Archive for the ‘What The Tweet’ Category

  • 28 Dec

    R.AGE

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    Looking back

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    By DAVID LIAN
    alltherage@thestar.com.my


    IT IS the end of the year again, and that means another 31.5 million seconds have passed us by. If those seconds were precious moments to treasure, how would you rate your 2012? Good, bad or you can’t remember?

    Thanks to the Internet, our societal memory is improving. Archiving the history of our culture has now reached a level of detail never before thought possible. People are creating more petabytes of information every year, and most of that automatically too!

    With its Zeitgeist, Google has been demonstrating just how its very own search technology can capture what people were interested in year after year. Google Zeitgeist works by taking the millions of searches made by users all around the world throughout the year, and then analysing that data into trends.

    This year, out of 1.2 trillion searches in 146 languages, the top search was “Whitney Houston”, presumably right after the singer’s untimely passing in February, followed by “Gangnam Style” and “Hurricane Sandy” took the third position.

    Locally, the top search was for “SAPS” (Sistem Analisis Peperiksaan Sekolah) – a result that really puzles me. But it was followed by “Gangnam Style” and “9GAG” respectively, restoring some faith that our youth on the Internet are still the fun-loving people I assumed them to be.

    However, Google is not the only “play maker” in town any more. This year, social networking sites – notably, Facebook and Twitter – have also released their own analysis of the top things of 2012.

    Housed on the webpage facebookstories.com is an interesting take on the “Year in Review” concept by Facebook. Rather than analysing search results, Facebook looks at its users’ posts and the most widely shared and viewed content on its network to derive the “top stories” of 2012.

    The top meme on the Facebook list was “To Be Honest” (TBH) while “Gangnam Style” was a disappointing fifth.

    What I really liked about Facebook’s list was its ability to break down everything down to the type of content. Facebook could tell you the top videos shared, the top songs played, and what people were actually talking about throughout 2012.

    Then there’s the personalised look back at the year. Surf over to Facebook Stories and you’ll see a big blue button inviting you to find out what your personal top moments of 2012 were. Click on it and Facebook will analyse your Facebook profile and give you what it thinks are your top 20 moments. Some of the moments are no brainers – like our birthdays for example.

    But I was pleasantly surprised to find a video of my daughter singing (uploaded in January) that made it’s way to this list.

    This function has helped me relive some of the great moments I had almost forgotten about this year.

    Similarly, Twitter has also introduced its own look back at 2012 at 2012.twitter.com. Like Facebook, Twitter collects your tweets throughout the year and lets you know your top 2012 moments
    Twitter partnered with visual company Vizify.com to deliver your moments in an interactive infograph. You can pull a “slider” from the beginning of 2012 to the end to see what your top tweets were and what your friends were talking about.

    Looking back at my own 2012 through the eyes of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter has made me realise just how much I’ve done or experienced this year.

    Precious moments especially the pictures I took of my kids (too few, in my opinion) and the issues I discussed were easily captured and pointed out.

    It’s no wonder that many great men and women kept diaries back in the days not just to simply jot things down, but to remind themselves of the things they had done throughout the year and the lessons they had learnt.

    Thankfully, now we have social networks for that.

  • 26 Oct

    R.AGE

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    Funding dream$

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    By DAVID LIAN
    alltherage@thestar.com.my

    KICKSTARTER is not a store,” wrote the foudners of Kickstarter.com in a blog post last month.

    And yet, fans of the site seem to have largely ignored the founders’ plea. The fans, despite several warnings, are still “investing” in Kickstarter projects that promise to deliver goodies they’ve always wanted but couldn’t find elsewhere.

    So what is Kickstarter?

    Kickstarter.com launched in 2009 as a platform to fund creative projects via crowdfunding. The idea was simple – if you had a brilliant idea but no funds to do it, you could post it up on Kickstarter, and generous netizens could pledge to fund your project out of goodwill.

    These projects could be wide and varied – from an independent film-maker’s pet project for an entertaining film, to physical products such as mugs, pens or bags.

    Here’s the twist. Somewhere along the line, Kickstarter devised a mechanism allowing project starters to promise “backer rewards” as a means to get people to back their projects.

    So, for example, if Madonna had launched a Kickstarter project for a concert, she could offer a reward for people who pledged US$50 (RM150) or more in the form of a free ticket. Or, if you were designing the best mug in the world, you could offer to reward backers who pledged US$10 (RM30) or more, a free mug.

    Between 2011 and 2012, Kickstarter exploded. It started with video games that people wanted to see made but until now, no major game publisher would fund. Games like Wasteland 2 raised nearly US$3mil (RM9.2mil) in funds and captured the imagination of the masses.

    The game’s developers were able to design and get funding for the project without having to go to major game publishers.

