Facebook has hit the headlines again thanks to its latest acquisition of Malaysian-based Octazen Solutions. This comes in as Facebook's third only acquisition, after FriendFeed and Parakey.
Facebook purchased the tiny company for an undisclosed amount just a week ago, and while nothing is known about the little startup, we can see from their website that they develop applications which allow social network users to import their contacts from other services.
Facebook reports that the purchase is purely a talent acquisition, and that the 2 guys behind Ocatazen are now employed by Facebook, closing Octazen down.
The Octazen website has paused its operations preventing new users from signing up, we can only assume this is due to the migration over to Facebook. However they state that they will retain their existing user contracts.
It would be interesting to know exactly what Facebook wishes to gain from this acquisition, and the 2 new guys on their payroll.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
NEWS: Mobile broadband to be expanded to rural areas
BARCELONA: Malaysia is recognised as among countries which have contributed significantly to the advancement in the mobile broadband industry, Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said.
He said the recognition spurred Malaysia to further expand and expedite the usage of the technology, especially the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), in rural areas.
“WiMAX, via the 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz frequencies, will be the key technology for the mobile industry in Malaysia,” he told reporters at the end of his three-day visit here.
He said that by August, the service would be expanded nationwide through numerous initiatives to be launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
“We will carry this out in collaboration with Telekom Malaysia and several telcos,” he said.
Rais said among the initiatives was the setting up of community Internet clubs in villages as well as in towns.
“I expect that by August, there will be a greater access to the service in Malaysia,” he said.
Rais is among the ministers in charge of telecommunications who were invited to the ministerial meeting and roundtable discussions involving the government sector and industry players in conjunction with the 2010 World Mobile Telecommunication Congress here.
He said that the recognition was not only due to the country’s mobile phone access, which is at 106% and surpassed the 31% broadband penetration benchmark, but also because of the commitment shown by the government towards the industry and technology.
“We welcome the call for special attention to be given to broadband access due its rapid development globally,” he said. He added that globally, there were about five billion broadband subscribers and that Malaysia too was expected to see an increase in the number of broadband users.
“We are also looking into the latest development in the industry including the long term evolution (LTE), which is the technology beyond 3G, WiFi and WiMAX,” he said.
During the three-day congress involving about 1,000 industry players, Rais, accompanied by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission chairman Tan Sri Khalid Ramli, also visited exhibition which showcased the latest ICT gadgets and software.
Based on his observation at the congress and exhibition here, he said, Malaysia was able to keep up with the latest developments in mobile technology. — Bernama
He said the recognition spurred Malaysia to further expand and expedite the usage of the technology, especially the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), in rural areas.
“WiMAX, via the 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz frequencies, will be the key technology for the mobile industry in Malaysia,” he told reporters at the end of his three-day visit here.
He said that by August, the service would be expanded nationwide through numerous initiatives to be launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
“We will carry this out in collaboration with Telekom Malaysia and several telcos,” he said.
Rais said among the initiatives was the setting up of community Internet clubs in villages as well as in towns.
“I expect that by August, there will be a greater access to the service in Malaysia,” he said.
Rais is among the ministers in charge of telecommunications who were invited to the ministerial meeting and roundtable discussions involving the government sector and industry players in conjunction with the 2010 World Mobile Telecommunication Congress here.
He said that the recognition was not only due to the country’s mobile phone access, which is at 106% and surpassed the 31% broadband penetration benchmark, but also because of the commitment shown by the government towards the industry and technology.
“We welcome the call for special attention to be given to broadband access due its rapid development globally,” he said. He added that globally, there were about five billion broadband subscribers and that Malaysia too was expected to see an increase in the number of broadband users.
“We are also looking into the latest development in the industry including the long term evolution (LTE), which is the technology beyond 3G, WiFi and WiMAX,” he said.
During the three-day congress involving about 1,000 industry players, Rais, accompanied by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission chairman Tan Sri Khalid Ramli, also visited exhibition which showcased the latest ICT gadgets and software.
Based on his observation at the congress and exhibition here, he said, Malaysia was able to keep up with the latest developments in mobile technology. — Bernama
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
NEWS: MSC firms dive into IPTV e-learning programmes
CYBERJAYA: The next step in e-learning is making educational programmes for IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) for students, especially those in the nation’s computer-equipped smart schools.
