eSolia PROdb

The eSolia year-end holiday starts Dec 27 (Fri)​ from 12:00 JST​, and runs through Jan ​5 ​(Sun), 2025​. We will be back at work from Monday Jan 6th, and wish everyone a restful break! "Yoi otoshi wo!" 🇯🇵㊗️

eSolia will be closed from 13-16 Aug 2024 inclusive, for the traditional o-bon holiday. Clients: please use emergency contact as per separate email we will send before the break. 🍉

Thanks to our clients, partners and staff, we are able to celebrate eSolia's 25th Anniversary! We founded eSolia Inc on 7th July 1999 for IT service excellence, and have continued to work on our service maturity including preparation for achieving ISO 27001 certification. Thank you sincerely for your support all these years, and here's to everyone's health and happiness going forward! 🎉㊗️

We updated our commercial disclosure page for our PROdb Cloud Database service, adding a little information to make it easier to understand.

We updated our privacy policy, updating its structure and clarifying where your PII is stored.

Team eSolia is back at work from today 17th Aug. Thank you for your patience while we work through any requests that we received during the holidays. 🚀

Thanks to our clients, partners and staff, we were able to celebrate eSolia's 24th Anniversary! We founded eSolia Inc on 7th July 1999 for IT service excellence, and have continued to work on our service maturity over the last year including working towards getting ISO 27001 certification, while continuing to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you for another successful year, and here's to everyone's health and happiness going forward! 🎉㊗️

Happy New Year! As we continue to build our ISO 27001 ISMS, we have released a statement of executive support and our initial high level base security policy (Japanese with English synopsis). Thanking you for your business and support in the coming year, as always. 🎍

Thank you for your business and support. eSolia has completed our migration to MS 365, and it should give us better compatibility with client systems. Our first related internal project is to build our ISO 27001 ISMS on SharePoint. Wish us luck! 🎊

To promote a paperless environment, eSolia is issuing commercial papers such as quotes and invoices or reports in PDF format via email only. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter. ♻️

See our updated list of useful Japan apps (added the NERV disaster information app), as well as pages related to Japan Disaster information, and Japan emergency phone numbers (with CSV download). 🚀

eSolia will be closed from 13-16 Aug 2022 inclusive, for the traditional o-bon holiday. Clients: please use emergency contact as per separate email we will send before the break. 🍉

To enhance security, we changed the password policy for PROdb cloud database users on the https://pro.dbflex.net domain, setting the minimum number of characters in passwords to 14. Please keep it in mind the next time you change your password, and thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

The Gov't of Japan has extended the state of emergency through end of September 2021, and eSolia is still taking care in our operations, providing continued support as usual, and working from home when possible. Watch this space for updates to our stance regarding the same, and thank you for your ongoing support and business! 🚨

eSolia will be closed from tomorrow 13-16 Aug 2021 inclusive, for the traditional o-bon holiday. Clients: please use emergency contact as per separate email. 🍉

We updated our list of emergency numbers needed by Japan residents and visitors, on this page, including a CSV download, adding the number for the "Kokoro-no-mimi" Telephone Consultation line for labor issues. Please share with your friends. 🚨

The Gov't of Japan has extended the state of emergency through end of May 2021, and eSolia is still taking care in our operations, providing continued support as usual, and working from home when possible. Watch this space for updates to our stance regarding the same, and thank you for your ongoing support and business! 🚨

The Gov't of Japan has lifted the state of emergency, but eSolia is still taking care in our operations, providing continued support as usual, and working from home as a rule. Watch this space for updates to our stance regarding the same, and thank you for your ongoing support and business! 🚨

Are you struggling with establishing Telework systems or guidelines? Getting an update on the current situation, identifying the actual problems, and also providing clear solutions will improve the efficiency of teleworking. See our latest blog post on the subject from Ops Manager Ena Ishikawa, and don't hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance! 🚀

eSolia has moved! As of 22 Feb 2021, our office is at the Work Styling facility on the 5th floor of the Shiodome City Center, at JR Shimbashi station. We look forward to many more years of service to you! Read more about it here. 🎊㊗️🍾

We updated our privacy policy, updating our HQ office address.

