Internet is (NOT SO) Hot in Malaysia

Think Internet is popular enough in Malaysia? Not yet, according to recent report by Nielsen... With only 20% reachability for Internet media (despite doubling in the last five years), the most popular blog or Internet site might still unheard of by 80% of the population... Read on the full report... 23 October 2008 Kuala Lumpur Mainstream media continues to dominate the Malaysia media scene with TV and radio reaching over 90 percent of the population and newspapers 54 percent. Internet penetration has also doubled in five years, now reaching two in 10 of the population, according to the latest findings from Nielsen Media Index survey. The Nielsen Media Index continuously tracks media consumption, product ownership, demographics and lifestyle information. The latest survey interviewed a representative sample of 10,000 individuals aged 15 years and above in Peninsular Malaysia over a continuous period from July 2007 to June 2008. “Traditional media such as print, TV and radio still command a high reach among the general population, but Internet will become a more integral part of the media mix while this medium continues to grow in this market,” said Andrea Douglas, Executive Director for Nielsen Media Research Malaysia. Newspapers The overall daily readership of newspapers stands at 54 percent of the population aged 15 years and above in Peninsular Malaysia (see Table 1). The growing newspapers readership over the last five years is driven primarily by Bahasa Malaysia dailies (28%). Harian Metro in particular leads overall newspaper readership and the Bahasa Malaysia newspaper segment at a reach of 15 percent (see Chart 1). Following Harian Metro as the second to fourth most read Bahasa Malaysia dailies are Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo at eight, seven and three percent respectively (see Chart 1). Among English dailies, The Star maintained its lead with eight percent readership. Both NST and The Sun maintained their readership at two percent, and Malay Mail at less than one percent (see Chart 2). Sin Chew Daily continues to lead the Chinese dailies at eight percent, followed by China Press at five percent. Guang Ming Daily and Nanyang’s readership stands at two percent respectively (see Chart 3). Among the Tamil dailies, Nanban stays ahead of Tamil Nesan with its two percent readership. “Malaysians are opting for online news for faster and constant updates, as seen by the 35 percent growth in online newspaper readership over a year, reaching one million readers”, says Ms Douglas. “However, news seekers have not abandoned the traditional medium as nine in 10 readers still obtain their news via a hard-copy”. Internet Increasing Internet penetration goes hand in hand with increased Internet usage. According to the Nielsen Media Index, Past week (1) Internet users rose to 21 percent this year, with almost four in 10 users spending between one to two hours on the Internet every day. Apart from the more common features such as email, surfing and information gathering, the popular activities for netizens are online TV/music/games (47%), followed by message/chat/blogging (45%) and reading newspaper/magazines (35%). Radio Total radio listenership remains high – reaching out to 92 percent of the population, according to the latest Nielsen Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) study. Among radio channels, ERA tops the list with 28 percent reach, followed by hotfm at 26 percent. SINAR, THR Raaga/THR Gegar, MY FM and 988 ranked third to sixth position. Ranked seventh overall, Klasik nasional is RTM’s top channel, followed by Muzikfm, KELANTANfm, KEDAHfm and aifm. Free-to-air (FTA) and Pay-TV Total TV viewing remains popular at 94 percent viewership. Among the free-to-air channels, TV3 continues to be in the lead by reaching 73 percent of the population, followed by RTM2 at 52 percent, RTM1 at 42 percent and NTV7 at 40 percent. TV9 and 8TV’s viewership are at 32 percent and 31 percent respectively. As for Pay-TV Astro, its Family Package is still the most popular with seven in 10 subscribers watching channels within this package. Meanwhile Yesterday (2) viewership for satellite channels has grown from a reach of 20 percent to 33 percent in the past five years. “A plethora of TV channels are available for the audience in Malaysia now, with an average of 20 channels received at home compared to an average of 11 channels five years ago. The average number of channels viewed per person has also more than a doubled during the same period,” added Ms Douglas. PowerScreen PowerScreen reaches 41 percent of the population in market centres. It attracts PMEBs, other white collar workers, those aged 20-29 years and with high monthly household income. Posad Sixty four percent of the population has visited an outlet with Posad media in the past four weeks. Posad media with the highest reach are Sound Ads and Trolley Ads, at 61 and 56 percent respectively. Vision Four Viewing Guide Vision Four Viewing Guide, reaching three percent of the population in the past three months, is likely to attract PMEBs, those with high monthly household income, people who invests in mutual fund/unit trusts, and air travelers. Cinema Past two-week cinema goers recorded a four percent reach. Cinema patrons are more likely to be white collar workers and students. About The Nielsen Company The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing information, media information, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com. Table 1: Media Reach (Base: people aged 15+ in Pen. M’sia) July'06-June '07 July'07-June '08 % Var Media ('000) Reach % ('000) Reach % TV (yesterday) 13,047 93 13,416 94 +1 Radio (past week)* 12,611 90 13,208 92 +2 PosAd (past month) 9,270 66 9,143 64 -2 Newspapers (yesterday) 7,695 55 7,667 54 -1 Magazines (past month) 3,821 27 3,803 27 - PowerScreen( past month) 3,389 24 3,170 22 -2 Internet (past week) 2,554 18 2,937 21 +3 Cinema (past 2 weeks) 592 4 617 4 - Vision Four Guide (past 3 months) 618 4 393 3 -1 Source: Nielsen Media Index and *Nielsen Radio Audience Measurement (Sw2’07 & Sw2’08) Chart 1 Chart 2 Chart 3 (1) Past week consumption of any media is the equivalent of the Average Weekly usage/consumption measure. (2) Yesterday consumption of any media is the equivalent of the Average Weekly usage/consumption measure SOURCE: NIELSEN's Mainstream Media Continues To Lead Malaysia's Media Scene Read a review by BERNAMA: "Mainstream Media Continues To Dominate Media Scene, Says Nielson"

