The Japanese telecom carrier KDDI has taken down its “Android au” website, according toa report by Asiajin. The takedown appears to bein anticipation of the arrival of the iPhone 5on its ‘au’ network in November this year. TheAndroid au website, which had so far featured videos of the popular Japanese boy bandArashishowing off KDDI’s Android lineup, has been stripped bare and now only shows the phrase “Android(tm) au サイトは終了いたしました。” (translated: “Android au site has finished”)....

In the same week that the US identifiedBaiduas one of thenotorious marketsfor pirated content, the Chinese search engine yet again faces criticism on how it manages copyrighted material. The publishing business may not beas bigas it used to, but Japanese publishing giants are still fighting for copyright protection for illegally distributed manga. Manga, or Japanese comics, remains a lucrative, multi-billion industry in Japan. In aWall Street Journalreport, the four biggest Japanese publishing associations requested Baidu, the leading Internet search engine in China, to take steps to prevent illegal uploads of copyrighted material on “Baidu Library....

Sometimes whenI’m watching cooking shows I dream about tasting those delicious dishes. But have I ever thought about licking my TV to find out?No. No I have not — because that’d be ridiculous. It looks like I’ve been made a fool of though. Wrap your head around this, folks: a Japanese professor, Homei Miyashita, has created alickableTV screen that can imitate food flavors,Reutersreports. Hilariously, the device is called “Taste the TV” or “TTTV” in short....

The NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories is coming up with technology that automatically generates animated sign language in order to expand sign language in news broadcasts. The automatic sign language translation system converts strings of words using Japanese as well as sign language sample texts. While subtitles works for people who understand Japanese, sign language is still preferred by most deaf, especially those who are deaf from birth. The technology still suffers from inaccuracy but as a fall back, an interface is added wherein a human can jump in and translate if needed....

Wooly Mammoths are badass. And in a freakish twist of Mother Nature and modern science, after 10,000 years, they might be back. A team of Japanese scientists, led by Akira Iritani, have announced plans to clone a woolly mammoth within the next five years. Mammoths went extinct about 10,000 years ago, but the team will use DNA extracted from preserved corpses found in Siberia. They will then insert the DNA into African elephant eggs that have had their DNA removed....