Leaving for Barcamp Malaysia
The whole team of Widgeous will be going to Kuala Lumpur later this evening for Barcamp Malaysia.
We will be presenting “Widgeous - Changing the Way People Communicate” tomorrow (25 July 2008) at 10am at Lecture Room III, xTrain Sdn Bhd, Megan Avenue 1, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.
Along with the event, we will also be launching Widgeous Hackathon and open our API for the first time.
So, if you are a developer looking to extend your web app to devices outside of web, do check us out tomorrow - either by meeting us at Barcamp Malaysia or checking out our site tomorrow.
Drop me an email if you would like to meet up in KL: chua@uzyn.com
[More details on Barcamp, check out the Barcamp Malaysia wiki.]
Ping.sg and Me
Ping.sg was started as a bedroom project by myself. I was the sole designer, coder, and investor. [More on the history of Ping.sg]
It has been 2 years since the project has started and the Singapore blogger community has seen a very steady and promising growth over the years. Membership and readership counts have increased steadily over time.
I created Ping.sg to be a platform that helps to connect local bloggers and blog readers. So far I believe it has been pretty successful at doing that. Occasionally, we do see some commercial sites or adult sites trying to abuse the site to gain traffic for their commercial benefits. Thanks to the reports from the community, we have been able to cope with such abuse by banning such sites from Ping.sg, thus retaining the relevance of the community - aggregating latest and interesting blog posts for bloggers and blog readers.
Over the years since Ping.sg was launched, we have seen a lot of good posts by bloggers and the growth, not just in size but in significance, of the Singapore blogosphere. We have also seen a fair share of ‘blog wars’ among the bloggers, attacking each other.
Personally, I am deeply saddened by such acts, but so far I have refrained myself from making any comments on such issues. I consider such issues as micro-level issues and I as the founder and sole developer of Ping.sg should not make any comments on the internal fights among the members. My focus is always on the macro-level of things, ie. to further improve Ping.sg and to enhance Ping.sg to be a better platform for bloggers to follow and connect with each other.
As the 2nd Anniversary Party Organizing Committee of which I am also part of, along with Daphne, is busy trying to organize the celebration party, I have already started engaging a designer to further improve the layout and usability of Ping.sg and I have also started working on several features which I hope would help the bloggers connect to each other and make possible to follow the now-pretty-rapid postings of new blogs. I hope to unveil these features, packaged with Ping.sg 2.0 at the upcoming event.
So far, Ping.sg is in the red, financially. Yes, there are advertisements on Ping.sg, but they are barely enough to cover the expenses of Ping.sg, don’t even mention my salary. If you have known me personally, you would know that I am involved in a lot of projects and my girlfriend, Sek Ling would know how busy I am everyday of the week. I am working more than 8 hours a day trying to meet the deadlines of my clients’ projects, my other startup - Widgeous, and yet I’m still trying my best to squeeze out some time to do some development and maintenance work for Ping.sg simply because I love the community, and I enjoy reading blogs and seeing it grow. I sincerely would also like to thank Daphne for volunteering to be a community manager as I find less and less time for myself to provide for the social-side of the community. She is currently holding a day job herself, a very stressful one, and yet still trying her very best to interact with the community and provide for the community. She’s doing all of these without getting paid a single cent. Everytime I reminded her of how grateful I am towards what she has done and hoping that I could compensate her enough for her work, she would push me aside claiming she enjoys doing what she’s doing and that she loves the community. If you know Daphne personally, you would know how much Ping.sg means to her. Her life now almost fully revolves around the people of Ping.sg.
Of course, being an active community, the members, core or not, have played very significant roles in it. Countless, or I would say almost all, of meetups and activities are organized by members themselves. Being in quite a few of the meetups, of course missing quite a few as well, I have always enjoyed interacting with the bloggers and I am proud to say that I have made so many blogger friends throughout the course of running Ping.sg. I would also like to thank the community for being so supportive of this project and keep blogging. I procrastinate a lot during my work and you know what I do when I procrastinate - read your blogs!
Of the misunderstandings that have been happening in Ping.sg recently, a few users have accused Daphne and I for not taking any actions against the bloggers for their “mis-blogs”. On top of my stance of being indifferent on the internal micro-level “fights”, it has also never be the intention of Ping.sg to start controlling what the bloggers say. Even if we want, we are absolutely powerless to do that, unless of course we start screening each and every blog posts before being published. Ping.sg is a platform to share, and never to control the blogosphere. It is merely a tool for the bloggers.