Semangat Malaysia Kini (2008)

Malaysia according to Google Zeitgeist 2008:
(thanks to @andrewkjs for alerting me about this fresh list reported just hours ago)

1. "2008 has been a year of change in Malaysia and people have certainly been using Google to access information about these changes" - Wait, I see "Yahoo" at #2 and "Google" at #6... Try harder Google!
   
   
2. "The fastest rising searched items documented the rise in popularity of local news portals like Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today." - "Malaysia Today" is not exactly a "news" portal - it's a political tabloid! You can however says that Malaysians internet users are very interested in politics since all the four online publications mentioned including Harakah and Malaysian Insider are very political-oriented, with Harakah being highly political. Or people just prefer alternative/independent media since blogspot and youtube made it to top-10 too.
   
   
3. "Politics was also a topic of great interest in Malaysia this year, with searches aimed not only at politicians like Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Kit Siang, but also significant political events such as this year’s general election." - BTW, I don't think Barack Obama, Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana are "local" celebrities! Plus, Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana is the same person being Hannah Montana a TV character played by 16-year old Miley Cyrus. And I totally did not expect Ibiden and Gamuda to top news search for 2008, being at #1 and #10 respectively...
   
   
4. "Local car brand Perodua Nautica, Olympic badminton medalist Lee Chong Wei and domestic travel destination Terengganu also figured prominently." - Yay, Penang is top-6, next after its love-hate UNESCO heritage twin, Melaka, and nobody wants to go to KL or Cyberjaya! And Perodua Nautica, being #1 most searched car brand in Malaysia is missing from the world's largest encyclopaedia, the Wikipedia. BTW, we're still waiting for the chosen name for Proton's first MPV...

The "spirit of the times/age and its societies" list... ("Each of these lists shows the fastest rising searches, meaning these were the search terms that saw the largest increase in searches during 2008, as compared to 2007.")

Fastest Rising

1. malaysiakini
2. facebook
3. harakah
4. tv3
5. malaysia today
6. rapidshare
7. blogspot
8. youtube
9. malaysian insider
10. beijing 2008

Most Popular

1. youtube
2. yahoo
3. friendster
4. utusan
5. mp3
6. google
7. games
8. map
9. lyrics
10. myspace

Google News local searches

1. ibiden asia
2. anwar ibrahim
3. datuk seri
4. olympic badminton results
5. chua soi lek
6. malaysian election results
7. malaysia budget 2009
8. malaysia new cabinet
9. permatang pauh election
10. gamuda bhd

Local celebrities

1. anwar ibrahim
2. barack obama
3. lim kit siang
4. chua soi lek
5. mahathir mohamad
6. miley cyrus
7. lee chong wei
8. tony pua
9. hannah montana
10. siti nurhaliza

Local travel destinations

1. terengganu
2. pulau tioman
3. genting highland
4. port dickson
5. melaka
6. penang
7. pulau perhentian
8. bukit tinggi
9. sunway lagoon
10. selangor

Car brands

1. perodua nautica
2. toyota rush
3. proton mpv
4. proton blm
5. honda city
6. proton saga
7. grand livina
8. honda accord
9. myvi
10. honda civic

Just as you thought, or any surprises like mine above? What other categories do you think Google Zeitgeist should offer?

The three (festive) days of remembrances, well-wishings, pardons and sacrifices...

From 10 Zulhijjah (starting from "maghrib" time or the dusk of 7 DEC 2008) until 12 Zulhijjah, 1429th year of Islamic Hijrah Calendar, some 1.5 Billion Muslims are celebrating their loyalty to the one God of Ibrahim a.s, Musa a.s., Isa a.s and Muhammad s.a.w...

Joining over three millions Muslims congregating in Mecca are everywhere else in the world, starting with a morning prayer and khutbah on the morning of December 8th, 2008, and a special takbir utterance will continue to be heard until the Asr afternoon of the 10th of December.

For fellow tweeters, don't forget to tag your twitwishes with #EID for the next couple more days. (Psst. feel free to follow me, ie. @WoNoJo on twitter or friendfeed)

Have a great Eid al-Adha festival!

Maaf Zahir & Batin...

