PETALING JAYA: The Electronic Commerce Act will be finetuned by inserting more information to protect consumers who conduct business transactions using the Internet.
Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the insertions would be brought to Parliament for tabling in March.
“This has to be done because currently, in terms of action, penalty, etc, they are under the Consumers Protection Act,” he told reporters after opening the Co-operative College of Malaysia’s (MKM) Open Day and a discourse on business through the Internet at the college here.
Earlier in his speech, Ismail expressed the need for co-operative movement to keep abreast with current developments in information and communications technology (ICT).
“Today, the co-operative movement should be able to carry out business using the Internet and portals,” he said.
He said ICT developments, especially the Internet, have opened a new dimension and medium for business in Malaysia and the world.
“Previously, (budget airline) Air Asia monopolises ticket sales through the Internet. Now, more companies are using the Internet for their business transactions and this phenomena is growing rapidly,” he said.
At the function, Ismail handed a mock cheque for RM30,000 from Malaysian Co-operative Commission executive chairman Datuk Mangsor Saad to the MKM. — Bernama
Thursday, December 24, 2009
NEWS: JobsMalaysia portal to be improved
KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resources Ministry is to improve its JobsMalaysia automated online job-matching service so that the system can determine the actual number of graduates registered with the service who remain unemployed, the Dewan Negara was told.
Its deputy minister, Datuk Maznah Mazlan, said the names of registrants would remain in the system for a year, after which they would be automatically removed.
However, the problem was that graduates who had found jobs did not usually report the matter to the ministry, and their names remained in the system even after they had secured employment, she said.
She was replying to a supplementary question, from Senator Syed Husin Ali.
“It is only after one year that we will know how many registrants have been removed from the system,” she added.
When replying to the original question, from Senator Zainun A. Bakar, on the number of graduates registered with the portal, Maznah said that as of Dec 13, there were 79,186 graduates of public institutions of higher learning registered with the portal.
“Of the number, 57 (0.07%) held medical degrees, 1,424 (1.7%) Masters degrees, 43,313 (54.6%) bachelor’s degrees and 34,392 (43.4%) diplomas,” she said.
Maznah said the number of job-seekers registered with the portal did not reflect the actual state of unemployment among graduates because some of them held jobs and registered with the portal to get a better job or to change their place of work.
She also said that the number of employers registered with the portal exceeded 70,000. — Bernama
Its deputy minister, Datuk Maznah Mazlan, said the names of registrants would remain in the system for a year, after which they would be automatically removed.
However, the problem was that graduates who had found jobs did not usually report the matter to the ministry, and their names remained in the system even after they had secured employment, she said.
She was replying to a supplementary question, from Senator Syed Husin Ali.
“It is only after one year that we will know how many registrants have been removed from the system,” she added.
When replying to the original question, from Senator Zainun A. Bakar, on the number of graduates registered with the portal, Maznah said that as of Dec 13, there were 79,186 graduates of public institutions of higher learning registered with the portal.
“Of the number, 57 (0.07%) held medical degrees, 1,424 (1.7%) Masters degrees, 43,313 (54.6%) bachelor’s degrees and 34,392 (43.4%) diplomas,” she said.
Maznah said the number of job-seekers registered with the portal did not reflect the actual state of unemployment among graduates because some of them held jobs and registered with the portal to get a better job or to change their place of work.
She also said that the number of employers registered with the portal exceeded 70,000. — Bernama
NEWS: Court bans sale of Microsoft Word
SEATTLE: A federal appeals court has ordered Microsoft Corp to stop selling its Word program in January and pay a Canadian software company US$290mil (RM986mil) for violating a patent, upholding the judgment of a lower court.
But Microsoft said it expects that new versions of the product, with the computer code in question removed, will be ready for sale when the injunction begins on Jan 11.
Toronto-based i4i Inc sued Microsoft in 2007, saying it owned the technology behind a tool in the popular wordprocessing program.
The technology in question gives Word users an improved way to edit XML, or code that tells the program how to interpret and display a document’s contents.
A Texas jury found that Microsoft Word willfully infringed on the patent. Microsoft appealed that decision, but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday upheld the lower court’s damage award and the injunction against future sales of infringing copies of Word.
Michel Vulpe, founder and co-inventor of i4i, said in a statement that the company is pleased with the decision, calling it “an important step in protecting the property rights of small inventors.”
Microsoft said it has been preparing for such a judgment since August. Copies of Word and Office sold before Jan 11 aren’t affected by the court’s decision. And Microsoft said it has “put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature” from versions of Word 2007 and Office 2007 that would be sold after that date.
“Beta” or test versions of Word 2010 and Office 2010, expected to be finalised next year, do not contain the offending code, the software maker said.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said it may appeal further, asking for either a rehearing in front of the appeals court’s full panel of judges or in front of the US Supreme Court. — AP
But Microsoft said it expects that new versions of the product, with the computer code in question removed, will be ready for sale when the injunction begins on Jan 11.
Toronto-based i4i Inc sued Microsoft in 2007, saying it owned the technology behind a tool in the popular wordprocessing program.
The technology in question gives Word users an improved way to edit XML, or code that tells the program how to interpret and display a document’s contents.
A Texas jury found that Microsoft Word willfully infringed on the patent. Microsoft appealed that decision, but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday upheld the lower court’s damage award and the injunction against future sales of infringing copies of Word.
Michel Vulpe, founder and co-inventor of i4i, said in a statement that the company is pleased with the decision, calling it “an important step in protecting the property rights of small inventors.”
Microsoft said it has been preparing for such a judgment since August. Copies of Word and Office sold before Jan 11 aren’t affected by the court’s decision. And Microsoft said it has “put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature” from versions of Word 2007 and Office 2007 that would be sold after that date.
“Beta” or test versions of Word 2010 and Office 2010, expected to be finalised next year, do not contain the offending code, the software maker said.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said it may appeal further, asking for either a rehearing in front of the appeals court’s full panel of judges or in front of the US Supreme Court. — AP
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
NEWS: Social networking to help charities
PETALING JAYA: At first glance, the landing page of Ammado.com looks like that of any other social networking site.
But instead of being another cyberspace place that hosts party pictures, Ammado — said Joeri Gianotten, its South-East Asia/Pacific managing director — is a community of people who care.
In essence, he said, it is a stakeholder engagement tool that focuses on causes and charities.
“We don’t want to be just another social networking site but a tool that individuals can use to engage with causes that are important to them,” he told In.Tech on the sidelines of the MSC Malaysia Innotech conference recently.
Ammado.com was started two years ago when its founders were at a technology conference discussing how technology can help make a difference in a chaotic world. “Their vision was to create a global community of people who care,” said Gianotten.
On the website, visitors can find out about or donate to any of 6,000 charities registered there, even if they do not want to be a registered member of Ammado.
However, if they want to join in a discussion or comment on a cause at the site, they will need to be registered members.
Inspiration
Gianotten said Ammado has tools that can help drive support for a cause or charity. These work to engage its visitors and members by creating an emotional bond to the causes they support.
An example of this is Ammado’s Giving Circle — a chart that shows the number of causes or charities that a company or individual supports, without revealing the amounts that have been donated.
Although it may look like a showy piece of decoration on a profile page, Gianotten said the Circle is there not for show but to inspire the friends and families of the donors by communicating their values.
Gianotten said companies also love the tool because it shows the soul of a caring company and allows it to build up an emotional connection with its employees and customers.
“When customers or employees see that the company supports the same causes that they do, they feel more connected with that company,” he said.
After all, Facebook and Twitter are popular because people like to show or tell what they’ve been up to, said Gianotten. But what was missing in that equation was communicating the causes and charities that they are passionate about.
“The Giving Circle inspires people into supporting a cause or charity,” he added.
Responsibility
Another tool used by Ammado to drive a cause is the Giving Circle gift card. Gianotten said this can be used as a selfless alternative to the vouchers that stores give away.
Instead of a card that encourages customers to spend more, companies can thank customers by helping them make a difference to a charity. The customer redeems the voucher by going online and donates the amount to any cause, anywhere in the world.
“We see this as a way of engaging the customers by letting them decide on which causes they wish to support, instead of getting them to support the same ones that the companies do,” he said.
To disburse the funds to a charity or cause, Ammado has partnered with RBS Worldpay, a payment gateway system. It sends the funds to the charities and causes once a month.
Gianotten said the rising number of socially-conscious consumers will help boost Ammado’s ratings.
Some of the companies that are already using Ammado to extend their corporate social responsibility activities include softdrink giant Coca-Cola and media conglomerate Time-Warner.
To find out more about Ammado or if you want to donate to a charity of your choice, go to www.ammado.com.
But instead of being another cyberspace place that hosts party pictures, Ammado — said Joeri Gianotten, its South-East Asia/Pacific managing director — is a community of people who care.
In essence, he said, it is a stakeholder engagement tool that focuses on causes and charities.
“We don’t want to be just another social networking site but a tool that individuals can use to engage with causes that are important to them,” he told In.Tech on the sidelines of the MSC Malaysia Innotech conference recently.
Ammado.com was started two years ago when its founders were at a technology conference discussing how technology can help make a difference in a chaotic world. “Their vision was to create a global community of people who care,” said Gianotten.
On the website, visitors can find out about or donate to any of 6,000 charities registered there, even if they do not want to be a registered member of Ammado.