    And the reward for the backers? Copies of the game, limited edition premiums and even dinners with the development team depending on how much money you backed. Plus, the satisfaction of seeing a game you wanted to see made, actually made.

    The next wave was the advent of the “Kickstarter as a store” concept. Leading the way was the Pebble watch – a massive Kickstarter project that raised around US$10mil (RM30mil). The idea was for a truly digital watch, with an e-ink watchface that could synchronise with iOS or Android mobile phones. It would also have an accelerometer to help track how far you’ve run in a day. For all intents and purposes, the Pebble is a geek’s dream watch.

    For a pledge of US$120 (RM370), you could reserve a watch for yourself once the project is done. For US$1000 (RM3000), you could get 10 watches. Soon, everyone’s jumping in on the project, and lining up to get the project funded. The result? Kickstarter.com starts feeling a bit like a store.

    Confession: I’ve actually been treating Kickstarter as a store. It’s a really good store. In the past year, I’ve funded three computer games I want to see made, two pens that I thought I’d like, one watch, the Pebble watch, and two slimline minimalist wallets. You could call me a Kickstarter addict, but I think the idea works.

    In Kickstarter, you get to back a product you really wished were real, and make it a reality.

    Remember I mentioned something about Kickstarter and risks earlier?

    Yes, “Kickstarter is not a store”.

    The tide of unfulfilled pledges had risen to a point where it seemed that people were misusing the website to raise money, and then disappearing from the scene with the funds. Yes, that is a very big risk.

    In fact, Kickstarter had to clarify that it was a platform to raise funds for projects people loved, but fans also had to understand that project owners would be fully responsible for delivering the goods once the project is successful.

    It’s not a store, and you’re not buying a finished product. You’re giving someone money, in hopes that they will successfully execute the project, and reward you as promised.

    That’s a big risk. And I’d like to underline that again.

    But what we don’t need is for Kickstarter to go away (and I doubt it will). The idea is a really solid one, so much so that there’s even a local version at www.pitchin.my. It gives young people the opportunity to create and sell things and others to buy things we really want.

    So, Kickstarter may not be a store, but for people like me who just love seeing new ideas come to market – it’s a pretty good one already.

  • 28 Sep

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    Back from the dead

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    It is hard to imagine that after all these years, the debate on which social network is king is still going on.

    Of course, until earlier this year when they released their IPO, Facebook was the de facto social media du jour. Twitter was a close second naturally but the truth is that it doesn’t have the user base that Facebook has. Google tried to make an entry as well, but really, who is still using Google Plus consistently?

    Still, if there’s one thing that active social media users know is that anything can happen. Look at MySpace and Friendster and how as former kings of social media they have both fallen from grace. I can hear you laughing at the mere mention of those two sites.


    But don’t dismiss them so quickly yet – at least not MySpace. It would appear that those behind it, including one very famous Justin Timberlake, isn’t quite so ready to let it go. And earlier this week, the social network site emerged with yet another rebanding exercise. This time, some people are actually getting excited.

    There are the usual cynics among the critics, but there are also many people around the world now saying they regret ever deleting their accounts. Personally, I’m not too sure of its future (I still have my account) but I will say it looks pretty slick.

    It’s not completely original, however. If you log on to the site, you’ll be welcomed by lots of nice big pictures reminiscent of, you guessed it, Facebook’s cover photo feature, which they introduced not too long ago. It would appear that this is the way to go – at least for now – for most social networks as even Twitter recently launched its new profile page a couple of weeks back which allows you to … yup, post up a huge picture to your page.

    If you’re keeping up with your social networks, however, you will also notice that many of these picture-based revamps came by after Pinterest took the Internet by storm. The storm has calmed a little but there is still great interest. I’ve never been one to believe in a dominant social network to rule them all. While I’m on pretty active on Facebook, my preference is Twitter for its speed and simplicity.

    And if you take the business elements out of it (Facebook’s stock price has not been doing really well anyway) and just focus on user experience, then I’d say that any social network site that is keeping it fresh and relevant has a fighting chance.

    That’s what the new MySpace seems to have going for it with this fourth major revamp. It’s sticking to what it knows best – music, something that grew organically when it first started up. It still has many of its deals with record labels and the truth is they’ve already been pigeonholed as a music network anyway. Having a name like Mr JT doesn’t hurt either (I’m sure you’ve already heard the puns about how he’s made MySpace Sexy/Back).

    But looks and sexiness doesn’t make or break a social network, it’s what users can do with it and whether they want to use it that matters. After all, it can be argued that Facebook isn’t the most visually appealing site out there. If anything, its attempt to be everything for everyone gives it an extremely cluttered look. Google Plus has sleekness going for it but it never really kicked off.

    All this brings us back to the question – who will be the eventual king of social networking? I don’t think there is an answer to this because as we have seen from past experience, these networks come, reign, get dethroned and re-emerge again.