This is the reason two MSC Malaysia-status companies — Telekom Smart School Sdn Bhd (TSS) and Zeal Hi Tech Sdn Bhd — are working with a South Korean company, Dunet Inc, to develop such programmes.
“We will be able to raise the standard of learning, as well as increase ICT (information and communications technology) adoption in Malaysia,” said TSS chief executive officer Zainuddin Ismail.
Azman Awalludin, managing director at Zeal, said the country’s High-Speed Broadband (HSBB) initiative will play a part in making e-learning via IPTV even more relevant in the near future.
Dunet, which is regarded as an e-learning solutions expert, will help the two local companies gather expertise to develop products for Malaysia and the world.
“The venture will also allow us to pool our strengths and come up with a standard for developing content for e-learning via IPTV,” Azman said.
This will be a world-class benchmark for industry players in the country so that they can penetrate global markets.
Holly Lee, Dunet’s marketing manager, said the venture will involve technology and knowledge transfers between the three companies.
Norrizan Razali, senior manager of the Smart School Department at the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), said the companies have until August to draw up standards for e-learning content, and must deliver some solutions by October.
MDeC, the custodian of the MSC Malaysia initiative, expects the local e-learning solutions development sector to generate a revenue of RM10mil and create about 2,000 jobs in the next five years.
This is the reason two MSC Malaysia-status companies — Telekom Smart School Sdn Bhd (TSS) and Zeal Hi Tech Sdn Bhd — are working with a South Korean company, Dunet Inc, to develop such programmes.
“We will be able to raise the standard of learning, as well as increase ICT (information and communications technology) adoption in Malaysia,” said TSS chief executive officer Zainuddin Ismail.
Azman Awalludin, managing director at Zeal, said the country’s High-Speed Broadband (HSBB) initiative will play a part in making e-learning via IPTV even more relevant in the near future.
Dunet, which is regarded as an e-learning solutions expert, will help the two local companies gather expertise to develop products for Malaysia and the world.
“The venture will also allow us to pool our strengths and come up with a standard for developing content for e-learning via IPTV,” Azman said.
This will be a world-class benchmark for industry players in the country so that they can penetrate global markets.
Holly Lee, Dunet’s marketing manager, said the venture will involve technology and knowledge transfers between the three companies.
Norrizan Razali, senior manager of the Smart School Department at the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), said the companies have until August to draw up standards for e-learning content, and must deliver some solutions by October.
MDeC, the custodian of the MSC Malaysia initiative, expects the local e-learning solutions development sector to generate a revenue of RM10mil and create about 2,000 jobs in the next five years.
NEWS: Rich media education for Terengganu students
KUALA LUMPUR: Come April, nearly one in four Terengganu primary school students will able to download entire textbooks, take simulated exams, watch educational videos and be involved in interactive lessons, courtesy of an initiative taken by the state government.
As part of the plan, parents of those students will also be able to monitor how long their children spend on their studies and receive regular trial-examination results via SMS starting in June.
The Terengganu state government gave 75,000 primary students out of a total of 400,000 in the state locally-manufactured netbooks with Windows XP operating systems last June.
With these netbooks, the students can soon access rich media lessons, courtesy of content developer, Kadena (M) Sdn Bhd, which is an MSC Malaysia-status company.
The 75,000 students were chosen from lower-income families but Kadena targets to have all primary students in the state accessing rich media lessons in two years or so.
In fact, Kadena group chief executive officer Nazrul Zaman said that his vision is to get every single primary and secondary school student nationwide on this system within a decade or less. Help from BT
Nazrul explained that the solution, called Integrated Rich Media Community, is the basis of a true smart school environment, which involves multimedia education.
“There won’t be any copying of notes anymore and students won’t have to lug around heavy-textbooks to school on a daily basis,” he said.
This solution is part of a collaborative R&D initiative by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and British Telecom (BT) Multimedia, which allows MSC Malaysia- affiliated companies to commercialise intellectual property (IP) developed by BT.
In this the particular case, the IP from BT Multimedia was the source code and concept for out-of-classroom education.
