Weblog is Web Site Competitor

Actually a weblog is also a web site just that it is usually provided free. The thing which I realized is that weblog just doesn't go well with web site per se.

First of all, if you are going to propose something for someone (using weblog), that person is just not going to pay you because weblog is free.

Secondly, he or she got no time to do it.

So, this is bad economy which kills away opportunity, creativity and economy and the money goes back to the big brands like Google and Microsoft.

Therefore, I can almost guarantee that if you are going sell any product in the form of using free tools (such as weblog), no one will pay you anything. Because people are selfish in nature and no way you can get out so easily. But these potential customers got no time to DIY the value proposition which they can actually gain. But they don't care anyway. Ignorance.

In retrospect, whenever something as popular as weblog is launched for free or something like that, the party providing it as product is going to go close down soon. The best thing that you can come out of it is to create services out of these free tools.

Facebook is another free platforms and as I analyzed it earlier, it is a good platform for marketing. Facebooks phenomena killed many things unaccounted for but at the same time, it creates an opportunity of economy that is service-oriented in nature.

Not a bad idea to invent something which will spawn a world of service activities.

This brings me to a dim lighted conclusion that if you can create something which will do-away something, then it can be a hit. But if you are going to create something on top of something, don't market it as a product, go for services. And if you are doing something which people-can-easily-DIY-but-ain't-got-time, do it as a service as well. This will balance back the harmony.

But this is unfriendly reality for product makers out there in case of shock received from the media daily about potentially new tools. That is why, one needs to invest time in reading tech blogs.

Major European Research Infrastructure Initiative Deploys Juniper Networks Ethernet Routing and Switching Solutions at Heart of Experimental Architect

FEDERICA, a major long-term project to implement an experimental network infrastructure to support future Internet research on new networking technologies in the university and research community, is using Juniper Networks to provide its Ethernet-based high-performance network infrastructure. FEDERICA selected the Juniper Networks MX Series Ethernet Services Routers and EX Series Ethernet Switches following a rigorous performance, functionality and total cost-of-ownership (TCO) evaluation.


Full Details.

Time Warner Companies – Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., - and Home Box Office, Inc. Form New Media Alliance with A

Image via Wikipedia

Online audiences are re-defining the way media content is consumed and are demanding customized desktop experiences; and Adobe’s goal is to transform the way companies create, measure and deploy next-generation video.

Adobe has pioneered rich, engaging online media experiences with the Flash Platform – which is the number one solution to deliver video on the Web, and Time Warner Companies are known worldwide as leaders in providing premium media and entertainment.

Through a new strategic alliance announced today and the resulting collaborative projects, Adobe, Turner, Warner Bros. Entertainment and HBO seek to deliver Internet video beyond the desktop to secure Internet connected devices to provide consumers with video content when, how, and where they want it. As part of the alliance, these companies will also collaborate to accelerate the development of digital rights management for the Web and desktop, and meta data and audience measurement solutions to improve the discover and monetization of content.

Turner, Warner Bros. Entertainment and HBO are already at the forefront of delivering rich and engaging experiences using Adobe’s technologies over the Web. The Adobe Flash Platform currently powers a number of different Turner Web sites, and the companies will now be working with Adobe to deliver some great video experiences on the Web. Warner Bros. Entertainment, for example, plans to implement Adobe’s full range of technologies into a diverse set of new media initiatives. And HBO will soon re-launch www.hbo.com making extensive use of the Adobe Flash Platform.

Adobe offers a comprehensive workflow for video, including Adobe Creative Suite® Production Premium software, which includes Adobe Flash Professional, for crafting world-class video, audio, and interactive media. For distribution, Adobe provides the Adobe Flash Platform, which is the de facto standard for delivering breakthrough applications, content, and video on the Web. Adobe Flash Player is on over 98 percent of connected computers and delivers more than 80 percent of Web video worldwide. Finally, Adobe Flash Media Rights Management Server software helps content providers protect and control media content, regardless of whether it is delivered over the Web using Adobe Flash Player or played on local desktops using Adobe Media Player or Adobe AIR® software.

