Google Targets Southeast Asia: Malaysia Stands Out

Google is setting its sights on the increasingly lucrative Southeast Asia market, where Internet traffic is rising and the use of technology and social-networking platforms is gaining speed.

As part of its push to expand in Southeast Asia, Google said Wednesday it is opening a new office in Kuala Lumpur, its first new Asia office in four years. The Mountain View, Calif., Internet giant set up offices in Singapore and South Korea in 2007.

Google SEA managing director Julian Persaud, Dato Mukhriz and Sajith (from left-right) at the opening of the new Google Malaysia office.

Riding on the back of Malaysia's 55.6% internet penetration and the fact that Malaysia also has one of the highest usage percentage for Google's Chrome web browser in Asia Pacific, Google Inc. have announced their deepening investment into Southeast Asia by opening a brand new office in Kuala Lumpur.

Headed by Sajith Sivanandan - Google's previous head of online advertising business for the travel sector in South East Asia - the new office is a big step for Google to more efficiently bring its leading advertising platform, web services and search experience to users, advertisers and partners in Malaysia.

“We are delighted that Google has decided to set up an office in Kuala Lumpur. Their presence is a testament to their commitment to Malaysia as well as Malaysia's suitability as a regional multimedia hub. We hope that Google's entry will encourage more local businesses to go online and tap into international markets. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry looks forward to collaborating with Google more in the future,” says YB Dato' Mukhriz Mahathir, Deputy Minister of International Trade & Industry.

“Malaysia is a very significant country in Southeast Asia in terms of its digital economy and tech-savvy population. We are excited to be investing in Malaysia and, through our search and display solutions, helping small and large businesses grow, reach new markets and contribute to the growth of the economy. We also have a very engaged set of local users with whom we look forward to interacting much more closely,” said Sajith Sivanandan.

Google Malaysia is also currently hiring for its KL office and job openings can be viewed on their website, www.google.com.my/jobs. Welcome To Malaysia Google!

Source: Wall Street Journal/Lowyat.net

New Year ⋅ New Hope ⋅ New Path

Will it be a little bit out of fashioned to write about some kind of stuffs regarding new year while it has already come to the end of January? Woops, as a pure-real-tranditional Chinese young man, since it still left several days before the Lunar New Year descends upon us, I personally think that I'm still in the right time to catch up the last train :)

Okay, enough chattering. Year 2010 was a big year for me. It brought me to hop from a tempting pinnacle of starting point, push me down with an extremely frightened 'falling down' feeling and then straight away hit to a glossy surface but full with caves. In the end, I woke up with an ever-broadened prespective. Failure in SAT I, rejection from NTU, mistake in applying UCLA, UC Berkeley, those experiences undoubtedly provided me with a precious moment to really comtemplate about my ability and to really understand how much effort that I still need to put it on. Tons of people might wondering about this part, I mean, my education/further studies, in promise, I will further interpret for it once everything work out OK. On the other hand, work in Sony Malaysia, participation in Asian Science Camp, involvement in several national conferences and events, led me to realize how astonishing that the people in the other communities. Their passion, enthusiasm and attitude were what I should learn and keep working on.

Thus, what's the next plan for the Year 2011?

You know, right after undergoing the dreadful year of 2010 which sort of like leading to nowhere thoughout the year, I'm now so much hungry to set out a distinct path for the new year. Collecting all sort of jigsaw puzzle piece by piece and matching up them toward my ultimate goal. In a short speculation, I prepared a neat 'To-do' list for that. Let's see what should I do/ought to do/eager to do in year 2011. Of couse, they're not sorted in priority.