However, if they want to join in a discussion or comment on a cause at the site, they will need to be registered members.
Inspiration
Gianotten said Ammado has tools that can help drive support for a cause or charity. These work to engage its visitors and members by creating an emotional bond to the causes they support.
An example of this is Ammado’s Giving Circle — a chart that shows the number of causes or charities that a company or individual supports, without revealing the amounts that have been donated.
Although it may look like a showy piece of decoration on a profile page, Gianotten said the Circle is there not for show but to inspire the friends and families of the donors by communicating their values.
Gianotten said companies also love the tool because it shows the soul of a caring company and allows it to build up an emotional connection with its employees and customers.
“When customers or employees see that the company supports the same causes that they do, they feel more connected with that company,” he said.
After all, Facebook and Twitter are popular because people like to show or tell what they’ve been up to, said Gianotten. But what was missing in that equation was communicating the causes and charities that they are passionate about.
“The Giving Circle inspires people into supporting a cause or charity,” he added.
Responsibility
Another tool used by Ammado to drive a cause is the Giving Circle gift card. Gianotten said this can be used as a selfless alternative to the vouchers that stores give away.
Instead of a card that encourages customers to spend more, companies can thank customers by helping them make a difference to a charity. The customer redeems the voucher by going online and donates the amount to any cause, anywhere in the world.
“We see this as a way of engaging the customers by letting them decide on which causes they wish to support, instead of getting them to support the same ones that the companies do,” he said.
To disburse the funds to a charity or cause, Ammado has partnered with RBS Worldpay, a payment gateway system. It sends the funds to the charities and causes once a month.
Gianotten said the rising number of socially-conscious consumers will help boost Ammado’s ratings.
Some of the companies that are already using Ammado to extend their corporate social responsibility activities include softdrink giant Coca-Cola and media conglomerate Time-Warner.
To find out more about Ammado or if you want to donate to a charity of your choice, go to www.ammado.com.
NEWS: Cradle fund draws good response
PETALING JAYA: A month into its launch, Cradle Investment Programme’s commercialisation fund has already attracted about 100 applicants.
The fund, known as CIP500, was introduced to aid technopreneurs who want to commercialise their products but have limited resources.
CIP500 is a purely technology commercialisation fund that provides funding of up to RM500,000 per case to aid budding Malaysian companies.
Cradle chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan said the fact that the agency was able to attract a large number of applicants despite little promotion confirms the need for such a fund.
He said Cradle will aggressively promote CIP500 with a roadshow in the first quarter of next year because it wants even more applicants. After that, it will sift through the applications and select the best.
“Once we have the quantity, we hope the quality will be commensurate,” Nazrin said, adding that Cradle has set a modest target for CIP500. It is aiming to fund about 30 applicants, but if there are more quality proposals than that, it may reconsider its target.
There’s more
Besides pushing commercialisation activities, Nazrin said, CIP500 also takes into consideration the potential of a product to be marketed one to two years after it receives Cradle funding.
Being a results-oriented organisation, it is Cradle’s aim to make international champions out of local innovation companies.
“(The real measure) is not about how many technopreneurs have received the funding but how many have become successful as a result of getting funded,” Nazrin said.
Cradle also hopes to enrich the funding ecosystem by getting the private sector to lend a helping hand.
One of the plans Cradle has, Nazrin said, is to encourage co-investment deals between the pre-seed agency and other private-sector parties.
“The ecosystem cannot survive solely on government funding and this should not be the case,” he said.
Nazrin admitted that it will be quite a task to strike co-investment deals with private companies, given that these are comfortable in their traditional domains, but it is not impossible.
He said that as markets become more efficient and more foreign players come in, arbitraging opportunities will get smaller and the only way to get higher returns will be to take higher risks. “That’s when you’ll have a private sector that is strong enough to invest in (higher risk) technology deals,” he said.
The fund, known as CIP500, was introduced to aid technopreneurs who want to commercialise their products but have limited resources.
CIP500 is a purely technology commercialisation fund that provides funding of up to RM500,000 per case to aid budding Malaysian companies.
Cradle chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan said the fact that the agency was able to attract a large number of applicants despite little promotion confirms the need for such a fund.
He said Cradle will aggressively promote CIP500 with a roadshow in the first quarter of next year because it wants even more applicants. After that, it will sift through the applications and select the best.
“Once we have the quantity, we hope the quality will be commensurate,” Nazrin said, adding that Cradle has set a modest target for CIP500. It is aiming to fund about 30 applicants, but if there are more quality proposals than that, it may reconsider its target.
There’s more
Besides pushing commercialisation activities, Nazrin said, CIP500 also takes into consideration the potential of a product to be marketed one to two years after it receives Cradle funding.
Being a results-oriented organisation, it is Cradle’s aim to make international champions out of local innovation companies.
“(The real measure) is not about how many technopreneurs have received the funding but how many have become successful as a result of getting funded,” Nazrin said.
Cradle also hopes to enrich the funding ecosystem by getting the private sector to lend a helping hand.
One of the plans Cradle has, Nazrin said, is to encourage co-investment deals between the pre-seed agency and other private-sector parties.
“The ecosystem cannot survive solely on government funding and this should not be the case,” he said.
Nazrin admitted that it will be quite a task to strike co-investment deals with private companies, given that these are comfortable in their traditional domains, but it is not impossible.
He said that as markets become more efficient and more foreign players come in, arbitraging opportunities will get smaller and the only way to get higher returns will be to take higher risks. “That’s when you’ll have a private sector that is strong enough to invest in (higher risk) technology deals,” he said.
NEWS: IT class for senior citizens
HE senior citizens of Sri Damansara are passionate about connecting with the Information Generation.
Despite their age, they enjoyed the Information Technology exploration class taught by a trainer, Elaine Chong — even Leong Jo Hoong, who was the oldest at 73 years,
Leong said he had enjoyed the class and learnt some very useful things about the Internet.
“Now, we can at least turn on the computer to communicate with the younger generation.
“I am learning this because I want to connect with my children and grandchildren.”
Meanwhile, Bopo Wong, 58, said a number of the participants did not even know what a digital mouse was when they attnded the class.
“Now, some of them are seriously thinking of buying a laptop, and we will be setting up our Facebook account where we can learn to communicate with each other, like our young people,” she said.
Chong, a software engineer, taught the senior citizens on the usage of the Internet for communication.
Explaining mainly in Cantonese, she taught them how to switch on the computer, and showed them how to create an account for themselves and use the Facebook, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, Gtalk and Skype.
“Don’t be afraid of the computer; it is just a machine,” she said.
At the end of the training, the participants were each presented a flash-animated digital certificate by MBPJ (Zone 1) councillor Chan Chee Kong, who sponsored the training session at Our Learning Hub in Desa Aman Puri.
“We realised that the senior citizens in Sri Damansara are losing touch with the more IT-savvy younger generation,” he said.
“Many of the senior citizens want to learn IT, but not many of their children or grandchildren have the time or the patience to teach them.
“We hope they have learnt enough to start exploring further what the Internet can do.”
The digital certificate, a brainchild of centre manager Stephen Ng and developed by Chong, is probably the first of its kind in the country, which allows the participant to email it to their friends.
Ng said the idea of a digital certificate was much better than a certificate of attendance printed on paper.
“We have to stop cutting down trees,” he said.
“Besides, the digital certificates can be emailed to our participants.”
Despite their age, they enjoyed the Information Technology exploration class taught by a trainer, Elaine Chong — even Leong Jo Hoong, who was the oldest at 73 years,
Leong said he had enjoyed the class and learnt some very useful things about the Internet.
“Now, we can at least turn on the computer to communicate with the younger generation.
“I am learning this because I want to connect with my children and grandchildren.”
Meanwhile, Bopo Wong, 58, said a number of the participants did not even know what a digital mouse was when they attnded the class.
“Now, some of them are seriously thinking of buying a laptop, and we will be setting up our Facebook account where we can learn to communicate with each other, like our young people,” she said.
Chong, a software engineer, taught the senior citizens on the usage of the Internet for communication.
Explaining mainly in Cantonese, she taught them how to switch on the computer, and showed them how to create an account for themselves and use the Facebook, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, Gtalk and Skype.
“Don’t be afraid of the computer; it is just a machine,” she said.
At the end of the training, the participants were each presented a flash-animated digital certificate by MBPJ (Zone 1) councillor Chan Chee Kong, who sponsored the training session at Our Learning Hub in Desa Aman Puri.
“We realised that the senior citizens in Sri Damansara are losing touch with the more IT-savvy younger generation,” he said.
“Many of the senior citizens want to learn IT, but not many of their children or grandchildren have the time or the patience to teach them.
“We hope they have learnt enough to start exploring further what the Internet can do.”
The digital certificate, a brainchild of centre manager Stephen Ng and developed by Chong, is probably the first of its kind in the country, which allows the participant to email it to their friends.
Ng said the idea of a digital certificate was much better than a certificate of attendance printed on paper.
“We have to stop cutting down trees,” he said.
“Besides, the digital certificates can be emailed to our participants.”
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
NEWS: HSBB trial moving smoothly
KUALA LUMPUR: More than 122 households in Bangsar, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Subang Jaya and Shah Alam here are currently involved in a High Speed Broadband (HSBB) retail service trial.
The trial is part of Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s (TM) plan to roll out its commercial HSBB services in the four initial rollout areas by the end of Q1 in 2010.
