Rémino is the personal Web site and journal of Rémi, a trilingual Acadian Web developer and Japan enthusiast in his 20's from New Brunswick, Canada who resided in Ottawa and is currently in Saitama near Tokyo. He publishes photos and videos and writes here about anything. He also writes a lot on Twitter and about his life in Japan on Edojin.

Hulu: Open your borders or die!

Mon 15 Jun 2009
in

Hulu video on Boing Boing: only in the US

Here’s one thing that pisses me off: services or software only available in a certain country.  Boing Boing just posted a video hosted on Hulu.  Guess what!  I can’t watch it because I’m not in the States.

I thought the Internet was supposed to get rid of those borders!  Why is it so hard for good things to be released in Canada?  No Hulu, no Pandora, no Skype for iPhone.  Remember how long it took for Apple to finally open their iTunes Store in Canada after having opened in the US and Europe?

I have the same problem with Japanese services sometimes.  I can’t buy music from the Japanese iTunes Store using my credit card, for example, and I can’t listen to the music offered by Mixi Radio or watch videos on Gyao.  I’m glad two of my friends invited me to Mixi a few years ago, because today, even with an invitation to sign up for an account on their social networking site, I would need to provide a Japanese cellphone number.  Now, how many people outside of Japan have a Japanese cellphone number?

There are ways to go around all the restrictions I’ve mentioned above, but really, why make it so hard for us?

Volkswagen Bike

Fri 12 Jun 2009

Volkswagen Bike

I’m leaving you this weekend with this picture for you to enjoy. (Actually, I’m not going anywhere — I’ll just be busy.)

Will a Volkswagen logo attached to the back of a bike make it any faster or safer? I didn’t try.

Rémino: 1, Bank street: 0

Thu 11 Jun 2009
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Construction on Bank Street

Take that, Bank Street!  The remake of my site Rémino ended up not lasting longer than all the work done downtown since the past few years.  Since I’m heading for Japan this year, it’s safe to say that I’ll never see Bank street, or rather “Bankrupt street”, as I like to call it, completely open during summer.

Inside the Ottawa Japanese Cultural Centre

Mon 18 May 2009
Inside the Ottawa Japanese Cultural Centre

The second floor of the Ottawa Japanese Cultural Centre.

(I’m posting this while I’m trying to post images to both Flickr and Rémino at the same time via e-mail.)

The Fun Never Ends Here

Mon 6 Apr 2009
in

The first week of April is always filled with events for me.  Starting with April Fools’, continuing with the birthdays of friends, and ending with mine.  Partying all the time by drinking and eating is so hard.  (Sarcasm?)

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