To-Do List:
• Be more proactive. At least five blog posts per month. (Okay, I know I failed on this month)
• Exposed to oversea experience. Both study and travel.
• Raise back my entrepreneurial bent. Gonna kick start for something big.
• Be serious in computer studies. Going to complete my self-study in web technology: CSS, XML, PHP, SQL, Javascript, Ajax, in both theory and practical works and further up my step toward Objective-C and Cocoa.
• Set out a real-valuable-professional research work in Computer Science. Not the topsy-turvy that I did before.
• Improve my second language - English. Both speaking and writting. At least getting near to a native speaker.
• Get deep into business area stuffs. Stock, forex, business managment, etc. Understand the real theory behind, keep following up the latest movement of the world business topics.
• Relationship? Okay, this one to be really optional @_@

The roads are there, tread them softly.

Happy New Year to everyone, wish everyone have a good good year :)

Apple Store New Year Surprise!

Calling out all the Apple fans in Malaysia! Apple Store Malaysia will going to burst out a spark on Friday, January 14 as a part of spicing up the upcoming Chinese New Year Festival. It supposes to be a sort of one-day-pricing-cut promotion for few of the Apple products. So, what are you waiting for? Leave your hands down, start planning your purchase list today! Grab off your favorite gadget right at this precious date.

Apple's Mac App Store Now Live With 1,000 Apps

Apple kept to their 90-days word—it's January 6th, and the Mac App Store is ready for your custom. There's over 1,000 apps—both free and paid-for—for Macs, with all that's needed is Snow Leopard and an iTunes account.

You'll have to download the software update Mac OS X v10.6.6 to install the App Store, and as expected, iLife '11 programs (iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand) are sold individually through there for $15 each, along with Pages, Keynote and Numbers for $20 and Aperture 3 for $80.

True, 1,000 apps isn't that many—but as with the iOS App Store, we expect that number will grow quickly. We're going to take a big look at the Mac App Store later today, but in the meantime let us know what you think of it all, via the comments field.

Apple's Mac App Store Opens for Business

CUPERTINO, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)— Apple® today announced that the Mac® App Store℠ is now open for business with more than 1,000 free and paid apps. The Mac App Store brings the revolutionary App Store experience to the Mac, so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes® account, download and install them in just one step. The Mac App Store is available for Snow Leopard® users through Software Update as part of Mac OS® X v10.6.6.

"With more than 1,000 apps, the Mac App Store is off to a great start," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We think users are going to love this innovative new way to discover and buy their favorite apps."

The Mac App Store offers apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what's hot, see staff favorites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews.

Entirely new apps, as well as current Mac favorites, are available from developers such as Autodesk, Ancestry.com and Boinx. iPhoto®, iMovie® and GarageBand® apps from Apple's popular iLife® ‘11 suite are available individually in the Mac App Store for $14.99 each, and Pages®, Keynote® and Numbers® apps from iWork® are available for $19.99 each. Aperture® 3, Apple's powerful photo editing and management software, is available for $79.99.

"We're delighted to bring our professional-grade paint and drawing app, Autodesk SketchBook Pro, to the Mac App Store on its first day of launch," said Carl Bass, Autodesk's CEO. "We've seen tremendous success on the Mac, iPhone and iPad with multiple apps. We're excited to offer SketchBook Pro on the Mac App Store so artists can easily create everything from quick sketches to high-quality artwork right on their Macs."

"By offering the Ancestry.com Family Tree Maker app on the Mac App Store, we're making it even easier for people to discover and access their family history," said Tim Sullivan, Ancestry.com's CEO. "The Mac App Store will drive a new generation of innovation on the Mac platform."

"We're thrilled to have our award-winning animation, video production and photography software available on the new Mac App Store," said Oliver Breidenbach, Boinx Software's CEO. "The Mac App Store makes it easier than ever for consumers to access all the innovative software designed for the Mac."

To get the Mac App Store, download the Mac OS X v10.6.6 Software Update or visit www.apple.com/mac/app-store. To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit developer.apple.com/programs/mac.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Source: Gizmodo

Merry Christmas 2010!

Merry Christmas! It has been the third times for me to be right here giving out my earnest blessing to everyone since I set out to beef about my stuffs by blogging in Dec 2008.