TM said the trial will give it the opportunity to test its systems, processes, fibre installation methodology, etc, with an eye to providing an enhanced customer service experience when the commercial service is offered later in that quarter.
These “beta testers” are experiencing and enjoying network access speeds of 15Mbps (megabits per second) along with the related triple-play services of voice, video and high-speed Internet, TM announced.
TM has completed two pilot consumer studies to determine the best composition and pricing options for its proposed HSBB retail packages, which will comprise basic and add-on services.
“I want to reassure all interested early adopters out there that our upcoming HSBB retail packages will be attractive in terms of both value and pricing,” said Datuk Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, group chief executive officer at TM.
“After all, we want to draw in as many early adopters in the four initial rollout areas as we can; and we hope their positive experience will be an endorsement for the rest of the country when HSBB comes to their doorstep.”
What you get
HSBB promises faster network access speeds (port speed) in excess of the current fastest available Broadband for the General Public (BBGP) speeds of 4Mbps offered by TM’s existing streamyx service.
HSBB also targets superior end-to-end network performance, including international bandwidth — given TM’s investment in international submarine linkages, including the recently activated Asia-America Gateway (AAG), which went live on Nov 10.
“Given the pioneering nature of our last-mile fibre installation in Malaysia and the sensitive nature of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) installation, which requires a high-degree of accuracy, the expected on-premise installation time will be about six to eight hours as it will involve site survey, drilling, ducting, piping, some electrical work and finally equipment reconfiguration.
“This is typical of the experience of many telcos around the world who have engaged in FTTH deployment,” said Zamzamzairani.
To date, TM has a “premises passed” achievement of 143,000 with a target completion of 150,000 premises passed by year end.
By Dec 31, TM also expects to complete 100% physical upgrade work in the four exchanges of Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Subang Jaya, Shah Alam and Bangsar.
Currently, physical fibre access work in 44 exchanges out of 95 exchanges earmarked for HSBB network rollout nationwide is ongoing.
On the horizon
By the end of 2012 — in accordance with the completion of the first phase of the national HSBB project rollout as agreed with the Government — about 1.3 million premises nationwide will have access to HSBB services.
The nationwide areas, identified as Zone 1 will include the Inner Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia, and key industrial sites around the nation.
Thus far, TM’s capital expenditure spent from Q4 2008 till Oct 30 has been RM1.4bil, covering last mile access, IP core deployment and capacity expansion for international links.
It has received government reimbursement on this, which is in line with the stated commitments under the Public Private Partnership agreement.
TM is Malaysia’s leading integrated information and communications group.
The trial is part of Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s (TM) plan to roll out its commercial HSBB services in the four initial rollout areas by the end of Q1 in 2010.
TM said the trial will give it the opportunity to test its systems, processes, fibre installation methodology, etc, with an eye to providing an enhanced customer service experience when the commercial service is offered later in that quarter.
These “beta testers” are experiencing and enjoying network access speeds of 15Mbps (megabits per second) along with the related triple-play services of voice, video and high-speed Internet, TM announced.
TM has completed two pilot consumer studies to determine the best composition and pricing options for its proposed HSBB retail packages, which will comprise basic and add-on services.
“I want to reassure all interested early adopters out there that our upcoming HSBB retail packages will be attractive in terms of both value and pricing,” said Datuk Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, group chief executive officer at TM.
“After all, we want to draw in as many early adopters in the four initial rollout areas as we can; and we hope their positive experience will be an endorsement for the rest of the country when HSBB comes to their doorstep.”
What you get
HSBB promises faster network access speeds (port speed) in excess of the current fastest available Broadband for the General Public (BBGP) speeds of 4Mbps offered by TM’s existing streamyx service.
HSBB also targets superior end-to-end network performance, including international bandwidth — given TM’s investment in international submarine linkages, including the recently activated Asia-America Gateway (AAG), which went live on Nov 10.
“Given the pioneering nature of our last-mile fibre installation in Malaysia and the sensitive nature of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) installation, which requires a high-degree of accuracy, the expected on-premise installation time will be about six to eight hours as it will involve site survey, drilling, ducting, piping, some electrical work and finally equipment reconfiguration.
“This is typical of the experience of many telcos around the world who have engaged in FTTH deployment,” said Zamzamzairani.
To date, TM has a “premises passed” achievement of 143,000 with a target completion of 150,000 premises passed by year end.
By Dec 31, TM also expects to complete 100% physical upgrade work in the four exchanges of Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Subang Jaya, Shah Alam and Bangsar.
Currently, physical fibre access work in 44 exchanges out of 95 exchanges earmarked for HSBB network rollout nationwide is ongoing.
On the horizon
By the end of 2012 — in accordance with the completion of the first phase of the national HSBB project rollout as agreed with the Government — about 1.3 million premises nationwide will have access to HSBB services.
The nationwide areas, identified as Zone 1 will include the Inner Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia, and key industrial sites around the nation.
Thus far, TM’s capital expenditure spent from Q4 2008 till Oct 30 has been RM1.4bil, covering last mile access, IP core deployment and capacity expansion for international links.
It has received government reimbursement on this, which is in line with the stated commitments under the Public Private Partnership agreement.
TM is Malaysia’s leading integrated information and communications group.
NEWS: Recruting youths to promote cybersecurity
KUALA LUMPUR: Internet policeman Cybersecurity Malaysia has started a volunteer programme that is aimed at educating youths on how to stay safe in cyberspace.
The programme called CyberSAFE Ambassadors will recruit mostly students and youths to champion its agenda. It is non-technical and targeted at the general public, particularly young people.
According to Cybersecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Husin Jazri the programme will also encourage more Malaysians to be caring digital citizens.
“Some of us have been victims of cybercrimes at one time or other so we can pass on these lessons and share our experiences to prevent others from becoming victims too,” he said in an interview with In.Tech on the sidelines of the CyberSAFE Dialogue Forum here recently.
Husin said that with children’s growing familiarisation of information technology and the Internet, cybersecurity has evolved from being a technical issue to a public one.
Based on statistics from the Norton Online Living Report 2009, young Malaysians spend 64 hours a month online compared to the adults who only spend 48 hours a month.
The study also shows that 60% of our youth chat with strangers online and that many parents are mostly unaware of their children’s activities on the Web.
“There’s no more suitable time than now to start a programme like CyberSAFE Ambassadors,” Husin said.
These ambassadors, he explained, will go through a three-day course that will expose them to the social and technological issues related to safety on the Internet, and they will be provided with the resources to promote safe-surfing habits among their peers.
“This way, our youth and teens will have someone close to their own age to come to for advice on Internet safety if they do not feel comfortable discussing their online activities with adults,” he said.
Teachers, too
Cybersecurity Malaysia is also working on a similar programme that will be solely for teachers. “We want to get as many people involved as possible,” Husin said.
He said Cybersecurity Malaysia has carried out pilot projects of this programme in more than 150 schools nationwide and has received positive responses.
“Many students and teachers welcomed the pilot projects because they realised that although they may be technology savvy, they are not necessarily cybersecurity savvy,” said Husin.
Several students and teachers attending the conference lauded the Cybersecurity Malaysia programmes.
Aliza Harun Rasheed, a teacher and a mother of six, said the ambassador programme will attain its intended goal if everyone chips in.
“Teenagers would rather listen to their peers on issues like that, but I think teachers also need to get involved to both learn and help make sure that the children get the right information,” she told In.Tech.
Afiq Hafeezi Zahari, 11, believes the programme is a good idea because it reveals both the good and bad aspects of the Internet. “A lot of my friends think that the Internet is simple and harmless but I know there’s more to it than that,” he said.
Cybersecurity Malaysia will start recruiting its ambassadors soon and will officially launch the programme early next year in conjunction with the graduation of its pioneer batch.
It is spreading the word on its CyberSAFE Ambassadors programme by mouth and via a website. To learn more about the programme, go to www.cybersafe.my.
The programme called CyberSAFE Ambassadors will recruit mostly students and youths to champion its agenda. It is non-technical and targeted at the general public, particularly young people.
According to Cybersecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Husin Jazri the programme will also encourage more Malaysians to be caring digital citizens.
“Some of us have been victims of cybercrimes at one time or other so we can pass on these lessons and share our experiences to prevent others from becoming victims too,” he said in an interview with In.Tech on the sidelines of the CyberSAFE Dialogue Forum here recently.
Husin said that with children’s growing familiarisation of information technology and the Internet, cybersecurity has evolved from being a technical issue to a public one.
Based on statistics from the Norton Online Living Report 2009, young Malaysians spend 64 hours a month online compared to the adults who only spend 48 hours a month.
The study also shows that 60% of our youth chat with strangers online and that many parents are mostly unaware of their children’s activities on the Web.
“There’s no more suitable time than now to start a programme like CyberSAFE Ambassadors,” Husin said.
These ambassadors, he explained, will go through a three-day course that will expose them to the social and technological issues related to safety on the Internet, and they will be provided with the resources to promote safe-surfing habits among their peers.
“This way, our youth and teens will have someone close to their own age to come to for advice on Internet safety if they do not feel comfortable discussing their online activities with adults,” he said.
Teachers, too
Cybersecurity Malaysia is also working on a similar programme that will be solely for teachers. “We want to get as many people involved as possible,” Husin said.