The Gov't of Japan has declared another state of emergency for Tokyo, related to the global COVID-19 pandemic. eSolia is adjusting its operations accordingly to allow us to provide continued support as usual, working from home as a rule. 🚨

The eSolia year-end holiday starts today Dec 28 (Mon)​ from 12:00​, and runs through Jan ​4 ​(Mon), 2021​. We will be back at work from Jan 5th, and wish everyone a restful break! "Yoi otoshi wo!" 🇯🇵㊗️

We updated the terms of service for our cloud database platform "PROdb", editing for clarity and typographical errors.

We updated the terms of service for our cloud database platform "PROdb", editing for clarity.

We updated the terms of service for our cloud database platform "PROdb", editing for clarity and formatting.

Thank you for your support and business. The eSolia Inc. teamITMS IT Support Team will be providing support for emergency requests during the summer holiday season, from Aug 13 (Thu) to Aug 15 (Sat), 2020, resuming normal operations on Aug 17 (Mon). Clients can contact us at the special email address we supplied in the announcement email, or leave a voicemail on the emergency tel number VM box. Stay safe during the ongoing COVID pandemic, be vigilant, and mask up! 🇯🇵

It's eSolia's 21st Anniversary already (time flies!). We founded eSolia Inc on 7th July 1999 for IT service excellence, and have continued to work on our service maturity over the last year, flexibly handling the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you for another successful year! 🎉㊗️

A hotline service for foreigners in Japan to make COVID-19 virus inquiries, is available now in 8 languages from AMDA through 20th May 2020. Please spread the word to other foreign residents or visitors. ☎️

Japan Postal service is suspending international service to many countries as of 2nd April. Take note and plan accordingly. 🏣

NOTE: RESCHEDULED TO 3 OCT 2020. Registration for the Tokyo Yamathon will be opening soon. This is an interesting and challenging charity walking event, where participants in teams of 3 or 4 people start walking near Tokyo station at 9am, visit each station on the Yamanote line (a photo at each is the requirement) and try to finish the ~40km by 9pm. 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏿‍♂️🚶🏽‍♀️

International residents, workers, and students in Tokyo: the Tokyo Metropolitan Gov't will hold its annual disaster drill Tues 28 Jan 2020. Register by 15 Jan and join in! 🇯🇵⛑🚨

The eSolia year-end holiday starts today Dec 27 (Fri)​ from 12:00​, and runs through Jan ​5 ​(Sun), 2020​. We will be back in the office from Jan 6th, and wish everyone a restful break! "Yoi otoshi wo!" 🏝🇯🇵

In Japan, and ecology minded? Check out «mymizu», an app that helps you find spots to refill your water bottle. It's easy to add the fountains and spigots in parks or wherever, around you. Let’s reduce PET usage, conserve and reuse. 🚰🇯🇵

Japan visitors, if you are in the Tokyo area this Thurs and Fri from afternoon through evening, you might enjoy the 24th annual Shimbashi Koichi Matsuri festival, held on the west side of JR Shimbashi around the New Shimbashi bldg, at the SL steam train square and in Sakurada Park. (Map) 🇯🇵👘

PSA: Mizuho bank has a temporary service suspension this weekend through Tue 16 July 8AM, related to system upgrades. ATMs and other services cannot be used during this period, so you should withdraw money today, if needed. (Note that this is the final such suspensions to be aware of for 2019.)

If you're traveling to Japan, be sure to purchase travel insurance. Recently, uninsured travelers are running up large unpaid bills at hospitals in Japan, so please make the proper arrangements. 🏥🇯🇵

June 18th is onigiri day in Japan. The 6th month was chosen because a fossilized Yayoi period rice ball was found in Rokusei-machi, in Ishikawa, and “roku” rhymes with 6. The 18 comes from the kanji “kome” 米, which broken down, looks like 10 and 8. 🍙

See our updated list of useful Japan apps (added Tokyo Metropolitan police "digi-police" anti-crime app), as well as pages related to Japan Disaster information, and Japan emergency phone numbers (with CSV download). 🚀

The new Japan "gengou" era name was announced, and it is «Reiwa» 令和. The 239th such era, Reiwa comprises daily-use kanji from a Manyoshu poem, that may be translated as auspicious or orderly or calm, and, peace or harmony, respectively. April is the last month of Heisei, and the Reiwa era will formally begin from May 1st, 2019. Our most sincere wishes for peace on earth, and goodwill to all people. 🇯🇵㊗️

