text, because they think it slows them down, I think in reality it is just that they can't change their mindset from typing everything out manually to letting a dictionary do the work.

    5. Re:cellphone novels by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 1

      Cellphones in Japan are a far stronger presence in the culture too, sending a text message is considered more normal than calling.

      --
      I like muppets.
    6. Re:cellphone novels by wrook · · Score: 4, Informative

      Ya, the first time I used Japanese predictive text entry I was amazed. My Japanese is pretty bad, but I actually find it *much* easier to write text messages in Japanese than English. Now, I only text to my Japanese reading friends and directly phone English speaking ones. I hate English texting.

      To give you an idea of what it's like to text in Japanese using predictive text entry, here's a kind of walk through the process.

      First you type a character. Each character in Japanese is a phoneme/syllable (called a mora). The phone gives you a list of about 15 words that might fit. It's really amazing how often those fifteen words are right. Even if they aren't, by the next character, you almost always have the word.

      Then the phone gives you a list of particles/sentence fragments. Almost every word in Japanese is followed by a particle - a single character word that indicates the grammatical function of the previous word. But since there aren't that many particles. they usually have room to give you a couple of common sentence fragments that could also fit in that context where you were typing; usually common grammatical constructions. You choose the one you want.

      Then you type a character for a word again. You keep doing this until you get to a verb (usually at the end). At that point the software give you a choice of "okurigana" which will allow you to choose the inflection (sort of like a conjugation) and politeness level of the verb/sentence. And you are done.

      You can type whole sentences in only a few keystrokes. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if people can type faster on their cellphone than they can on their computer. It really is that easy and convenient.

    7. Re:cellphone novels by aussie_a · · Score: 1

      That's funny, when I went to Japan everyone called much more frequently then they texted. In my experience in Japan (which included staying with a Japanese family for a week and as I was going with a school there was a Japenese teenager I spent a fair amount of time with in that week) texting happens much less frequently then in Australia.

    8. Re:cellphone novels by Dogtanian · · Score: 5, Funny

      My boss using "u" and "2" and such as words when she emails me. True, but it's not as bad as "Bon" and "Jovi" or "Nickel" and "Back".
      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
    9. Re:cellphone novels by Rakshasa+Taisab · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As someone who actually uses Japanese predictive text type input on both PC and phones, I'd say it is much easier than english.

      The thing about japanese, is that you can represent much more information in a compact way and it is easier to predict what kind of words/structure come next. If I'd like to say "I don't want to go to a maid cafe today.", it would be written as "kyou MEIDOKAFUe ni ikitakunai".

      The first word you'll get immediately by typing in the "ki" kana, since "ki" in the start of a sentence is very often kyou (today), kinou (yesterday), etc.

      "MEIDOKAFEe" might be a rather rare in general use, but since I got a mail from a japanese girl inviting me to a maid cafe, it just requires you to type "me" and "i", plus "ka" since it gets split in to words the first time.

      The particle "ni" is amongst the top 8 you can select right after entering any word that seems to expect a particle next.

      "ikitakunai" you can write by using "i" to get "iki" with kanji. "takunai" is a pretty standard ending meaning you don't want to do something, and might be on the top of the list already. If it isn't, just typing "ta" will give you that option.

      Current phones also make it so that you can navigate the list of words both horizontally and vertically, which makes it even faster.

      --
      - These characters were randomly selected.
    10. Re:cellphone novels by umghhh · · Score: 1

      no it does not. The reality is that it depends on your vocabulary and that in your machine (whether pc or ipod is irrelevant). In majority of cases it does not work for me at all. On top of it there is also this: I txt in three different languages and switching the bloody thing all the time is just bloody annoying.
      Maybe it means that Japanese youngsters are more and more hmmmm simple? Or maybe they use more advanced software than we do (something that I actually sometimes think is true - after all their toilets are much more advanced than ours too :)