He said Cybersecurity Malaysia has carried out pilot projects of this programme in more than 150 schools nationwide and has received positive responses.
“Many students and teachers welcomed the pilot projects because they realised that although they may be technology savvy, they are not necessarily cybersecurity savvy,” said Husin.
Several students and teachers attending the conference lauded the Cybersecurity Malaysia programmes.
Aliza Harun Rasheed, a teacher and a mother of six, said the ambassador programme will attain its intended goal if everyone chips in.
“Teenagers would rather listen to their peers on issues like that, but I think teachers also need to get involved to both learn and help make sure that the children get the right information,” she told In.Tech.
Afiq Hafeezi Zahari, 11, believes the programme is a good idea because it reveals both the good and bad aspects of the Internet. “A lot of my friends think that the Internet is simple and harmless but I know there’s more to it than that,” he said.
Cybersecurity Malaysia will start recruiting its ambassadors soon and will officially launch the programme early next year in conjunction with the graduation of its pioneer batch.
It is spreading the word on its CyberSAFE Ambassadors programme by mouth and via a website. To learn more about the programme, go to www.cybersafe.my.
Friday, December 11, 2009
NEWS: Malaysian company buys Friendster
KUALA LUMPUR: Friendster, one of the most popular social networking sites in the world, is now owned by a Malaysian company.
The new owner, MOL Global Pte Ltd, is a newly-formed entity spawned from the recent MOL AccessPortal Bhd acquisition of California-based Friendster Inc.
The merger of the two companies is aimed at creating Asia’s largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network.
This will be achieved through the pairing of MOL’s offline retail channel partners and payment platform with Friendster’s large online footprint, social network and user community in Asia.
Friendster has 115 million members worldwide, with more than 75 million registered users in Asia alone. Today, 80% of its Asian members are youths aged between 16 and 24.
“We are creating a unique company that will be well positioned to provide content to a huge, regional user base, especially here in Asia,” said newly appointed MOL Global Group CEO Ganesh Kumar Bangah. Friendster’s former CEO, Richard Kimber, is now the non-executive chairman.
Bangah said a wide array of merchandise via MOL, such as games, goods, gifts, music and videos, will now be made available to the Friendster community.
MOL — an MSC Malaysia-status company whose business is payment solutions — has more than 500,000 physical and virtual payment channels across 75 countries for its content and services. Its core markets are Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and India.
The company also has relationships with more than 70 online games publishers, which in total provide more than 200 titles. It also has partnerships covering music, movie and video content.
Future plans
Earlier this month, Friendster announced several initiatives that will see it focusing more on the Asian youth market, including a rebranding exercise and redesigned webpages with emphasise on Asian relevance.
According to Bangah, MOL Global will continue with these directions set by the previous Friendster management before the merger.
“At the same time, we will look at combining both our valued assets to create Asia’s biggest content distribution and e-commerce platform,” he said.
Kimber said the deal provides Friendster with the kind of financial backing and resources — such as retail distribution centres and e-commerce infrastructure — to further the social networking site’s development.
“This merger enables us to accelerate our strategy and create more locally relevant, fun experiences for our users both on and offfline,” he said.
The offices of both MOL and Friendster around the world, including the Friendster headquarters in Mountain View, California, will be retained, said Bangah.
“In countries where both companies operate, such as Singapore and the Philippines, we will combine the staff and resources,” he added.
Friendster’s rivals include the popular Facebook and MySpace social networking sites, as well as local sites JomSocial and Ruumz.
The principal shareholder of MOL is Tan Sri Vincent Tan who is chairman and CEO of Berjaya Corporation Bhd.
++++
www.mol.com
www.friendster.com
The new owner, MOL Global Pte Ltd, is a newly-formed entity spawned from the recent MOL AccessPortal Bhd acquisition of California-based Friendster Inc.
The merger of the two companies is aimed at creating Asia’s largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network.
This will be achieved through the pairing of MOL’s offline retail channel partners and payment platform with Friendster’s large online footprint, social network and user community in Asia.
Friendster has 115 million members worldwide, with more than 75 million registered users in Asia alone. Today, 80% of its Asian members are youths aged between 16 and 24.
“We are creating a unique company that will be well positioned to provide content to a huge, regional user base, especially here in Asia,” said newly appointed MOL Global Group CEO Ganesh Kumar Bangah. Friendster’s former CEO, Richard Kimber, is now the non-executive chairman.
Bangah said a wide array of merchandise via MOL, such as games, goods, gifts, music and videos, will now be made available to the Friendster community.
MOL — an MSC Malaysia-status company whose business is payment solutions — has more than 500,000 physical and virtual payment channels across 75 countries for its content and services. Its core markets are Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and India.
The company also has relationships with more than 70 online games publishers, which in total provide more than 200 titles. It also has partnerships covering music, movie and video content.
Future plans
Earlier this month, Friendster announced several initiatives that will see it focusing more on the Asian youth market, including a rebranding exercise and redesigned webpages with emphasise on Asian relevance.
According to Bangah, MOL Global will continue with these directions set by the previous Friendster management before the merger.
“At the same time, we will look at combining both our valued assets to create Asia’s biggest content distribution and e-commerce platform,” he said.
Kimber said the deal provides Friendster with the kind of financial backing and resources — such as retail distribution centres and e-commerce infrastructure — to further the social networking site’s development.
“This merger enables us to accelerate our strategy and create more locally relevant, fun experiences for our users both on and offfline,” he said.
The offices of both MOL and Friendster around the world, including the Friendster headquarters in Mountain View, California, will be retained, said Bangah.
“In countries where both companies operate, such as Singapore and the Philippines, we will combine the staff and resources,” he added.
Friendster’s rivals include the popular Facebook and MySpace social networking sites, as well as local sites JomSocial and Ruumz.
The principal shareholder of MOL is Tan Sri Vincent Tan who is chairman and CEO of Berjaya Corporation Bhd.
++++
www.mol.com
www.friendster.com
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
NEWS: Yahoo! launches online consumer privacy tool
WASHINGTON: A new online tool from Yahoo! Inc will let users see and edit the personal profiles that the Internet company compiles about them to target Internet advertising.
Yahoo!’s new Ad Interest Manager, released in test form yesterday, is part of a broader industry push toward self-regulation amid mounting concerns in the United States about online privacy.
The new tool allows consumers to see a summary of their online activities, including a list of the webpages they visit and online services they use, such as e-mail and personal finance channels.
It also lists a consumer’s areas of interest, with categories such as consumer packaged goods, debt consolidation and automotive.
Consumers can modify their preferences and decline particular types of targeted pitches. It also lets consumers turn off targeted advertising altogether with the click of a bright yellow “Opt Out” link.
Users won’t be rejecting ads altogether, though; at most, behaviourally targeted ads would be replaced with others that aren’t tied to personal surfing habits.
In the past, users were able to rejected targeted ads, but they weren’t able to edit and modify their personal preferences — for instance, saying “no” only to ads for videogames or ads with a health focus.
“Up until now, it has been an all-or-nothing choice,” said Amber Allman, a Yahoo! spokesman. “But now consumers can see the different choices have and it gives them context and more transparency.”
Providing guidelines
The launch coincided with a Federal Trade Commission conference yesterday about behavioural advertising, a practice used by Internet marketers to target ads by tracking where people go and what they do online.
The FTC released a set of self-regulatory guidelines for the Internet advertising industry in the United States this year. Those guidelines urge online marketers to give consumers clear notice of the information that is being collected about them and how it is being used, as well as the opportunity to remove themselves from data collection.
US Congress, meanwhile, is drafting legislation that would mandate such privacy obligations for websites and online advertisers.
But many Internet publishers and advertisers argue that self-regulation offers a better approach for managing an industry evolving as quickly as online advertising.
Yahoo!’s new tool offers one such model for self-regulation.
The rollout of the tool follows a recent launch by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) of an online campaign to educate consumers about how Internet advertising works.
The IAB represents many leading Internet publishers and digital marketing services, including Yahoo! and Google Inc.
Among other things, IAB’s “Privacy Matters” website offers explanations of demographic targeting, interest group targeting and data-tracking files known as cookies. The site also informs consumers how they can control the information collected about them by changing their cookies settings.
A number of IAB members, including Yahoo!, are running banner spots on their webpages linking back to the page. — AP
++++
http://privacy.yahoo.com/aim
Yahoo!’s new Ad Interest Manager, released in test form yesterday, is part of a broader industry push toward self-regulation amid mounting concerns in the United States about online privacy.
The new tool allows consumers to see a summary of their online activities, including a list of the webpages they visit and online services they use, such as e-mail and personal finance channels.
It also lists a consumer’s areas of interest, with categories such as consumer packaged goods, debt consolidation and automotive.
Consumers can modify their preferences and decline particular types of targeted pitches. It also lets consumers turn off targeted advertising altogether with the click of a bright yellow “Opt Out” link.
Users won’t be rejecting ads altogether, though; at most, behaviourally targeted ads would be replaced with others that aren’t tied to personal surfing habits.
In the past, users were able to rejected targeted ads, but they weren’t able to edit and modify their personal preferences — for instance, saying “no” only to ads for videogames or ads with a health focus.
“Up until now, it has been an all-or-nothing choice,” said Amber Allman, a Yahoo! spokesman. “But now consumers can see the different choices have and it gives them context and more transparency.”