Full Details.

Make the Most of Your Energy - APC (KL Hilton 5 Mar 09)

Image via Wikipedia

APC (American Power Conversion) had a press conference for local media which includes bloggers. Check out the corporate fact sheet.

APC was previously acquired by Schneider Electric not too long ago.

The media is greeted to a presentation by Mr. TS.Khoo (VP for ASEAN). According to TS (as he preferred to be known), during this economic crisis period, ASEAN is the place to be.



APC is most known for its innovation capabilities and the acquisition by Schneider caters for the ability to provide total solution and also turnkey solutions.

To understand this easily, APC used to provide IT-centric products and services while Schneider used to provide products and services on electrical engineering. Now, with their combined capability, they can simply provide a 4C design model for data centers.

1. Components - Modular and scalable, with best-in-class efficiency
   
2. Close-coupled cooling - Placement of cooling units near the heat source
   
3. Containment - Thermal containment of airflow in high-density zones
   
4. Capacity and energy management - Instrumented intelligence to optimize use of power and cooling capacity
   

which will result in energy management in buildings. It yields the following benefits:

1. Renewable energies solutions
2. Automation
3. Energy efficiency
4. Critical power and cooling
5. Eletrical distribution & wiring devices

The challenges of today's industry are two things; the ever increasing demand for energy while there is a need to reduce emission. Ok, so even if you don't care about the environment, perhaps cost efficiency is something that will bother you.

The vision of APC (by Schneider Electric) is thus to provide safe, reliable, efficient, productive and green energy usage. Their target market is data center because that contributes to about 2% of energy usage globally. No big deal but it generates 98% of opportunities. Check out survey from IDC last year (2008).

According to Mr.Benedict Soh (Enterprise Business Development Director), energy consumption for data center is growing at 12% per year and the pressing issue for data center to tackle is in fact power and cooling efficiency which not just to help the environment but also to save cost.

Most people like me thought that APC was just selling UPS (Unlimited Power Supply) but in actual fact, they also provide professional services and consultancy to clientele in the industries of banking, health care, telecommunication and government sectors.

And more interestingly, data center need not just limit to big data-centers like MyLoca in Cyber Jaya or AIMS somewhere near Bukit Bintang. It can also be a data-center for a factory with self managed applications servers and etc. As long as you need to house your servers properly with air-conditioning, you can consider it as data-center. In that case, my office has a data-center too.

Mr.TS Khoo is optimistic about the current economy crisis, first of all, let me assure you that they don't have cash flow problem because of recent acquisition from Schneider Electric which has a total sales revenues of Euro 4,652 billion. Also, APC by itself is Euro 17.3 billion revenues company with combined workforce of 120,000 people around the world.

On the question about the trend of company being acquired and so there will be less data center around, Mr. TS Khoo has this to offer.

First of all, the company focuses on solutions and in any good or bad day, it is beneficial for them if there are more data centers or if there are more consolidation of data centers. This is because have solutions for data center consolidation as well. Period.

He added that at times of crisis, the strategy is to stay with customers by providing more supports and also better services. (and more discounts) APC relies on and values business partners as one of its business elements.

Finally, APC is also announcing two new launches which are:

1. Integration with Microsoft Systems Center Operation Manager 2007
   Integration of APC's data center management suite to tightly couple with Microsoft's System Center Operations Manager 2007. This integration will give data center managers the ability to view and manage physical infrastructure, including power, cooling, physical space and security, as well as providing a comprehensive view of the health of the servers, applications, and clients within the datacenter.
2. Second Generation Symmetra PX - All in one modular power protection UPS System for data centers
   Symmetra PX UPS provides up to 48kW of power protection for 400V deployments in a single rack footprint. Additionally it offers longer life batteries with up to 25 percent more runtime and hot scaleable power distribution. These new capabilities enable the second generation Symmetra PX to extend the product family's reputation as the leading power protection system providing high levels of availability at the lower overall total cost of ownership.

