There be Bloggers

We all pay lip-service to it: bloggers are people of all sorts. Yet somehow, in the glitz and glamour of generating traffic, attending big events, raking in money and becoming celebrities in our own right, the picture we often get when we mention the word "blogger" is that of this star celebrity.

Yesterday's humbling Happy Moments event was a jerk back to earth for me. Often, communications people get caught up with a blogosphere that's only made up of popular reads. Yet sharing the table with some of the bloggers who came made me think: "these are just very regular people."



Mr. Lim and family were at the event because his daughter Jasmine, made it to the top ten with her blog post. Sitting down with the family was interesting because I discovered that Jasmine and her sister Jennifer, were both BRATS. So we chatted a bit about journalism and communication, with Mr. Lim being quite interested in my job. Of course, in turn, I was really interested in Mr. Lim's big camera and mentioned more than once - you should start a photo blog too!



Tham Wai Hon showed up with his family and really cute baby boy. He'd shot a video of his baby and posted up on his blog. It was really interesting meeting this family as they reminded me of the sort of family gatherings I get to experience with my own and somehow, with your family around, it feels like blogging is much less glamourous.



I've got a couple more photos to add to the event, some people were just good friends, others, though considered "famous" were tremendously down to earth.

In the end, bloggers are just people. Different people with different lives.

Addendum: Why was I at this Happy event? I helped organise it.

WCIT 2008 - Day 1

Update 3:58 p.m.

Question of the day: at the panel of Wireless Broadband Revolution, someone asks "Do you think Aida's (wireless broadband) technology is the breakthrough technology of the century?"

Moderator: "What? True technology? Of course it's true technology! (Someone corrects him) Oh..."

Back to some actual observations from the sessions at WCIT 2008.

The first session immediately after lunch was a Keynote address on Digital Prosperity by Dr. Robert Atkinson from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. The Dr. had some interesting data to share about the how developing countries (like ours) could grow ICT adoption. And the key takeaway was this - don't have tariffs for technology goods. Simple really. The regular reaction from a small, developing country is to set tariffs for various industries so that local players can be protected and the local industry thrives.

But Dr. Atkinson's perspective is amazingly sharp and cutting - technology is a different animal all together. Data points that the Dr. presented showed technology used increased 1.5% for each 1% reduction in price. Having technology, no matter from where, at the lowest price possible, increased the tech literacy of the population. The complementary side-effect was that with a more savvy population, transference of technology also grows and the number of knowledge workers increase.

So, I suppose our government is doing the right thing with 0% tariffs on computer and related products. But I guess the next step is to categorise more consumer electronics - PDAs, mobile phones, audio players, personal media players, screens etc. - as computer goods.

Does using a mobile phone help increase IT literacy? Yes. In the basest way, it at least introduces even the most tech illiterate person to the logic of menus and navigation. As computing moves mainstream, so too must we think of how to make consumer electronics more affordable.

Update 12:20 p.m.

Craig Barrett's talk struck a fine balance between being overt "marketing" and issues-based. The point that really stood out for me was when Craig said [I paraphrase]:

You can't solve everything with technology. In education, if given a choice between giving children a good teacher or a PC, you should always choose the teacher. A good teacher makes all the magic in the classroom.

Craig, you've got a good point there; and maybe one that our Malaysan Education Ministry should take to heart. At present, Malaysia is very interested in introducing ICT to the classroom but there's been quite little done to make sure that teaching quality is improving if aneccdotal evidence from my brothers and my own experience is anything to go by.

More after lunch break.

Update 10:45 a.m.

The PM's speech was pretty much what was expected - MSC, Malaysian Broadband plan etc. What I found interesting was his preamble - you can find the video here - where the PM makes mention that whenever he buys a gadget, he passes on the book (manual) to his son to learn how to use. Fast forward a couple of minutes later and he says Malaysia is committed to increase IT literacy in Malaysia. Ironic?

The next speaker, a Mr. James Poissant from WITSA, had some interesting points to make:

• Global ICT spending to increae but growth to taper off.
• The weak US Dollar will fuel ICT exports to emerging markets
• From US$2.1 trillion in 2001, global ICT spending will grow to US$4.4 trillion in 2011 (7% oompound growth)
• Communications tech dominates ICT spending with over 57% in 2007.

More updates as they happen.

Original Post

So I'm here early, as stipulated. Seated on the upper deck.