Providing guidelines
The launch coincided with a Federal Trade Commission conference yesterday about behavioural advertising, a practice used by Internet marketers to target ads by tracking where people go and what they do online.
The FTC released a set of self-regulatory guidelines for the Internet advertising industry in the United States this year. Those guidelines urge online marketers to give consumers clear notice of the information that is being collected about them and how it is being used, as well as the opportunity to remove themselves from data collection.
US Congress, meanwhile, is drafting legislation that would mandate such privacy obligations for websites and online advertisers.
But many Internet publishers and advertisers argue that self-regulation offers a better approach for managing an industry evolving as quickly as online advertising.
Yahoo!’s new tool offers one such model for self-regulation.
The rollout of the tool follows a recent launch by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) of an online campaign to educate consumers about how Internet advertising works.
The IAB represents many leading Internet publishers and digital marketing services, including Yahoo! and Google Inc.
Among other things, IAB’s “Privacy Matters” website offers explanations of demographic targeting, interest group targeting and data-tracking files known as cookies. The site also informs consumers how they can control the information collected about them by changing their cookies settings.
A number of IAB members, including Yahoo!, are running banner spots on their webpages linking back to the page. — AP
++++
http://privacy.yahoo.com/aim
NEWS: Google search results to include even more data
MOUNTAIN VIEW (California): Fresh information from blogs, news sites, Twitter and other popular hangouts will now appear in Google’s search results more quickly as the company aims to give people a more comprehensive look at what’s happening on the Web.
The feature, unveiled on Monday, represents Google Inc’s most significant step yet in the field of “real-time” search — a catch phrase for the torrent of information being shared on blogs and the personal pages of social-networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
As those destinations have turned into increasingly popular forums for swapping opinions, offering news tips and highlighting stories, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft have been scrambling to retool their search engines so they reel in and showcase real-time data more rapidly.
Google reached a deal in October to blend Twitter updates, or “tweets,” into its results, but hadn’t explained how its system would work until yesterday.
Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, has included a section for tweets since late October. Yahoo! began relying on tweets to point out hot news stories in its results last month.
Twitter’s own search engine doesn’t attempt to identify which tweets are the most relevant to each request; it simply provides a chronological list of the updates containing a specified word or phrase.
Popping up
In Google’s version of real-time search, a section of its main results page will include a capsule that automatically scrolls relevant information within a few seconds after it pops up in the web index.
Normally, a new search request was the only way to see the blog posts, status updates and other information that Google had collected since the previous query.
With the change, a person requesting information about US President Barack Obama, for instance, will see the usual set of static links, photos and video, as well as the capsule with pertinent tweets, blog posts and news stories.
The real-time data won’t show up right away for everyone because it will take Google’s computer centres a few days to make it work everywhere.
Google’s real-time information eventually will be expanded to include some of the chatter on Facebook and MySpace, the world’s two largest social networks.
Not so soon
Although Google announced its partnerships with the sites yesterday, the feeds from Facebook and MySpace won’t start appearing in the real-time results until early next year, said Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice-president for search products and user experience.
As with Google’s Twitter alliance, Mayer declined to say how much the company is paying Facebook and MySpace for better access to their users’ musings. The contributions from Facebook and MySpace will be limited to commentary that already can be read by anyone logged into the sites.
Microsoft and Yahoo! have also worked out deals so their visitors can see some Facebook material.
Google is trying to provide better real-time results to maintain its huge lead in search as Microsoft and Yahoo! prepare to team up in a partnership that still needs regulatory approval. Google processes about two-thirds of the search requests worldwide while Yahoo! and Microsoft handle a combined 10%.
“People expect search engines to make all kinds of information available to them,” said Amit Singhal, a Google engineer who oversaw the development of the real-time tool.
Google relies on its dominance of search to drive the bulk of more than US$21bil (RM71.4bil) in advertising sales annually.
More features
Besides introducing real-time search, Google also showed off several other new tools in an auditorium down the block from its Mountain View headquarters.
The company added a voice recognition to process mobile search requests in Japanese on phones running its operating system, Android (Google already does this in English and in Mandarin).
It also provided a preview of a test product, called “Google Goggles,” that will enable people to send a picture taken on a mobile phone and get search results about the photographed object. — AP
The feature, unveiled on Monday, represents Google Inc’s most significant step yet in the field of “real-time” search — a catch phrase for the torrent of information being shared on blogs and the personal pages of social-networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
As those destinations have turned into increasingly popular forums for swapping opinions, offering news tips and highlighting stories, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft have been scrambling to retool their search engines so they reel in and showcase real-time data more rapidly.
Google reached a deal in October to blend Twitter updates, or “tweets,” into its results, but hadn’t explained how its system would work until yesterday.
Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, has included a section for tweets since late October. Yahoo! began relying on tweets to point out hot news stories in its results last month.
Twitter’s own search engine doesn’t attempt to identify which tweets are the most relevant to each request; it simply provides a chronological list of the updates containing a specified word or phrase.
Popping up
In Google’s version of real-time search, a section of its main results page will include a capsule that automatically scrolls relevant information within a few seconds after it pops up in the web index.
Normally, a new search request was the only way to see the blog posts, status updates and other information that Google had collected since the previous query.
With the change, a person requesting information about US President Barack Obama, for instance, will see the usual set of static links, photos and video, as well as the capsule with pertinent tweets, blog posts and news stories.
The real-time data won’t show up right away for everyone because it will take Google’s computer centres a few days to make it work everywhere.
Google’s real-time information eventually will be expanded to include some of the chatter on Facebook and MySpace, the world’s two largest social networks.
Not so soon
Although Google announced its partnerships with the sites yesterday, the feeds from Facebook and MySpace won’t start appearing in the real-time results until early next year, said Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice-president for search products and user experience.
As with Google’s Twitter alliance, Mayer declined to say how much the company is paying Facebook and MySpace for better access to their users’ musings. The contributions from Facebook and MySpace will be limited to commentary that already can be read by anyone logged into the sites.
Microsoft and Yahoo! have also worked out deals so their visitors can see some Facebook material.
Google is trying to provide better real-time results to maintain its huge lead in search as Microsoft and Yahoo! prepare to team up in a partnership that still needs regulatory approval. Google processes about two-thirds of the search requests worldwide while Yahoo! and Microsoft handle a combined 10%.
“People expect search engines to make all kinds of information available to them,” said Amit Singhal, a Google engineer who oversaw the development of the real-time tool.
Google relies on its dominance of search to drive the bulk of more than US$21bil (RM71.4bil) in advertising sales annually.
More features
Besides introducing real-time search, Google also showed off several other new tools in an auditorium down the block from its Mountain View headquarters.
The company added a voice recognition to process mobile search requests in Japanese on phones running its operating system, Android (Google already does this in English and in Mandarin).
It also provided a preview of a test product, called “Google Goggles,” that will enable people to send a picture taken on a mobile phone and get search results about the photographed object. — AP
NEWS: Asean Cyberkids Camp kicks off
THUMBS UP: Asean Cyberkids Camp 2009 participants from various Asean countries and Dialogue Partner India posing for a group picture.
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 115 school children between 10 and 14 years of age from 10 Asean countries and India, are taking part in the second Asean Cyberkids Camp (ACC) 2009 that began on Dec 7 and ends on Dec 11.
Hosted by Maxis Communications Bhd in collaboration with the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (SKMM), the five-day event aims at bridging the digital gap and promote greater integration among youths across the Asean nations.
The programme is structured with a mix of interactive classroom and outdoor activities to teach participants on how to effectively use computers and the Internet.
The activities are also designed to cultivate creativity, teamwork, build self-confidence and leadership skills, Maxis said in a statement.
According to Maxis CEO Sandip Das, the ACC is an extension of the Maxis Cyberkids Camp — a flagship project of the company’s corporate social responsibility programme launched in 2002.
The Cyberkids Camp programme has touched the lives of more than 8,000 schoolchildren from over 1,300 schools, involving about RM25mil investment to date, he said.
“The programme keeps getting larger and larger every year,” he added.
Last year, the camp spread its wings to Asean countries, providing an ideal activity to promote regional integration and cooperation, he said.
++++
maxis.cyberkids.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 115 school children between 10 and 14 years of age from 10 Asean countries and India, are taking part in the second Asean Cyberkids Camp (ACC) 2009 that began on Dec 7 and ends on Dec 11.
Hosted by Maxis Communications Bhd in collaboration with the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (SKMM), the five-day event aims at bridging the digital gap and promote greater integration among youths across the Asean nations.
The programme is structured with a mix of interactive classroom and outdoor activities to teach participants on how to effectively use computers and the Internet.
The activities are also designed to cultivate creativity, teamwork, build self-confidence and leadership skills, Maxis said in a statement.
According to Maxis CEO Sandip Das, the ACC is an extension of the Maxis Cyberkids Camp — a flagship project of the company’s corporate social responsibility programme launched in 2002.
The Cyberkids Camp programme has touched the lives of more than 8,000 schoolchildren from over 1,300 schools, involving about RM25mil investment to date, he said.
“The programme keeps getting larger and larger every year,” he added.
Last year, the camp spread its wings to Asean countries, providing an ideal activity to promote regional integration and cooperation, he said.
++++
maxis.cyberkids.com.my
Sunday, December 6, 2009
NEWS: Cellphones don’t cause brain cancer, but ...