--
Nasir

CREDIT: Original photo entitled "Supplicating Pilgrim at Masjid Al Haram. Mecca, Saudi Arabia" is from from Wikimedia Commons

And here's another special card for the the month I found at Viprasys.com Forum, as posted by its moderator named "moosa", last year, for the similar 3-in-1 occassions:

Eat-outs and Blogging

Been doing those a lot the past couple months, and even more intense this week, and obviously lots of out-of-home/pajamaworking. Heck, I even had two steamboats just this week, one in Balik Pulau last Sunday and another just now in Gurney Drive. And tons of seafood too yesterday in Batu Maung, and between the eatings and occasional breaks for the photo shoots to feed Facebook and Picasa, I lost count of how many pieces of tiger shrimps I feeded myself - like Bubba Forrest Gump said - shrimp grilled, shrimp fried rice, shrimp steamboat etc. And then the excessive nite stays till wee morning hours past Subuh to complete posts like this and on four other blog sites (not including Facebook social network, Picasa photo blog, YouTube etc. video blog, Yahoo & Google Groups, Twitter etc. microblogs bla bla...)!






And like all addictions and craves, this must stop! Gotta stay home more, eat less and actually getting long-overdue work (and sales) done. Gotta start climbing those hills in Bukit Jambul and Teluk Bahang again... ;) Wait, there's Raya again this Monday nite, and looks like there will be more more activities involving meeting people and feeding tons of food again! The week after Eid al-Adha and program Usahawan Rakyat Deputy Chief Minister Fairus then... Gotta start thinking of plans for 2009 & 2010!

Happy Holidays and New Year this coming January 2009/Muharram 1430H everyone!

What a Week!

It's been a busy month for me since early October, and a packful week just the most recent one (the 1st Global Entrepreneurship Week/Malaysia - 17th until 23rd of November 2008, which I co-hosted especially in Penang, Malaysia) that I could barely write much about anything. But they say "pictures are worth a thousand words each" (or so), so, here are my 300,000+ words (enough?):-



Though, I have always been microblogging on twitter, facebook, topix etc. including for "The Week" itself, so, this blog had never really been dried of feeds.

Plus, I did put up so posts on blogs that I co-produce: ICT Penang and Kelab Usahawan Sosial Balik Pulau (KUSbp)

More past photos (flickr stream):

ADVERTORIAL: .ASIA landrush at up to 50% SAVING!

Starting from the 7th of October, 1oasis.net offers you .ASIA domains at an exceptional price of RM33 or less. Save or offer your customer one of the most popular TLDs at this unbelievable price as we slash our prices by as much as 50%!

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Note:

• The .ASIA promo is scheduled to begin on 7th October, 2008 at 10:30 UTC (18:30 MYT)
  
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• Renewals and Transfer-Ins will not attract promo pricing.
• There are no restrictions on the number of domains that can be registered within the Promo period.

---

Promotions on offer this October:

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RESERVE your .ASIA name TODAY while they are still available - http://daftar.asia

All red here on 1 Syawal 1429H

The favorite colours here were RED (shown above by the beauties who visited my house yesterday - the one in pinkish dress if my niece, and the rest are part-time model wife of my cousin and her offsprings) and green here in Balik Pulau, Penang (CLICK FOR OUR GREETING CARD!), when we celebrated the 1st of Syawal month of Islamic calender. It's the celebration of Eidul Fitri al-Mubarak for over a Billion Muslims around the world including some nearly 20-million in Malaysian and over 200-million more in neighboring countries of Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei and Singapore.

Happy Syawal to all, and my best wishes to all who celebrate this joyous season of strong brotherhood, friendship, unity and forgiveness. World Peace! (me being a beauty queen/Miss World contestant).

Kempen Penglobalisasian Keusahawanan (Entrepreneurs: take on the world!)

Sebuah program kempen berskala global untuk keusahawanan akan tiba dalam bulan November dan seluruh rakyat Malaysia juga diajak untuk bersama-sama menjayakannya. Minggu Keusahawanan Global 2008 (“Global Entrepreneurship Week – GEW 2008”) yang sulung ini adalah acara terbesar dunia untuk merayakan dan menggalakkan cetusan inovasi, budaya keusahawanan dan percambahan kreativiti secara global.

GEW yang ditaja diperingkat antarabangsa oleh NYSE Euronext, IBM dan Ernst & Young adalah hasil perkongsian usahasama Yayasan Ewing Marion Kauffman di Amerika Syarikat dan Kempen Make Your Mark di United Kingdom, yang mana kedua-duanya telah menganjurkan acara keusahawanan seminggu di kedua-dua negara terbabit.

Sehingga kini, lebih daripada 70 organisasi dari 60 negara akan terlibat dalam GEW yang dijangkakan akan menarik penyertaan daripada jutaaan belia dan remaja di seluruh dunia.
Pihak penganjur menjangkakan lebih banyak negara akan turut serta tak lama lagi.

“Kita kini hidup dalam detik yang paling dipenuhi dengan keusahawanan.”, kata Carl Schramm, Presiden dan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Kauffman Foundation.

“Dengan membantu para usahawan muda untuk meneroka kaedah-kaedah keusahawanan yang baru, melalui media dan teknologi baru yang lebih diterima mereka, meraka akan mampu membina hubungan yang perlu untuk terus meningkatkan kemakmuran dunia. Minggu Keusahawanan Global adalah sebuah langkah besar ke arah ini.”

Warisan Global Sdn Bhd selaku hos di peringkat Malaysia akan mengumpulkan rakan usahasama tempatan dan menyelia acara-acara dan aktiviti-aktiviti keusahawanan sepanjang minggu tersebut (17-23 NOVEMBER 2008).

