2014年2月24日月曜日

留学して実感すること!




  1. ガイドブックに載っているからといって、必ずしも見に行く必要はない。
  2. アメリカは世界の中心ではない。
  3. ホステルで出会う人はだれでも親友になる可能性がある。
  4. 列車&バスは時刻表通りには来ない。
  5. 英語は本当に国際語だ。
  6. 外国の夕食の時間はかなりずれている。
  7. 思いつきの行動は報われる。
  8. 旅ほど絆を強めるものはない。
  9. 留学中の平均学習時間は、だいたい8時間。(大学 or 大学院)
  10. 一人旅をすると隠れた才能を発見できる。
  11. 留学できた人たちは信じられないほどラッキー。


自分の故郷を離れて、いろんな心配事からも解放されて、何ヶ月も世界を見て周るなんて、学生時代はもちろん、めったにできない。留学はこの時代の特権
自分の実力も改めて試せるし、挫折も多くするだろう……。
しかし、そこでの経験は体験した者にしか味わえない。

少しでも興味があるなら是非、経験してもらいたい。




2014年2月20日木曜日

Facebook to buy messaging network WhatsApp


Deal worth $16bn will give social-networking firm access to 450 million people who use the cross-platform mobile app.



Facebook, the world's biggest social-networking company, says it is buying the mobile messaging service WhatsApp in a deal worth $16bn.
The purchase, announced on Wednesday, will leave WhatsApp with its own independent board.
WhatsApp is a cross-platform mobile app which allows users to exchange messages without having to pay telecom charges.
It is Facebook's biggest acquisition and comes less than two years after Mark Zuckerberg's firm raised $16bn in the richest technology-sector public stock offering.
The purchase includes $12bn in Facebook shares and $4bn cash.
It calls for an additional $3bn in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp founders and employees that will vest over four years.
"The acquisition supports Facebook and WhatsApp's shared mission to bring more connectivity and utility to the world by delivering core Internet services efficiently and affordably," Facebook said in a statement.
The WhasApp deal translates to roughly nine percent of Facebook's market value and is bigger than any acquisition made by Google, Apple or Microsoft.
Google's biggest deal, Motorola Mobility, stood at $12.5bn, while Microsoft's largest was Skype - which allows users to make voice and video calls over the internet - at $8.5bn. Apple, meanwhile, has not done a deal above $1bn.

Separate service

Facebook, which has more than 1.2 billion members, said it will keep WhatsApp as a separate service, just as it did with Instagram, which it bought for about $715.3m.
WhatsApp has more than 450 million monthly active users. In comparison, Twitter had 241 million users at the end of 2013.
"WhatsApp is on a path to connect one billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable," Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and chief executive, said.
"I've known [WhatsApp founder] Jan [Koum] for a long time and I'm excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected."
Koum, who joins Facebook's board under the deal, said "WhatsApp's extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide."
In a blog post, Koum said, "Almost five years ago we started WhatsApp with a simple mission: building a cool product used globally by everybody. Nothing else mattered to us.


The tie-up gives WhatsApp "the flexibility to grow and expand, while giving me, [co-founder] Brian [Acton], and the rest of our team more time to focus on building a communications service that's as fast, affordable and personal as possible," Koum said.
Facebook reportedly sought to acquire another messaging firm, Snapchat, for $3bn last year.




2014年2月18日火曜日

Dragon House | Dubstep



ダンスチームとして世界でその名を轟かせるDragon Houseの新作Dubstepのダンスが「ハンパ無くカッコいい!」と話題に。

機械的なDubstepの音をロボティックに表現した見事なルーティーン。
動画界でDragon Houseが有名になったのは2011年。
この動画は1億回も再生される大ヒット動画になっている。
ダンサーは動画をYouTubeにアップロードしてヒットすれば、世界で有名になれるチャンスがある。今後、ダンサーは動画界から有名になる人が沢山出てくるに違いない。

Investment Requirements to Obtain Visa to Brazil


In order to make an investment in Brazil, foreign companies or businesspeople have to obtain a Brazilian visa. Here you will find information about the investment requirements to obtain it in Brazil.

