IDC - Yahoo Web 2.0 Digital Marketplace

IDC organised a free seminar today (24th June) on Web 2.0 Digital marketplace, with Yahoo! as the big sponsor. The seminar was over-subscribed substantially, such that the hotel staff needed to pull in a large number of chairs from the next seminar room. The fourth speaker actually remarked that there is a large increase in Singapore in the interest in Web 2.0 applications and services, especially for the enterprise community.

All 4 speakers were very engaging, and presented their pitch very well. I guess the 1st two speakers have vested interests to sell their products. Some of the remarks made were funny *in my opinion*. For example there was a comment of 'sponsor the access, and charge the use', which is very applicable for Web 2.0 social sites, but the image I had in my mind was actually the local clubbing scene's 'Ladies Night' where the girls get free entry *access* while the guys pay for everyone's drinks *use*. There was a lot of comments about China and India developments, and how Asia will see the next wave of social networking. The importance lies in 'making the destinations *sites* social instead of making social destinations *sites*' as one speaker put it.

Back to the seminar, the speakers cover broad topics of:

• 'Social Web: Success, Business Models and Emerging Trends'
• 'User Behaviour and Psychology in the Web 2.0 space'
• Web 2.0 Hits Asia' *Interesting is the comparison about whether there is a bubble forming again in the tech sphere*
• 'Social Media Becomes the Social Norm: Web 2.0 in the Classroom and How It Impacts Your Business'

The notes for the seminar could be downloaded from IDC website from 4 July onwards, so I think I shouldn't reveal too much. Nonetheless one of the speaker, Justin Lee, shared this YouTube video which is really funny and yet show some interesting things about Web 2.0. You should watch it!

Communic Asia 2008 - Omnia, Amazing Worlds, Toughbook & Such

Communic Asia 2008 is one of Asia's biggest exhibition and platform for operators, service providers, technology vendors and consultants to network, exchange industry info and discuss the future of technology. I went yesterday and spent 1.5 hours at two of the Halls. Trust me, you need at least more than 2 hours to really walk around the exhibitions at Expo. Make it at least a half-day trip for anything fruitful.

Nonetheless the short trip is good enough for me to experience some gems at the exhibition. One of them is the Samsung Omnia. Right at the front of the exhibition halls is the Omnia advert (pic below). It looks slim (12.5 mm thick metallic casing) and runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 system, so you could have access to the Microsoft Office apps. The screen (3.2 inches) is wide enough for video or photos viewing, and Omnia comes with a 5 megapixel camera as well. The screen is a bit too sensitive in my opinion, which makes navigation a bit tricky. Guess my fingers are too thick.

There are more than 10 sets of it available for visitors to try it out. For those with no patience to queue for a hands-on, Samsung has also done up a mock huge-sized functional version which sort of looks cool.

Other than Omnia, I took a quick look at the other exhibitors. Guess this is Communic Asia and there are plenty of exhibitors from around the region, including China and Korea. What is surprising is that there are also European companies (I saw Norway companies).

Another gem I found at the Communic Asia 2008 is a Singapore / US company, Amazing Worlds, that builds and maintain 3D mirror worlds! It was only in April 2008 when I remarked that Mirror Worlds will come to Singapore one day (earlier blog here)! Watched their demo and even played with the system for a while. Impressive. There is still a lot that Amazing Worlds need to do in terms of populating the servers with content, but it will be interesting to monitor their development. Here's a demo of their product on YouTube:

The exhibitions also have other products but well this is not PC Show so the focus is different. I find the display of Panasonic Toughbook interesting, and Yahoo! also provided some demo of their mobile content platform. It is also interesting to experience the demo by DoCoMo on the Osaifu-Keitai mobile wallet that StarHub Mobile will bring to Singapore soon.

For those who wish to visit Communic Asia 2008, Friday 20th June is the last day and the event closes at 4pm, so better hurry!

Computer Games & Allied Technology 08

I went to the Computer Games and Allied Technology 08 on day two of the event. The particularly interesting sessions to me would be the ones on the rights ownership in virtual worlds, and the use of virtual worlds for scientific collaboration. Paul Bourke from the University of Western Australia presented an interesting example where scientists collaborated on the creation of a replicate site in Australia for a telescope. He also gave examples of how 2nd Life could be used to visualise 3D molecules. What is interesting to me is how we could model virtual objects using real world data. Incorporate this concept with existing mapping tools like Google Earth, it is highly possible that we could experience 'mirror worlds' creation much sooner than we thought.

Pic of a booth at the event

Virtual worlds are also no longer just platforms for recreational games, as evident from the numerous news articles and developments in this area. That was also quite well covered by the different CGAT sessions about the use of such tools for learning. What is remarkable is that people have been talking about it since 2002 or earlier (see this BBC article), but this concept is still not widely adopted.

Oh well, having more of such seminars / conferences would definitely profile the benefits of virtual worlds to more mainstream audience. Of course, after these uses become mainstream, the difficult questions of who owns what rights, and how much of the revenue should go to which 'creators' would be a big headache for consideration. :)

Cabal Online Launch @ Suntec Atrium

Cabal Online was launched by AsiaSoft on 3rd March 2008. Today at the Suntec Atrium, there is a Cabal Online Carnival (o.k. it's not a launch but still within the same month)! Only realised at the Carnival that 'Cabal' is pronounced as 'Kar Bal' and not 'Cable'. Lolz.

There was a huge crowd, especially in the morning around 11am. Queue for the freebies was especially long, snaking out of the Atrium area. Most of the crowd came in black and/ or green, since wearing the 'Cabal' colours entitle you to a lucky draw coupon.

There were quite a number of games at the Carnival. One of them was the 'combo' competition. For the 20 hits combo, only a few made it to the scoreboard. Another game was the 'showhand' where each person tried to match his card to the one display on the big screen.

I stayed around for a while, watching the demos of the game. The demos are mostly (if not all) level 101 avatars, so the skills demostrated are of course impressive lah. Those without an AsiaSoft account could also sign up for one at the 'aClub' shop on level 3. Organisers are quite thoughtful and had marked out the direction on the ground with these signs:

I went to take a look, and there was also a long line of people waiting to 'verify' their accounts. Actually, if not for these signs, I would never be able to find this shop hidden in that obscure corner of Suntec.

Overall it was a nice experience going to the carnival. There is quite a large group of online gamers around, especially the students group. Seen a few more matured adults as well. Compared to the two other 'carnivals' / 'launches' (MapleStory & WoW Burning Crusade) that I've been to, the Cabal Online carnival was not as crowded. I guess it's the nature of the games, those games with less grinding needed would attract more gamers, especially casual garmers who may be more willing to participate in such offline activities. Just my 2 cents worth of thought.

Oh yah, I got the goodies when the queue shortened sufficiently. Since I was not among the first, I didn't get the bags with a t-shirt inside. Got the free CDs, lanyard, poster & a few other kit knacks. Here's the pic of what I got. Guess it pays to go earlier to queue, at least you will get the T-shirt!

State of Play V T-Shirt & Mug

Was doing some spring cleaning in my room and realised that I still have my State of Play V Shirt & Mug, unused and lying in a corner. Guess we have too many corporate mugs lying around. The conference was a good one, and it is a pity I can't attend the VW conference (not State of Play) in New York this year.