“What BT offered was more than just IP. We visited its research centre in Ipswich, England where BT was already working on technologies that were 10 years ahead. The R&D is already there and this saves us from reinventing the wheel,” said Nazrul.
Nazrul said that Kadena also plans to expand this solution to mobile devices, where students can access rich media via their smartphones, by June. Digital lifestyle programme
Kadena is one of the 21 graduate companies of the MSC Malaysia-BT Digital Lifestyle Programme.
Launched in July 2007, the two-year smart partnership aims to foster collaboration between multinational companies and local small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), to remove or lower the R&D costs of SMEs.
On its part, BT Multimedia conducts research of future trends and user requirements. The research is then used to create proof-of-concept prototypes of next-generation broadband-based products and services.
Ivan Boyd, head of business engagement and operations of BT Multimedia said that it is no longer enough for companies to develop innovative products and services on their own.
“BT Multimedia uses an open innovation model, in which new products and services are created together with other companies and industry players,” he said.
MDeC said that BT Multimedia will enjoy some revenue-sharing when the products go to market but would not reveal details. MDeC is the custodian of the MSC Malaysia initiative.
As part of the plan, parents of those students will also be able to monitor how long their children spend on their studies and receive regular trial-examination results via SMS starting in June.
The Terengganu state government gave 75,000 primary students out of a total of 400,000 in the state locally-manufactured netbooks with Windows XP operating systems last June.
With these netbooks, the students can soon access rich media lessons, courtesy of content developer, Kadena (M) Sdn Bhd, which is an MSC Malaysia-status company.
The 75,000 students were chosen from lower-income families but Kadena targets to have all primary students in the state accessing rich media lessons in two years or so.
In fact, Kadena group chief executive officer Nazrul Zaman said that his vision is to get every single primary and secondary school student nationwide on this system within a decade or less. Help from BT
Nazrul explained that the solution, called Integrated Rich Media Community, is the basis of a true smart school environment, which involves multimedia education.
“There won’t be any copying of notes anymore and students won’t have to lug around heavy-textbooks to school on a daily basis,” he said.
This solution is part of a collaborative R&D initiative by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and British Telecom (BT) Multimedia, which allows MSC Malaysia- affiliated companies to commercialise intellectual property (IP) developed by BT.
In this the particular case, the IP from BT Multimedia was the source code and concept for out-of-classroom education.
“What BT offered was more than just IP. We visited its research centre in Ipswich, England where BT was already working on technologies that were 10 years ahead. The R&D is already there and this saves us from reinventing the wheel,” said Nazrul.
Nazrul said that Kadena also plans to expand this solution to mobile devices, where students can access rich media via their smartphones, by June. Digital lifestyle programme
Kadena is one of the 21 graduate companies of the MSC Malaysia-BT Digital Lifestyle Programme.
Launched in July 2007, the two-year smart partnership aims to foster collaboration between multinational companies and local small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), to remove or lower the R&D costs of SMEs.
On its part, BT Multimedia conducts research of future trends and user requirements. The research is then used to create proof-of-concept prototypes of next-generation broadband-based products and services.
Ivan Boyd, head of business engagement and operations of BT Multimedia said that it is no longer enough for companies to develop innovative products and services on their own.
“BT Multimedia uses an open innovation model, in which new products and services are created together with other companies and industry players,” he said.
MDeC said that BT Multimedia will enjoy some revenue-sharing when the products go to market but would not reveal details. MDeC is the custodian of the MSC Malaysia initiative.
Monday, February 15, 2010
NEWS: Two popular websites blocked in Vietnam
HANOI: Two pioneering websites that stretched the limits of free expression in Vietnam say they have been hacked and shut down, just months after the communist government blocked the social networking site Facebook.
Both sites had been critical of Vietnam’s policies toward China, a subject of great sensitivity to the government, whose efforts to maintain good relations with its massive northern neighbour sometimes run afoul of nationalist sentiment.
But both sites were generally restrained in tone, and neither had called for an end to Vietnam’s single-party system.
The sites’ problems arose in the midst of Vietnam’s latest crackdown on dissent, which has seen 16 democracy activists jailed in just over three months.
The government has not responded to questions about the websites submitted earlier this week by The Associated Press.