Japan Ministry of Justice will accept foreign national visa renewals online starting 25 July 2019, from employers and agents, who can apply for use of the system from this coming Fri, 29 Mar 2019. MOJ states the system will be free to use & available 24x7. 🇯🇵

Eight years ago at about 14:46 on 11th March 2011, Tohoku Japan got hit with a massive earthquake and tsunami. Our thoughts are with them as they still rebuild even today. Please have a look at our web pages for Disaster Preparedness, and install an app like NHK World TV, that will give you multilingual information in case of a disaster. 💓

PSA: Mizuho bank has a temporary service suspension this weekend through Tue 12 Feb 8AM, related to system upgrades. ATMs and other services cannot be used during this period, so you should withdraw money today, if needed. (Note that this is one of several such suspensions to be aware of.)

International residents, workers, and students in Tokyo: the Tokyo Metropolitan Gov't held its annual disaster drill Wed 16 Jan 2019.

International residents, workers, and students in Tokyo: the Tokyo Metropolitan Gov't is holding its annual disaster drill Wed 16 Jan 2019.

Visitors and residents, Japan has started newly collecting a "departure tax" of 1000 yen, for anyone departing Japan. This goes for nationals, foreign residents or visitors. 💸🇯🇵

The eSolia year-end holiday starts today Dec 2​8​ (Fri)​ from 12:00​, and runs through Jan ​6 ​(Sun), 2019​. We will be back in the office from the 7th, and wish everyone a restful break! "Yoi otoshi wo!" 🏝🇯🇵

PSA: if you're a Tokyo station user, you'll soon notice announcements requesting us to stand on both sides of the escalator. This is for rider safety, according to JR. 🇯🇵🚈🔶

Looking forward to the rugby world cup next year, Beppu has put together a page with maps of "onsen" hot springs that welcome visitors with tattoos. Visitors can plan ahead this way. ♨️🇯🇵

Labor Thanksgiving Day has been a national holiday each Nov 23 since World War II, in which Japanese people show their gratitude for labor, and has also traditionally been the day the Shinto "Niinamesai" ceremony is held. "Niinamesai" is a harvest festival performed by the emperor (and at many shrines in Japan), in which he harvests rice he planted himself, offering it and newly produced sake to the goddess Amaterasu. In doing so, he gives thanks for the year’s harvest, and prays for a bountiful next year. 🇯🇵🍁

Learners of Japanese language, it's that time of year again. Each November, Jiyukokuminsha publishes the "U-Can New Words and Buzzwords" Japan neologisms list. This past year we saw the #metoo movement, Japan Rail's first-ever planned service suspension during a typhoon, and "Sho-Time!" cheering on the versatile LA Angels baseball player Sho Otani. Is it "mogumogu" (snack) time yet? Sodanē...

See the works of an artist who changed the way the world thinks about art. The works of Marcel Duchamp are being displayed alone, and alongside Japanese art, to let you ponder his unique and humorous perspective about "what is art". Showing through 9 Dec 2018 at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park, but please confirm dates on the official (Japanese) website. 🍷

The weather is pleasantly cool and crisp, finally very fall-like. From 3 Nov through 9 Dec, you can visit 9 parks and join the Tokyo Metropolitan Garden Autumn Leaves Stamp Rally. The first 10000 people to get stamps from 5 of 9 gardens, can get a 2019 calendar. Stamp cards are available at the gardens, such as Hamarikyu Garden or Rikugien. Take the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of fall in stunning beauty. 🍁

Japan visitors, if you'd like to visit all over Japan but don't quite have the time, you might enjoy the Furusato Fair 2018, held at Yokohama's Aka-renga Warehouse near Sakuragicho, 2~4 Nov. Enjoy delicious food from Okinawa to Hokkaido, and feel like you visited all over Japan! Enjoy a fireworks display from around 17:00 on Nov 3rd, as well! 🍣🎇

If you're in Tokyo on 28 Oct from ~11AM, don't miss the "Oedo-kakki" parade, part of the Nihonbashi-Kyobashi Matsuri festival. This area was the starting point connecting old Edo to all points in Japan via the Tokaido road, so this festival parade has 2000 participants performing regional dances from all over Japan (like the Yosakoi-odori from Edo, and the Hanagasa-odori from Yamagata), starting in Kyobashi 2-chome near MEIDI-YA. Wasshoi! 🇯🇵