Sprang out from my bed while whole of my family had gone for Johor Bahru for a shooting of new year stuffs, swayed back to my desk with the chicken rice that packed by mum, embarked on all the formality - Firefox, Gmail, Facebook, Wall Street Journal. It's the dawn of my little bit shabby Christmas Day. When all the tavern, alley and everywhere in the town were full with revelry, riot last night because of this domestic, gift-giving but getting more commercialized holiday, I was particularly immune. No boisterous count down, no mirthful celebration. Extremely quiet and ordinary.

Haha. I'm not being autistic. Neither has it distracted me from studying nor has it recalled my dreadful trauma. I just simply have the leaning to decamp from all the agonizing stuffs and indulge myself into a real relaxing state. Leaving my fingers down on my keyboard to think about what that hell I was doing recently.

I just wound up my first semester in Taylor's University - RMIT University Bachelor of Computer Science lately. People might wonder the weird part of my course - the name. Actually it's a twinning program or so-called a partnership degree program between Taylor's University and RMIT University. In simple words, it means that the course students are pursuing their RMIT University Degree in Taylor's University Campus. The course students are having the same study curriculum and privilege no matter they're studying in Taylor's Campus or RMIT Campus. Thus, course students are free to transfer to RMIT Campus if they have the bent.

Of course, like any Computer Science course in any other Australia universities, we're required to enroll in four subjects in one semester. I acquired three High Dictinction in Programming 1, Computer Organization and Maths for Computing subjects and one Dictinction for Database Concept subject for this semester. Nevertheless, unlike the high school caged-fixed study mode, I know how much that I learnt thoughout the whole semester which the grades are inept to truly depict them. Ok, for those who personally know me, you guys should know I do have some grumbles for the course and school. A little bit more cumbersome and tedious story, I will talk more about it in later blog post.

Otherwise, I was selected as one of the twelve winners in IT@Green Photography Competition which is part of the Taylor's Bario Community Project. My awarded photo will be printed with my name in a 2011 calender for the charity purpose and a press interview with New Strait Time (A local daily newspaper) regarding the Bario Project will be featured soon as well. Thanks for all kind of earnest attention, I have the inkling of surprise that my trivial contribution would turn out to be so imperative afterwards.

I will going back to job segment next monday in order to cope with my devastating bailout. And keep screwing up with few personal projects that I'm currently working on. Keep strengthening my own pillar and prop. It will be awesome if I got any chance to share with you all in later time. I need all your support, dude :) .Since I had completed the Oracle Database Workshop during the school semester, I'm now seeking the time(Frankly, the money) to proceed to the certification exam which will going to cost me USD125 in first paper but it's no doubt to be totally worthy after all.

Some mumbling: Actually I'm in the a roaring progress of cruising my direction to the other beacon of light which will going to be another trail-blazing and life-changing milestone for me. Desperate and desirous. Stay tuned :)

Right at the end of this fervent holiday, again, wish everyone Merry Christmas and all the best!

As there is a dream, so there is a hope.

Word Lens Promises in-Image Translation

here are plenty of applications and websites that can translate text to other languages, but if you're looking at a sign or something, you'll have to type it into a translation app. What if, instead, you could take a snapshot and have an app translate the text in the image? That's the idea behind Word Lens, and it seems to work.

The caveat is that for now, the app only works from Spanish-to-English and vice versa, and it is also an iOS only app.

It took 2 1/2 years for founders Otavio Good and John DeWeese to develop the app, which is free. However, each language pack is $4.99 (as an in-app buy), and that means to have it work both ways it would cost $9.98.

Using OCR, the app translates the text and draws them back, in the image, on the screen. Here's how Good described it:

“It tries to find out what the letters are and then looks in the dictionary. Then it draws the words back on the screen in translation. The translation isn’t perfect, but it gets the point across.”

For some translation, like "restrooms," that would be good enough.


Naturally, Good is looking toward other languages. Hopefully the algorithm can be translated to Android easily. In the 2 1/2 years that they have been working on this app, Android has overtaken the iPhone globally.