    I’m more excited by the fact that people like those behind the revamp are actually still in it (for the money – eventually). Far from thinking that one or two networks need to reign supreme, I’d rather have these sites co-exist and give each other some competition – friendly or otherwise.

    This is because we have come to see how easily it is to get sucked into one ecosystem and never being able to leave. We often complain about Facebook and Twitter’s decisions and changes yet we can’t quit because we don’t quite have many alternatives.

    I hope that MySpace and other new attempts like App.net does well because it will keep their competitors and themselves on their feet. Only then will the power really return to the users. After all, the Internet is one of the most democratic tools of this generation and it’s about time we got more control of our (virtual) lives.

    Niki has just completed his MA Digital Culture and Society at King’s College London. Connect with him online at www.nikicheong.com and on Twitter via @nikicheong.

  • 02 Aug

    R.AGE

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    The Socialympics

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    By NIKI CHEONG

alltherage@thestar.com.my

TODAY marks the first day of the most anticipated sporting event of the year – the London 2012 Olympics. All the athletes and officials would have already been in London for the days leading up to the event – with their smartphones, tablet devices and laptops in tow.

Yup, London 2012 is being dubbed the first ‘social media’ Olympics, which led to the International Olympic Committee releasing a 15-point ‘social media, blogging and Internet’ guideline for participants.

The last games was held in Beijing, where most of the social networks used by the majority of the world’s digital citizens are banned; plus, social media was only in its infancy a mere four years ago.

Not that the term ‘first’ is that accurate. In 2010, Vancouver hosted the winter Olympics and already social networks were buzzing with activity. But in the eyes of public opinion, the summer Olympics is the one to watch, and what a show it has been already.

In the last few days alone, several high profile incidents have already occurred on social networks. For one, Greek triple jumper Voula Papahristou has been suspended from the country’s Olympic team after making what was considered to be a racist remark on Twitter.

Late last week, when the first batch of athletes were arriving from around theworld, American hurdler Kerron Clement got Twitterverse buzzing when he tweeted that it took his bus four hours to get to the Olympic Village from the airport due to the driver getting lost.

"Athletes are sleepy, hungry and need to pee," he wrote. The news made front-page headlines in Britain, especially at a time when there has been much criticism of London’s ability to deal with transport issues with the influx of people during the games.

But athletes and their social networks aside, there is much more to expect from the most Net-friendly games. If you’re planning on following the games closely, you might want to download some of the official London 2012 apps, including the Results app which is available for Android, iOS and Windows Phone 7.

These apps are not the only way on the interwebs to keep up-to-date with the Olympics. Media organisations such as the NBC have made plenty of plans to keep its audiences entertained and updated with the goings-on of the next fortnight.

Besides the live stream – expected to be over 3,500 hours worth of live video – it plans to offer, NBC is also teaming up with social service Storify to curate news from the Olympics. Journalists from the news organisation will pull feeds from various social networks including Facebook and Twitter for its Today.com website and that of its various TV stations.

Major corporations and sponsors too have been capitalising on social media to sell their brand and products. Already, athletes have been banned for a month from talking about non-Olympic Games-sponsored corporations on their social network. This has led to a stream of sponsored social media updates before the deadline earlier this week.

Then there are those corporations who missed out, trying to make the most of the Olympic buzz without infringing any rules. Nike, for example, released a video (view it at bit.ly/worldlondon) this week celebrating the various ‘Londons’ around the world (in Canada, Nigeria and Norway, among others). Its competitor Adidas is a major sponsor at London 2012.

All this aside, what I am personally interested in seeing is how social media will affect the viewing experience of the Games. Recent history has shown what an impact it has on sporting events. In April, for example, over 13,000 tweets were sent out in a second at one point during the UEFA Champion’s League football final between Chelsea and Barcelona.

These days, whether you’re watching it live at home on the television, or physically at the location of the event, people don’t just passively watch. There’s always a mobile device in your hand – whether you’re tweeting, checking in on FourSquare, posting a photo on Instagram or updating your Facebook status.

This behaviour seriously affects a person’s experience, and you can bet that some sort of social media record will be achieved over the next fortnight.

In many ways, the Olympic Games will never be the same again (pictures and details of the opening ceremony have already leaked from the technical and dress rehearsals). Make no mistake about it, we can’t yet tell whether this will be good or bad, but you can bet it will be social.

Niki Cheong is a MA Digital Culture and Society student at King’s College London. Connect with him online at blog.nikicheong.com and twitter.com/nikicheong.
  • 28 Jun

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    Diabolical endeavour

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    By DAVID LIAN

    alltherage@thestar.com.my

    UNLESS you’ve been living under a rock, you would probably have heard of Diablo 3, and your Facebook wall spammed with your friends’ escapades from Tristram to heaven and back.