Presenters' Profile:

Mr. TS. Khoo
ASEAN Vice President

Khoo Teng Seen joined APC in May 2006 as General Manager of Services, Asia Pacific and was later promoted as the Vice President of Services for Asia Pacific/Japan. Currently, TS is the ASEAN Vice President, overseeing the business strategy in ASEAN, ensuring that APC across Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand remains focused on customers and partners. He will lead the team in developing customer-oriented processes, delivering innovative energy efficient solutions in data centers, and building successful relationships as part of Schneider Electric.

Having joined APCI with 17 years experience from the IT industry and almost 10 years in regional services management across Asia Pacific, TS has been involved in building, growing and transforming services businesses throughout his career.

TS started his Singapore career in IT from 1992, working for a multi-national corporation as a manufacturing consultant. In 1997, he was assigned to establish and manage a large consulting practice in Japan. He later returned to Singapore and was promoted to Director of Services and was instrumental in equipping his team wit the right technical and professional skills to assist the transformation of their company from a traditional services provider to a consultative services trusted advisor.

Benedict Soh
Enterprise Business Development Director

Benedict joined APC in year 2003 as an Enterprise Account Manager with the responsibility of managing Singapore key customer accounts and APC Data Center InfraStruXure® sales. Having consistently exceeded the company’s expectations over the past few years, Benedict was promoted to Enterprise Business Development Director. Benedict would be responsible to lead the ASEAN business development team in Enterprise System and Solution strategic planning.

In the current capacity as Enterprise Business Development Director, Benedict would be managing the APC product life-cycle conception through introduction to evolution, driving successful value position of the APC data center products and solutions in the market by ensuring that the product lines meet the growth targets for the assigned market segment. Benedict also supports various operating ASEAN countries in their bidding processes and sales cycles.

With over 13 years of experience in the IT industry with specialization in the data center infrastructure business, Benedict has held various positions, mainly in the area of account management, sales management and business development. Prior to joining APC, he was a Sales Team leader at Datasphere (S) Pte Ltd, a turnkey data center solutions provider.

Benedict graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor Degree in Electronics Engineering, majoring in IT and Power Electronics.

With strong industry knowledge and a technical background, Benedict is tasked with growing the data center solution business in ASEAN with achieving the corporate objective of “Trusted Advisor” in the data center arena.

After Job Cut, What's Next ?

Many companies are slashing jobs and what are their plans after that ? We also incorporate some companies who are not slashing jobs.

Company	Strategy
Microsoft	Own retail stores
Starbucks	Instant Coffee
Karpesky (not slashing job)	E-store
Grand-Flo (not slashing job)	Acquisition and China market
Green Packet (not slashing job)	To leverage on best practices; WiMAX-oriented “Intouch” product line.
Dell	Outsource

We can learn something from here...

• Cash sales is crucial
  
• Leverage on brand power
  
• China is still good market
  
• People will buy online. Check out a survey on Adobe Scene 7.
  
• Focus on strengths

Malaysia Economy - No More Comfort Zone

Yes, the minister finally declared, we are no longer in comfort zone.

The minister requested Malaysian to be more matured to understand that hard times ahead and will not be over at least through 2010.

Malaysian must brace for reality and get real.

We must open up everything and forget about the mundane things.

Ignore the idea of protectionism.

For this reason, I feel that certain arenas of the ICT industry have big potential because people are definitely going online more than often. A survey conducted for Adobe Scene 7 revealed that Over 90 percent of our survey’s respondents are planning to invest in new rich media and social networking technologies to ensure their brands and products stand out on the Web.

But too bad, the Internet infrastructure is not able to keep up with its demand. Internet service providers should be the best performer in this economy situation, second comes the free-lancers who are will to perform ad-hoc web solution servicing. And then the third in line will be web solution providers who are willing to do jobs for less than expected budget.

Tech Blog Malaysia Statistics (Feb 09)

As usual, check out the analysis for 2008.

For month of Jan 2009.

For Feb 2009, we have the followings:

• The brand of this blog
  
• A company providing HAPS technology
  
• Malwares and Phishings
  
• A speaker in WCIT 2008
  
• Tips for database remote connection over the Internet
  
• People are interested to compete with the biggest ERP software in the world
  
• Internet slow in Malaysia
  

It is fun to see what most people are thinking and having the same problems.