I will stay focused in my work to improve Ping.sg for the bloggers in the region. My rewards for running the site is seeing the blossom of the blogosphere and seeing how much bloggers are making friends from the platform and do a lot of interesting collaboration projects and all.
I love Ping.sg and I will not hesitate to take any actions to stop any unappreciative users from trying to break the site and the community.
Twitter Killed My Blog
Twitter killed my blog.
Now I am only able to blog in 140 character or less.
I can’t construct sentences anymore.
Needless to say paragraphs.
Sucks.
BTW, I am starting to love the Widgeous office guys more and more. Love the more-than-weekly geek talk with the Ridzuan, Kah Wee and Aen.
Presenting Tomorrow at Barcamp Singapore II
I’ll be presenting Widgeous publicly for the first time with Ridzuan tomorrow at Barcamp Singapore II.
Not only that, Widgeous will also go live some time tomorrow. Yes, we are finally going to be live. And I’m glad we beat Duke Nukem Forever and Chinese Democracy.
Now I have crazy amount of work to catch up with…
… on top of preparing for the presentation.
Special thanks also to Kah Wee and Aen who have also been working hard with us in polishing our product and site.
Presenting Tomorrow at Barcamp Singapore II
I’ll be presenting Widgeous publicly for the first time with Ridzuan tomorrow at Barcamp Singapore II.
Not only that, Widgeous will also go live some time tomorrow. Yes, we are finally going to be live. And I’m glad we beat Duke Nukem Forever and Chinese Democracy.
Now I have crazy amount of work to catch up with…
… on top of preparing for the presentation.
Special thanks also to Kah Wee and Aen who have also been working hard with us in polishing our product and site.
My Podcast Debut
These guys are fast. We were only doing the recording last Saturday and the Tech65 crews has got the episode edited, mastered and published!
Do check out my podcast debut with Daniel and NTT at:
http://www.tech65.org/2008/05/05/65bits-episode-69-the-one-with-the-pingfather/
I know I speak really bad compare to the experienced crews, but do spare your LOLs.
It was a really great experience for me and it was such a pleasure to be able to do a show with the great guys at Tech65. Let’s hope they’ll invite me back again some day. :)
Anyway, do subscribe to 65 Bits - the best podcast in Singapore, not just for technology only, but for all podcasts. (Well maybe cause I’m only listening to tech and poker podcasts).
My Podcast Debut
These guys are fast. We were only doing the recording last Saturday and the Tech65 crews has got the episode edited, mastered and published!
Do check out my podcast debut with Daniel and NTT at:
http://www.tech65.org/2008/05/05/65bits-episode-69-the-one-with-the-pingfather/
I know I speak really bad compare to the experienced crews, but do spare your LOLs.
It was a really great experience for me and it was such a pleasure to be able to do a show with the great guys at Tech65. Let’s hope they’ll invite me back again some day. :)
Anyway, do subscribe to 65 Bits - the best podcast in Singapore, not just for technology only, but for all podcasts. (Well maybe cause I’m only listening to tech and poker podcasts).
Back to Desktop Feed Reader
It started with desktop feed reader, but I made the switch about 2 years ago to Google Reader, thinking it would solve the problem of syncing not just the list of subscribed feeds but also the read/unread statuses of the feeds between different computers. Now, I’m back to desktop feed reader.
Several reasons for the switch:
I no longer read feeds on multiple computers, but only on a laptop and iPhone.
No more ~1-2 sec wait for switching between feeds.
This is the main reason for the switch. The ~1-2 sec wait when I switch between feeds in Google Reader constantly lose my attention. During the 1-2 sec wait, I often find myself browsing other sites like Ping.sg and eventually even end up getting stuck in the quicksand of Wikipedia. Yes, I’m a wikipedia-addict. And yes, my attention span has shorten tremendously probably due to the over-usage of computers.
Managing feeds is fun now
With desktop feed reader, managing feeds is so much fun now. Ctrl+click, select multiple feeds, unsubscribe. That’s so much more efficient than having to manage one by one.
Now I’m rediscovering the joy of feeds reading after I’ve almost stopped reading feeds due to the frustration of using a web-based feed reader.