Tumpuan utama GEW ialah pelbagai acara-acara yang akan diadakan di peringkat antarabangsa, nasional dan kedaerahan yang akan melibatkan para usahawan dan bakal usahawan muda berkenaan dengan pelbagai aspek keusahawanan.

Di Malaysia, rakan usahasama yang telahpun mengesahkan penganjuran acara masing-masing untuk GEW termasuklah Perbadanan Pembangunan Multimedia (MDeC), Persatuan Usahawan ICT Pulau Pinang (ICT Penang), Gabungan Pusat-pusat eKomuniti Pulau Pinang (GPeK), MCA ICT Resource Centre (MiRC), Persatuan Teknousahawan Malaysia (TeAM), Cradle Investment Programme, Ideapreneur.net dan institusi-institusi pengajian tinggi termasuk Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Warisan Global, Dhaksinamoorty Balakrishnan berkata, “Kami menjemput lebih banyak organisasi khususnya kolej-kolej dan universiti-universiti untuk lebih terlibat dalam menjayakan GEW 2008.”

Untuk organisasi yang berminat untuk menganjurkan acara atau menaja sebarang acara yang telah diaturkan untuk Minggu Keusahawanan Global Malaysia bolehlah menghubungi Warisan Global melalui emel (gew@warisanglobal.com) atau melawat laman sesawang www.gewmalaysia.com (Malaysia) atau www.unleashingideas.org (Global).

Jamuan Iftar (Berbuka Puasa) Ramadan 1429H ICT Penang 2008 (16sep08)

Bersempena dengan Hari Malaysia 2008 dan malam Nuzul al-Quran 1429H, pihak Persatuan Usahawan ICT Pulau Pinang akan mengadakan jamuan berbuka (iftar) seperti yang diwartakan di bawah... (CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW LARGER SIZE)

CO-ORGANIZERS/SUPPORTERS:-

1. Dewan Perniagaan Melayu Malaysia Pulau Pinang (DPMMPP)
2. EventBrite.com
3. Gabungan Pusat e-Komuniti Pulau Pinang (GPeK)
4. Invest-in-Penang Bhd
5. NWC.com Sdn Bhd
6. Penang Development Corporation (PDC)
7. Smart Lab Sdn Bhd
8. TechBiz Penang
9. TechPenang.com
   
10. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)
11. WebPod DotCom / 1oasis.net
12. Whiz Technology Sdn Bhd
13. Hamba-hamba Allah...

Jemput hadir!

Anda Dahaga di Bulan Puasa?

Hehe, guys... Enjoy the slide below entitled "Thirst" (MALAY: "Dahaga" or "Haus"), selected as World's Best Presentation at SlideShare.net.

From SlideShare's Blog:

THIRST by Jeff Brenman, a beautiful presentation on the impending water shortage across the world was unanimously chosen by the judges as the best presentation in the contest.

What the judges had to say: “Creative, world subject, very clear and persuasive, most professional, great show and great design”

More winning works here:
http://www.slideshare.net/contest/results-2008

31 August 2008 in Pictures

Please wait for a while until the following slideshow loads completely... While you wait, enjoy the above video clip of latest Petronas TV advertisement (iklan merdeka 2008): "Aiman MacGyver"

Click above photo for more "Merdeka 2008" photos & slideshow @ The Star Online Gallery...

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Salaam 51st Merdeka 2008 (31aug-16sep08) & Ramadan al-Mubarak 1429H (sep08)...

To all Malaysians, enjoy the weeks of celebrations of 51 years of Nationhood (1957-2008), from tonight, 12:00 am, 31 AUGUST 2008 until 16 SEPTEMBER 2008 (Malaysia Day, since 1963)!

MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA!

And to all Muslims around the world, Happy Fasting the whole of Ramadhan al-Mubarak! May God accept your sincere ibadah, and rewards you in hereafter...

Penang Technopreneur Awareness Dialogue @ PDC Bayan Baru (27aug08)

PENANG TECHNOPRENEUR AWARENESS DIALOGUE

Date: 27^th August 2008
Venue: Auditorium, Penang Development Corporation
Target: 120 pax

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Entrepreneurs, Graduates, Final Year Students and Candidates for for TAP and MSC Pre Seed

RSVP @ TechPenang.com

And join the crowd @ penang20-08.crowdvine.com

Enquiries: En. Mairag (USM) @ 04-65304470 / Nasir (ICT Penang) @ 016-41-nasir

BETULKAH “PIZZA” TERMAHAL DI DUNIA BERHARGA RM8 JUTA?

Apakah persamaan di antara nama-nama seperti Business.com, Diamond.com, AsSeenOnTV.com, Korea.com, Shop.com, Loans.com, Autos.com, Computer.com dan NewZealand.com?

Kesemua domain-domain di atas (termasuklah yang tanpa laman Web) membolehkan pemiliknya mendapat habuan dari RM3,000,000 hingga lebih RM30 JUTA untuk setiap domain di dekad ini! Malah tahun 2008 sahaja menyaksikan transaksi sebanyak US$10 JUTA untuk FUND.COM, US$2.5M untuk PIZZA.COM, US$1.6M untuk DATARECOVERY.COM dan US$1M untuk CRUISES.CO.UK – KENYANG ATAU TIDAK KALAU ANDA DAPAT MAKAN “PIZZA” berharga RM 8,000,000?