    11. Re:cellphone novels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cellphones in Japan are a far stronger presence in the culture too, sending a text message is considered more normal than calling.
      Americans may get this impression, but that's because Americans are unusual in how little they use text messaging. Japanese usage is similar to that elsewhere in the world.
    12. Re:cellphone novels by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      No, it comes down to character sets. The Japanese enter kana on their phones and then turn them in to kanji. Kana are arranged in a two-dimensional alphabet, where each symbol represents a compound of a consonant and a vowel. This maps to a mobile phone keypad a lot better than roman letters since you can use one key for each consonant sound and the number of hits for the vowel sounds. Once they have done this, they transform short sequences of kana into kanji in the same way that they do on computers, but typically there are only a very small number of kanji for any given sequence of kana so this is very fast.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    13. Re:cellphone novels by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      True, but it's not as bad as "Bon" and "Jovi" or "Nickel" and "Back".
      See, now that's funny.
      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    14. Re:cellphone novels by xerxesdaphat · · Score: 1

      I think that's because Australia (and NZ, where I am now after being in Brisbane for a wee while) is even further down the text end of the call->text continuum. As far as I've noticed, Americans seem to be very averse to text messaging. Japanese probably far more text friendly, but not as high ratio as we Australasians.

      --
      The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers
    15. Re:cellphone novels by simplerThanPossible · · Score: 1

      it was the best of times :) it was the worst of times :(

    16. Re:cellphone novels by loki_tiwaz · · Score: 1

      i live in australia and the reason why texting is more popular here is because the mobile phone rates are outrageous. i don't know what the true story is but i've heard that it costs less to roll out mobile phone networks than wired ones, yet the mobile nets cost way more than any difference i could see as being reasonable. it's just starting to get better now, but the stupid phone carriers don't realise they'd sell it just as well by dropping the per-minute rate rather than having these complicated stupid 'bonuses'

    17. Re:cellphone novels by aussie_a · · Score: 1

      Huh, well that explains that then. I always figured Australia and America were pretty similar in stuff like that.

    18. Re:cellphone novels by hitmark · · Score: 1

      well that depends, the short sms of gsm networks never really took of in usa until recently iirc. instead one got stuff like push email.

      but then it could have something to do with pricing. from what i understand, payment plans in usa makes you pay for both sendt and recieved text messages, is it similar in australia? and how easy is it for text messages to pass between operator networks?

      also, i have gotten the impression that voice mail (or basically a kind of answering machine, with messages stored at the operator) and push-to-talk is very big in usa. hell, was not one of the big things about the iphone, that it had visual voice mail (basically showing voice mail in the same way one would show a list of email or sms)?

      i suspect that diffent payment rates for different services have a very big effect on the voice vs text spectrum...

      --
      comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
    19. Re:cellphone novels by jrumney · · Score: 1

      English has common words too, so I don't see how Japanese has an advantage here. The alphabet is about half the size (compared with kana), so Japanese's shorter average word length is at the expense of more keystrokes to get at many of the letters. Also English predictive text software requires one keypress for each letter, the way you describe it, there is no completion for kana, so you need to press each key up to 5 times, and wait for the timeout when typing words like tachitai.

    20. Re:cellphone novels by totally+bogus+dude · · Score: 1

      A study on the effect of service pricing on the communication habits of different countries could be very interesting. It does make you wonder if it really should just be left up to capitalism to decide, if it's going to have such far-reaching effects. It's probably the best mechanism we have though.

      payment plans in usa makes you pay for both sendt and recieved text messages, is it similar in australia?

      It's generally free to receive calls, text and multimedia messages in Australia. I don't think I've ever seen any plans from any operator that work differently, so it might actually be required by law that recipients don't pay for calls. The only exception I'm aware of is reverse charges calls, but when you answer those calls you're told you'll be paying the charges and you can reject it without paying anything.

      and how easy is it for text messages to pass between operator networks?

      I've never even considered whether someone on another network could receive a text message from me or not, so I guess that's your answer. It's pretty much all GSM here. About the only problems I've seen is people not being able to receive MMS messages, either because their phone doesn't support it or because it's not configured properly. I think there are (or were) some issues with number porting as well, since that relies on your previous carrier to provide full service (e.g. couldn't send MMS messages to ported numbers), but that was a few years ago and hopefully that's all in the past.

      As for pricing, going from my last bill from Three (I'm on their cheapest plan), I paid $7.25au for a 10 minute call to a Telstra mobile, and 95c for a 1 minute call to a fixed-line (I'm guessing most of that was flag fall). Sending a text message (160 chars) costs 25c per message regardless of where it's to. Multimedia messages are 75c each. I think these rates are pretty standard across all operators, though some operators offer text for as low as 15c each, and some plans include a ridiculous amount of free messages as well.