You can watch a demo video below.


source: hothardware.com

Facebook Overtook SouthWest Airlines as the Best Employer in US

Facebook employees think their company is a fantastic place to work. In fact, among users of the jobs site Glassdoor, Facebook was the top-ranked U.S. employer for 2010, scoring a rating of 4.6 out of 5.

Those smug smarties from Palo Alto (disclosure: my husband works there part-time, so I can say that with certainty) say they love the openness and cooperativeness of internal Facebook culture, according to Glassdoor (also the free food and commuter shuttles).

This is the first time Facebook has made the Glassdoor list. In second place is Southwest Airlines (which was last year’s winner), followed by Bain & Company, General Mills and Edelman, respectively.

As for other tech companies, SAS Institute placed No. 7, Overstock.com was No. 9, and CareerBuilder No. 11. Apple was No. 20 and Google No. 30.

Meanwhile, in more surprising news, Glassdoor reports that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is actually more popular now than founder Jerry Yang when he was in the top spot. Bartz has an employee approval rating of 56 percent, compared to 34 percent for Yang when he left.

Other comparisons: HP CEO Léo Apotheker has 62 percent approval, compared to Mark Hurd’s 34 percent when he left, and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has 71 percent approval, compared to Randy Falco’s 13 percent approval when he left.

The most popular tech CEO is Apple’s Steve Jobs, with a 97 percent approval rating. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Eric Schmidt are both at 96 percent.

The Top-50 List, here we go:

Microsoft Online Windows Phone 7 Developer Guide

After the splashy release of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has vehemently poured tons of effort into advertising and promoting in order to batter its rivals, Google Android, Apple iPhone, RIM BlackBarry, to overhaul its losing market. Meanwhile, Microsoft is in dire need of ample and significant apps for its Marketplace, as the q&q, quantity and quality of the smartphone apps will inevitably be the crucial factor of determining the WP7 victory or failure.

The Microsft MSDN Library of Windows Phone 7 Developer Guide provide all of you with a free opportunity to dive into the Microsoft first-ever-handy software development platform, which hopping from the introducation of Windows Phone 7 to Silverlight Coding, XNA design and back to Marketplace interaction - a completed Bible for Windows Phone 7 App Developer to leave their fingers down with bunch of WP7 apps out of the whole cloth. All you have to do just bit the bullet, sweep through all the materials with hands-on works and churn them with your quixotic idea and ulitimate creativity. Of course, it does have some 'pre-requisite', like any other computer science courses in university, at least a little basic knowledge in object-oriented programming, such as Java, C++. If not, those codes might look terrible from you.

Are you interested to be the one to use apps to revamp the smartphone market? Check it out now: Microsoft MSDN Library

Google New Launched Program for Students: Code-In

Are you a computer geek? Are you in between 13-18 year old? Are you eager to have a real and hands-on experience on IT-related tasks? If you nodded your head right after those questions, Google Code-in is wholly suitable for you to stuff up your tedious and agonizing school holiday.

Google Code-in is an open source development and outreach contest targeted at 13-18 year old students around the world. Of course, it's not the first time that Google embark on this kind of program. Google had run a pilot program called the Google Highly Open Participation Contest during 2007 to 2008, which gave 400 students around the world an opportunity to help out open source projects on the following kinds of tasks:

1. Code: Tasks related to writing or refactoring code
2. Documentation: Tasks related to creating/editing documents
3. Outreach: Tasks related to community management and outreach/marketing
4. Quality Assurance: Tasks related to testing and ensuring code is of high quality
5. Research: Tasks related to studying a problem and recommending solutions
6. Training: Tasks related to helping others learn more
7: Translation: Tasks related to localization
8: User Interface: Tasks related to user experiencec research or user interface design and interaction.

Since it was a huge success for Google at that episode, it's no doubt that Google fervently sets out to move its big stride to another milestone again with the contest with its new name, Google Code-In.

So, what are you waiting for? Check out its official website for more information.

P/S: Darned, I just slightly older than the age range of being the participant :(