Apakah ini yang dinamakan HARTA KARUN online? Bolehkah anda juga menemuinya?

Domain Tahap Atas (TLD) .ASIA baru sahaja dibuka kepada pendaftaran awam (di benua Asia yang mempunyai paling ramai penduduk di dunia melebihi setengah billion orang, dan paling pesat membangun dari segi jumlah pengguna baru Internet - tahap kepenggunaan melebihi 50%) pada tahun 2008, dan lihatlah nilai-nilai lelongan untuk nama-nama berikut:-

• DISCOVER.asia (US$77,011) ~ hampir suku juta Ringgit Malaysia!
• MODELS.asia ($41K)
• BUSINESS.asia ($29K)
• PROMOTION.asia ($26K)
• SPA.asia ($23K)
• RESORTS.asia ($22.5K)
• SUSHI.asia ($22.5K) ~ “sushi” lebih mahal daripada sebuah kereta?

Jelaslah, perniagaan yang hangat di alam nyata juga HANGAT di alam maya: HIBURAN, PELANCONGAN, KEWANGAN, KOMPUTER/TEKNOLOGI dan MAKANAN! Apa lagi yang HANGAT? Katakanlah “Ringtones” dan “Revolution”, misalnya... Bagaimana dengan Ringtones.org dan Revolution.org yang berjaya dijual pada harga ~ RM 400,000 setiap satu?

PERNAHKAH ANDA MENDENGAR NAMA-NAMA KENEGARAAN (ccTLD) berikut: Casino.de (Jerman), Jobs.ca, Phones.co.uk, Auto.es, Relatiegeschenk.nl, Apotheke.eu, Voitures.fr, 4x4.co.uk, SEO.de, Nepal.de, Pokern.at, CV.ca dan banyak lagi yang bernilai di antara RM 100,000 hingga RM3.5 JUTA setiap satu?

Bolehkah anda menemukan nama bertuah anda bernilai RM 1,000 hingga RM 100,000 misalnya dengan modal serendah RM33 setahun (PSST: Saya pernah, dan sudah banyak kali !!) – BONUS: Maklumat pemilikan anda juga boleh dirahsiakan secara PERCUMA.

Lagipun, sekiranya anda menjalankan mempunyai laman Web beralamat seperti nama-yang-panjang.blogspot.com dan www.geocities.com/nama_perniagaan_anda, bukankah LEBIH BIJAK sekiranya anda menggunakan alamat seperti www.NamaRingkas.com, RestoranTerbaik.asia, CawanganIndia.in atau BerniagaDiEropah.eu?

Bukankah lebih membanggakan dan profesional jika alamat emel anda berupa nama@syarikat.com berbanding awek2kiut@gmail.com, lelakihangat88@hotmail.com, iklanpercuma4microsoft@live.com dan sebagainya?

Dengan nama domain sendiri yang professional SEMURAH 10-SEN SEHARI (lebih murah daripada harga gula-gula kunyahan), anda boleh mempromosikan jenama anda sendiri melalui setiap emel yang anda hantar (atau terima) dan setiap aktiviti promosi entiti anda selama bertahun-tahun!

Mana tahu kalau nama domain anda juga bakal menjadi “Murtabak” kalaupun tak dapat jadi “Pizza” lantaran memberikan anda “Durian Runtuh Dot Com” sekelip mata?

Dapatkan nama bertuah anda sebelum orang lain kebas di http://daftar.asia !!

PROMOSI MERDEKA 2008: Lapan pelanggan bertuah yang menghantar testimonial terpilih akan dihadiahkan domain percuma bernilai sehingga RM38 dan banyak lagi hadiah menarik! Tarikh tutup: 31 OGOS 2008. Silalah MENDAFTAR untuk keterangan lanjut.

(INFOMERSIAL INI DIKARANG OLEH RAKAN ANDA DI 1OASIS.NET, PAKAR .COM YANG SEBENAR SEJAK 1998)

You must download this today!

6.95 million downloads so far and counting up fast, as of 10.30 pm MYT (2pm GMT) in just a little over 20 hours since FireFox 3.0 has been made available for public download throughout the world. That's nearly 350K downloads per hour, nearly 6000 downloads per minute or nearly 100 downloads per second!

Among ASEAN countries, Vietnam is on the lead in terms of number of downloads (over 33K), followed by Malaysia and Singapore with over 26K each.


Have you gotten yours?

If not, quickly head to FireFox download site. "Download Day" ends at 06:16:00 p.m. Wednesday June 18, 2008 (GMT) or 02:16:00 a.m. Thursday June 19, 2008 (MYT).

If you've downloaded yours, get a certificate and flaunt it!

CELCOM Broadband's Logic: FREE modem when you've already paid...

Frustrated with the slowness of EDGE, I figured it's time to check out 3G from Celcom. After all, the "free modem" advertisement aggressively plastered on newspapers etc. grabbed my attention.

