This Week in Asia

This Week in Asia Episode 19: The Thai-Malaysia-Singapore Nexus

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:04:03 +0000

Benjamin Scherrey, the Chief Architect from Proteus Technologies from Thailand joined us with the TWIA crew without our host John Lim. With Daniel Cerventus taking over the helm of the moderator, our discussion started with recent tech events such as the Google Android Developer Conference and the preview of Nokia N900 event. We continued with the growing numbers of Facebook users in Asia and chatted about Baidu’s new Hulu clone – Qiyi and also Plug and Play center’s entrance into Malaysia. Of course, we have Ben Scherrey sharing the story behind the Nexus Project, his thoughts on the Thai tech scene and how the entire Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore) are now going to swept by a new wave of foreign investments and mentors from all over the world.

Google Android Developer Conference in Google Singapore: Cerventus and BL discussed the recent event where Google gave out Nexus Ones to the developers and how the conference went.
Nokia N900 Preview: Mike Foong and BL offered their glimpse into Nokia N900 and explained why this new phone is a worthy rival to Google Nexus One and iPhone.
Big Asian Countries See Most January Growth as Region Continues to Gain Facebook Users: We examine the trends on how the Facebook population is growing in Asia and particularly how it impact the Southeast Asia market, and also the major assess point is not web but thru mobile.
30%-50% Traffic To Existing Chinese Video Sites Is From Baidu, CEO of Baidu’s Qiyi Said: We wonder if Qiyi is entering into a tough fight with the other Chinese video sharing sites such as Tudou and Youku and made comparisons on how different it is compared to Google and YouTube in the US.
Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play Tech Center, I-city and PKNS forms strategics alliances: Given that Plug and Play has set up shop in Singapore, we ponder whether the Malaysian Plug and Play will create new synergies for the Southeast Asia market.
The Thailand Tech Scene: Ben also shares with us his work in E-Jamming and Project Nexus.
Final Plug for upcoming events: Barcamp Singapore 5 and TEDxKL on 27 March, Barcamp Kuala Lumpur in April and Barcamp Bangkok in May 22-23. We also talked about the upcoming PyCon in Singapore in June as well.

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This Week in Asia Episode 18: Everyone’s a Scraper

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:34:29 +0000

The TWIA crew gathers after Chinese New Year without Daniel Cerventus to run thru a couple of stories that rumbles across the Asia landscape this week. Starting with Zynga’s global expansion into India, the crew ponders whether the foreign companies are shifting their focus away from China. Once again, censorship takes the headline in China and Indonesia. Of course, we devise the new googleometer where we ask if Google is really moving out of China with their gestures on canceling the Android event in Beijing. Finally, the biggest story that rocked Southeast Asia with Facebook acquiring Octazen, a Malaysian based company and finally the crew looks at the rise of the Global QQ and ending with a short commentary on Siok Siok’s new film, Twittamentary.

Zynga in India: The creator of Farmville and Mafia Wars starts their global expansion with their first stop, India. Why not China?
Indonesia looks to block offensive Internet pages and China tightens control on websites rings a new dimension of censorship in Asia.
Facebook acquires Malaysian start-up, Octazen: We chat about the recent acquisition of Octazen, a Malaysian based start-up which specialize on contacts importer and wonders why TechCrunch offers an alternative perspective to the issue.
Google snubs China on Android: We ponder whether Google is really walking out of China and then the gestures of them canceling the Beijing Android developers’ event.
QQ expanding globally?: We discuss what QQ is really planning for their global expansion.
Lastly a short reprise on Siok Siok’s Twittamentary.

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This Week in Asia Episode 17: What’s the buzz with Yahoo! & Baidu

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:09:47 +0000

The TWIA crew gathers before the Chinese New Year on Valentine’s day with our typical ramblings with Google Nexus One and Google Buzz. Following on, we continue an interesting joint venture between Baidu (China’s top search engine) and Rakuten (Japan’s top e-commerce company), and examine their implications. Then we switched gears to examine why Yahoo! is doing well in East Asia and then do a quick discussion on Wireless SG, the continuing saga between Google China and the Chinese government and Paypal’s run-in with India regulators.

From Google Nexus One to Google Buzz: We discuss what are Mike’s thoughts on Google Nexus One followed by the crew’s reactions to the story of the week: Google Buzz.
Rakuten Allies With Baidu To Promote Their E-commerce Business in Mainland China: An interesting joint venture and alliance with Baidu’s top search engine moving into the e-commerce space with a Japanese top e-commerce platform, Rakuten and how it will pit against Ali-Baba, TaoBao, Dang Dang and other e-commerce sites in China.
Yahoo’s Hidden Treasures Are in Asia: We looked at Benjamin Joffe’s analysis on Yahoo! and how it is relatively success in the East Asian markets by working with local partners in China (AliBaba) and Japan (Soft Bank).
Wireless@SG goes places with new engine: The crew looks at the possibility on how Wireless@SG in Singapore can finally monetize with their new location based service engine.
One month later, Google still censors China search: The saga goes on and we debate whether it’s a posture from Google to push the boundaries drawn by the Chinese authorities.
PayPal: India payments suspended for ‘at least a few months’: The crew talks about how PayPal’s run in with the Indian regulation authorities led to Indian users unable to access their accounts and get their money from the bank.
Check out Daniel’s new blog Cerventus.com and a quick plug on Geeks on the Plane coming to Echelon 2010 organized by E27.