Even though the web apps has revolutionize my reliance on a lot of desktop apps, sometimes the speed and ease-of-use of a desktop app still beats the no-download-requirement of web apps.
Back to Desktop Feed Reader
It started with desktop feed reader, but I made the switch about 2 years ago to Google Reader, thinking it would solve the problem of syncing not just the list of subscribed feeds but also the read/unread statuses of the feeds between different computers. Now, I’m back to desktop feed reader.
Several reasons for the switch:
I no longer read feeds on multiple computers, but only on a laptop and iPhone.
No more ~1-2 sec wait for switching between feeds.
This is the main reason for the switch. The ~1-2 sec wait when I switch between feeds in Google Reader constantly lose my attention. During the 1-2 sec wait, I often find myself browsing other sites like Ping.sg and eventually even end up getting stuck in the quicksand of Wikipedia. Yes, I’m a wikipedia-addict. And yes, my attention span has shorten tremendously probably due to the over-usage of computers.
Managing feeds is fun now
With desktop feed reader, managing feeds is so much fun now. Ctrl+click, select multiple feeds, unsubscribe. That’s so much more efficient than having to manage one by one.
Now I’m rediscovering the joy of feeds reading after I’ve almost stopped reading feeds due to the frustration of using a web-based feed reader.
Even though the web apps has revolutionize my reliance on a lot of desktop apps, sometimes the speed and ease-of-use of a desktop app still beats the no-download-requirement of web apps.
Logical Fallacies
Interesting article:
Logical Fallacies
Learn how to argue properly, or spot false arguments.
Very well-written article on logical fallacies by Marilyn vos Savant - the person with the highest IQ as listed on Guinness Book of Records.
Of course you don’t need that much IQ to understand the article, but do try to spot how/where each of the example arguments presented are invalid.
Logical Fallacies
Interesting article:
Logical Fallacies
Learn how to argue properly, or spot false arguments.
Very well-written article on logical fallacies by Marilyn vos Savant - the person with the highest IQ as listed on Guinness Book of Records.
Of course you don’t need that much IQ to understand the article, but do try to spot how/where each of the example arguments presented are invalid.
Odd Time Signature
This is exactly the main reason why I love progressive rock so much.
The flexibility of it all, not just in terms of melody or rhythm but also in terms of the whole structure of a song.
Odd Time Signature
This is exactly the main reason why I love progressive rock so much.
The flexibility of it all, not just in terms of melody or rhythm but also in terms of the whole structure of a song.
Preparing for Taiwan Trip
I’ll be leaving for Taiwan this coming Thu with Sek Ling for a break.
Some questions:
1. Which prepaid mobile should I use? I would love to have GPRS/EDGE on my iPhone while I’m there for email checking and Google maps while on the move. Not really for intensive Internet usage as my hotel room should have Internet access.
2. Thinking of getting myself an ASUS Eee PC if it’s cheaper over there. Any advice on where I should be going for the best electronic bargains?
3. Anyone wants an Eee PC as well?
Thanks.
Preparing for Taiwan Trip
I’ll be leaving for Taiwan this coming Thu with Sek Ling for a break.
Some questions:
1. Which prepaid mobile should I use? I would love to have GPRS/EDGE on my iPhone while I’m there for email checking and Google maps while on the move. Not really for intensive Internet usage as my hotel room should have Internet access.
2. Thinking of getting myself an ASUS Eee PC if it’s cheaper over there. Any advice on where I should be going for the best electronic bargains?
3. Anyone wants an Eee PC as well?
Thanks.
Ping.sg is Now A Gaming Platform
Ping.sg has decided to concentrate on making the Singapore bloggers happy by changing our focus from a community meta blog to a community gaming platform for bloggers.
After working almost non-stop from 1:00AM to now, I’m proud to announce the first Ping.sg game since the change of direction of the site - “Whose Ping Is It Anyway?”
Try out the game now.
Related: Ping.sg Press Release
Ping.sg is Now A Gaming Platform
Ping.sg has decided to concentrate on making the Singapore bloggers happy by changing our focus from a community meta blog to a community gaming platform for bloggers.
After working almost non-stop from 1:00AM to now, I’m proud to announce the first Ping.sg game since the change of direction of the site - “Whose Ping Is It Anyway?”
Try out the game now.