Overview:

• Total monthly traffic increased by 7.77%%
  
• Traffic from referring sites improved by 1.53%
  
• Google still tops contributor (68.16%). Slightly up from last month.
  
• Top 5 countries (Malaysia, US, UK, India, Singapore). Check out here.
  
• New visitors 88.30%. This partly due to the increased in traffic from search engines

This blog has a lot of potential. We are constantly seeking more contents and cover a broader aspect of tech news and happenings.

For those looking for collaboration, send email to team@it-sideways.com

Juniper Networks Enhances J-Partner Program

Channel structure announcement from Juniper Networks, attached and below. Spokesperson’s pic attached. Juniper announced the expansion of its J-Partner product specialization opportunities to keep pace with the company’s expanding product portfolio. All of Juniper’s products are now accessed by J-Partners through one of three product specialization areas including Advanced Security, Network Infrastructure, which includes the company’s newest EX Series Ethernet Switches and Advanced Network Infrastructure with high-end routing platforms deployed into the largest high-performance networks worldwide.

The new J-Partner Services Specializations allows J-Partners to build margin-rich services practices that correspond to their Juniper product specializations. Designed to increase revenue, profits, and customer satisfaction, Juniper’s Services Specializations deliver the enablement tools needed to optimize practices to more efficiently and profitably deliver a wide range of services surrounding Juniper products and solutions. Reflective of Juniper’s core value proposition of offering partners the best services opportunity in the industry, the new J-Partner Service Specializations include Design, Implement and Operate.

Check out the details here.

Adobe Scene7 Survey Reveals Global Trends in Online Marketing and Merchandising For 2009

Web marketing continues to be an area of investment for businesses. In challenging economic times the Web is a vehicle that can deliver a high-impact marketing programs that can be easily and immediately measured, and survey respondents from around the world say they are planning to invest in new rich media and social networking technologies to engage customers.

Check out more details here.

Microsoft (Global) Coping With Interim Uncertainties

Microsoft is still big and very very big.

And I was first enlightened to take note that Microsoft was preparing for the fact that the sales of software application like Microsoft office will drop significantly during current financial crisis. The first thing which I noticed was from Jonathan's blog about the 'hidden' collaboration between Microsoft and Sun Microsystem. Details wasn't discoursed, but it is about Microsoft being an advertiser of Sun's Java download. Check it out here.

Let's focus on Microsoft Office; the most popular software application and the most pirated software application in the world. Almost instantly, as soon as someone starts a computer (be it Windows, Mac, or Linux), you just expect to launch Microsoft Word or Excel.

By the way, have you check out the latest Open Office ? It has been tremendously improved.

So, I assume that MS Office sales will drop significantly during the financial crisis (at least in the beginning part of it). Why not just use free software which is actually compatible with MS Office ?

Then not too long ago, Microsoft announced new approach for anti-piracy; Office Genuine Advantage.

And then Microsoft global announced job cut for the first time in the history; well it is nothing actually since almost everybody is doing that at the same time.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I agree with Erin that Microsoft came out earlier than some other people to tell that 'hey people are not buying software enough!!!'

And then own retail stores.

This is something to learn here.

My take is that definitely, more people will switch to Open Office at least for the interim. And by piggy-back on Java download, the effects can be countered more less fairly.

This is to me, business. When you think about business, think Steve Ballmer.

Sun Microsystem Business Revenues (Latest Discovery)

Image via CrunchBase

Thanks to Sun Microsystem's CEO Jonathan Schwartz for his sharing.

Check out how Sun Microsystem actually makes money these days because Sun is usually associated with the open source notion.

1. Enterprise SPARC systems - Unix server (hardware platform) such as blade server.
   
2. Licensed Java run-time (JRE) for PC, set top boxes and mobile devices (software).
   
   Even though Java run-time can be downloaded for free, but that is from a user point of view. This is the trick.... In fact, if you are hardware system manufacturer, Java run-time is not free for you.
   