Halloween is celebrated in a big way, around Tokyo's Shibuya district, in the evenings over 5 days from 27 Oct through 31 Oct. Get a costume at Don Quijote or Daiso, enjoy the Lantern Night Picnic at Yoyogi Park on the 27th, and see the "DJ Police" at Shibuya Crossing on the 31st. 🎃

Japan visitors, if you happen to be on the island of Kyushu from Friday 26 Oct through Sunday 28 Oct, you can enjoy one of Kyushu's major matsuri festivals. Miyazaki Jingu shrine is dedicated to Jimmu, Japan's first emperor, and its big autumn festival, or "aki-no-taisai", is sure to be a colorful spectacle with portable "omikoshi" shrines and "shishimai" lions! They say if a shishimai bites you, you won't get sick. So find one, and get bit! ♌

The meat festival held at the Showa Kinen Park near Tachikawa, Tokyo, through Oct 21 this weekend, is perfect to satisfy your "Autumn Appetite" (or "shokuyoku no aki" as it's called in Japan). After you enjoy some delicious meat, you can do some sports to work it off! 🍖🍗🍺 Food tickets are available for purchase at the festival for cash, but e-money like JR's "Suica" card is the most convenient. Be sure to charge it at the station, because you cannot re-charge on site.

Japan visitors, are you near Yokohama this weekend? You might enjoy the Fujisawa Enoshima Fireworks Display, to be held at Katase Enoshima Beach, on Oct 20th 2018, from 18:00 to 18:45, with 3000 fireworks! 🎆 Touring the Enoshima area itself during the day, is also recommended! Come by train, not by car, as the traffic is usually terrible.

Google has decided to shutter their Google+ network for consumers, by end of Aug 2019, but will maintain it will in some form for enterprises. You can download your data before that.

iOS 12 Tip: you can now Airdrop passwords. Go to Settings, Accounts and Passwords, select the password to share, long press on the password, then use the popup option to Airdrop the password to someone else.

Japan visitors, are you near Yokohama? You might enjoy the Oktoberfest beer festival being held next to Akarenga Warehouse, thru Sunday 14 Oct 2018. Ein Prosit! 🇯🇵🍺🇩🇪

PSA: it seems that clever voice phishing, or "vishing" schemes are really a thing now. Unfortunately, we all have to be aware of what criminals are doing, and be alert enough to not fall for such a scam.

iOS 12 New Features Series: Apple Music now supports searching by song lyrics.

iOS 12 New Features Series: the new "Measure" app lets you measure the dimensions of objects around you. This is based on "ARKit", an augmented-reality software library which we should see more apps taking advantage of over time.

iOS 12 New Features Series: Do Not Disturb is enhanced, with the ability to enable for a set period, until a location is left, or until the end of an event.

iOS 12 Security Series 5/5: Enable 2-factor authentication for your iOS devices. Go to Settings > tap your name > Password & Security, and enable "Two Factor Authentication".

iOS 12 Security Series 4/5: we believe that security patches should be applied quickly, so we usually turn on "Automatic Updates" in Settings > General > Software Update.

iOS 12 New Features Series: emergency SOS is now able to share your location with the emergency responder (e.g. 911 in the USA). We hope this feature is adopted widely in the countries where iPhones are in use.

iOS 12 Security Series 3/5: set a stronger device passcode in Settings > Touch ID & Passcode, selecting "Custom Numeric Code" and setting it to 6 or 8 digits.

iOS 12 New Features Series: iOS 12 was released yesterday, and besides the greatly improved performance (even for older hardware), one useful feature is in Settings > Screen Time. Use it to see and even limit how much time you are spending in various apps, and even share the information across devices.

In addition to our Planned Power Outage Management page, see our latest page by engineering manager H. Maezono, about Disposal and Recycling of IT assets such as old PCs, network equipment or printers. Request info today, for more on how eSolia can assist you manage your IT in Japan.

Are you familiar with the "virtual contact file" or "vCard" format, for exchanging contact information? We published an eSolia vCard, which you can easily import into your Address Book. vCards make it easy for you to send your contact information such as your name, email, telephone, web URL, and even your photo or logo, to another person.