      Text messaging on phones to me as a nice half-way between email (who knows when they'll receive it?) and a phone call (interrupt what they're doing to speak to them).

    21. Re:cellphone novels by Rakshasa+Taisab · · Score: 1

      The difference is, you rapidly click _one_ or possibly two keys multiple times, instead of multiple keys ones or twice. Should be obvious what is faster and easier to get used to, especially when it decides to predict quite long combinations after inputing just one kana.

      And there is no need for a timeout for inputing "tachitai", what kind of half-assed phone have you been trying out?... And if i really like telling people "I want to stand" a lot, it will be in my list of predictions for "ta" after one time writing it.

      --
      - These characters were randomly selected.
    22. Re:cellphone novels by jrumney · · Score: 1

      And there is no need for a timeout for inputing "tachitai"
      So I hit the ta/chi/tsu/te/to key 4 times. What does the phone give me the choice of? Words starting with te? Words starting with tachita? Both?
    23. Re:cellphone novels by hitmark · · Score: 1

      hmm, just checked tmobile (at&t and sprint wanted zip code just to show any kind of plan, and im european not american) and they do not even talk about text messages of any kind within the basic plans (except a small notice under optionals). one have to dig into their additional services, and then the way its written confirms to me that one pay for both sent and received messages.

      in comparison, voicemail is included with all their plans by the looks of it.

      no wonder apple made a big fuzz about visual voicemail.

      i have seen both the big operators here in norway try to push voicemail services, but most people i know just hang up when they hit it, and instead send of a text message.

      and yes, text messages are in many ways a nice middle road between im and mail. still, i have seen the delivery times become silly when one have special days like say new years eve and so on.

      still, im can be similar. it just depends on the implementation. microsofts live messenger has a offline message system now (not up to speed on the other ones), and if it had a option to order messages like one did in the old icq days (one message pr window, very similar to mail or text messaging) then it becomes a bit more asyncronous.

      the only real feature mail have vs im or text messaging is its ability to take any kind of file as a attachment. and even that becomes useless for bigger files (instead one can use one of the temporary holding pages, and send the link to it).

      i dont know. seems like what one is looking for is a kind of async im, that one can access from just about any device. i wonder if one could mod xmpp to behave that way. google could make a killing...

      --
      comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
    24. Re:cellphone novels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but everyone uses smiles

      Get off my lawn, whippersnapper! Grrrr...

    25. Re:cellphone novels by zippthorne · · Score: 1

      It is pricing in the US. For a while, you couldn't even send text messages with some carriers. The method was to load up the web browser and send an email, with all the exorbitant data-fees inherent in that transaction.

      It's gotten a little better now, but it's still stupidly expensive, especially considering the far greater data-capacity of text over voice. Many providers charge an extra $0.25 per message unless you sign up for an "unlimited text" add-on for about $10/mo. And they charge that whether you send or receive: They get paid twice if the message originates and ends on the same network. AND they limit you to circa 130 characters.

      This is especially ridiculous considering that even the most basic plan has over 300 minutes of voice time with an average price of no more than $0.10/min. I find it extremely difficult to believe that they manage to compress voice calls down to 7 bps or less.

      So, yeah, I think this is a case of the telephone providers not realizing the business they're in (wireless data transfer) and trying to shoehorn an old pricing system (charge different amounts for different uses of bandwidth). Now, granted, if they charged the same rate for data they'd lose money: text would be so much cheaper than voice that they'd never make back their sunk costs without making voice unaffordably expensive. But, with contracts, I just don't see how they can justify those prices, other than that there are few enough companies that they can collude through "standard practices" without running afoul of anti-trust laws or worrying about someone taking advantage of the market opportunity.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    26. Re:cellphone novels by hitmark · · Score: 1

      still, voice have a bit of benefit over text at times. for one thing, we can talk and do other stuff at the same time (more or less, see driving and talking issues). so its not like text messages is the best solution, always.

      hell, if you need a reply to some question NOW! there is only one option if you cant ask the person face to face, call!