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This Week in Asia Episode 16: Open Source Rocks!

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:05:03 +0000

With Pamela Fox (@pamelafox) from Google Australia as our special guest this week, the TWIA crew tried to make sense out of the JooJoo’s new partnership with CSL Malaysia. We also reviewed the future of Naver, the top search engine in South Korea, the Malaysia government’s declaration of 95% adoption in OSS and most exciting of all, the impact of the court ruling on iiNet’s victory over the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT). Not to mention, we weaved Google Wave, FilmCamp SG, the #dIE6 movement and adoption of open source in governments into an exciting week of This Week in Asia.

The return of JooJoo from Fusion Garage and the new battle against Apple’s iPad together with the partnership with CSL Malaysia: With their declaration that pre-sales for JooJoo went up after the announcement of iPad, the TWIA crew and their special guest talked about the implications of the partnership of JooJoo with CSL Malaysia with the latter doing the manufacturing of the tablet.
NHN Posts All-time High Profits, Yet “Future Isn’t All That Rosy,” Analysts Say: Will Korea’s top search engine prevail given CyWorld has been taken over by Facebook in Korea?
Safe Harbour for Australian ISP: The ruling on the iiNET and AFACT case offer a new light for the ISPs in Australia.
Malaysia govt touts 95 percent OSS adoption: Do you believe this? You can read this report from MAMPU and ask yourself whether the news is really true.
Modern Browsers for Modern Applications: Check out the crew’s initiative to send IE6 to the graveyard with the hashtag #dIE6.

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This Week in Asia Episode 15: The iPad Tsunami

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:50:21 +0000

Michael Smith Jr, Director YDN SE Asia from Yahoo! joins the TWIA crew as our guest for the week. The discussion centered on the aftermath of the Apple iPad after months of speculation. With the Founders’ Institute coming to Singapore following after many incubators setting up shop here, the TWIA discussion group discussed the impact on tech entrepreneurship in Singapore and overall to the other countries Indonesia and Malaysia in Southeast Asia. With Maxis opening apps store in Malaysia and China’s declaration that they have nothing to do with the attacks on Google, the crew steered ahead with an exciting week in Asia.

The Apple iPad: Who among us within the TWIA crew will buy it? We discuss how we felt about the product and the joys and disappointment accompanied with the announcement by Steve Jobs yesterday. An interesting point from Michael why Flash is not supported on Apple products.
Founders’ Institute launched in Singapore: With Founders’ Institute decided to set up shop in Singapore. Michael also weighed in his opinions about the issue and discussed with the whole crew how the whole region will be affected by this sudden surge of incubators turning up in Singapore.
Maxis setting up an apps store: Malaysia telco Maxis has set up an apps store for developers. We looked at the general trends of telcos trying to get into the apps stores bandwagon and chatted about the possible implications on the industry in general. One more thing, they are not telling us about how they are going to share profit with the developers.
China denies involvement in Google cyberattacks: So, what’s next for Google China?

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This Week in Asia Episode 14: Don’t give up on China

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:12:21 +0000

George Codula, the co-founder of Web2Asia, joined the TWIA crew this week to tell us the other perspective behind the Great Firewall on the recent Google showdown with the Chinese government, and examined the implications on Yahoo! and consequences on Google products if they departed. The group also chatted about the new apps store by TaoBao and the social gaming trends in China. The crew and their guest then moved back to talk about Rais Yatim, a minister from Malaysia on banning Facebook and Twitter and finally, the ruling from the South Korean supreme court on virtual and real currency.

Chinese E-Commerce Platform TaoBao launches App Store:
The Aftermath of Google Showdown: We heard that Google China is back to business. George Codula offer a different perspective from the Great Firewall on the matter and how the Chinese are viewing the whole affair. We also examine the implications on Google’s possible departure on their products and the fate of other foreign companies like Yahoo!.
5 Predictions for China Social Games in 2010: We discuss about the predictions made on social games and ponder if most of them will happen.
Malaysia’s Minister, Rais Yatim wants to ban Facebook and Twitter in Malaysia: Of course, it led an uproar from the social media and got the hashtag #yorais on the third most trending topic in Twitter. We also wonder whether the Malaysian government is taking a leaf from the Chinese government.
Virtual money is Real money in South Korea according to supreme court: A ruling from the South Korean Supreme Court on virtual is now real currency leads to interesting implications on financial transactions in Korea. We also compare how this ruling differs from how virtual currency is regulated in China.