Tokyo Waterworks started offering multilingual support in not only the original English, but also four additional languages: Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. When you call them, they conference in a 3rd party translator. See eSolia's big list of Japan Emergency Contacts for this and other numbers.

PSA Series: Tips to Avoid Ransomware 5/6. Individuals should install and use anti-virus and anti-malware software. On a company machine, do not disable any security measures which are put in place by your IT department.

PSA Series: Tips to Avoid Ransomware 3/6. Do not download or install cracked (stolen) software, or software from unknown sources. Never open attachments unless you are absolutely sure of their origin.

PSA Series: Tips to Avoid Ransomware 2/6. Besides backing up, use a unique password per site or system, make your passwords difficult, and store them in an encrypted vault like Zetetic's Codebook.

PSA: If you're a T-Mobile user, take note that they had a security breach. Change your password.

PSA series: limit the ability of advertisers to track you 4/5. On Macs and PCs, use a browser like Firefox Quantum with good privacy protection built in, or browser plugins such as uBlock Origin for ad blocking, or Disconnect.me for tracker blocking. On mobile, you can use private browsers such as Firefox Focus or DuckDuckGo when discreet searching is required.

PSA series: limit the ability of advertisers to track you 2/5. Periodically delete all cookies in your Internet browsers, since most of the time, this is how you’re being tracked.

PSA series: limit the ability of advertisers to track you 1/5. Turn on "limit ad tracking" in iPhone Settings, Privacy, Advertising, and also tap "Reset Advertising Identifier", which is what advertisers use to track you. In Android, find the reset button in Google settings, Ads menu.

If you're in Tokyo and you like live music, it's still not too late to get tickets for SummerSonic in Chiba this weekend. http://www.summersonic.com/2018/

Version 67 of Google's Chrome browser has a feature called "site isolation" newly enabled by default. This is designed to mitigate the risk of attacks like "Spectre" by reducing the data available to the attacker. The trade-off is, Chrome now requires far more system memory, possibly making it a poor option for older systems.

Japan visitors, with the terrible flooding in western Japan, perhaps we need Gonsho-ji Temple's mizudome-no-mai festival more than ever. You can see it tomorrow, Saturday July 14th, 2018, from 13:00 to 15:00 (map).

Japan visitors, you may have noticed we don't have a "tip culture" in Japan, as gratuities are built into the price. But, you can leave a "Japanese Tip", which is when a restaurant patron folds the paper chopstick holder into an origami figure. Waiter Yuki Tatsumi collected samples from around Japan, and you can see a gallery of some of them. One person's trash is truly another person's treasure. (via Japan Times)

🎉㊗️It's eSolia's 19th Anniversary! We founded eSolia Inc on 7th July 1999 for IT service excellence, and continued to improve over the last year. Thank you for another successful year!

🎉eSolia is a sponsor of the world's fastest (and arguably best) static website generator Hugo, which just turned 5! Our sincere Congratulations to lead developer Bjørn Erik Pedersen, founder Steve Francia, and all the hardworking contributors to the project. ㊗️

Japan's "National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience" (NIED) publishes the "J-SHIS Japan Seismic Hazard Information" Map, which shows active fault zones and other information. Visitors should take precautions and be aware of disaster evacuation zones. Ask your colleagues, friends or hotel.

Japan visitors: if you're staying at an Airbnb or other P2P-style lodging, you should note that Japan local governments and police have started cracking down on illegal P2P operators based on a new law enacted in June 2018 to regulate so-called minpaku (民泊) vacation rentals. Airbnb delisted 10s of thousands of non-compliant lodgings, and major tourist destination Kyoto has also started cracking down. The bottom line is, travelers should re-confirm that your P2P lodging is legitimate, and because people are sensitive about this topic now, maintain a low profile during your stay.

Japan visitors: June in Japan is firefly season, so there are related night events to see. For example, the Tokyo Hotel Chinzanso's Firefly Fantasy through 4 July for hotel and restaurant customers, is a luxurious one, but there are also camping-style events. Triers can search for "hotaru", "蛍" and you're sure to find others.

Japan visitors: if you're in Greater Tokyo, you might enjoy taking a trip to Yokohama's English Garden to see the "Ajisai Fair" through 1st July 2018, where you can see 300 types of wisterias. Entrance fee is JPY 700 for adults, and 300 for school age children under 15.