LOS ANGELES: The latest study by Nordic researchers has found that there is no apparent link between cellphones and brain cancer.
China’s Xinhua news agency reported the finding, citing the online edition of the journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Researchers at the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology at the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen based their conclusion on a 30-year examination of the incidents of brain tumours in Scandinavia.
For the study, the researchers collected data on 60,000 people diagnosed with glioma and meningioma in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden between 1974 and 2003, Xinhua said.
The researchers found that the incidence of brain tumours over this period were stable, starting before cellphones became popular.
In addition, there was no change in the incidence of brain tumours between 1998 and 2003, a period of rapid increase in cellphone usage, the researchers noted.
“If mobile phones were to cause brain tumours, we would expect to see a sudden rise in the number of brain tumours at some point in time, and we don’t see it,“ said lead researcher Isabelle Deltour.
However, Deltour leaves the door open to the possibility that widespread cellphone use has not been around long enough to see an increase in brain tumours.
“Either it means that mobile phones don’t cause brain tumours or it means that we don’t see it yet or we don’t see it because the increase is too small to be observed in this population, or it is a risk that is limited to a small subgroup of the population,” she said.
Despite new findings, doubts linger about whether cellphones cause brain cancer.
Commenting on that study, Dr Deepa Subramaniam, director of the Brain Tumor Center at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C., said: “We cannot make any definitive conclusions about this.
“But this study, in addition to all the previous studies, continues to leave lingering doubt as to the potential for increased risk. So, one more time, after all these years, we don’t have a clearcut answer.”
Deltour said her team will continue to look at the rates of brain tumours in the study group. — Bernama
China’s Xinhua news agency reported the finding, citing the online edition of the journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Researchers at the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology at the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen based their conclusion on a 30-year examination of the incidents of brain tumours in Scandinavia.
For the study, the researchers collected data on 60,000 people diagnosed with glioma and meningioma in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden between 1974 and 2003, Xinhua said.
The researchers found that the incidence of brain tumours over this period were stable, starting before cellphones became popular.
In addition, there was no change in the incidence of brain tumours between 1998 and 2003, a period of rapid increase in cellphone usage, the researchers noted.
“If mobile phones were to cause brain tumours, we would expect to see a sudden rise in the number of brain tumours at some point in time, and we don’t see it,“ said lead researcher Isabelle Deltour.
However, Deltour leaves the door open to the possibility that widespread cellphone use has not been around long enough to see an increase in brain tumours.
“Either it means that mobile phones don’t cause brain tumours or it means that we don’t see it yet or we don’t see it because the increase is too small to be observed in this population, or it is a risk that is limited to a small subgroup of the population,” she said.
Despite new findings, doubts linger about whether cellphones cause brain cancer.
Commenting on that study, Dr Deepa Subramaniam, director of the Brain Tumor Center at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C., said: “We cannot make any definitive conclusions about this.
“But this study, in addition to all the previous studies, continues to leave lingering doubt as to the potential for increased risk. So, one more time, after all these years, we don’t have a clearcut answer.”
Deltour said her team will continue to look at the rates of brain tumours in the study group. — Bernama
NEWS: Apple eyeing music retailer Lala.com
LOS ANGELES: Apple Inc is in advanced talks to buy online music retailer Lala.com, a Silicon Valley startup that has threatened “the end of the MP3” with its fast song-streaming application.
A person familiar with the matter confirmed the talks with The Associated Press but was not authorised to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
In October, Lala co-founder Bill Nguyen demonstrated to the AP a working model of an application the company had developed for Apple’s iPhone.
The app, which is not available to the public, allows users to buy the right to stream songs from a digital locker for an unlimited time on their iPhones for just 10 cents (34sen) each.
Song quality is lower than what Apple’s iTunes songs offer, but “intelligent caching” allows tracks to load and play in seconds, with playback possible even outside of cellphone coverage.
This model undercuts prices charged on iTunes, where songs generally cost 69 cents to US$1.29 (RM2.35 to RM4.40).
Nguyen described the concept as the start of “the end of the MP3.”
A key reason for Apple to buy Lala is to keep Nguyen and the development team on board, the person said.
Representatives from Apple and Lala did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Lala, a private company based in Palo Alto, California, was launched in 2006 with US$35mil (RM119mil) in venture capital from Bain Capital LLC, Ignition Partners and Warner Music Group Corp.
In October, Lala became a part of Google Inc’s new music search feature that put links to free song plays at the top of search results. Lala, which has deals with all the major recording companies, provides music for about half of the links that appear.
Lala also kicked off a service that month that allows Facebook friends to send each other 10-cent (34sen) web songs to stream on their pages or 90-cent (RM3) song downloads in the MP3 format.
Lala began as an online CD-trading site but relaunched in October 2008 as a music retailer that sold song-streaming rights for 10 cents and MP3 downloads for an extra 79 cents (RM2.70). — AP
A person familiar with the matter confirmed the talks with The Associated Press but was not authorised to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
In October, Lala co-founder Bill Nguyen demonstrated to the AP a working model of an application the company had developed for Apple’s iPhone.
The app, which is not available to the public, allows users to buy the right to stream songs from a digital locker for an unlimited time on their iPhones for just 10 cents (34sen) each.
Song quality is lower than what Apple’s iTunes songs offer, but “intelligent caching” allows tracks to load and play in seconds, with playback possible even outside of cellphone coverage.
This model undercuts prices charged on iTunes, where songs generally cost 69 cents to US$1.29 (RM2.35 to RM4.40).
Nguyen described the concept as the start of “the end of the MP3.”
A key reason for Apple to buy Lala is to keep Nguyen and the development team on board, the person said.
Representatives from Apple and Lala did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Lala, a private company based in Palo Alto, California, was launched in 2006 with US$35mil (RM119mil) in venture capital from Bain Capital LLC, Ignition Partners and Warner Music Group Corp.
In October, Lala became a part of Google Inc’s new music search feature that put links to free song plays at the top of search results. Lala, which has deals with all the major recording companies, provides music for about half of the links that appear.
Lala also kicked off a service that month that allows Facebook friends to send each other 10-cent (34sen) web songs to stream on their pages or 90-cent (RM3) song downloads in the MP3 format.
Lala began as an online CD-trading site but relaunched in October 2008 as a music retailer that sold song-streaming rights for 10 cents and MP3 downloads for an extra 79 cents (RM2.70). — AP
NEWS: Police to be trained in cybersecurity
KUALA LUMPUR: The International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (Impact) is planning conduct cybersecurity courses for the Royal Malaysian Police.
The course, which aims to help the police force better deal with identity theft and other cybersecurity cases, is expected to be unveiled in the first quarter of next year.
Although the course subjects are still being planned, Impact said that data forensics will be one of the first subjects to be offered.
Impact also plans to offer the course as a service to police forces in its 42 member countries.
According to Impact chairman, Datuk Mohd Noor Amin, people are getting more concerned about online security, especially when it involves their identity, compared to 10 years ago.
However, identity theft and cybersecurity aren’t easy problems to solve even if one has international organisations such as the Interpol on their side.
Amin added that because laws to protect against identity theft are poorly enforced or don’t exist, the successful prosecution of identity thieves are not high as they should be.
This is because laws vary between countries and it is difficult to charge a cybercriminal because although victims of the crime are in one country, the servers used may be somewhere else.
“Which law should be used then?” Amin asked at a recent roundtable discussion about cybersecurity.
Ideally, laws on identity theft should be enforced considering how easy a criminal can obtain someone’s identity, he said.
According to a study done by information security company Symantec, 57% of the time people lose their identities because they have lost their laptops or thumbdrives.
“Only 17% is caused by hackers stealing them but either way, there aren’t proper laws to keep one’s identity secure,” said Mark Bregman, Symantec chief technology officer.
Bregman added that privacy and identity theft is a growing concern in the United States with about 200 million identity records exposed there last year.
As it is now a serious issue, Amin said that governments around the world should naturally respond to this concern.
“There needs to be a political will to drive this and I’m glad that there are already governments that are moving towards this direction,” he said.
Amin also hoped that more countries will eventually have some sort of privacy law that will prevent their personal data from being exploited by unscrupulous parties.
The course, which aims to help the police force better deal with identity theft and other cybersecurity cases, is expected to be unveiled in the first quarter of next year.
Although the course subjects are still being planned, Impact said that data forensics will be one of the first subjects to be offered.
Impact also plans to offer the course as a service to police forces in its 42 member countries.
According to Impact chairman, Datuk Mohd Noor Amin, people are getting more concerned about online security, especially when it involves their identity, compared to 10 years ago.
However, identity theft and cybersecurity aren’t easy problems to solve even if one has international organisations such as the Interpol on their side.
Amin added that because laws to protect against identity theft are poorly enforced or don’t exist, the successful prosecution of identity thieves are not high as they should be.
This is because laws vary between countries and it is difficult to charge a cybercriminal because although victims of the crime are in one country, the servers used may be somewhere else.
“Which law should be used then?” Amin asked at a recent roundtable discussion about cybersecurity.
Ideally, laws on identity theft should be enforced considering how easy a criminal can obtain someone’s identity, he said.
According to a study done by information security company Symantec, 57% of the time people lose their identities because they have lost their laptops or thumbdrives.
“Only 17% is caused by hackers stealing them but either way, there aren’t proper laws to keep one’s identity secure,” said Mark Bregman, Symantec chief technology officer.
