Geekonomics

• 17Mar

  Sendai earthquake and tsunami - free WiFi and Skype Credit vouchers

  Asia Tech, World, mobile, news No Comments

  Thought I’d share this announcement from Skype on what they are doing for Japan. This should be really welcome since mobile communications seems to be one of the hardest hit this time. Even till now, I’m having a hard time trying to get in touch with my friends in Japan. Do pray for Japan.

  Over the last few days, we’ve been watching and listening to reports from around the world about the ways people are using Skype to communicate during this time of crisis in Japan.

  We’re fortunate to be able to report that all of our Japan-based employees and their families are safe, and we’re also incredibly fortunate to be among the providers of technology which help people stay in touch during times of need, even when other means aren’t available.

  Our hearts go out to all of those of you who have been affected by this disaster, and we’re taking two steps to help people across Japan communicate:

  o Providing free WiFi at hotspots throughout Japan with Skype Access*. With Skype Access, you can connect to the Internet using Skype, and this will be free in Japan until 19th March (here’s a list of compatible hotspots including WEP/WPA keys if required).

  o Providing all of our Japanese customers with a ¥80 Skype Credit voucher**, worth a call of more than 25 minutes to a landline phone in Japan (and to some other countries such as China and the USA) or to send text messages directly from Skype. Vouchers will be issued by email in the next few days.

  If you’re in Japan, we encouraging you to participate in the Red Cross family reunification programme if you have any information which could help connect missing people. If you are outside of Japan and would like to help the relief effort in other ways, please visit the Japanese Red Cross or the International Red Cross for more information or donate directly.

  

  * Connection to a Skype Access-compatible hotspot requires the latest version of Skype. Offer will be valid until March 19, 2011 GMT.

  **¥80 voucher expires April 17, 2011. The actual number of minutes you can redeem with this offer may vary based on calling destinations. A connection fee may apply. Our global calling rates can be found here.

  

• 11Nov

  BBH brings world’s leading Digital University - Hyper Island - to Asia

  Asia Tech, Developers, Press Release, Singapore Tech, Usability, World, animation, design, geeked, news 1 Comment

  This sounds way awesome, I wanna attend!

  Singapore, November 10^th, 2010 – BBH Asia Pacific is bringing the world’s leading digital university, Hyper Island, to Singapore - making it a first for Asia.

  Founded in Sweden in 1995, Hyper Island has been dubbed the ‘the world’s digital Harvard’ and has now established offices in Stockholm, New York and London, trained over 1500 graduates, and developed tailor-made master classes for creative professionals across Europe and the US.

  Hyper Island will conduct its radical Master Class for the entire Agency and along with BBH, will co-host a ‘Meet Market’ workshop - to be attended by a cross-section of BBH Clients and collaborators - representing Singapore’s creative community.

  Read more…

  

• 08Oct

  Half of Critical Infrastructure Providers Have Experienced Perceived Politically Motivated Cyber Attacks

  Enterprise, Enterprise Tech, Internet Safety, Press Release, Security, World, news No Comments

  Sounds like something straight out of a spy movie? In this day and age, you never know especially after Google claimed that the Chinese government orchestrated an attack on their services just early this year. Read the full release from Symantec for yourself and be your own judge:

  SINGAPORE, October 7, 2010 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) has released the findings of its 2010 Critical Information Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Survey, which highlights that 53 percent of critical infrastructure providers report that their networks have experienced what they perceived as politically motivated cyber attacks.  Participants claimed to have experienced such an attack on an average of 10 times in the past five years, incurring an average cost of $850,000 to their businesses.  Survey participants from the energy industry reported that they were best prepared for such an attack, while participants from the communications industry reported that they were the least prepared.  Critical infrastructure providers represent industries that are of such importance either to a nation’s economy or society that if their cyber networks were successfully attacked and damaged, the result would threaten national security.

  Read more…

  

• 03Oct

  Tencent uses Facebook to promote QQ?

  Asia Tech, Gaming, Internet, Random, Social Media, Thoughts, World, Youth Culture, mobile, news No Comments

  This geek has been trying out QQ, the communication tool from Tencent that is even more ubiquitous than email in China, to keep in touch with some of my friends there. QQ was even installed as the standard operating desktop in the all-in-one PC that replaced my hotel room’s TV in Shen Zhen. Check out the recent splash screen:

  

   

  Read more…

  

• 15Sep

  DEMO Conference Kicks Off 20th Anniversary with DEMO Fall 2010 in Silicon Valley

  Android, Developers, Enterprise Tech, Press Release, SaaS, World, mobile, news 3 Comments

  It’s rare you hear about a developer conference that is celebrating it’s 20th Anniversary which is DEMO. This geek is checking out parts of the conference online. Check it out.