But shortly after Vietnam began blocking Facebook in November, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nguyen Phuong Nga declared that Vietnam would take “appropriate action” against websites that it believes threaten national security.
The government did not specifically acknowledge shutting down Facebook, but two Internet service providers said they had been ordered to block the site.
Hide and seek
One of the recently closed sites, blogosin.org, was shut down earlier this week, according to its author, Huy Duc, a Ho Chi Minh City blogger who wrote under the pen name “Osin,” which, loosely translated, means “housekeeper.” He often campaigned against corruption and lampooned bureaucratic incompetence.
The second site, bauxitevietnam.info, was founded last year by three men who oppose the government’s plans to open a giant bauxite mine in Vietnam’s strategically sensitive Central Highlands.
The bauxite site’s manager, Nguyen Hue Chi, said he has been playing an online cat-and-mouse game with unknown hackers since December, when the site was first blocked.
Last month, he moved it to a new web address, but it was recently hacked again. It is now accessible at yet another address that Chi recently established.
Duc lost his job at the Saigon Tiep Thi newspaper last August after posting a piece on the Osin site that praised the fall of the Berlin Wall and criticised the former Soviet Union’s communist leaders.
From the time it opened last year until it was closed in December, the Bauxite site had drawn more than 17 million hits from readers concerned about the government’s mining plans.
Vietnam has hired a Chinese company to build the plant to process bauxite taken from the mines and hundreds of Chinese are reportedly working there.
Vietnam has some of the world’s largest reserves of bauxite, the primary ingredient in aluminum. The government has argued that the mine would bring economic benefits to the impoverished Central Highlands.
Opponents say the project would cause major environmental problems and have raised the spectre of Chinese workers flooding into the strategically sensitive region.
Among them is the legendary 98-year-old Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, who expelled French and US troops from Vietnam. Giap’s photograph is prominently featured on the bauxite website.
Old enemy
Suspicion of China runs deep in Vietnam, which has a long history of conflict with its northern neighbour.
The two countries fought a bloody border war in 1979 and they have ongoing disputes about two archipelagoes in the South China Sea, the Spratlys and the Paracels.
Like Osin, bloggers on the bauxite site have argued that the Vietnamese Government has not taken a tough enough stand against China.
During an interview last summer, Chi said the founders established the site because the dispute over the bauxite mine had been largely ignored by Vietnam’s state-controlled media.
Chi, whose grandfather was friends with Vietnam’s revolutionary hero Ho Chi Minh, stressed that he wanted to work with the Communist Party, not replace it.
He expressed confidence that the government would gradually ease restrictions on expression.
“The right to independent thought and free expression is enshrined in the Vietnamese constitution,” he said. — AP
Both sites had been critical of Vietnam’s policies toward China, a subject of great sensitivity to the government, whose efforts to maintain good relations with its massive northern neighbour sometimes run afoul of nationalist sentiment.
But both sites were generally restrained in tone, and neither had called for an end to Vietnam’s single-party system.
The sites’ problems arose in the midst of Vietnam’s latest crackdown on dissent, which has seen 16 democracy activists jailed in just over three months.
The government has not responded to questions about the websites submitted earlier this week by The Associated Press.
But shortly after Vietnam began blocking Facebook in November, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nguyen Phuong Nga declared that Vietnam would take “appropriate action” against websites that it believes threaten national security.
The government did not specifically acknowledge shutting down Facebook, but two Internet service providers said they had been ordered to block the site.
Hide and seek
One of the recently closed sites, blogosin.org, was shut down earlier this week, according to its author, Huy Duc, a Ho Chi Minh City blogger who wrote under the pen name “Osin,” which, loosely translated, means “housekeeper.” He often campaigned against corruption and lampooned bureaucratic incompetence.
The second site, bauxitevietnam.info, was founded last year by three men who oppose the government’s plans to open a giant bauxite mine in Vietnam’s strategically sensitive Central Highlands.
The bauxite site’s manager, Nguyen Hue Chi, said he has been playing an online cat-and-mouse game with unknown hackers since December, when the site was first blocked.
Last month, he moved it to a new web address, but it was recently hacked again. It is now accessible at yet another address that Chi recently established.