   First of all, if you download Java run-time (JRE), you have to install it, you can't copy the JRE from one machine to another, therefore, you can't redistribute the JRE (without the installer) without permission from Sun.
   
   Secondly, there is only a handful of platforms for download of JRE and Symbian, Mac OS, Windows Mobile are not included. Try to download and see.
   
   
   
   Then, check out here why would hardware system manufacturer would purchase the Java run-time.
   
   
3. MySQL - Enterprise database
   
4. Solaris - enterprise computing and the cloud
   
5. Niagara platform - Competiting with IBM's AIX and HP's HPUX
   
6. Amber Road - storage system

This indicates that Sun Microsystem is selling technology and the marketing is free-for end-user download termed as either GPL or LGPL.

Tech Blog Malaysia Statistics (Jan 09)

Check out the statistic for 2008.

For Jan 2009, we have the followings:

• The brand of this blog
  
• A company providing HAPS technology
  
• Malwares and Phishings
  
• A common VB6 programming problem
  
• Promotional codes for e-learning
  
• A speaker in WCIT 2008
  

Overview:

• Total monthly traffic decreased by 1.11%
• Traffic from referring sites improved by 0.07%
• Google still tops contributor (66.39%). Slightly down from last month.
• Top 5 countries (Malaysia, US, UK, India, Singapore)
• New visitors 87.26%. This partly due to the holiday season where loyal readers and critics were on leave

Strategies of ICT Companies (2009 1st Quarter)

I have only managed to gather about less than 10 strategies.

Company	Strategy
Hitachi	Focus on mid enterprise
Microsoft Malaysia	Focus on mid enterprise
Microsoft Global	Windows 7
Pikom	EPF Scheme
Green Packet	WiMAX
Juniper Networks	Government High speed broadband Project
Google	Google Apps Reseller Program
Nortel	Bankruptcy Protection
Compugates	New products

Basically for those in the enterprise business, they are going to aim high but shoot low, all going for mid-enterprise market. In fact, what this means is that enterprise customers actually are going to get a discount for buying solutions by opting for lower end products. The Google Apps will also suitable for mid-enterprise sector.

Juniper Networks provides the best sharing of strategy and hinted that the broadband initiative is still something big for telecommunication industry.

If you have any more strategies, please email team@it-sideways.com

Maybe it is not sustainable to keep changing strategies.

2009 Trends in Networking and Security

As I am desperately seeking 1st quarter strategies for companies, David Gibson of Inter-Asia is kind enough to supply me with this comments Wan Ahmad Kamal, Country Manager, Juniper Networks Malaysia about trend in Networking and Security for 2009.



There are 7 key areas identified by Juniper Networks Malaysia.

1. Next Generation Networking Internet Protocol (IP) Core and High Speed Broadband
   
   “The 13-country Frost and Sullivan Asia-Pacific Broadband Access Technology and Market Comparison study released mid-year, showed the money to be made by telcos from offering broadband services to both corporate and home users. With a compound annual takeup subscription growth rate across the region, of 19.9%, revenues across Asia Pacific stood at US$28.1billion in 2007 and this is projected to reach $42billion by end-2013. Focused investment in HSBB (high speed broadband) in Malaysia via fibre-to-the-home and Ethernet-to-the-home with last-100 metres vDSL built on an end-to-end infrastructure for which Juniper Networks is set to provide the core network and other components, will further stimulate broadband demand and enhance national competitiveness.
   
   
2. Network and data centre consolidation and network virtualisation
   
   “Network and data centre consolidation reached fever pitch in 2008. Organisations have been focusing on this as a key way to reduce operating expenditure but many networks are still far too complex. 2009 will see a shift in focus to look across the entire organisation and really address complexity. We’ve seen a number of customers look at cost and space savings available with this virtualisation technology in 2008. The challenge is getting server and network teams together to break down communication and education barriers to help businesses really streamline their data centres. 2009 will be the year that the network is the next to get the virtualisation treatment.”
   