Japan visitors can benefit from a free iOS app that shows locations of multilingual hospitals or clinics on a map. The JAPAN Hospital Guide was developed by Japan Medical Support System For Visitors From Abroad (JaMSSVA), a Tokyo non-profit. (via The Japan Times)

If you're traveling to Japan, be sure to purchase travel insurance. Recently, uninsured travelers are causing headaches for hospitals in Japan, so please make the proper arrangements.

From Wed Aug 8 to Sat Aug 11, 2018, SIETAR is holding its World Conference at Chuo University in Tokyo, Japan. Titled "Facing Uncertain Times Together: Strengthening Intercultural Connections", you can read more and maybe attend if you're in Tokyo at that time?

In Japan and wondering how to call the police, get an ambulance, report a fire or get road service? We created a convenient list of emergency numbers needed by Japan residents and visitors, on this new page, including a CSV download. Hopefully it will be useful to you. 🚀

Apple has released macOS High Sierra 10.13.5, and so far we have not had any trouble upgrading. We recommend using the combo update instead of the app store for macOS updates.

㊗️CircleCI has launched in Japan. Congratulations to Jim Rose CEO and the Japan team. In fact, CircleCI is one of the tools we use to build this very site.

PSA: malware "VPNFilter" is worse than it originally appeared, in that many more devices are vulnerable to attacks like password stealing or launching attacks on other devices. Strengthen your password and upgrade your firmware for sure, but we strongly recommend resetting the device to factory default, updating firmware, and re-configuring. You can contact eSolia for help, of course!

We welcome the data privacy protections Apple is building into Safari in the next versions of macOS (Mojave) and iOS (called 'Intelligent Tracking Prevention 2.0'), similar to what's in Firefox Quantum now.

Tokyo visitors: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has started a free service "Tokyo Multilingual Call Center" for tourists, receiving calls 24x7, 365 days per year. It provides "basic information about transportation and sightseeing to tourists from overseas, about the Tokyo Metropolitan Area" for free. Get help in English, Korean, or Chinese by calling 0120-805-261 from a regular phone in Japan or, by using the "IP Phone" app at http://call.tokyo.jp/en/.

Japan visitors with kids, if you're near Yokohama, "Kodomonokuni" or Children's Land, is a great place to take your kids for some outdoor fun and maybe a BBQ!

We love this English Rail and Subway Map for Central Tokyo, in print, online or iOS versions, available at Informa-v by Vollmer Design. Great for those visiting Japan.

PSA: a recent security threat called "VPNFilter" has been discovered, which allows hackers to control your home router to steal passwords and launch other attacks. At a minimum, change the password (to a strong one) and update the firmware. Our recommendation: do those things, but in addition, make a config backup, reset the router to factory default, then restore the config. You can contact eSolia for help, of course!

Google Lens has recently become available in Google Photos in iOS. Take a photo of, say, a business card or sign, view it in Google Photos, and tap the "lens" icon for options. Fantastic!

Related to the new EU GDPR regulations, Apple is letting EU users download the data they collected on you, from https://privacy.apple.com. We understand this service will be released in other regions later.

PSA: regarding "Efail", a set of security vulnerabilities in helper software used with email software to integrate PGP/GPG encryption, Protonmail has written a detailed explanation of the issues and provides guidance.

Windows Chrome users: you can check your system for malware that infects your browser by visiting chrome://settings/cleanup.

And we thought Yokohama was tough on residents regarding recycling. Kamikatsu's zero waste goal is admirable. See their multipage (Japanese) guidebook for an idea.

JR East will install cameras on new trains to enhance security. We hope this move serves to increase security for riders.

Google's new "Google News" app is available on your app store, and on https://news.google.com.

Tokyo visitors, it's Spring Festival time. Kanda Myojin Shrine has been having its annual spring Matsuri festival and today 16th May 2018 from 14:00 is the "rei-tai-sai". The big Sanja Matsuri is Friday 18th May through Sunday 20th May 2018, in Asakusa on the Ginza subway line. There is even a live camera available.

PSA: security researchers found vulnerabilities in common email encryption tools based on PGP. A blog post by the EFF recommends temporarily disabling PGP plugins like Thunderbird Enigmail, Apple Mail PGP Tools, and Outlook Gpg4win. The problem is with the plugins, not PGP itself.