Duc lost his job at the Saigon Tiep Thi newspaper last August after posting a piece on the Osin site that praised the fall of the Berlin Wall and criticised the former Soviet Union’s communist leaders.
From the time it opened last year until it was closed in December, the Bauxite site had drawn more than 17 million hits from readers concerned about the government’s mining plans.
Vietnam has hired a Chinese company to build the plant to process bauxite taken from the mines and hundreds of Chinese are reportedly working there.
Vietnam has some of the world’s largest reserves of bauxite, the primary ingredient in aluminum. The government has argued that the mine would bring economic benefits to the impoverished Central Highlands.
Opponents say the project would cause major environmental problems and have raised the spectre of Chinese workers flooding into the strategically sensitive region.
Among them is the legendary 98-year-old Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, who expelled French and US troops from Vietnam. Giap’s photograph is prominently featured on the bauxite website.
Old enemy
Suspicion of China runs deep in Vietnam, which has a long history of conflict with its northern neighbour.
The two countries fought a bloody border war in 1979 and they have ongoing disputes about two archipelagoes in the South China Sea, the Spratlys and the Paracels.
Like Osin, bloggers on the bauxite site have argued that the Vietnamese Government has not taken a tough enough stand against China.
During an interview last summer, Chi said the founders established the site because the dispute over the bauxite mine had been largely ignored by Vietnam’s state-controlled media.
Chi, whose grandfather was friends with Vietnam’s revolutionary hero Ho Chi Minh, stressed that he wanted to work with the Communist Party, not replace it.
He expressed confidence that the government would gradually ease restrictions on expression.
“The right to independent thought and free expression is enshrined in the Vietnamese constitution,” he said. — AP
NEWS: Jailbirds using Facebook to taunt, brag
LONDON: The criminals are behind bars but their victims are still feeling their reach — through the Internet.
The British Government said on Thursday that Facebook had removed the profiles of 30 British inmates at its request after several incidents in which prisoners reportedly used the social networking site to organise crime or taunt others.
The announcement made some Internet users worry about government interference online but many crime victims said even more should be done.
“When someone is convicted of a crime he loses his civil liberty though sentencing,” said Gary Trowsdale of Families United, a group founded by relatives of young murder victims. “We say he should use his cyberliberty as well.”
Families United met earlier this week with Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who said the government would act “to tackle those cases where offenders seek to taunt or harass victims and their families” through websites.
British prisoners are banned from using social networking sites like Facebook. Britain — unlike many European countries — bars almost all inmates from access to the Internet, except for educational purposes under supervision.
But authorities acknowledge that some have used smuggled mobile phones to update their pages, or have gotten friends on the outside to do it for them.
Long reach
The Sunday Times newspaper reported last month that Colin Gunn — a gangland boss convicted of conspiring to murder a couple in 2004 — warned on Facebook that “I will be home one day and I can’t wait to look into certain people’s eyes and see the fear of me being there.”
Jade Braithwaite, one of three men jailed for the stabbing death of London teenager Ben Kinsella, also had a page — now gone — with postings on his life in prison, including one saying he was “down but not out.”
A photo also was posted to the site showing him wearing a “Free Jade Braithwaite” T-shirt.
Ben’s father, George Kinsella, said his wife and children had had to read “very distressing” comments on the Net.
“Ben’s sisters, younger sisters, look at Facebook regularly and my wife found it very distressing to read some of the comments that were being put on there on virtually a daily basis,” he told broadcaster ITV.
In other cases, escaped convicts have used Facebook to taunt the police. British burglar Craig “Lazie” Lynch became an Internet celebrity after he posted mocking messages and defiant photos on Facebook during four months on the run from a minimum security prison.
He was re-arrested last month and sent back to jail.
Straw said Britain was looking to “raise the stakes against prisoners who seek to use these sites.” He said measures already introduced include body scanners in all jails to stop phones being smuggled in.
Go away
Straw said Facebook removed the 30 offenders’ sites within 48 hours once they had been notified but he was working with the social networking site to act even faster.
“What we’ve got to is set up a better system with Facebook so that if they get a notice from us that this site is improper than all they have to do is not make a judgment about it but press the delete button,” he told the BBC in an interview on Thursday.