   
3. Green Networking
   
   “Beginning in 2008, 2009 is likely to see quantifiable metrics for efficiency and power consumption become a core element to RFPs (requests for proposals). To date it’s been a ‘nice to have’ with vague, unquantifiable goals. There are now testing standards (which Juniper is leading with testing vendor Ixia) that allow more rigorous demands to be placed around the green credentials for networking equipment.”
   
   
4. IPv6
   
   “2008 saw an uptake in interest in IPv6, but only a few real implementations. As the number of available IPv4 addresses rapidly dwindles, 2009 may just be the year that the industry really starts to embrace IPv6. It’s not going to suddenly replace IPv4, but we’ll certainly see an increase in deployments as operators and companies look to future proof their networks.”
   
   
5. Network Operating systems
   
   “Maximising network and server resources depends on using them more effectively and this needs proper management. The network operating system is a key way to achieve this and as such it is likely to emerge as a more important part of the buying decision in 2009. This will see new battles emerging among the main network vendors to differentiate and help customers reduce operating cost. It’s certainly an area that Juniper is making significant investment with JUNOS forming a core part of the business strategy.”
   
   
6. Network intelligence and policy control
   
   “Companies are looking to leverage a lot more multiplay applications which will lead to an increasing mix of video, voice and data flowing over networks. Dealing with these multiple traffic types is certainly achievable with only modest networks - as long as they have enough intelligence built in. In 2009, the mechanism to achieve this level of intelligence, through advanced application aware networking, is likely to emerge as a key focus area for businesses.”
   
   
7. Network Security
   
   “Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, environmental pressures and tighter budgets going into 2009 from 2008, investments in Network and Internet Security will continue. Recent events that unfolded in Mumbai & Bangkok raise focus on not just security and connectivity, but continued access to information and data. In this aspect, ICE (In-Case of Emergency) capabilities, disaster recovery and business continuity will be top of mind with many CIOs. In addition, some organizations will supplement that with identity management and access control to tighten their information security. Consolidation and virtualization will extend to security solutions in an effort to reduce security appliance sprawl and reduce costs in power and cooling in the data centre.”

All comments attributable to Wan Ahmad Kamal, Country Manager, Juniper Networks Malaysia.

This is a good insights into what Malaysia is expecting to see in 2009.

Time-Bomb Management

The automotive industry is 113 years old and along that way, came many best practices for business. And today most of them are complaining. In fact, even with so much of exposure to the business, the Malaysian automotive industry once was almost going for the scrap.

It seemed like Satyam may not be alone, like many the company had no choice but to move forward and bear all sort of business risks, including inflating accounts and absorbing more credits to trade time and financial marginal gains for a bigger hope tomorrow. But too bad the medicine didn't work.

The first thing that came to my mind is that it is easier to start a business and bring it forward to glory; what needed are passions and cash flow.

But it is harder to maintain a business in the long run.

The commercial software industry is 34 years old (Microsoft),Satyam is 22 years old.

This goes on to suggest that software outsourcing is not everything pretty, it is always interim and cash flow. But having cash flow is essential to the growth of the business.

The next generation of entrepreneurs have to take this as an educational case study.. Suddenly, it seemed like India is having too much ICT, computer software and hardware professionals and now they are probably looking for a way out.

What will this contribute towards our immediate expectation ?

• With USA slowing down as well, my guess that Indian ICT professionals will be interested to gain entry into Malaysia and Singapore.
  
• Malaysia outsourcing business may gain significant benefits in the short term and hopefully that will contribute some to the ICT industry in Malaysia.
  
• But the slowing down of USA and India (as main contractors) may also affect the sales of outsourcing in Malaysia, because not many people are buying. Let's not forget that other countries in areas such as latin America also have software outsourcing capabilities, they term it as "near shoring", with this, it doesn't seem like Malaysia outsourcing is going to get a lot of business but we may be able to have a lot of people waiting for work to do.
  
• Project management, software management and human resource management may gain significant edge in the short term given that now there are more heads to manage and less numbers to look at. This is one area that Malaysia can focus on actually.

I think that Satyam has been waiting for the right time to announce this fraud and thanks to the financial crisis in the USA. Same goes to many other companies who would take opportunity to lay off employees.