Bregman added that privacy and identity theft is a growing concern in the United States with about 200 million identity records exposed there last year.
As it is now a serious issue, Amin said that governments around the world should naturally respond to this concern.
“There needs to be a political will to drive this and I’m glad that there are already governments that are moving towards this direction,” he said.
Amin also hoped that more countries will eventually have some sort of privacy law that will prevent their personal data from being exploited by unscrupulous parties.
NEWS: Malaysia has potential to export creative content
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has the potential to become the destination of choice for the production, marketing and distribution of creative and digital content, both local and foreign, said Information Communication and Culture Ministry secretary-general Datuk Wira Kamaruddin Siaraf.
He said the country has a pool of talent, government support and infrastructure to attract global creative multimedia players to work in partnership and to use Malaysia as their global hub.
“We are now moving ahead from developing capacity to implementing aggressive go-to-market strategies,” he said at the Asia Television Forum in Singapore yesterday.
In a statement released here, Kamaruddin said international companies like Codemasters Studios, a British computer and videogames developer as well as Rhythm and Hues, the Oscar-winning special effects and animation studio, have established their operations in Malaysia.
He added another production company, Freemantle Media, has expressed interest to collaborate with the Film Development Corporation (Finas) while BBC Worldwide has stated its commitment to co-produce documentaries with
Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM). He said Sony Pictures has also enquired about co-production opportunities for films in the country.
“These initiatives are estimated to generate between RM20mil and RM40mil over the duration of the three-year collaboration,” he said.
Kamarudin said the government’s goal was to finance, develop and produce 100 creative projects over the next five to 10 years, which is expected to create over 10,000 jobs in the sector.
“Ideally, we will like this to be a concerted effort, one which can be undertaken jointly with friends and partners from the global content community,” he added.
Kamaruddin said Finas would launch a RM200mil Creative Industry Fund to spur participation and accelerate growth in digital creative industry as mentioned in Budget 2010.
He added the initiative would support the government’s strategic plan to expand the creative content industry to become a major contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the next five years. — Bernama
He said the country has a pool of talent, government support and infrastructure to attract global creative multimedia players to work in partnership and to use Malaysia as their global hub.
“We are now moving ahead from developing capacity to implementing aggressive go-to-market strategies,” he said at the Asia Television Forum in Singapore yesterday.
In a statement released here, Kamaruddin said international companies like Codemasters Studios, a British computer and videogames developer as well as Rhythm and Hues, the Oscar-winning special effects and animation studio, have established their operations in Malaysia.
He added another production company, Freemantle Media, has expressed interest to collaborate with the Film Development Corporation (Finas) while BBC Worldwide has stated its commitment to co-produce documentaries with
Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM). He said Sony Pictures has also enquired about co-production opportunities for films in the country.
“These initiatives are estimated to generate between RM20mil and RM40mil over the duration of the three-year collaboration,” he said.
Kamarudin said the government’s goal was to finance, develop and produce 100 creative projects over the next five to 10 years, which is expected to create over 10,000 jobs in the sector.
“Ideally, we will like this to be a concerted effort, one which can be undertaken jointly with friends and partners from the global content community,” he added.
Kamaruddin said Finas would launch a RM200mil Creative Industry Fund to spur participation and accelerate growth in digital creative industry as mentioned in Budget 2010.
He added the initiative would support the government’s strategic plan to expand the creative content industry to become a major contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the next five years. — Bernama
NEWS: Creative content lessons from India
When people think about India and the content industry, the first thing that springs to mind is Bollywood.
But industry observer, Anand Gunarni believes that India can offer more than scenic landscapes and heart-pumping choreography.
Gunarni is the co-founder, chief executive officer and managing editor of AnimationXpress.com, an industry and business to business portal in India.
Gunarni will be in Kuala Lumpur for Kre8tif, the Dec 7-9 content industry conference that is organised by the custodian of the MSC Malaysia inititiative, the Multimedia Development Corp.
In an e-mail interview with Techcentral, he tells us how the Indian digital content industry is growing and why the world shouldn’t just expect Bollywood titles from the country’s studios.
TechCentral: India is known as an IT giant in the world today. How do you expect this scene to be more vibrant with a thriving content industry?
Anand Gunarni: Long before India got into IT, Bollywood was already producing 1,000 films a year. So India is primarily a huge industry for communication, entertainment, information and knowledge.
The only change we speak about now, is that how will it be with digital content? I think we have to wait and watch. Its already great from the industry and entreprenuership side, but the audience is yet to give the positive vote to animation.
Kids love it — the videogame console and Cartoon Network are as much a part of their lives as their families. So as we go ahead in time, its going to grow exponentially.
TC: We have noticed a lot of Indian names in a few international productions this year. What’s new in the Indian content industry?
AG: The new thing in the Indian CG and animation content industry is that its growing fast in both international work as well as domestic animation feature films being produced for local consumption.
More than 40 animation features are under various stages of production in India and AnimationXpress.com showcased 12 trailers of upcoming Indian animation features at the Digital Bollywood CXO Conclave event recently.
In television, titles like Little Krishna and Chota Bheem are doing wonders.
On the international front there are some Indian studios that are making features for global audiences including Crest Animation which is making the Alpha & Omega film in co-production with Lionsgate of the United States.
In the VFX (visual effects) and CG for Hollywood space, companies like Rhythm & Hues, (which is now also in Kuala Lumpur), Prana, Crest, DQ, Anibrain, Imageworks, Dreamworks and Geon studios have all done some great work and are riding higher up the quality value chain all the time.
TC: Can the world expect new content from India soon?
AG: Yes. And it will bring smiles on faces worlwide. Some of them include Kuchi Kuchi Hota Hain, which is an animation version of the 1997 classic super hit Kuch Kuch Hota Hain, Hey Krishna! and Delhi Safari.
TC: There is no doubt that Bollywood is India’s popular export. However, we believe there is more to the Indian content industry that that. What other gems is India hiding?
AG: Of course there is more than Bollywood. But at the same time, let me also give my perspective that Bollywood today does not only mean the Indian film industry but all the entertainment content India produces and to me it stands for songs, dances, costumes, romance and family values.
There is a lot of talent that has not yet come to the fore in terms of the hidden gems, but that’s because of the star system we have here. Audiences want to see their stars and so not many films can be made by independent studios with a low budget.
TC: What would you say are India’s strengths in the content industry? What about her weaknesses and how can this be remedied?
AG: The Indian industry’s strengths include entreprenuership skills, technology savviness, animation production and a huge market, which Bollywood has tapped for almost 100 years but is yet to be tapped for animation.
However, the industry will need to work on pre-production and script development skills as well as how to effectively package and present our animation titles.
We also hope that the Indian government give more support to this industry as currently there is a lack of support and structure from them.
TC: How long do you reckon would the Indian content industry (specifically digital content) take before it has the same reputation as content powerhouses like Disney, Nickelodeon, Nelvana etc?
AG: Already studios like Prana, Crest, VCL, Graphiti and Famous Animation have a top league reputation globally as CG production and co-production companies.
In terms of powerhouses of content that produce their own intellectual property I think companies like UTV, Big Animation, Greengold are on their way. I believe it will happen in the next five years.
TC: How large is the Indian content development industry and where does it stand globally?
AG: I can speak for animation, VFX and games as those are my domains. These are worth between US$300mil -US$350mil (about RM1.1tril) with around 400 studios, 20,000 artists, 100 education companies, 2,000 training centers and 200,000 students.
These figures are from AnimationXpress.com research and analysis and are based on six years of our company’s involvement with Indian animation.
TC:What would your advice be to budding content developers who are about to dip their toes in this highly competitive industry?
AG:Firstly search your heart as to what is the story or idea you want to communicate to the audience. And then put your 100% focus and energy on creating the best possible experience for the viewers. Be ready to spend sleepless nights, be ready to be broke, be ready to be called a fool, but dont be ready to compromise on the experience of your content.
Gunarni will be moderating a panel discussion titled How to grow a studio from the ground up. For more information about Kre8tif, go to bit.ly/34oAjd or their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kre8tif.
But industry observer, Anand Gunarni believes that India can offer more than scenic landscapes and heart-pumping choreography.
Gunarni is the co-founder, chief executive officer and managing editor of AnimationXpress.com, an industry and business to business portal in India.
Gunarni will be in Kuala Lumpur for Kre8tif, the Dec 7-9 content industry conference that is organised by the custodian of the MSC Malaysia inititiative, the Multimedia Development Corp.
In an e-mail interview with Techcentral, he tells us how the Indian digital content industry is growing and why the world shouldn’t just expect Bollywood titles from the country’s studios.
TechCentral: India is known as an IT giant in the world today. How do you expect this scene to be more vibrant with a thriving content industry?
Anand Gunarni: Long before India got into IT, Bollywood was already producing 1,000 films a year. So India is primarily a huge industry for communication, entertainment, information and knowledge.
The only change we speak about now, is that how will it be with digital content? I think we have to wait and watch. Its already great from the industry and entreprenuership side, but the audience is yet to give the positive vote to animation.
Kids love it — the videogame console and Cartoon Network are as much a part of their lives as their families. So as we go ahead in time, its going to grow exponentially.
TC: We have noticed a lot of Indian names in a few international productions this year. What’s new in the Indian content industry?