Although Brazilian corporate law has no formal minimum capital investment requirement, in practice, the immigration authorities require a minimum investment for nonresidents. The investment can be either cash, transfer of technology or capital goods.

In order to increase the foreign investments in the country, it was created the Brazilian residence and citizen program to foreign investors by the Conselho Nacional de Imigração, known as CNI, which is the National Immigration Council.


Requirements for Permanent Visa

Permanent visa is linked to the foreign investors and to the company they will invest in. This is only available for investments designated to already existing or new Brazilian companies that will have foreign direct money as part of their capital.

The permanent visa can be offered to foreigners who invest in productive activities and to foreigners that plan to stay in Brazil indefinitely to manage their investments. Activities regarding passive investments, such as buy a house, land or stocks, don't qualify for getting visa.
Amounts of money lower than the mandatory initial transfer of BRL 150.000,00 will be submitted to CNI. The Council will then examine visa requests, in order to authorize or not the acquisition, using the following criteria.
  • the number of jobs generated in Brazil.
  • the region of the country where the investment will be applied and its value.
  • which economic sector will benefited from the investment and from the contribution to the growth on productivity or new technology.
The value investment requirements are also subjected to the value added that it will cause. If the company commits to generate at least ten new jobs in a two-year period, even if it does not present the value of investment required above, the company can sponsor for a permanent visa.

2014年2月16日日曜日

Japan's Rakuten Acquires Viber App for $900 Million

Rakuten Inc, one of the world’s largest Internet services companies, announced today its acquisition of pioneering messaging and VoIP company, Viber. Rakuten will acquire Viber for a total consideration of $900 million.


As people continue to shift from traditional content and communications platforms to mobile applications, Viber, one of the most popular mobile communications services worldwide with a rapidly growing global user base of 300 million registered users, perfectly complements Rakuten’s strategy in the digital space. As Rakuten aims to become the world’s No.1 Internet services company, this acquisition will enable Rakuten to penetrate new markets with multiple digital content offerings,in combination with its e-commerce and financial services platforms.


 I am tremendously excited to welcome Viber to the Rakuten family. Viber delivers the most consistently high quality and convenient messaging and VoIP experience available. Additionally, Viber has introduced a great sticker market and has tremendous potential as a gaming platform. Simply put, Viber understands how people actually want to engage and have built the only service that truly delivers on all fronts. This makes Viber the ideal total consumer engagement platform for Rakuten as we seek to bring our deep understanding of the consumer to vast new audiences through our dynamic ecosystem of Internet Services.
Rakuten Chairman and CEO, Hiroshi Mikitani

        

Viber CEO and Founder, Talmon Marco, underlined these synergies:
“Rakuten is one of the world’s most important Internet companies. It is truly dominant in its home market of Japan and has been rapidly expanding globally. This combination presents an amazing opportunity for Viber to enhance our rapid user growth in both existing and new markets. Sharing similar aspirations with Rakuten, our vision is to be the world’s No.1 communications platform and our combination with Rakuten is an important step in that direction.”
         

You can download Viber from the App Store for free.

新婚旅行先の人気ランキング、1位は?

客1万5000人を対象にした新婚旅行先の人気調査を実施、20.3%がイン ド洋に浮かぶモルディブを選んだ。(Agoda.com)


2位はギリシャの島々で7.8%を獲得、3位には7.6%のパリが入った。
調査では20の都市、国やリゾート地などを示し、世界規模のアンケート参加者に選んでもらった。
参加者が別の場所を付け加えることは認められなかった。
調査結果によると4~10位は、インドネシア・バリ(7.1%)、ハワイ(6.6%)、イタリア(6.5%)、カリブ海諸島(5.7%)、タヒチ(5.6%)、ニュージーランド(5.2%)、イスタンブール(3.8%)。


この後は、プーケット、オーストラリア、プラハ、ラスベガス、ニューヨーク、スペイン、カンクン、リオデジャネイロ、クロアチア、モントリオールの順だった。

一概には言えないが、「ハネムーン=常夏の島」という印象が強い。
現実社会から離れた所を求めるのであろう。
人生の大切な時間を大切ね人と大切な場所で……。