  Enterprise, Mobile and Cloud Technologies Take the Stage; DEMO Hosts Fireside and Panel Conversations with Thought Leaders

  SANTA CLARA, CALIF., September 14, 2010 – Today, the world-renowned DEMO Conference officially kicked off 48 hours of exciting product launches featuring some of the most important new innovations in the areas of enterprise, mobile and cloud computing technologies.  Day Two will host disruptive technologies in the consumer, and social media technology space.  DEMO Fall 2010 officially marks the 20^th anniversary of the semi-annual event that brings together worldwide press, decision making investors and market-defining visionaries – all of whom attend DEMO to discover the next big killer app.

  In addition to the famous six minute demonstrations of cutting edge new technology products, DEMO executive producer and editor in chief of VentureBeat, Matt Marshall, sat down with industry luminaries like SAP Co-CEO Bill McDermott for a one-on-one conversation to discuss how companies are consuming enterprise technologies.  Other featured speakers included top executives from The Clorox Company, Genworth Financial Wealth Management, Inc. and eHealth, Inc. who discussed strategies for how they seek out and discover best-of-breed emerging technologies for their organizations.

  DEMO also featured creator, co-founder and chairman of Twitter Inc., Jack Dorsey, for a discussion around mobile payments, while Microsoft’s general manager of developer and platform evangelism, Matt Thompson, discussed the future of cloud computing.

  Read more…

  

• 15Sep

  Platform Wars Rage On at APPNATION Conference Day Two

  Android, Developers, Press Release, World, mobile, news, tech jobs No Comments

  Here’s a summary of the proceedings from day two of Appnation. Day one can be found here.

  Samsung also unveiled its new Android-based tablet “Samsung Galaxy Tab” onstage for first time in North America

  San Francisco - September 14, 2010 – On the second and final day of APPNATION, the first major conference focusing on the App Economy and ecosystem, the issue of open or closed, and fragmented or uniform smartphone OSes was the most hotly contested topic. Also, Samsung publicly displayed their unreleased Galaxy Tab for the first time in North America—both on the APPNATION stage, and in the hands-on DEVNATION area.

  Read more…

  

• 15Sep

  Asia “SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS OF THE YEAR” awarded at World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the new Champions 2010

  Press Release, World, news No Comments

  Obviously this geek is in San Francisco right now for the Intel Developer Forum and not Davos for the World Economic Forum. But Social Entrepreneurship should always be celebrated so I’m sharing this announcement with you:

  • The Schwab Foundation announces three winners of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year in Asia at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2010 in Tianjin
  • Winners working in the Philippines, Laos and Afghanistan are among a group of 30 Social
    Entrepreneurs from around the world taking part in the Meeting – they provide an on-the-ground perspective to sustainability and social innovation

  Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, 14 September 2010 –

  Read more…

  

• 14Sep

  Appnation predicts One Million Mobile Apps by 2012

  Android, Developers, Press Release, World, mobile, news, tech jobs 1 Comment

  This geek heard that Intel AppUp Developer Program was showcasing at the premier developer conference next door called Appnation so I popped over to take a look. Pretty cool show opened by the Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom. Check out the proceedings of Day 1:

  Day One of APPNATION defines Net 3.0 with heavy hitters from New York to London to locals focused on mobile app development and where the $$$ is being made

  San Francisco - September 13, 2010 – San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom welcomed a registered crowd of over 1,000 regional and national app developers, media companies, ad networks, press and other members of the app ecosystem at the inaugural APPNATION Conference at San Francisco’s Moscone Center North. Drew Ianni, chairman and founder of APPNATION, also revealed original APPNATION research that there will be one million mobile apps available for download by the year 2012. APPNATION is an ambitious and bold new thought leadership conference and exposition focusing exclusively on the burgeoning consumer applications revolution and global app economy.

  Read more…

  

• 25Jul

  Starcraft II South East Asia Allows North American Server Access

  Asia Tech, Gaming, Singapore Tech, World, news 1 Comment

  Friends and I were arguing over whether SC2 South East Asia players will be allowed access into North American Servers. I was pretty sure Blizzard and IAHgames would be smart enough to do so, while quite a few of my mates were not convinced. Well, it’s now official, according to GameAxis. Are you going for the launch this coming 27th?

  

• 09Jun

  Chinese internet addicts stage mutiny at boot camp

  Asia Tech, Internet, Internet Safety, Parental Control, Thoughts, World, Youth Culture, geeked, news 1 Comment

  This is interesting. First of all, to have boot camps sprout out all over China for “internet addicts”. I’ve seen TV reports of these addicts given jabs daily but nobody knows what is contained in the jabs. And now this mutiny. Makes me wonder if these boot camps will ever open in countries like Singapore and Korea?

  

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