First impressions of WCIT? The papers weren't joking when they said this was big. I spotted crowds and crowds of people as I made my way up the Conference Centre. KLCC just wows me again and again, and I truly think we have a world class facility capable of hosting world class events.

However, our traditional Malaysian hospitality turned out to be a bit of a let down. Early as I was, I could not get a single cup of coffee. Makes me grouchy.

Right now, the opening ceremony has started with45 different kids lining up at the microphone on stage taking turns to say "welcome" in 45 different languages. And a song right after. Hmmm...

Okay, more updates later once the PM's given his address and the rest of the opening speeches.

Random Nokia stuff

The client's keeping me busy with work, so I might as well post these here.

Firstly, in case you haven't heard already, there's a Nokia Independent Artists Club (IAC) gig happening this Saturday. Scroll down and click on the scans of the flyer for details. Given that I'm obviously no expert in the local music scene, I'm told that the acts are actually pretty good. So do drop by and have a listen.





Secondly, the smart people over at the Nokia global marketing team have come up with a fun aside to help us spend some more time in the office. It's actually a teaser for N-Gage , Nokia's new gaming platform / service. Go check it out by clicking this link: www.get-out-and-play.com.

Oh, and... the arkanoid clone is not the teaser, it's just to help you kill time while the flash animation loads. So play a while whilst you wait.

Say hello to the new Malay Mail

Were you Malay Mail readers welcomed by this new masthead today?



Just got back from the launch (or re-launch) of the Malay Mail - that well-loved tabloid with a 112-year history.

As background, in case you haven't heard, earlier this year, The Malay Mail was sold to publisher BluInc by the Media Prima Group. Tonight's event is the the second time the paper is reinventing itself in the space of two years, but I'm glad to report that under the hood, it's the same, familiar faces (with new notable additions) pushing the paper along.

The big change: The Malay Mail is going back to becoming that afternoon paper we all know and love. The key operating word being afternoon.

Getting to the venue, I was pretty impressed with the setup - a corridor muraled by previous editions of The Malay Mail. Sort of a mini-history lesson for me.



And the hall was packed with people:



But getting to the content of the evening, the person sitting next to me could not help but mention to me: "Why is Mr. Ibrahim mentioning "bloggers" and "internet" so much in his speech?" Actually, I couldn't help but notice that too. In my humble opinion, that's a good thing.

I sorta picked up that Mr. Ibrahim also talked about how The Malay Mail's heritage as an afternoon paper meant they were delivering people more current news than the rest of the market (remember reading yesterday's World Cup results off The Malay Mail because The Star didn't have any?) According to the man, The Malay Mail's emphasis on its online site to deliver current news was going to mirror this role it used to serve.

Flipping through the actual printed paper, the changes are quite apparent. There are quite a number of new columns - one even covers the blogosphere - from fairly opinionated people (I think I spied Amir Muhammad on the list). My favourite section - the complaints section - is back with two full pages. What's The Malay Mail, after all, without customer complaints?

Overall, I'm going to have to say that I'm slightly disappointed with the lack of lifestyle pages. Still, the focus on commentary and news is certainly welcome - if the paper can deliver on Mr. Ibrahim's promise to give us the "alternative opinion / viewpoint" that Malaysian readers today crave.

On a totally un-related matter, I also realised at the event that if you stick a huge enough logo anywhere, you can get people to camwhore in front of your logo. I'm just wondering if this is an idea that could be turned to a stunt:



On another TOTALLY unrelated matter, did I mention that the SWAG bag was stuffed with goodies. I think it puts some of us PR people to shame the sort of SWAG we give out. Here, have a look -the silver box is a 1GB USB drive:

Wii!!! The Nuffnang Pajama Party report

So right before the Nuffnang Pajama Party, I had a really difficult time contemplating if I should wear the Chipster pajama I had painstakingly made. If I wore it, I would probably look like a doofus the whole night, and be mistaken for a Singaporean (more on this later). If I didn't, I might miss out on the chance to win a prize.


Nuffnang Pajama Party 08. Hope we have more.

Thankfully, I had KY as my blogging guru and advisor and he promptly made my mind up for me by giving me some encouragement along the lines of "Don't be a #@%^$! If you don't want to wear it, I'll wear it and if I win something, I'll keep it."

With a Wii or iPod Touch at stake, I decided to wear it.


Sinsei KY and me.

Now this would be an extremely long post about a great party that's already covered in many, many other blogs such as this, this and this. So I'll summarise what I thought was the best parts of the pary and then answer some of the questions I got asked for wearing Chipster packaging on me.