Facebook said it took the problem seriously and would close down accounts that violated its rules, which ban harassment and intimidation and prohibit the creation of fake profiles.
“Facebook is absolutely committed to keeping its sites safe and clean,” said spokesman Sophy Silver. “The World Wide Web can be a wild and unruly place. Facebook tries to put some rules and protocols on top of the unruly Web.”
David Wilson, a criminologist at Birmingham City University, said authorities have long struggled to stop convicts reaching out from behind bars to harass victims, collude with cronies or intimidate witnesses.
“It was previously done by letter, by visitors who take messages out of the prison, by telephone,” he said. “Now it can be done in more postmodern media like Facebook or other social networking sites.”
Wilson said that provided authorities with an opportunity as well as a problem — unguarded Internet postings can yield valuable information for police.
“It makes something which might have been covert, overt,” he said. “If they are doing these kinds of threats in this very visible way it allows us to gain a lot of intelligence.”
Censorship?
The Ministry of Justice did not respond to calls and e-mail seeking an elaboration of Straw’s statement, but to some his actions smacked of government control of the Net.
“For the government to interfere in what is both a private company and a social space, that seems absurd,” said Padraig Reidy of Index on Censorship.
Simon Davies of the rights group Privacy International, said the statement was “part of a trend right throughout the government to see social networking sites as in some way lawless territory.”
“The reality is, Facebook has a process, and it will co-operate with governments,” he said.
Victims’ families, meanwhile, are calling for stronger action. Families United wants the government to introduce an “e-ASBO” to stop convicted killers bragging online.
The measure is named for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, sanctions introduced by the government that allow magistrates to impose conditions on a person’s behaviour in a bid to stop low-level annoyances like graffiti, littering and loud music.
They want new rules that would let authorities pass more information than is currently allowed to websites about convicted criminals, so they can them monitor them more effectively.
The government has not committed to that plan, but the families said their meeting on Wednesday with Straw was positive. — AP
The British Government said on Thursday that Facebook had removed the profiles of 30 British inmates at its request after several incidents in which prisoners reportedly used the social networking site to organise crime or taunt others.
The announcement made some Internet users worry about government interference online but many crime victims said even more should be done.
“When someone is convicted of a crime he loses his civil liberty though sentencing,” said Gary Trowsdale of Families United, a group founded by relatives of young murder victims. “We say he should use his cyberliberty as well.”
Families United met earlier this week with Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who said the government would act “to tackle those cases where offenders seek to taunt or harass victims and their families” through websites.
British prisoners are banned from using social networking sites like Facebook. Britain — unlike many European countries — bars almost all inmates from access to the Internet, except for educational purposes under supervision.
But authorities acknowledge that some have used smuggled mobile phones to update their pages, or have gotten friends on the outside to do it for them.
Long reach
The Sunday Times newspaper reported last month that Colin Gunn — a gangland boss convicted of conspiring to murder a couple in 2004 — warned on Facebook that “I will be home one day and I can’t wait to look into certain people’s eyes and see the fear of me being there.”
Jade Braithwaite, one of three men jailed for the stabbing death of London teenager Ben Kinsella, also had a page — now gone — with postings on his life in prison, including one saying he was “down but not out.”
A photo also was posted to the site showing him wearing a “Free Jade Braithwaite” T-shirt.
Ben’s father, George Kinsella, said his wife and children had had to read “very distressing” comments on the Net.
“Ben’s sisters, younger sisters, look at Facebook regularly and my wife found it very distressing to read some of the comments that were being put on there on virtually a daily basis,” he told broadcaster ITV.
In other cases, escaped convicts have used Facebook to taunt the police. British burglar Craig “Lazie” Lynch became an Internet celebrity after he posted mocking messages and defiant photos on Facebook during four months on the run from a minimum security prison.
He was re-arrested last month and sent back to jail.
Straw said Britain was looking to “raise the stakes against prisoners who seek to use these sites.” He said measures already introduced include body scanners in all jails to stop phones being smuggled in.
Go away
Straw said Facebook removed the 30 offenders’ sites within 48 hours once they had been notified but he was working with the social networking site to act even faster.
“What we’ve got to is set up a better system with Facebook so that if they get a notice from us that this site is improper than all they have to do is not make a judgment about it but press the delete button,” he told the BBC in an interview on Thursday.