    Well, if you have been living under a rock, you’re in a spot of luck because this article will get you up to speed on what the Diablo craze is all about.

    Diablo 3 is the long awaited sequel to the smash-hit PC game Diablo 2. Yes, it really was a long-awaited sequel, as Diablo 2 was released in 2000.

    Right after the new game was launched last month, its servers went down almost instantly as millions of fans rushed online to play the game they’ve waited for more than a decade. Yes, it’s that good.

    And its return also proved the one thing we’ve suspected all along – PC gaming isn’t dead.

    When I was growing up, nothing on the PlayStation could beat the “hot games” of the day on the PC.

    However, in the last decade, more and more gaming analysts have been proclaimed that PC gaming was dead, and the increasing disappearance of cyber cafes around the country only affirmed the notion.

    I remember the time when a group of friends would hang out in cyber cafes – much to our parents’ indignation – to play video games. For us, it was our version of sports.

    As time went by, newer consoles started appearing – the XBOX 360, the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. People started staying at home more often to play games on those consoles instead.

    Now Diablo 3 is back, it feels like the heyday of PC gaming all over again.
    The game is actually pretty easy to play.

    There are five classes to choose from (these are the characters that help define your powers), and you pick a class and head out for adventure.

    Adventures in Diablo 3 includes following a linear (but fun) storyline, fighting monsters, gaining levels (to improve your character’s powers) and collecting treasure.

    The story in Diablo 3 revolves around a hero arriving at Tristram, a town that’s overrun by zombies, skeletons and other ghouls. In typical fantasy fashion, the lone hero is the only one who can uncover the mysterious source of the undead, and send them back to their graves.

    Told in four acts, the story then takes the hero from the lonely town all the way to heaven, where the ending builds up into a battle of cataclysmic proportions.
    There are four difficulty levels in Diablo 3 – normal, nightmare, hell and inferno. Each difficulty level tells the same story but with tougher enemies.

    In this way, Diablo 3 allows you to use all the ‘powers’ you accumulated from different difficulty stages.

    However, die-hard Diablo players would tell you that the real game only starts when you hit Level 60.

    Diablo 3 is a social game. The idea is to form a party of four heroes and set out for an adventure. Prominently displayed on the screen throughout the game is a ‘contact list’ you can use to chat with friends or invite them to join your game.
    When you hit Level 60, the game takes on an entirely different turn.

    Getting here means that you had played through the storyline three times; and accumulating the best equipment and unlocking the game’s achievement levels becomes a challenge now.

    What’s new though is that Diablo 3 publishers Blizzard Entertainment are experimenting with a system that allows players to buy and sell items for real money.


    Yes, that’s right, that nice Sword you picked up yesterday? It can go for US$20 (RM60) online. Not only is the currency virtual, you can also withdraw the cash via PayPal (and debit it into your own bank account).

    Before I leave you and return to delving the dark dungeons of Diablo 3, I thought I’d throw in some advice to its players; remember it’s just a game. Get up sometimes, take a walk and eat something. And most importantly, sleep. Now, back to gaming.

    David Lian is a Level 43 Monk because he believes in playing in moderation. That, and because he’s got to write this column. Tweet him at twitter.com/davidlian if you want to “Diablo” together.

  • 22 Mar

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    Be mindful

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    Does art imitate life, or is it the other way round? In the Harry Potter movies, Jamie Waylett often found himself in hot water as Vincent Crabbe, one of Draco Malfoy’s sidekicks.

    In real life, he’s just found himself in trouble as well after he was found guilty of “violent disorder” earlier this week for his participation in the 2011 London riots.

    I don’t want to guess why he got involved in the riots, but I think it’s safe to assume that he didn’t think about the consequences of his actions.

    Unfortunately, Jamie would not be the first – and surely not the last either – person to act without thinking. This pretty much brings to light the old adage of thinking before one speaks; these days, we also need to think before we tweet.

    Think before you tweet

    In today’s networked environment we exist in, we need to start putting a little bit of thought before we send out a tweet or update our status online.

    Many people have been preaching this for years, right from the start of the social network phenomenon. Yet, we are still seeing so many people getting into trouble for the messages they post online.

    There are many reasons why this happens. One of the most significant reasons is that we often forget that social networking sites are text-based, and as such, it is hard to attach emotion to our posts (and using emoticons don’t really work!).

    Jokes don’t always translate well in text format, and neither does sarcasm. In 2010, British accountant Paul Chambers sent a tweet, which read: “C***! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your s*** together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high”.

    Paul Chambers

    He claimed to have sent that tweet as a joke to a friend he was due to fly out to meet, and was worried that heavy snow fall might affect his trip. The courts, which convicted him for being a “menace”, obviously didn’t find it very funny (Chambers filed to appeal the conviction in February).