Related: Ping.sg Press Release
Felix Geisendörfer Meet
Just came back from one of the most interesting meetings in a while. I’ve just came back from meeting Felix Geisendörfer, one of the core contributors to CakePHP.
I’ve been following Felix’ blog for years now I think (since CakePHP beta days) and his blog is one of the most interesting blogs that I’ve followed. I confessed I’ve learned a lot of things from reading his blog. I learned that he was coming to Singapore a few weeks ago and I contacted him to schedule a meet up.
The meet up was really interesting and inspiring. Thanks to Michael Cheng, for inviting the Singapore PHP User Groups members over as well.
After the dinner session and a lot of chats with him and other attendees, Felix presented one of his projects, Posttask and demonstrated some of features of jQuery. I haven’t been checking out stuffs much these days due to my work (I guess I will need to reduce my workload, or learn to procrastinate less. Much less.) and in his brief introduction, I’ve decided to pick up jQuery and probably switch from Prototype (picked up during early CakePHP days) to jQuery soon.
Interesting stuff, like Felix today, I better get working on Widgeous soon so that it can be shown to Felix this coming Friday.
Thanks also to Michael Lim, who has shared a lot of interesting stuffs with me, especially Adobe Flex and Capistrano.
Felix Geisendörfer Meet
Just came back from one of the most interesting meetings in a while. I’ve just came back from meeting Felix Geisendörfer, one of the core contributors to CakePHP.
I’ve been following Felix’ blog for years now I think (since CakePHP beta days) and his blog is one of the most interesting blogs that I’ve followed. I confessed I’ve learned a lot of things from reading his blog. I learned that he was coming to Singapore a few weeks ago and I contacted him to schedule a meet up.
The meet up was really interesting and inspiring. Thanks to Michael Cheng, for inviting the Singapore PHP User Groups members over as well.
After the dinner session and a lot of chats with him and other attendees, Felix presented one of his projects, Posttask and demonstrated some of features of jQuery. I haven’t been checking out stuffs much these days due to my work (I guess I will need to reduce my workload, or learn to procrastinate less. Much less.) and in his brief introduction, I’ve decided to pick up jQuery and probably switch from Prototype (picked up during early CakePHP days) to jQuery soon.
Interesting stuff, like Felix today, I better get working on Widgeous soon so that it can be shown to Felix this coming Friday.
Thanks also to Michael Lim, who has shared a lot of interesting stuffs with me, especially Adobe Flex and Capistrano.
uzyn.com Relaunched: Goodbye Wordpress, Hello Chyrp
uzyn.com is back. After quite a long hiatus.
I’ve been wanting to ditch Wordpress for quite awhile, for its bloat and its complicatedness but haven’t been able to find something simple but does not lack in essential blogging requirements/features. At a point in time, I even wanted to write my own blog engine, a simple one, but considering my current workload, that is definitely out of the question.
Until a few days ago, I discovered Chyrp. Chyrp is lightweight, yet very extensible and complete. The bare installation does not even have a commenting system, which makes a lot of sense because some blogs do not require commenting system at all. The goodness of Chyrp comes mainly in this extension - Tumblr Pack - with the installation of the feather, now you get to post not just usual blog but other types of content similar to a Tumblelog. There are more extensions available and I have yet to explore them all.
I will also be playing around with Chyrp over the next couple of days and further customize this blog. But so far, I would say Chyrp is the right blogging platform for me for now simply because of its lightweight.
Simple is right.
uzyn.com Relaunched: Goodbye Wordpress, Hello Chyrp
uzyn.com is back. After quite a long hiatus.
I’ve been wanting to ditch Wordpress for quite awhile, for its bloat and its complicatedness but haven’t been able to find something simple but does not lack in essential blogging requirements/features. At a point in time, I even wanted to write my own blog engine, a simple one, but considering my current workload, that is definitely out of the question.
Until a few days ago, I discovered Chyrp. Chyrp is lightweight, yet very extensible and complete. The bare installation does not even have a commenting system, which makes a lot of sense because some blogs do not require commenting system at all. The goodness of Chyrp comes mainly in this extension - Tumblr Pack - with the installation of the feather, now you get to post not just usual blog but other types of content similar to a Tumblelog. There are more extensions available and I have yet to explore them all.
I will also be playing around with Chyrp over the next couple of days and further customize this blog. But so far, I would say Chyrp is the right blogging platform for me for now simply because of its lightweight.
Simple is right.
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