Facebook said it took the problem seriously and would close down accounts that violated its rules, which ban harassment and intimidation and prohibit the creation of fake profiles.
“Facebook is absolutely committed to keeping its sites safe and clean,” said spokesman Sophy Silver. “The World Wide Web can be a wild and unruly place. Facebook tries to put some rules and protocols on top of the unruly Web.”
David Wilson, a criminologist at Birmingham City University, said authorities have long struggled to stop convicts reaching out from behind bars to harass victims, collude with cronies or intimidate witnesses.
“It was previously done by letter, by visitors who take messages out of the prison, by telephone,” he said. “Now it can be done in more postmodern media like Facebook or other social networking sites.”
Wilson said that provided authorities with an opportunity as well as a problem — unguarded Internet postings can yield valuable information for police.
“It makes something which might have been covert, overt,” he said. “If they are doing these kinds of threats in this very visible way it allows us to gain a lot of intelligence.”
Censorship?
The Ministry of Justice did not respond to calls and e-mail seeking an elaboration of Straw’s statement, but to some his actions smacked of government control of the Net.
“For the government to interfere in what is both a private company and a social space, that seems absurd,” said Padraig Reidy of Index on Censorship.
Simon Davies of the rights group Privacy International, said the statement was “part of a trend right throughout the government to see social networking sites as in some way lawless territory.”
“The reality is, Facebook has a process, and it will co-operate with governments,” he said.
Victims’ families, meanwhile, are calling for stronger action. Families United wants the government to introduce an “e-ASBO” to stop convicted killers bragging online.
The measure is named for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, sanctions introduced by the government that allow magistrates to impose conditions on a person’s behaviour in a bid to stop low-level annoyances like graffiti, littering and loud music.
They want new rules that would let authorities pass more information than is currently allowed to websites about convicted criminals, so they can them monitor them more effectively.
The government has not committed to that plan, but the families said their meeting on Wednesday with Straw was positive. — AP
NEWS: Telecentres urged to have more community activities
CYBERJAYA: The Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) wants the 2,000 telecentres across the country to step up ICT awareness programmes for their rural communities.
MDeC, which is tasked with helping to empower businesses and connect communities through information and communications technology, is disappointed with the low levels of activity at most of these telecentres.
“Out of the 2,000 telecentres, only 18 submitted proposals for the recent MSC Malaysia Karnival Usahawan & ICT event,” said MDeC chief executive Badlisham Ghazali, citing an example. MDeC is guardian of the MSC Malaysia initiative to build a knowledge-based economy.
“Six were chosen and these performed very well. But a lot more needs to be done and by all the telecentres,” he said.
The only way Malaysia will achieve high ICT literacy is if everyone gets involved in their own community, according to Badlisham.
He said the first step is to create awareness and the telecentres should know the best way to do this for their own community.
“People must learn to not be intimidated by technology. Once we have achieved that, we can create a portal to gather feedback and assess what the community needs in terms of ICT,” he said.
The carnivals were held between October 2009 and last month. Those who attended were treated to a digital storytelling activity, an introduction to blogging, and various traditional performances.
Each carnival attracted about 5,000 visitors, said MDeC.
MDeC, which is tasked with helping to empower businesses and connect communities through information and communications technology, is disappointed with the low levels of activity at most of these telecentres.
“Out of the 2,000 telecentres, only 18 submitted proposals for the recent MSC Malaysia Karnival Usahawan & ICT event,” said MDeC chief executive Badlisham Ghazali, citing an example. MDeC is guardian of the MSC Malaysia initiative to build a knowledge-based economy.
“Six were chosen and these performed very well. But a lot more needs to be done and by all the telecentres,” he said.
The only way Malaysia will achieve high ICT literacy is if everyone gets involved in their own community, according to Badlisham.
He said the first step is to create awareness and the telecentres should know the best way to do this for their own community.
“People must learn to not be intimidated by technology. Once we have achieved that, we can create a portal to gather feedback and assess what the community needs in terms of ICT,” he said.
The carnivals were held between October 2009 and last month. Those who attended were treated to a digital storytelling activity, an introduction to blogging, and various traditional performances.