So I drove down to Celcom centre in Bayan Baru and this time there are three counters set up for resellers (instead of only one not too long ago) showing how aggressive they are in marketing Celcom Broadband. I approached one reseller inside the shop (to enjoy the air-conditioned environment) and a salesgirl immediately explaining to me their on-going promotion for Celcom 3G Data Broadband - SALE prices for two types of HSDPA modems ranging from under RM400 to over RM700, and the unlimited data subscription packages starting at RM68/month for download speed up to 384Kbps, and RM98 for download speed up to 3.6Mbps. She explained though that with the latter package, only 1Mbps is guaranteed for Penang -- I was already turned off this time when all along I was expecting to get at least something close to 3Mbps.

I then asked "where's the free modem package?"

She quickly explained, to get the "FREE modem", I'd have to agree to a different set of subscription fees at RM99 and RM129 respectively instead, and get the "free" modem (that's supposed to sell for under RM400 -- retailed by Celcom for RM499 though, which Celcom insisted at a discounted price from the original price of RM799).

She put up a calculator for me: RM31 extra per month times 18 months (contract period or a penalty of RM350 is applicable, and NO 7-DAY REFUND GUARANTEE!) equals RM558, a lot more than the price of the modem!

So, for Celcom, customers need to pay an extra RM588 to get the "FREE modem!" Is it ironic?

Oh well, it's rather the same logic used to market TM Net Streamyx DSL packages, adding RM10/month for 12-24 months to pay for the "free DSL modem" (at a cost of RM120-240 to customer for modems that are available from under RM100 each).

Since I already have Streamyx service at home (still in love-hate relationship after using this DSL service for about five years now), I said thanks to the salesgirl and moved on to another reseller's counter to inquire about Celcom+Streamyx package, but was pointed to take queue for the official Celcom's counters. I figured, I'll just call or check its website first...

Celcom Broadband HSDPA modem: FREE = RM588!

TMNET Streamyx DSL modem: FREE = RM120+

Women power!

Got SMSes this morning from a couple of friends. One a lady and one gentlemen. It's about a news article on the today's paper -- Just have to remember to buzz me when seeing news like this I suppose...

It's Sunday morning, and I'm finishing a web development work for a client (My "off days" are usually on weekdays). Once finished, and I can happily go to a Amir's wedding ceremony ("kenduri kahwin" - he had gone through the "nikah" solemn last Wednesday which I forgot to attend -- missed the correct date, but he ended up showing up at my house that very night introducing his bride from my Ayer Itam kampung), and perhaps do some shopping this afternoon before meeting a business partner preparing for tomorrow morning's deal with a local university -- we're supposed to commercialize a visual media enhancement software product, the long 6+ month of negotiations and planning (and acting for the press)!

The few shops selling newspapers are just two-minute away from my house, including a 7-11 (although it only carries The Star, not the New Straits Times), but I figured I can check the specific article out faster by checking out the paper's website. Cool, it's there! "Why waste women power?", the article asks.

KUALA LUMPUR: Picture this: your secretary is typing your correspondence and handling your calls and appointments -- but from the comfort of her home.

Is this possible? Yes, if management takes up a suggestion by Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.

Dr Subramaniam, who took office on March 18, wants to increase women participation in the workforce and does not want family responsibility to curtail their involvement.

"Sixty per cent of our university students are women, so they must contribute to the country. Women, of course, do face a dilemma once they have a family. And many choose to stay at home because of their responsibilities," he said.

So Dr Subramaniam is calling on the private sector to take jobs, through outsourcing agencies, to women who choose to be homemakers .
"Another successful overseas concept is 'home office'. This means people take work home and work from there."

He hopes the private sector will lead the way.

"Industries and management have to change their mindset. They must, for instance, say, 'Yes, the secretary will not be in the office tomorrow but she will be doing the job from her home'."

Flexi-hours are another option.

..."

A positive start from the local government!

[Dr Subramaniam's deputy is a woman BTW, a famous one too - chief of Puteri Umno, Datuk Noraini Ahmad]

Now, we need to work on reviving the Pajamanation initiative... But reading Andy's blog post, I wonder too, "What's Walter up to these days..." (He's now with OLPC, another good cause on getting cheap laptop for kids around the globe, btw... but his personal website and blog are off at the moment!)

Heck, if I can make a decent earning at home, full time (I only go to my office some 20 minutes away once or twice a week - I hate the peak hours traffic!), many more can too, perhaps...

(working while at the same time not missing SUKMA (website is down!) live coverage on my LG LCD TV, catching up with MacBreak Weekly on iTunes and entertaining guests who arrived from Sepang last night - my sister with her daughter...)

Seeing light on Malaysia's IT Plan...

Despite the many impressing/marketing efforts by various local government and private bodies to show the world that Malaysia is on the verge of fast-paced development on Information & Communication Technology (ICT), up to the conclusion of the 16th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT 2008) just recently in Kuala Lumpur [proclaimed by its organizers as the "biggest ever" congregation for the Congress' 30-year history], for many Malaysians to-date, there are still much to be hoped for in terms of actual IT infrastructure, specifically with regards to the broadband speed and coverage throughout the relatively small nation (slightly larger than the state of US New Mexico - CIA, 2008) and general IT culture/adoption among Malaysians. [1 (2005)], [2 (2007)] [3 (2006-2007)]

Heck, while newsprints, local media and many independent bloggers (many of whom are locals as Malaysia is growing to become a 'blogging nation') may have sung praises for WCIT as a major world's event [1] [2] [3], elsewhere in the world, many people may have never heard of the event or the organizing body itself, the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA). Both the official website for WITSA and WCIT 2008 command very small web traffic with global ranking average exceeding 1.5M and 400K respectively [smaller numbers signify better ranking] for the past three months (according to Alexa with a third of the traffic to WITSA website comes from the United States and more than half to WCIT2008 website comes from Malaysia, its host nation) despite the big events held for at least three days and attended by at least 3000 "delegates" and perhaps over 50,000 exposition visitors.