The world needs to create a brand new world-economy or some sort of culture to absorb all these gaps as described by Satyam's founder B. Ramalinga Raju and I think many more will not agree more with him.

With the USA economy crisis, the world is not getting poorer, but the existing economy is; existing businesses are. Business people and entrepreneurs need to think about potential time bombs and this is not just some sort of enlightenment, it is a mandatory action. Someday your number will be up.

And just like software development, theory may not resonance well with actual codes. If it is not proven, it may be a time-bomb.

Time-bomb management is a new skill we all need to acquire.

Tech Blog Malaysia Statistics (Dec 08)

As usual, check out the analysis for 2007.

For month of Jan 2008
For month of Feb 2008
For month of Mar 2008
For month of April 2008
For month of May 2008
For month of June 2008
For month of July 2008
For month of Aug 2008
For month of Sep 2008
For month of Oct 2008
For month of Nov 2008..

For Dec 2008, we have the followings:

• The brand of this blog
  
• A company providing HAPS technology
  
• Malwares and Phishings
  
• A Common MS Windows' Problem
  
• A common VB6 programming problem
  
• Problems with accessing Apple store in Malaysia
• Internet performance

Overview:

• Total monthly traffic decreased by 9% (This is a more significant decrease compared to last month)
  
• Traffic from referring sites improved by 1.54% and even traffic traffic improved by 1.06%
  
• Google still tops contributor (67.7%). Slightly down from last month.
  
• Top 5 countries (Malaysia, US, UK, India, Singapore). Check out here.
  
• 84.22% of visitors are new visitors. (A slight decrease from last month, this is attributed to the increase in traffics from direct and referring sites.)

Conclusion:

• Site loyalty improved. This is good for marketing of certain types of product such as subscription based.
• Dec 2008 is a holiday month for readers and would-be readers, people seemed to use the Internet and search engines for more leisure topics. This is good too :P (let the world take a good break). We have stopped blogging since the past 9 days to respect this great harmony.
• The requirement for ICT news and blogs is most peak at the end of 1st quarter and 3rd quarter 2008. This suggests that people actually started working (selling) at the end of 1st quarter and try to meet quota at the end of 3rd quarter.
• IT-Sideways hasn't gain significant new traffic sources, partly due to limitations of topic categories.
• The ICT summary for 2008 suggests that Malaysian companies are not aggressive in terms of PR and marketing, mostly busy on sales and servicing customers. This is a trade-off for becoming global brand power.

“The Googlies” awards 2008

Rounding off another impressive year in Southeast Asia, Google recently handed out "The Googlies" awards at an appreciation event in Singapore to thank local customers and partners for their support in 2008. And two Malaysian companies won key awards - Malaysian Airlines won The Advertiser of the Year Award and MindShare won The Agency of the Year Award.

The Googlies awards were given to agencies and advertisers who have successfully and creatively leveraged Google's products and advertising solutions to execute sizzling, memorable online campaigns in the past year.





Check out the full press release.

Computer Games, Software, Best Practices and Marketing

Image via WikipediaI do play some computer games and would like to play more. I am currently playing Ceasar III, Starcraft, F-16 Allied Forces and etc.

Playing computer games can make you become smarter in a gig way, it is good for computer programmers. It is just like going to gym where it provides the following benefits:

• Forces one to take pressure (yes, playing game can be pressuring if you keep losing).
• Trains one to be more patience.
• Trains one to think about strategies and solutions to problems on the spot.
• Trains one to not to give up until you find a solution (this has more to do with spiritual side of it).
• Helps computer programmers to stay at the computer; to eat and sleep computer.
• Trains one to stay focus.
• Trains one to be innovative (in certain ways).
• Trains one to think about best practices.
• Get to become an expert in many things if you play many different games (it is good way to acquire knowledge).

In many ways, it is helpful more me because I enjoy think-out the logic behind the games which is what made up of the games and essentially, the core logic is what going to help you to win the game; enlightenment. For reasons that every game has limitations and it is by understanding such boundaries that one can conquer the game.