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This Week in Asia Episode 13: The Google Showdown with China

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:28:12 +0000

Gen Kanai, Director of Asia Business Development from Mozilla Corporation joins the TWIA crew as our guest to discuss the Google Showdown with the China government on unfiltered search & censorship and examine the implications of foreign companies entering into the Chinese market. We continue to discuss the recent Yahoo! Friendster partnership in Southeast Asia and an exciting discussion about the security of mobile banking in Korea and how that ties up with browsers, search engines and security protocols in East Asia.

Show Notes on This Week in Asia:

Samsung Developer Event in Zouk, Singapore: A short account on the event as Daniel and BL attended the event, and also there is an announcement on a competition or hackathon for development in March (We will put up more details once Samsung sends us the information).
The Google Showdown with China: The press statement from Google on their decision to stop censorship on their search results and taking on the Chinese government to the extent that they might have to shut down their offices in China, sends out major ripples to the whole of Asia. We hear different views (George Codula – who is coming as a guest on our show in the coming week, BL and Tangos Chan) on the issue and the official response from the Chinese government (Source: BBC News).
Yahoo! Southeast Asia and Friendster Partnership: The crew examine the impact of the Yahoo! Southeast Asia and Friendster partnership.
Korea Authorities Slammed for ‘Myopic’ Approach to Wireless Banking Security: Gen Kanai and the TWIA crew discuss the adoption of the SEED protocol (a block cipher developed by the Korean Information Security Agency) and the consequence of monoculture in the Korean Internet space that does not support mobile banking on iPhones or in any browser other than Internet Explorer.
East Asia Internet as a whole: The crew and Gen Kanai discuss about the trends and observations about the web-tech in East Asia and surprisingly, Google is not dominant in the East Asia markets. Additional References: Japan Mobile Social Networking Statistics
The Future of Technology is: BL narrates the HP event “The Future Is” and talks about the “Blog a Trend” competition open for Singaporeans.

Update 1: Gen Kanai’s talk “The cost of monoculture” in Barcamp KL 2009

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This Week in Asia Episode 12: From Cracking Firewalls to Nexus One

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:33:00 +0000

The TWIA crew starts off the new year with the story of the Great Firewall of China breaking down for a few hours and talk about the new legalized video service from Baidu starting up soon there. While Google’s new phone “Nexus One” has taken the whole world by storm, the crew examines how the Asian market views this new phone and the adoption of Android operating system. Finally, the crew ends with a discussion on the seven technology incubators selected by National Research Foundation Singapore and how it will change the landscape in Southeast Asia as a whole.

Great Firewall of China crashed: We hear that China enjoyed total Internet freedom early morning last Monday and its implications to censorship.
Baidu Confirms New Ad-Supported Online Video Venture: Baidu is launching a new ad-supported online video service similar to Hulu in China. The crew discussed whether the service will take off given the heavy competition by the other video sharing sites in China: Tudou, YouKu, 56.com and ku6.
The Launch of Google Nexus One and the Android Market in Asia: With the launch of Google Nexus One, the crew discuss whether the phone can surpass the popularity of the iPhone and also the adoption of Android in Asia.
7 Incubators Selected for Singapore National Research Foundation Technology Incubation Scheme: We talked about how the choice of this seven incubators: Clearbridge Accelerator, I2G Tech Accelerator, Neoteny Labs, Plug and Play, Social Slingshot, Small World Group and Stream Global.

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This Week in Asia Episode 11: The Asia Web-Tech Odyssey 2010

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:24:08 +0000

The whole crew takes the last podcast of 2009 to review the major events that rocked the web and tech landscape and also makes predictions for the new decade of 2010. This is probably our longest episode over an hour long and also a rare one which was done in the afternoon today.

Review of the Year 2009 in the Asia Web and Technology Landscape: The Rise of Asia Social Networks (QQ) with virtual currency and goods and also the mobile web economy beginning with the emergence of location based mobile social networking apps: FourSquare and Gowalla in Asia. Of course, we reveal how often our podcast has been downloaded.
Predictions Ahead for 2010 in the Asia Web and Technology Landscape: Netbooks, Cloud Computing, Broadband Infrastructure in Asia and how it might lead to a new era of content production for podcasts and videocasts in Asia. Short notes on venture capital in 2010 and whether we will see more companies getting next stage funding.

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-ac105e116e01749fa175915cc9e6f5d9}

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This Week in Asia Episode 10: A Conversation with Joi Ito, Neoteny Labs

admin — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:23:10 +0000

Another special episode from the crew in This Week in Asia. Following the Neoteny Conference last week on 12-13 Dec in Singapore, we manage to catch Joi Ito (Founder of the Neoteny Labs, CEO of Creative Commons, Board member of Digital Garage) for a short conversation. We discussed with Joi on the origin, purpose and plan for Neoteny Labs in Singapore and around Southeast Asia, the lessons of agile development, pivoting and unstructured learning for start-ups, and his thoughts on the evolution of the web in the coming year. Joi also shared with us on what traits he look for in the entrepreneurs when reviewing a potential company for investment and mentoring.

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