We added RSS feeds for the "short news" information and project lists, on the top, news archive, and success stories pages, and indicated by the standard feed icon . This is useful if you still use an RSS feed reader to consume news.

Google has made it easier to view, and delete, your activity on their services. We recommend making use of it. https://myactivity.google.com

We've launched our new website design! Read more about it in this blog post.

First Thursday of May is "World Password Day". Read this article by eSolia CEO Rick Cogley on establishing a personal password policy, and take action.

What a day for athletics! Desi Linden of the US won the women's and Yuki Kawauchi of Japan won the men's at the Boston Marathon, in the worst possible conditions - cold, wet, windy. Congratulations! ㊗️ Inspiring!

Japan visitors: get “NHK WORLD TV” on your App Store (Android also), and enable quake and tsunami alerts in settings.

PSA: be smart; change default password on all your "IoT" devices, such as your Internet router/wifi or coffee maker! (Reaper Botnet)

macOS High Sierra users: Apple released important security patches, so updating is recommended.

PSA: Google has addressed the Google Docs phishing hack. Be sure to do a Google Security Checkup.

PSA: Cloudbleed security breach means change your passwords! Many sites are using Cloudflare DNS and are impacted.

Chinese friends and colleagues: Happy New Year!

iOS 10 users: fix an annoyance in Settings, Mail, Most Recent Messages on Top

PSA: Dropbox had a security breach, so change your password and for the love of Soteria, enable 2-factor authentication while you are at it.

🎉㊗️It's eSolia's 17th Anniversary! We founded eSolia Inc on 7th July 1999 for IT service excellence. Thank you for another successful year!

PSA: organized fraudsters posing as the IRS, calling US citizens to demand quick action to settle. IRS does not phone; they send letters.

PSA: Hack exposes millions of Gmail, Microsoft and Yahoo logins. Change your Google, Yahoo and Microsoft passwords just to be safe (and enable 2fa).

Sysadmins using Macs: check out how to run the OS X TFTP server, for network device upgrades.

PSA update: Mac users see what you can do about Sparkle security vulnerability.

PSA for Mac users: about the "Sparkle" app update system security vulnerability.

PSA: Christmas lights may be ruining your Wi-Fi speeds.

Esoteric OS X problem , the moral of which is "don't keep a keychain backup open."

OS X El Capitan users: jiggle the mouse cursor and it will grow temporarily so you can find it.

Mac OS X El Capitan users: in Mail, do a two-finger swipe right or left on a message, to mark-unread and delete, like on iPhone.

Mac OS X El Capitan users: use natural language queries in Spotlight, like "excel files I saved yesterday".

PSA: from today, 1st Oct 2015, Japan consumption tax due on overseas online purchases, disingenuous rationale aside.

PSA: iOS 9 users can prevent a security exploit by disabling use of Siri from lock screen.

PSA: Android users, be proactive against the StageFright bug, while you wait for a fix.

PSA: be aware of this odious change that requires you to verify your domain registration contact info. EasyDNS Blog: "Unfortunately, we have renewed our ICANN Accreditation" .

PSA for security: use this site to test yourself for Superfish, Komodia, PrivDog vulnerability.

PSA: OSX Yosemite users, upgrade to 10.2.2 did indeed resolve wifi issues on a couple of our systems.

PSA for security: Browsing in privacy mode? Super Cookies can track you anyway.

PSA: trouble with Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop not running on OS X Yosemite? Add your user and admin group as "RW" (Read and Write) to /Library and ~/Library to fix.

Security PSA: Mac users stay aware. "World’s first (known) bootkit for OS X can permanently backdoor Macs"

iOS 8 review: 3 months later

Mac and iOS users, "App Santa" is a good annual sale, especially if you want to try various apps. You can save up to 80% thru Dec 26th.

OS X Yosemite and iOS 8’s “instant hotspot” feature is wildly convenient. Nice!

OS X Yosemite: Handoff borked? Toggle Settings, General, Handoff & restart iOS 8.1 device. Then, toggle FaceTime prefs "cellular calls".

PSA: alert from Yokohama city regarding mudslides.