The best stuff at the NuffNang Pajama Party according to davidlian

5. Games
The games were fabulous. I particularly enjoyed the 'movie partners' game. Imagine having to sift through a massive crowd of people to find 14 other Han Solos or Princess Leias.

4. Freebie Gifts
Loved the bedtime themed prizes and the GSC Movie vouchers (where did you get that idea from, Su Ann? hehe...) Like any blogger, I welcome free SWAG.

3. Watching some blogger pay 8,000 NuffNang dollars for a kiss from Dawn Yang!
Priceless! Just see below:

Pic shamelessly borrow from Timothy Tiah's blog

2. Winning the Wii!
Again, priceless! Totally unexpected. Sorry Kim.

Finally, No. 1 best thing about going to the party:

1. Meeting other bloggers
This is more than priceless. I can't remember the names of everyone I met, but here are some: David Cheong, FireAngel, Eyeris, Samantha Lim, Li Suan, Kate, and a host of a lot more people. It was great meeting you guys, send me some pics so I can post them here!

And now, on to the...

Q&A on the Chipster Suit

1. Are you Singaporean?
Nope. i'm not. Why do you ask?

Because your suit makes you look very kiasu. So I thought you're Singaporean lar!
... [no comment :/]

2. Did Chipster pay you to wear this?
Nope again. But they did promise some darn awesome prizes which I DID want to win.

3. Seriously now, is it hot wearing all that packging?
Hmm... that's a debatable question. Inside here the air-conditioning is rather cold, so I guess I'm rather snug. But really, the packaging is quite insular and helps keep your Chipster chips warm and crispy. It also reflects your body heat really well, so maybe Chipster can diversify into Antarctic clothing sometime in the future?

4. Where did you get the idea from?
Honestly, I thought it was a really obvious idea. The clues were all there: "How I sleep better with Chipster?" "Pajama Party?" "Do a quirky blogpost?". In fact, I was terrified that someone else would have the same idea and actually have better craft skills than me (I've consistently been graded D for art in school).

5. Are you wearing anything underneath all that packaging?
Er...no. Duh! Of course lah! I wouldn't risk stepping out into the public wearing nothing but Chipster packaging would I? Of course, the PR answer I'd give is:

"Due to the insular nature of the packaging and the way it reflects heat, it is necessary for me to wear a layer of cotton to ensure that heat is not directly reflected back onto my skin, which causes excessive sweating and dehydration."

Thank you all for the Happy event!

Just wanted to thank everyone who attended our Happy event on Tuesday night. And, even if you didn't come, thanks for letting me know too!

Wanna thank Yasmin from Cafe Libre for being so accomodating. The venue rocked!

Moment of the night

Wanted to share something that's still stuck in my head and makes me chuckle out-loud sometimes:

(The scene) Everyone was sitting in a circle and we were going around introducing ourselves and our blogs. Somehow, it started to fall into a pattern... "Hi, I'm XXXX and I blog at XXXXX. I blog about XXXXX." And Erna changed it all...

Erna: Okay, can we stop talking like we're in Blogholics Anonymous?

There was a pause. Then everyone started laughing.

Second Moment of the Night

So I was asking inane movie trivia questions so we could get people to come out, dig thru the Happy sack, and win a prize.

Can't remember the question I asked, but Suanie won that prize.

She stepped up, rummaged thru the sack and randomly pulled out her docket to win a... Shaver!

Some people proceeded to make some funny comments that I shall not post here on fear of mutilation. Muahahahahaha....there's a picture too! Scroll down.

Here are some pictures:


Erna trying out the Wii. It's official, Wii makes people happy.


Clap, clap, laugh, laugh.


We made the people who came do the Hula. Apparently no one could keep it up for longer than 2 spins.


Exclusive: The SmashpOp thumbs up (sorry Jason, couldn't resist)


Happy people showing us how to do it.


Guess what Suanie walked home with. I'm told that if you [CENSORED]


Movie tickets for PinkPau.


Shampoo for Swifty. He got two actually. One was some "Threesome" brand.


And a value pack of I dunno what for Kim.


Nigel claims that I only get his side profile in all the pics. Hung Wei's here too.


Guess who gallivanted all the way here?


Obligatory group picture. There were some more people, but I think they had went off already...

PS... must give credit to the photographer of the night - Louis because I selamba borrow the pictures and put on my site. :)