    Jokes aside, things also have a tendency to get lost in translation, especially within different cultural contexts. In January, two British (would-be) tourists were denied entry into the United States because of a tweet sent by one of them that read: “… free to meet this week for a quick gossip/prop before I go destroy America? x”.

    Those of us familiar with popular culture terms might understand that “destroy” is slang for “partying like crazy” (ie getting drunk). A US Department of Homeland Security officer instead (reportedly) thought that Leigh Van Bryan was messed up for sending that tweet.

    Fahmi Fadzil

    There is also reason to be careful because of defamation laws. Last year, Malaysian theatre practitioner Fahmi Fadzil had to send out 100 apology tweets over three days as part of a defamation settlement.

    Then there is just plain silliness. On Monday, British student Liam Stacey was in court to face criminal charges for racist remarks on Twitter.

    He allegedly made those remarks after people took offence to his original tweet, mocking English football player Fabrice Muamba (born in Democratic Republic of Congo) who collapsed on the pitch due to cardiac arrest recently.

    Closer to home, a youth was detained and questioned by police recently for allegedly sending a threatening tweet related to a minister.

    If anything, these examples should make us all think twice before posting anything online. I am not suggesting that we take the fun away from these social networks, but it is important that we realise how easy it is to make mistakes especially when using tools that prides itself in being fast and instantaneous.

    Not many people often stop to think about the implications of their online actions. To be a digital citizen is no different from being a citizen of any country – we are still subjected to laws, morals and propriety.

    One of the things that advocates of digital culture often speak of is how democratic the Internet is. But a democracy does not simply exist; it is the active participation of its citizens that shapes it.

    If we want the right to speak out, we also need to respect the rights of other citizens as well – and yes, even the ones who misunderstand us.

    Niki is a MA Digital Culture and Society student at King’s College London. Connect with him online at www.nikicheong.com and www.twitter.com/nikicheong.

  • 21 Feb

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    Pinning your interests

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    By DAVID LIAN
    alltherage@thestar.com.my

    I AM a sucker for shiny new social networks that require a special invitation to get in. So, when news of something called Pinterest started going around, I knew that I had to get on it.

    Now, you’re probably thinking: “Ugh, not another social network!”. Well, you do have a point, as most people don’t need much more than a simple Facebook account to stay connected with friends and contacts. I do agree that social networking can be overwhelming sometimes.

    But Pinterest … well Pinterest fills a more specific niche. Remember those cork pinboards at school or in the office where you put up notes and posters mostly to remind you of things? Think of Pinterest as the virtual version of that – instead of sticking up a piece of paper, you’re posting a link and picture to somewhere on the Internet.

    You’re not limited to one board. Rather, you can have many boards, and many interests. For example, I have a pinboard for “Good books to read” where I pin the books I recommend reading or reviews of books that I agree with.

    I also have another board called Warhammer 40,000 where I pin links to modelling and hobby projects for my miniature wargame, so I can get back to working on those when I’ve got more time.

    If you’re my friend, you can follow one or all of my pinboards. For example, let’s say our common interest is in science fiction novels and I’ve created a pinboard called “Science Fiction”. You can now choose to only follow my pins on the Science Fiction board and ignore all the other stuff I post that don’t interest you.

    Pin your interests online!

    On top of that, you can share ownership of your boards with friends, allowing everyone within the community to post links. I can already see how useful this can be for students completing group coursework together. Imagine that your assignment is to create a model volcano, and the task is for everyone in the group to research and share their findings. With Pinterest, you simply make a board and everyone can pin their findings there, giving access to everyone in the group to see it.

    The rise of Pinterest brings to focus a new dimension of social networking that perhaps has been largely ignored, which is what some commentators are calling the “Interest Graph”. The term plays off Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Social Graph, which describes Facebook’s ability to link people with social connections together.

    “Everybody knows somebody” and “six degrees of separation” was the mantra of the Social Graph.

    The Interest Graph behaves entirely differently. Instead of organising people according to who you know, the Interest Graph organises people according to their similar interests. What happens is pure serendipity, especially when you have someone who shares the same interest as you discover something you like as well.

    Love recipes? Follow people with pinboards for recipes. What about basketball? Start a “basketball” pinboard yourself. And instead of meeting people who just have a social connection to you, you’ll be meeting people who share the same interest and learning new stuff that’s interesting to you along the way.

    There’s gravity in this movement as the Internet continues to evolve and shape itself around people. But more about the people you should know, than the people you already know.

    The Internet allows people who’ve never met in real life to connect and share information, even though they are thousands of kilometres apart. The Interest graph takes this ideal on a totally different tangent, making meaningful connections easier.

    Often, it surprises you with things you’d find useful but never search for. For example, a quick browse for me on the boards of other social media fanatics revealed some nice infographics I had never seen before.

    If the current Internet is about “search”, and finding the things you like using search engines, with social networks like Pinterest and Facebook’s own “interest” initiatives, the future will be about recommendations and automatic links with things we like.