Check out here too and here where games can help the fight of survival.

I don't regard myself as a great gamer, but I do like to share out my experiences. Check out some of the strategies I have recorded here.

As what mentioned earlier, computer software is about best practices. And best practices not only help to make the product better, it is also helpful to allow the innovator to take a technical lead in the industry as well as gives edge for more marketing. One very typical example of this is Apply computer. Check out this video of new ways to make laptop. Fyi, Apple will take off respective videos after certain period of time (this is another strategy to wade off competition).

And wait a minute, about marketing, I have discovered that one good way to promote games is to put up a lot of screenshots. Check out these screenshots from Starcraft II, it is simply amazing, I just wouldn't mind getting one piece just for the sake of good graphics.

Check out the following list of games which I would like to play and what compelled me to desire it?

Games	What Interest Me ?
Trism (iPhone)	Because the creator made a lot of money by doing part time
Rock Band	Because the creators made a lot of money
Spore	Because it is considered the best invention of 2008 and it is featured in TED and everybody is like playing it

The conclusion of good marketing for computer games:

1. Good graphics
2. Everybody is playing it
3. Makes a lot of money

Tech Blog Malaysia Statistics (Nov 08)

What People Search on Tech Blog Malaysia (Nov 2008) ?

As usual, check out the analysis for 2007.

For month of Jan 2008
For month of Feb 2008
For month of Mar 2008
For month of April 2008
For month of May 2008
For month of June 2008
For month of July 2008
For month of Aug 2008
For month of Sep 2008
For month of Oct 2008

For Nov 2008, we have the followings:

• The brand of this blog
• A company providing HAPS technology
• Malwares and Phishings
• A Common MS Windows' Problem
• A common VB6 programming problem
• Problems with accessing Apple store in Malaysia

Overview:

• Total monthly traffic decreased by 7% (This is a significant decrease)
  
• Traffic from referring sites improved by 1.68%
  
• Google still tops contributor (68.17%). Slightly up from last month.
  
• Top 5 countries (Malaysia, US, UK, India, Singapore). Check out here.
  
• 86.51% of visitors are new visitors. (A slight decrease from last month, this is attributed to the total monthly traffic decrease.)

The Last Chance In the Capitalism World ?

Frankly speaking, I would have never imagined this day when USA is struggling with its economy. For instance, the automobile industry is really struggling and gives warning for serious consequences in the wake of collapsing.

It seems these days that people around the world are buying Toyota more often that you think. My uncle in Singapore told me that the two best brands are Toyota and Honda where the former is rugged, tough and economical and the latter is ladylike; smooth, desirable and not-so-tough. He warned me not to buy Nissan and etc. But I think Nissan Grand Livinia is cool.

So, nobody really cares about buying USA made cars, I suppose so. And it seems like the Americans also don't care about royalty anymore.

We have heard the story that Lenovo Thinkpad and Apple Macbook is not the most popular laptop in Japan, it is Toshiba because of royalty culture. Similarly, we also know that Koreans will only use Korean-made technology, so forget about selling to Koreans. There is actually not much different from Taiwan.

The point now is that culture differences has succeeded in helping the economy to become more diversified and helps with competitions which in turn promotes better economy.

But the Internet and globalized media is probably the spoiler. End-users' opinions have never been so important than before, couples with proliferation of blogs, the trend of buying is shifting to one-brand economy. Just think about Microsoft, Google, Toyota and whatever, you would understand.

This may not be a bad thing after all. This offers a window of opportunity for those rising stars to capture the global market with high possibilities faster than we could imagine. My take is that it could happen to you pretty fast, but you have to work hard and fast. Internet is definitely going to be the ultimate market place, we need to find a way to engage users more proactively and effectively through the Internet. And it is low-cost thing to have access to the Internet.

However, what's bitter is that when it is over, it is over. Entrepreneurs today running a risk that there will be no more loyal customers, it is possible that anyone can replace you.(Unless you become the one-brand)

The one-brand economy could perhaps be the peak of capitalism and the world needs to be ready for the next economy and I don't know what it is.

Anyway, the timer is still ticking.