      --
      comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
    27. Re:cellphone novels by webmaster404 · · Score: 1

      It also helps that Japan has more normal cell phone rates then the rest of the world. In the US even with a cheap service expect to pay at least $10 per month for unlimited texting and then sometimes more if you want to add attachments to them, even more if you want unlimited Internet and even more if you want to be able to access the internet at a decent speed. In the US with most plans calling is included, texting is not. Compared to the rest of the world, Americans spend a fortune on their cell bills.

      --
      There is no "disagree" moderation, and troll, flamebait and overrated are not valid substitutes
    28. Re:cellphone novels by jamar0303 · · Score: 1

      Tried it on my Toshiba 904. I hit "ta", get a prediction list. Pick "tachi", hit "ta" then "i". Why hit that key 4 times? "i" is on the 2 key anyways.

      --
      OSx86 FTW
    29. Re:cellphone novels by jrumney · · Score: 1

      So how many key presses (counting autorepeat as one press, since it takes at least as much time as a key press) did it take to type those 4 characters? Using predictive text on an English language phone, you don't worry about the predictions until the whole word is displayed, since it is quicker just to keep typing than to choose partial completions all the time like that. That it is easier to choose predictions earlier in Japanese does not surprise me, but it doesn't support the notion that Japanese is easier to type on a phone keyboard.

    30. Re:cellphone novels by jamar0303 · · Score: 1

      Total of 6 keypresses ("ta", down, right, click, "ta", "i")

      It's hard the first time because Japanese predictive typing learns your word usage and patterns of texting. So after you do that a few times, you'll be able to hit "ta" just once and get "tachitai". Quite a bit easier than English T9 (I can hit "ha" and get "Ayumi Hamasaki"- not possible with T9).

      --
      OSx86 FTW
    31. Re:cellphone novels by jrumney · · Score: 1

      Quite a bit easier than English T9 (I can hit "ha" and get "Ayumi Hamasaki"- not possible with T9).

      I presume you mean "HamasakiAyumi". It certainly is possible with the current implementation of T9.

    32. Re:cellphone novels by jamar0303 · · Score: 1

      You're right. I wish T9 was capable of learning too- giving different word possibilities different priorities depending on what words you like to use and how often or in what context.

      --
      OSx86 FTW
    33. Re:cellphone novels by jrumney · · Score: 1

      It does that too, at least in the Sony Ericsson K850i.

  4. That's the Japanese for You by Eli+Gottlieb · · Score: 4, Funny

    Name something technologically possible to do that nobody would really want to do for any good reason, and chances are the Japanese have done it just to see what would happen. Oh, and to see if it could be used to sneak tentacle pr0n to middle school kids on their train home. The internet is for porn, after all.

    Well, that and Slashdot.

    1. Re:That's the Japanese for You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The Internet is also for subtle racism as well, apparently.

    2. Re:That's the Japanese for You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We are all exactly the same. All countries are exactly the same. To say otherwise, even in praise of another group, is racist. Excuse me while I shed a tear for those offended by the GP's post.

    3. Re:That's the Japanese for You by Haeleth · · Score: 1

      Nice strawman. Back in reality, however, nobody was complaining about anyone celebrating cultural difference. (Nobody was even complaining about constructive criticism of problems with other cultures!) So your post was completely irrelevant to the issue at hand.

      Now, would you care to actually address the point made in the post you were replying to? Are you going to stand up in public, preferably not posting anonymously, and explain why you believe it is not racist to throw around unsupported accusations that the Japanese people are obsessed with showing tentacle-rape pornography to minors?

      I'm sure many of us would be interested to read a reasoned argument on the subject. There may well be a case to be made here. But logical fallacies don't strengthen it.

    4. Re:That's the Japanese for You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, respond to Anon posts with your username and respond to username posts with Anon names! How can you come off as being a bigger dick than the one who's complaining about "political correctness"?

    5. Re:That's the Japanese for You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haeleth, you are an absolute douche. Anybody reading your posts would agree. Please get your head out of your as. Do you have assbergers syndrome? Seriously, you seem like one of those obnoxious geeky assburgers kids.
       
      haeleth@haeleth.net

    6. Re:That's the Japanese for You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do you believe it is a bad thing to show tentacle-rape pornography to minors? Additionally, the individuals specified are middle-schoolers--while that is below the Japanese age of majority, and below the age at which one can legally purchase pornography in Japan, it is (curiously, given the previous item) above the Japanese age of consent (being 13 nationally, with some additional regional restrictions).