Not so popular the event was, WITSA only gets a rather short article in the Wikipedia and there also lacks any dedicated article on "WCIT" -- A search on Wikipedia for "WCIT" only pulls a result of sixteen articles, many of which are unrelated, and the only related ones are MSC Malaysia (an "Multimedia Super Corridor" initiative by the local government, and marketed as one of the major organizer/sponsor for WCIT 2008) and Hannah Tan, a beautiful and talented personality who however failed to pull a significantly large bid for a set of dates with her during a WCIT Gala Dinner held on the second day of the 3-day event.

Even searching for related media on today's popular sharing sites like YouTube, Yahoo! Flickr and Google PicasaWeb would only return a handful of amateur collections from various individuals instead of major organizations.

Have there not been many facts to be permanently recorded for world's civilized history? Or was it because local journalists or international ones who attended the event are still not to comfortable with public crowdsourcing into world's major Web 2.0 productions?

After all, only Dato' Dr. Craig Barrett, Chairmen of Intel can be considered a major IT leader who made a presence at the event, while the over-hyped appearance by Mr. Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft, was only in a not-that-entertaining holographic form -- After all, Intel has a major presence/investment in Malaysia while Microsoft has yet to make a significant base except a decent office at KLCC tower (although there has been an announcement during the WCIT week from Microsoft Malaysia for a sizable investment to establish Microsoft Innovation Centre).

[Another key personality, a popular author and Venture Capitalist Mr. Guy Kawasaki was in Kuala Lumpur too during WCIT week, but he was at a separate event called NetBash, organized by among others, the New Entrepreneur Forum (NEF) and MCA ICT Resource Centre (MIRC), but also attended by key officials from the WCIT2008 organizing body, MDEC.]

In comparison, try googling for events like COMDEX/InterOp, CeBIT, CES 2008, Apple WWDC (June 9-13, 2008 - San Francisco) or Web2Expo (upcoming in New York, Berlin and Tokyo)! While the number of delegates who attended each of these events were smaller, they obviously commanded much bigger coverage in the "new media" platform and respective official websites tend to gain higher visits. After all, these events usually pull in much bigger sponsorships, higher delegation fees and more key personalities from the IT industry. Oh well, we can't compete with the US or Europe, can we? ;)

[Author has attended COMDEX (twice, before the show was discontinued in 2003), Web2Expo (the less exciting Tokyo instead of Berlin or SF) and WCIT and look forward to check out CeBIT, CES and WWDC in the near future now that he writes using a Mac Book Pro instead of a Windows laptop, and tune more to Apple TV/iTunes and MIRO instead of Astro TV, i.e. he's fan of latest digital gadgets and software!]

Still, the fact that our Prime Minister, Dato Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi has been so upbeat on WCIT and the outlook for Malaysia's IT future, having joined a big delegation to WCIT 2006 (Austin) and later graced the entire WCIT 2008, despite a minor distraction in his own political party during its second day of running in Malaysia, do give us Malaysian folks some hope. Bravo also to MSC Malaysia crews along with folks from PIKOM etc. Or perhaps, to the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia instead, in conjunction with its Visit Malaysia 2007 campaign that somehow is supposed to run until Merdeka Day 2008, celebrating the country's 50 years of nationhood ;)

Anyway, we've been hearing and seeing some dramatic changes, and more are to come over the next few years in Malaysia:-

1. A day before the weekends when WCIT 2008 delegates were due to arrive, Malaysia's largest and government-linked company, Telekom Malaysia Berhad made a big announcement on Malaysia's Broadband Plan: RM15.2B (about US$5B) for a 10-year two-phases, three-zones infrastructure project to roll-out high-speed broadband (HSBB), powering about 1.3-million premises throughout the country [1][2], with metros like Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru and Penang (group under Zone 1) will get HSBB as fast as 1Gbps -- Half (50%) of the nation's six million households will get high-speed Internet in less than three years from now, from 18% or less penetration rate today. Impressive plan! One can argue though: wasn't this 50% penetration target already drafted/promised in the "National Broadband Plan (NBP - pdf)", approved nearly five years ago in 2004? OK... perhaps, we're just on (revised) target...
   
   
2. TM Bhd of course now also enjoys MSC Malaysia status for its headquarters tower building, renaming it from "Menara TM" to "TM CyberCentre Complex" - sounds like a huge hypermarket-size cybercafe ;) The same status was also award to RM2B-worth I-City development project in Shah Alam, which is one to watch, along with other ready MSC-status regional zones like those in Penang, Ipoh (Meru Raya CyberCentre - hmm, is there a dedicated website for this?) and Johor Bharu (Cyberport).
   