    So give Pinterest a whirl. Who knows? You might just discover something you like.

    * David Lian has a couple of Pinterest invites to give away. Tweet him at @davidlian.

  • 07 Feb

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    I speak code

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    By NIKI CHEONG

    alltherage@thestar.com.my

    In the mid-1990s, I created my first website. It was only a single page, though. Through some very easy online tutorials, I managed to teach myself basic Hypertext Markup Language or HTML, and could add text – in different sizes and colours – to the page.

    Those old enough to remember the early days of the World Wide Web will also remember such free hosting sites as Geocities and Tripod. These sites made it easy for people to create websites, though you had the choice of including HTML codes to personalise your pages.

    I had so much fun learning something new and that I could experiment with, I probably went overboard with my modifications.

    Still, I managed to get skillful enough to “teach” fellow netizens who wanted to learn basic HTML through the various online communities on those sites.

    What I didn’t realise at the time was that I essentially learned a new language – even though it wasn’t as conventional as say, learning French, Mandarin or even Sign.

    Of course, technology has advanced so much since then that you arguably do not need to know HTML (we’re in version 5 of the language now, compared to v.1 when I first learned it).

    Blogging sites such as Blogger and WordPress have made website creations as simple as typing some text in and clicking a few buttons. And if you wanted something more elaborate, you could use a software like Dreamweaver, which doesn’t require you to code either.

    The advantage I had, as someone who was familiar with the basic language of the web, was that I could probably modify my Blogger and WordPress sites a bit better than the average layman. Still, languages evolve and digital languages are no different.

    Besides newer versions, there are also other “languages” that can make things more sophisticated including CSS (cascading style sheets) and Javascript.

    Last year, I had the opportunity to learn these new languages (and refresh my basic HTML knowledge) when I opted to study Web Technologies as a module
    for my Master’s course. Since then, I have managed to maintain my blog and website better.

    This year, I am auditing a class which teaches a different language – Python.
    One of the reasons for this is not only to extend my understanding of computer coding (although these are probably entry level).

    The other is that I made a New Year’s resolution similar to that of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s – to spend the year learning to code.

    Bloomberg, myself and almost 400,000 other people around the world have taken the pledge as part of the “Code Year” campaign, organised by CodeAcademy (www.codeacademy.com).

    The company sends an e-mail each Monday (we’re in week five at the moment so there’s still time to catch up if you wish) that contains some basic lessons and exercises on coding.

    I would encourage you to do the same. Just in the few lessons I’ve had over the past few months, I now have a better understanding of why things work the way they do on the Internet and on my smartphones (apps need to be coded too).

    Other than just having additional knowledge, it also allows us to manipulate such sites to function better and more relevant to our use.

    It is also always useful to learn a new language, and considering how much technology looks set to be part of our lives in the future (if it hasn’t already), it would make sense that we equip ourselves with as much knowledge about these systems as possible.

    In Britain, the education secretary Michael Gove has recently announced that starting September, schools will teach computer science and programming.

    Not every body may want to be a computer programmer but there are other values to learning a different language – whether in just maintaining your personal sites, having an extra skill on your resume or getting a headstart in what might just become the major language of the future.

    Most importantly, I think understanding the fundamentals of the technology that we have become so reliant on will also empower us as users.

    It will give us more options in terms of usability. We will no longer need to be slaves to systems and programmes that have been so far forced upon us through lack of choice (and ignorance).

    We will be able to do much more with open source software, and who knows, you might just be good enough to create your own applications that works for you.

    So, try to spare some time once a week and take part in the Code Year tutorials (www.codeyear.com). It may be really basic lesson, but it’s a good start. And the truth is, you have very little to lose and all to gain.

    Niki is a MA Digital Culture and Society student at King’s College London. Find him online at www.nikicheong.com or via Twitter at www.twitter.com/
    nikicheong    .

  • 25 Jan

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    Category

    The Internet blacks out

    0

    WITH no small amount of glee, I happily informed students who were late handing in their assignments that Wikipedia was going to be “blacked out” for a day.

    That was last Wednesday, the day where Internet giants like Wikipedia, Google, Facebook and Reddit decided to “black out” their sites in protest against the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) bring tabled in the US.

    Depending on the site, the “black out” meant different things. For Wikipedia, users browsing the English language website last Wednesday would find a message popping up instead, telling them to “imagine a world without free knowledge.”

    Indeed, if you were a student looking for help on Wikipedia that very instant, you couldn’t do anything but experience what living without Wikipedia would be like.

    Other sites, like Reddit, chose to “censor” every single line of content. You could see that content had been written and shared, but you couldn’t read what it was – no thanks to a thick black line running through the text.

    Google adopted a safer approach, choosing to show US users only a blacked out Google Logo on its front page. I can only imagine the pandemonium that would ensue if Google were to go down.