  5. I've got blisters on my fingers! by TheSpengo · · Score: 1

    That's interesting, and very odd. I've always found the number keyboard horribly slow and inefficient. If I had to write an entire novel with one of those I think I would feel much the same way about my thumbs as Ringo Starr did at the end of Helter Skelter! I am a college student and I use my cell phone quite often, but I usually call instead of texting. It's just not the same as a nice qwerty or dvorak with mechanical switches...

    --
    Weaksauce as they say...
  6. sage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did someone say weeaboo? I thought I heard someone say weeaboo.

    1. Re:sage by HyoImowano · · Score: 0

      I HRD U LIK SLASHKIPS!?

      --
      By now you should have guessed...I'm your magic negro.
  7. First Look by chazchaz101 · · Score: 1

    When I first looked at this, I was trying to figure out how one goes about composting Novell on a cell phone.

    1. Re:First Look by Dogtanian · · Score: 1

      When I first looked at this, I was trying to figure out how one goes about composting Novell on a cell phone. I wouldn't have thought that possible. Have they released the latest versions of Netware and SuSE Linux on biodegradable DVDs, or were you suggesting an unusual alternative to burial for deceased Novell employees?

      (Sorry, couldn't contrive the mobile phone into this lame reply).
      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
  8. Not difficult with the right equipment by dotancohen · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I suppose that writing a novel on a cellphone might not be so difficult when your cellphone is a 3D mouse.

    --
    It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  9. Medium and content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The interesting question to ask is, does the medium at least somewhat influence the content.

  10. I write novels ... by smoker2 · · Score: 1

    [yeah, he writes them in crayon]

  11. Hmm by Rie+Beam · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I guess my only real question is, are any of these novels any good? Or are they appealing just because of the gimmick used to compose them?

    1. Re:Hmm by dancingmad · · Score: 3, Informative

      I guess my only real question is, are any of these novels any good? Or are they appealing just because of the gimmick used to compose them?

      From what I hear they're awful. A lot are written by high school students, according to my coworker, and he personally found them rather stupid and boring. But he recommended them to me as a way to pick up contemporary spoken Japanese.

      That said it's not because they're composed on cellphones that makes them interesting - they originally were cellphone downloads, if I am not mistaken. So a lot of people downloaded them when they had nothing else to do and read them during down time. Plus I think they tend to probably appeal to the high school set (in regard to themes, style, etc).

      --
      "There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
    2. Re:Hmm by evilninjax · · Score: 1
      From what I hear they're awful. A lot are written by high school students, according to my coworker, and he personally found them rather stupid and boring. But he recommended them to me as a way to pick up contemporary spoken Japanese. That said it's not because they're composed on cellphones that makes them interesting - they originally were cellphone downloads, if I am not mistaken. So a lot of people downloaded them when they had nothing else to do and read them during down time. Plus I think they tend to probably appeal to the high school set (in regard to themes, style, etc).

      So they're just like blogs...

  12. With Apologies to /. by Rie+Beam · · Score: 4, Funny

    Composing with a cellphone? What a novel idea!

  13. nuances by Threni · · Score: 3, Funny

    > They punched out text messages with their thumbs with blinding speed, and used expressions and emoticons, like smilies and musical notes, whose
    > nuances were lost on anyone over the age of 25.'"

    Or with an IQ over 25. Nuances? How is a smiley a nuance?

    I fell in love. I felt like this :) But then Juliet died. This made me feel like this :(

    1. Re:nuances by aussie_a · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Wow, who pissed in your cheerios today grandpa?

    2. Re:nuances by mangu · · Score: 1

      How is a smiley a nuance?

      Let me guess: you are over 25, right?
    3. Re:nuances by hullabalucination · · Score: 1

      How is a smiley a nuance?

      A smiley denotes the subtle emotional difference between "I'm pissed at my parents and The Man and I'm horny" and "I'm pissed at my parents and The Man and I'm horny but your MyFace page rocks, dude." Do you pick up on the nuance now? You might not at first, that's how subtle it is.

      * * * * *

      Oh, squidbeaks!

  14. After Reading This... by Rie+Beam · · Score: 1

    I suddenly felt the urge to hug a librarian.