   
3. And as WCIT 2008 concluded, TM announced appointment of Jeremy Kung as the new CEO for its highly-watched Internet/Broadband-centric subsidiary, TM Net Sdn Bhd, replacing previous acting CEO, Pn Zainab Hashim -- the top-post of this company seems to follow Chief Minister of Sabah rotational scheme: Datuk Baharum Salleh (2002), Michael Lai (2005, later resigned), Zainab Hashim (acting CEO, late 2006) and now Jeremy Kung (2008). Fresh leadership, fresh spirit I suppose...
   
   
4. Satellite broadband technologies are quite ready. Introducing AIDAAS, one of the stars of WCIT 2008 (which also sponsored the Gala Dinner BTW!)...
   
   
   
   [Author has met the young and ambitious CEO, and based on an email from her, you can find her on Facebook, soon, hopefully...]
   
   The technology won't likely be deployed in Malaysia immediately though, perhaps due to an exclusive license awarded to satellite tv operator, Astro Plc/MEASAT ("ASTRO’s subsidiary, MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems, enjoys an exclusive licence till 2017 for satellite DTH transmission in Malaysia.", Astro website). But we'll be watching a Malaysian company boldly venturing everywhere else including in the Philippines in the near future.
   
   
5. We're getting help and attention:-

• Nokia Siemens has put up plans for WiMAX
  
• Intel investing in local WiMAX player, Green Packet Bhd (now helmed by Michael Lai, previously from TMNET - parent company of Packet One)
• Long Term Evolution (LTE) will arrive (Ericssons, 2009) - up to 200Mbps for mobile broadband!
• 7.2Mbps HSDPA device has arrived: HTC etc.
  
  
  
  Author however prefers to wait for Apple iPhone to arrive in Malaysia though, by late 2008 (as promised?), and hopefully to come with 3G (as rumored) and camera with higher resolution - is 5MP too much to ask?
  
  

And some Penang folks are enjoying amazing high-speed broadband speed already! Read more here: "Which 'city' is the BROADBAND CAPITAL of Malaysia?"

And more speedtest results here after a major upgrade at a local higher learning institution (post WCIT 2008):

Thanks to an upgrade/switch to OCE (PenangFon), the downstream speed has doubled for this particular Wi-Fi connection, which previously utilizes TM Net Streamyx connectivity.

The wired LAN which serves the greater campus of about 20,000 students and staff also seem to have doubled in speed both downstream and upstream directions. For uploading to a Penang-based server (outside USM) instead of uploading to a US city (some 15,000km away), a speed exceeding 20Mbps was recorded. Words from the school's officials is that they'll soon get a 1Gbps upgrade. Patient, patient, my good college boys and girls! No words however on whether the school will relax its ban on YouTube or other high-bandwidth traffic like via P2P software etc. on the campus network.

Bravo USM!

How big of a difference on 'going fibre' instead of sticking with mainstream DSL service? Consider that a 4 Mbps (maximum for TM Net Streamyx today) would take about 40-minute for Mac users to update their OS X Leopard 10.5.2 to 10.5.3 (released this week). With a 60Mbps downstream connection on the other hand, took less than 2 minute for a CD-size 400+ MB download!

Proud owner of the latest OS on the latest hardware but in 2-minute or 40-minute?

Now consider that you are to download a ~25/50 GB BluRay quality movie or a 4.4GB compressed version (legal version, of course, via iTunes/AppleTV etc) now that this HD format has become mainstream and adopted by practically all major movie studios today (except in countries like Malaysia which will be about five or more years late judging on its past migration from VCD to DVD), how many days/weeks would you have to turn your PC/Mac on, connected to a 4 Mbps or slower DSL line?

And would you be happy to wait for minutes to view those HD-quality movie trailers/teasers or fun clips like those on Apple iTunes etc, or prefer to view them immediately on mouse-click?



Until we get mega broadband to homes and offices for streaming HD movies, for now, enjoy the following low-res slideshow of snaps from WCIT 2008 (Community photos on Flickr, including several that were captured by author using his decent N95 camera phone):

Olympics 2008, starting with ICT in Kuala Lumpur

Phew! Time flew really fast, and it's already mid-may: time for international events again now that it's closing in to summer season for northern hemisphere -- the few months when folks from North America and European countries just love to travel for fun (college lads!) and casual business networking... (corporate and SMB guys)

And it starts with a BANG here in Malaysia, heating up with news feeds on prime time TV and prints, and the so-called new media, ie. blogs too... And this photo adds to the fresh sighting:



NEWSFLASH: Over 3000 delegates from all over the world will congregate in Kuala Lumpur this week for during the 16th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT 2008)... And the exposition booths are expecting some 50,000 visitors!

And I get to be one of them, as usual... ;)

This is to confirm that we have received your registration details on WCIT 2008 Online Registration
18/05/2008
Account Information
Username : NASIR.SOBRI
Salutation : Mr.
First Name : NASIR
Middle Name :
Last Name / Surname : SOBRI
Name On Badge : Nasir Sobri

I'll let the newsprints offer you some previews:

View

BTW, the big crowd at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) will not be just for WCIT forums. There are thirteen WCIT-related events too. For instance, the United Nations GAID Annual Meeting & Global Forum on 19 & 20 MAY 2008 -- quite a sequel to the GK3 event last December 2007 (also at the same venue):


OK, time to start driving to KL, some 300-km away... More updates to follow!