    So obviously, there was a big hoo-hah over the Internet about this piece of legislation called SOPA, and to a lesser extent, its cousin called the “Protect IP Act” (PIPA). And it grabbed the attention of the Internet audience. But, what exactly is this act about? And why should you and I care about it?

    Let me do my best to break it down to you. SOPA is piece of US legislation that seeks to allow companies that think their stuff is being pirated to file a lawsuit against websites outside of the United States and force action that would stop those websites from being accessed by people in the US.

    Confused? Here’s how it works: Say you’re a big Hollywood company and you’ve released your brand new blockbuster movie. But as you are sending the video files to the cinemas, you discover it’s already on some website called “ShareYourBigFiles.ru”.

    Now, you think, “Oh no, if people are downloading the movie, I can’t get them to buy movie tickets from the cinema.” So you try to file a lawsuit.

    Unfortunately, the website’s owners are based outside the US and the actual servers are also located in another country. This means you’ll need to go through the laws of their country – laws which may not take US copyright law quite as stringently – to bring them to court.

    What can a company in these dire straits do? The supposed answer is SOPA, which would allow the company to file a lawsuit in US courts, and block the offending website from being accessed inside the US. They are not shutting down the website, but removing it from the screens of US citizens.

    “Wait a minute,” you think, “that sounds reasonable.” Well, if you’ve been listening to the big media company’s side of the story, you might feel that way too. But here’s why technology companies such as Google and Facebook and Wikipedia have been rallying supporters to object to SOPA.

    Buried deep in SOPA’s legislation, is this phrase: “A service provider shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures designed to prevent access by its subscribers located within the United States to the foreign infringing site (or portion thereof) that is subject to the order…Such actions shall be taken as expeditiously as possible, but in any case within five days after being served with a copy of the order, or within such time as the court may order.”

    What this means is that through SOPA, a media company can essentially tell an Internet Service Provider to censor a website by going to court and obtaining a court order. And by pursuing a case as stringently as possible, it can essentially erase a website from the face of the American Internet. Now, if the US sets this precedent, which nations do you think will soon follow suit?

    The part that’s dangerous about this is that it starts to make the Internet Service Provider responsible for policing content. In Malaysia, we’re fortunate to have the Bill of Guarantee under the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) to ensure the Internet shall remain uncensored. It’s a benefit we should really be thankful for.

    Imagine if TMNet now is responsible for blocking sites like YouTube simply because someone posted “pirated” content? Or if DropBox needed to cease its service because some pirated files were found on someone’s account? The thought is ludicrous, but it’s something that Sopa’s shown us we’re taking for granted.

    The Internet as we experience it today is free and fluid. You can go online and start a blog and post your own opinions. You can use Facebook to easily connect with friends, and share media. Even the much-maligned Bit-Torrent technology is used to deliver useful information faster (it’s not all about piracy). On the Malaysian front, Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim has said last year that the country is committed to keeping the Internet free.

    The proponents for a free Internet are against SOPA not because it’s not reasonable to want to protect your ideas and original work, but because of its deeper ramifications, chiefly taking us down that slippery slope of Internet censorship. Some 4.5 million people signed a pledge last Wednesday to oppose Sopa and any form of legislation that could lead to Internet censorship. Wikipedia’s message calls SOPA a “legislation that could fatally damage the free and open internet.”

    For the rest of us, we really need to ask ourselves: “So, how much would you like your Internet to remain free and open?”

    Appreciate the freedom you have today. Oh, and appreciate Wikipedia too. Let’s hope the Internet never black out again.

    * David Lian has tried using the Internet in China where censorship is heavy (you can’t even get to Facebook) and it’s really not fun. Tweet him at @davidlian.

  • 29 Dec

    Posted by


    Category

    Of social media and new gadgets

    0

    JUST like that, 2011 has passed us by and so much has happened in the technology world. Both of us can hardly keep up with what’s been happening, given the break-neck speed at which things changed and developed all year long.

    More significantly, technology has shown this year that it matters beyond the world of geeks; it has played a major role in the world at large, particularly at the intersection of technology, society and culture.

    This year was where all these forces came head to head. And along that vein, each of us has picked our choices of the most significant technology-related moments of the past year.

     

    Tablets and the Amazon Kindle Fire

    Right from the start 2011 was hailed the “year of the tablet”. Google was releasing Honeycomb, and several manufacturers had already shown off prototypes of other Android tablets.

    We were pretty much bound for disappointment on this count, until Amazon came out with the Kindle Fire recently.

    Okay, so it hasn’t hit Malaysia yet but the Kindle Fire did what a bunch of other 2011 tablets challenging the iPad failed to do: It changed the game, faster than even Apple could.