    1. Re:After Reading This... by Fred_A · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oook ?

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    2. Re:After Reading This... by Eli+Gottlieb · · Score: 1

      Fine, fine. Have a bananana!

  15. Cellphone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So how come the icon is a V-Tech DECT cordless phone?

    1. Re:Cellphone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Icons are, well, iconic?

      Or was that just one AC pulling another's leg?

  16. actually came up at work last week by dancingmad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Keitai shousetsu, or mobile/cellphone novels are interesting. I was actually talking about them at work last week since one of my co-workers recommended them for picking up the nuance on contemporary spoken Japanese to me. He did mention however, that a lot of the authors were high school girls, and so he personally found the novels boring. I ended up doing an amazon search on published versions of the novels and checking the library, both of which turned up several books.

    The books aren't brilliant works of art by any stretch of the imagination, from what I've gathered, but are mostly for people to read on their phones when there is nothing else going on (train rides, etc.). But like my coworker said they are probably a brilliant way to pick up contemporary Japanese; the writing style is that of young people today and the kanji used are a lot less (because these are high school kids not Akutagawa).

    --
    "There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
  17. The dark side of this, however... by Rie+Beam · · Score: 1

    Recieved 4:34am 01/20/08:

    for the love of god and all that is holy, stop texting me.

    1. Re:The dark side of this, however... by mjwx · · Score: 1

      Recieved 4:34am 01/20/08
      What is even more amazing is that your phone has discovered at least 8 months I wasn't aware of.
      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    2. Re:The dark side of this, however... by narcc · · Score: 1

      month/day/year format is very common in the United States.

      See this link

      --
      Required reading for internet skeptics
    3. Re:The dark side of this, however... by mjwx · · Score: 1

      But not everyone lives in the US, and it is very uncommon outside the US.

      I knew it was a US date, I just felt like being sarcastic.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  18. Bitches Love Smilies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Boondocks. Samuel L. Jackson and Charlie Murphy on textin'.

  19. Japanese phone text entry systems by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    Japanese phones have a quite advanced text entry system. It's similar to English ones, where the phone predicts entries based on several possibilities for the keystrokes entered, but Japanese phones (by necessity) take it to another level. Words, phrases and complete sentences can all be predicted, as well as complex emoticons an Shift-JIS art.

    It would be interesting to see how this affects a novel written on a phone. Would there be more set phrases due to prediction? Fewer kanji (complex characters)? Probably lots of slang.

    This is hardly a new phenomenon though. Densha Otoko (Train Man) was based on a 2channel forum thread, and Oniyome Nikki (devil-wife diary) was based on a blog.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  20. Registration-free linkage by chemindefer · · Score: 1
    http://rd.excite.com/rd?redir=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html?ex=1201496400&en=77fb06d3d459bbaa&ei=5043&partner=EXCITE

    To read the NYT without registering, try going through Excite's article listing, located here... http://news.excite.com/provider/id/nyt.html

    1. Re:Registration-free linkage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FTA

      "mostly love stories written in the short sentences characteristic of text messaging but containing little of the plotting or character development found in traditional novels"

      Sounds like reading a movie script it would seem.

  21. Fun fact:: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Nothing typed by someone's thumbs has ever been important."
    - Gin Rummy

  22. My favorite part of the article... by OneInEveryCrowd · · Score: 1

    "The boom appeared to have been fueled by a development having nothing to do with culture or novels but by cellphone companies' decision to offer unlimited transmission of packet data, like text-messaging, as part of flat monthly rates."

    I wish the companies involved would get reasonable and do that in the US. I have a good Yahoo! chat client on my phone and I never use it due to the ridiculous charges.

    All I hope for now is that OpenMoko finally takes off and I'm actually allowed to use it for it's intended purpose.

  23. I think by omfglearntoplay · · Score: 1

    I think it's all about that hugely long commute our Japanese friends endure. It's admirable that they can get some art/literature out of that wasted time... but it's still inhuman to make people sit on trains or drive for hours a day... anywhere.

  24. Movels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I haven't written the novel on my cellphone, but my YA fantasy MORTAL GHOST, as well as other more well-known SF titles, are available to download that way. If you're curious, here's the link:

    http://www.booksinmyphone.com/index.php?list=book&id=lowl01