AG: The new thing in the Indian CG and animation content industry is that its growing fast in both international work as well as domestic animation feature films being produced for local consumption.
More than 40 animation features are under various stages of production in India and AnimationXpress.com showcased 12 trailers of upcoming Indian animation features at the Digital Bollywood CXO Conclave event recently.
In television, titles like Little Krishna and Chota Bheem are doing wonders.
On the international front there are some Indian studios that are making features for global audiences including Crest Animation which is making the Alpha & Omega film in co-production with Lionsgate of the United States.
In the VFX (visual effects) and CG for Hollywood space, companies like Rhythm & Hues, (which is now also in Kuala Lumpur), Prana, Crest, DQ, Anibrain, Imageworks, Dreamworks and Geon studios have all done some great work and are riding higher up the quality value chain all the time.
TC: Can the world expect new content from India soon?
AG: Yes. And it will bring smiles on faces worlwide. Some of them include Kuchi Kuchi Hota Hain, which is an animation version of the 1997 classic super hit Kuch Kuch Hota Hain, Hey Krishna! and Delhi Safari.
TC: There is no doubt that Bollywood is India’s popular export. However, we believe there is more to the Indian content industry that that. What other gems is India hiding?
AG: Of course there is more than Bollywood. But at the same time, let me also give my perspective that Bollywood today does not only mean the Indian film industry but all the entertainment content India produces and to me it stands for songs, dances, costumes, romance and family values.
There is a lot of talent that has not yet come to the fore in terms of the hidden gems, but that’s because of the star system we have here. Audiences want to see their stars and so not many films can be made by independent studios with a low budget.
TC: What would you say are India’s strengths in the content industry? What about her weaknesses and how can this be remedied?
AG: The Indian industry’s strengths include entreprenuership skills, technology savviness, animation production and a huge market, which Bollywood has tapped for almost 100 years but is yet to be tapped for animation.
However, the industry will need to work on pre-production and script development skills as well as how to effectively package and present our animation titles.
We also hope that the Indian government give more support to this industry as currently there is a lack of support and structure from them.
TC: How long do you reckon would the Indian content industry (specifically digital content) take before it has the same reputation as content powerhouses like Disney, Nickelodeon, Nelvana etc?
AG: Already studios like Prana, Crest, VCL, Graphiti and Famous Animation have a top league reputation globally as CG production and co-production companies.
In terms of powerhouses of content that produce their own intellectual property I think companies like UTV, Big Animation, Greengold are on their way. I believe it will happen in the next five years.
TC: How large is the Indian content development industry and where does it stand globally?
AG: I can speak for animation, VFX and games as those are my domains. These are worth between US$300mil -US$350mil (about RM1.1tril) with around 400 studios, 20,000 artists, 100 education companies, 2,000 training centers and 200,000 students.
These figures are from AnimationXpress.com research and analysis and are based on six years of our company’s involvement with Indian animation.
TC:What would your advice be to budding content developers who are about to dip their toes in this highly competitive industry?
AG:Firstly search your heart as to what is the story or idea you want to communicate to the audience. And then put your 100% focus and energy on creating the best possible experience for the viewers. Be ready to spend sleepless nights, be ready to be broke, be ready to be called a fool, but dont be ready to compromise on the experience of your content.
Gunarni will be moderating a panel discussion titled How to grow a studio from the ground up. For more information about Kre8tif, go to bit.ly/34oAjd or their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kre8tif.
NEWS: THE Malaysian Bar Council has introduced electronic learning as part of its Continuing Legal Education programme to enhance the professional dev
THE Malaysian Bar Council has introduced electronic learning as part of its Continuing Legal Education programme to enhance the professional development of members of the Bar and chambering pupils.
As a first step in the implementation of electronic learning, the Professional Standards and Development Committee (PSDC) has developed e-learning modules based on the existing Ethics and Professional Standards course manual for chambering pupils.
Thiru says the e-EPS course is meant to complement lectures.
The e-Ethics and Professional Standards (e-EPS) course encompasses all six modules of the current course.
It is not meant to replace lectures, but complement them, said PSDC co-chairman Steven Thiru. With the e-EPS, pupils can access an overview of the course syllabus, issues to focus on, training on how to approach these issues, and an interactive questions and answer segment.
The interactive features, discussion boards and practice tests also give pupils instant feedback on their progress, he added.
The course, which was launched last month, is a joint effort with CrimsonLogic Sdn Bhd, a technology provider specialising in electronic solutions and services.
“The response so far has been very good. We can also monitor data such as when the pupils log on and how much time they spend on the course. It’s encouraging to see them making the effort,” Thiru said.
He also said that in the past, the failure rate of chambering pupils was quite high — up to half the pupils did not get called to the Bar. It gradually reduced to about 30% over the last two years.
“It was still quite worrying that pupils were not getting the full benefit of the chambering period. With the introduction of e-learning modules, we hope to achieve 100% passes in the future.”
Julie Thomas, the company’s business development manager said that such implementation is a paradigm shift for the Bar Council to “move in sync” with the times.
During the launch of the e-EPS course recently, Thiru said that for a long time the Bar Council had spoken about the need to move away from the traditional lecture or seminar format for professional development. This is to make continuing legal education more accessible and cost-friendly to members.
He also said that the PSDC had plans to extend e-learning to the entire Bar. In the near future, lectures and seminars would be uploaded online, and travelling to attend them may be a thing of the past.
“It is a very exciting time for the Malaysian Bar as we are updating professional development,” he said.
The e-EPS course is currently available from www.eeps.com.my, and can be accessed for a one-off fee of RM30 per user.
As a first step in the implementation of electronic learning, the Professional Standards and Development Committee (PSDC) has developed e-learning modules based on the existing Ethics and Professional Standards course manual for chambering pupils.
Thiru says the e-EPS course is meant to complement lectures.
The e-Ethics and Professional Standards (e-EPS) course encompasses all six modules of the current course.
It is not meant to replace lectures, but complement them, said PSDC co-chairman Steven Thiru. With the e-EPS, pupils can access an overview of the course syllabus, issues to focus on, training on how to approach these issues, and an interactive questions and answer segment.
The interactive features, discussion boards and practice tests also give pupils instant feedback on their progress, he added.
The course, which was launched last month, is a joint effort with CrimsonLogic Sdn Bhd, a technology provider specialising in electronic solutions and services.
“The response so far has been very good. We can also monitor data such as when the pupils log on and how much time they spend on the course. It’s encouraging to see them making the effort,” Thiru said.
He also said that in the past, the failure rate of chambering pupils was quite high — up to half the pupils did not get called to the Bar. It gradually reduced to about 30% over the last two years.
“It was still quite worrying that pupils were not getting the full benefit of the chambering period. With the introduction of e-learning modules, we hope to achieve 100% passes in the future.”
Julie Thomas, the company’s business development manager said that such implementation is a paradigm shift for the Bar Council to “move in sync” with the times.
During the launch of the e-EPS course recently, Thiru said that for a long time the Bar Council had spoken about the need to move away from the traditional lecture or seminar format for professional development. This is to make continuing legal education more accessible and cost-friendly to members.
He also said that the PSDC had plans to extend e-learning to the entire Bar. In the near future, lectures and seminars would be uploaded online, and travelling to attend them may be a thing of the past.
“It is a very exciting time for the Malaysian Bar as we are updating professional development,” he said.
The e-EPS course is currently available from www.eeps.com.my, and can be accessed for a one-off fee of RM30 per user.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
NEWS: Animation workshop for students
KUALA LUMPUR: A team of two to three students from 10 chosen schools from Selangor, Pahang, Sabah, Perak, Johor and Kuala Lumpur will attend an animation workshop, organised by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and Disney Channels Southeast Asia.
MDeC, the guardian of the MSC Malaysia initiative, are in the process of working with the education departments of the respective states to identify the schools.
After the schools are identified, the school teachers will then identify the students who will take part in the workshop.
During the five-day workshop, the students age 10 to 14, will get to use animation software to create a two-minute clip based on their own “alien encounter,” inspired by Stitch, the Disney character from the 2002 movie.
MDeC would not reveal the animation software titles to be used but said that it would be of professional standard.
The workshops will be conducted by MDeC staff and local animation talents.
Saifol Bahri, MDeC industry development division vice-president said the workshop will give students the opportunity to learn 2D animation and the basic techniques of creating an animation clip.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to show of their creativity,” he said.
Six clips will enter the finals, and the winning clip will be shown on the Astro Disney Channel. The winner will also win a trip to Disneyland Hong Kong. The workshops will take place from January to June next year.
MDeC, the guardian of the MSC Malaysia initiative, are in the process of working with the education departments of the respective states to identify the schools.
After the schools are identified, the school teachers will then identify the students who will take part in the workshop.
During the five-day workshop, the students age 10 to 14, will get to use animation software to create a two-minute clip based on their own “alien encounter,” inspired by Stitch, the Disney character from the 2002 movie.
MDeC would not reveal the animation software titles to be used but said that it would be of professional standard.
The workshops will be conducted by MDeC staff and local animation talents.
Saifol Bahri, MDeC industry development division vice-president said the workshop will give students the opportunity to learn 2D animation and the basic techniques of creating an animation clip.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to show of their creativity,” he said.
Six clips will enter the finals, and the winning clip will be shown on the Astro Disney Channel. The winner will also win a trip to Disneyland Hong Kong. The workshops will take place from January to June next year.
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