    You see, before the Kindle Fire, the tablet market was all about product specifications, faster processors, cooler Android skins and better marketing. Prices hovered near the iPad range, and the only real innovation was the seven-inch form factor first introduced by Samsung via its Galaxy Tab.

    The Kindle Fire changed all that with a US$199 (RM628) price tag, and decent enough specs and a beautiful screen. More importantly, it wasn’t a tablet for the sake of being a tablet, but rather as a gateway to buying all of Amazon’s digital content and goods.

    Rather than making money off selling you a piece of hardware, Amazon is selling you a piece of hardware to make money off you buying videos, music, books and any other piece of content they can sell you from their store. The best part is – this model works and Amazon is the best positioned company to take this on. Next year, I’m expecting to see lots of solid tablet options aimed at competing with the Amazon Kindle Fire instead of the iPad, and lots of folks toting seven-inch tablets. – David Lian

     

    Year of the Protestors

    Say what you like about how social media was just an enabler of revolutions but I challenge you to find a time in history when so much change (and impact) could descend upon the world in under 365 days.

    This, ladies and gentlemen, is thanks to social media. Granted, many of the revolutions were a long time-coming. After all, the sentiments that the public held in contempt of those in power are not new.

    Yet, one can hardly argue that if it was not for social media networks – be it Facebook or Twitter – the public would have felt as empowered as they did, even in countries where the change they were hoping for did not come their way.

    Time magazine may have named the “Protestors” as their Person Of The Year.

    I would rather look at how social media was integral to their strategies for mobilising the people.

    Just look at the #Occupy movement around the world as an example. – Niki Cheong

     

    Group buying

    Somewhere deep inside each of us, there’s a little Kiasu Malaysian waiting to get out. Unfortunately, that Kiasu Malaysian just got unleashed this year with the string of group buying sites now flooding the market.

    Somehow, I don’t remember it being this prevalent in 2010, but when Groupon entered Malaysia by buying over local leader GroupsMore, it seemed to kick the group-buying trend in Malaysia up a couple of notches. Instead of seedy discounts offered for obscure holiday packages and slimming trials (or “experiences” as they were marketed previously), we get good discounts on good brands, and at the very least, some top name restaurants offering really good deals on meals.

    The cheap person in me wants to rush out and buy as many Groupons as I can. The savvy person realises I’m probably going to forget to use half of them. – DL

     

    Timelines

    It may have only been rolled out for a couple of weeks but one of social media’s biggest stories of 2011 has to be the introduction of the Facebook Timeline.

    People may whine and whinge about how it changes the look of their profile but this is probably the most significant aesthetic change Facebook has introduced in a long time.

    Look aside, this move by the social media giant could serve as a warning to its competitors, especially as speculation of an IPO gets rife, to show just how much of an institution it already is.

    Numbers or users aside (the largest in the world, in case you didn’t know), Timeline also shows other networks what Facebook has that they might not – years of history with its users.

    Users who have been with the network from the beginning would have close to a decade’s worth of history saved onto the site, which is now available at a mere click. It not only helps users walk down memory lane but also reminds them just how much they (the user and Facebook) have gone through together over the years.

    Who needs to write an autobiography these days? Just make your timeline public (if you dare to share your life with the world!). – NC

     

    Steve Jobs

    You might think it’s cliche that Steve Job gets a mention, but in my mind, his passing stands out as one of the best covered events on the Internet, surpassing even Michael Jackson’s.

    When the announcement first broke on Twitter, it smashed a number of records with hashtags #iSad and #ThankYouSteve jamming up Twitter and Facebook. Then came the wave of inevitable Steve Jobs quotes flooding everyone’s wall. And this is merely on social network sites.

    Blogs, columns and yes, whole websites, started commemorating the inventor of the Apple devices we all love. So if this doesn’t get him a mention as perhaps one of the biggest “things” to happen in the technology or social world, I don’t know what else does. - DL

     

    Google+

    While Google+ is not yet a #fail story, one really has to wonder when it’ll all come together for the Internet giant.

    Earlier this year, Google released its new social network in beta mode to selected users, although control wasn’t that tight and most early adopters found themselves actively using it within weeks.

    Unfortunately for Google, it seems that many of the said early adopters have left the network, or at least left their accounts idle.

    The biggest problem? No one really knows what adding people to “Circles” mean. Facebook took the easy way out with “Friends” while Twitter’s “Follow” concept is easy enough to grasp. – NC

     

    Circles is another issue

    Despite the bad press (more to do with its initial push for users to use their real names), Google+ is still running, probably because it owns such a huge database of users from its Gmail accounts which makes it easier for new users to start using the network.

    But you can’t force these things. If Google doesn’t think of more nifty ideas (such as organising a Google+ Hangout session between the Dalai Lama and Reverend Desmond Tutu), Google+ might just go along the same route as Google Wave and Google Buzz before it.

    And that’s nowhere. – NC

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