PSA: Typhoon Phanfone approaching Japan and should hit Kanto Sunday night through noon Monday. Expect travel delays.

iOS 8 tip: the new "Hey Siri" feature is kinda cool, but it consumes battery from having to continually monitor for your voice command.

iOS 8 tip: app integration, finally. E.g. you can seamlessly access a password manager like 1Password from a website's login page.

iOS 8 tip: camera now has Timelapse recording and a slider for brightness.

iOS 8 Tip: use "Family Sharing" to share cals, photos, & AppStore or iTunes purchases from the same credit card. You can OK kids' purchases.

iOS 8 Tip: Custom Keyboards are here! E.g. SwiftKey, Swype, TextExpander, Fleksy, PopKey. Download, then go to Settings, General, Keyboard.

iOS 8 Tip: double push the home button to access your favorites and recents at the top, as well as the usual open apps.

iOS8 Tip: respond to notifications (message, cal, Facebook etc) right from the home or lock screen. Tap to respond, swipe to ignore.

iOS 8 tip: "Continuity" will let you hand off browser sessions, conversations, docs to your Mac, when upgraded to OS X Yosemite.

PSA: Tokyo is truly hot now, with 80% humidity. Hydrate. Don't walk your dog in this or leave your child in the car.

PSA: Super-typhoon Neoguri to hit greater Tokyo from tonight (Thur 10 July) thru tomorrow noon. Take precautions.

Trying to sync Google shared calendars to an iOS 7.1 device? Use this URL in mobile Safari.

Convenient iOS app for Japan visitors: "Tokyo Subway Navigation for Tourists"

PSA: Support is ending for Windows XP as of 8 April 2014.

Refinements, additions, and un-breaking stuff: iOS 7.1 reviewed | Ars Technica

This blog post from Buffer is "tech speak", but it shows how iterative improvement works in the IT industry: "cronjob that generates $4 million per year"

Mac OS X v10.9.2 update runs optimizations & takes a while, but results are good. Snappy! It's said to patch the recent security breach.

PSA: Patch your iOS devices now, and OS X as soon as there is a patch:
"Why Apple's Recent Security Flaw Is So Scary"

PSA: Visitors to Greater Tokyo Japan, expect delays today due to snow.

PSA: Visitors to Greater Tokyo, heavy snow forecast from 8th Feb noon. Expect transport delays.

eSolia just upgraded to Adobe Creative Cloud. It seems like a good deal, and installs have been smooth so far.

Geek tip for OS X Mavericks users: best way to flush DNS cache in Terminal: "sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder"

Security breach PSA: Yahoo mail users, change your password. Flickr users, too, just in case. See Yahoo's "Security Update"

Conserve iOS 7 battery: turn off "background app refresh" where it's not needed in settings, general.

Conserve iOS 7 battery: turn off the home screen parallax effect in settings, general, accessibility, reduce motion .

PSA: Take extra precautions! "905 kids ill in Shizuoka (Japan) norovirus outbreak".

Security PSA: Snapchat had a huge security breach, so users change your passwords.

OS X Mavericks Tip: download the free publication "Hubble Space Telescope Discoveries" with beautiful and informative content, in iBooks.

OS X iMessages tip: to screenshare, setup AIM or Google account, then chat via either before connecting. Pure iMessages acct does not work.

OS X Mavericks tip: click on the menu bar battery to see which apps are "using significant energy".

OS X Mavericks tip: external display improvements, better full-screen mode & menubar is available on display 2, finally!

Apple's OS X Mavericks upgrades smoothly, and has many useful improvements. iWork updates (Pages, Keynote, Numbers) are welcome as well.

OS X Mavericks tip: Safari can show links from Twitter in the sidebar of the "new tab" screen.

iOS 7 upgraders: swipe from bottom for control center, & from top for notifications.

2012 Year-end Holiday is from Dec. 28th to Jan. 6th, 2013.

One Apple OS X Mountain Lion change that has had impact, is the change to sync services. For ex BusyCal.

Turn off on-by-default Apple iOS 6 ad tracking in Settings, General, About, Advertising,...

Summer Holidays 13-15 Aug 2012

🎉㊗️It's eSolia's 13th Anniversary!

PSA: TAKE NOTE of the reported leak of 7 mil. LinkedIn passwords, and for safety's sake, change your password now.

Cloud-based Database "PROdb"

🎉㊗️It's eSolia's 11th Anniversary!