Each carnival attracted about 5,000 visitors, said MDeC.
NEWS: Google’s e-mail gets social in Facebook face-off
FACEBOOK-LIKE: The new "Google Buzz" feature for Gmail will enable Gmail users to create status updates on Google Buzz and read and comment on the updates posted by their friends. — AP SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc has opened a new social hub in its e-mail service, leaving little doubt that the Internet search leader is girding for a face-off with Facebook.
The new Gmail channel, called Google Buzz, includes many of the features that have turned Facebook into the Web’s top spot for fraternising with friends and family.
It came less than a week after Facebook made changes of its own. Among other things, Facebook now shows a list of friends available for chatting on the left side of the page, similar to where Gmail now displays its chat feature.
The Google Buzz features won’t reach all of Gmail’s estimated 176 million users worldwide for several more days. A link to the service will appear on the top left of the page, in a prominent position just under Gmail’s inbox tab.
IMPROVED: Gmail users will be able to track other people’s updates and instantly comment on them for everyone else in the social circle to see. — AP Like Facebook, Google Buzz will let Gmail users post updates about what they are doing or thinking and share those with the rest of the world or with only a select group of people.
Gmail users also will be able to track other people’s updates and instantly comment on them for everyone else in the social circle to see.
And, just like Facebook, Google Buzz can serve as a showcase for video, photos and weblinks to interesting stories.
Google Buzz also shows similarities with Twitter, an online communication tool that broadcasts messages of up to 140 characters. A mobile phone application of Google Buzz is particularly Twitter-like: It allows people to see the public updates of other people in the same vicinity.
Brin grins
Some of Google Buzz’s features mirror social tools already available in instant-messaging services and other web-based e-mail, including Yahoo! Inc’s and Microsoft Corp’s. Google Chat, which is incorporated into Gmail, already has limited ability to display status updates.
Google launched a social network called Orkut six years ago, just a few weeks before Facebook began in a Harvard dorm room, but Orkut has gained little traction outside of Brazil. Meanwhile, Facebook has emerged as a cultural phenomenon with more than 400 million users worldwide.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin seemed confident that Google Buzz will enjoy broader success.
“Every couple years something new and revolutionary emerges and thanks to the Internet it can really emerge very quickly and affect many people in a short period of time,” Brin said.
“I certainly hope that trend will continue and I hope we will make our own contribution with this set of capabilities.”
Without mentioning Facebook specifically, other Google executives predicted the new service will do a better job of sifting through the clutter of personal updates to pull up the ones most likely to pique each individual user’s interest.
Although Google remains far more powerful, Facebook poses a threat because much of the personal information shared on the site remains boxed in a “walled garden” that can’t be indexed by search engines.
And Facebook has become a more alluring marketing magnet as more people spend more time there. That status threatens to siphon revenue from Google, which makes virtually all of its money from advertising.
Competing
Facebook had little to say about Google Buzz on Tuesday.“Generally, we’re supportive of technologies that help make the Web more social and the world more open and are interested to see how Google Buzz progresses over time,” the company said in a statement.
Facebook also declined on Tuesday to comment on a report by the blog TechCrunch that Facebook is developing a new e-mail service, which would encroach on Gmail and other web-based e-mail services.
The rivalry between Facebook and Google has been heating up since Facebook sold a 1.6% stake to Microsoft in 2007. Facebook stirred things up further by wooing a Google advertising executive, Sheryl Sandberg, to become its chief operating officer. — APNEWS: Latest move aimed at bridging digital divide
ALOR STAR: Telco giant Telekom Malaysia (TM) expects 15,000 students of higher learning institutions in Kedah and Perlis to take up its “Streamyx Cool Unipack” offer.
TM Kedah and Perlis general manager Pauziah Taib said the package was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Jan 30 for tertiary students who could not afford to purchase Internet-enabled computers.
“Besides that, it will help increase the computer and broadband penetration rate in line with the national information technology agenda to raise the penetration rate to 50% of households by year-end,” she said.
Only first and second year tertiary students are eligible for the package and must obtain a verification letter from their universities before applying at any TM Point nationwide.
Streamyx Cool Unipack offers the students a combination of both a netbook and free broadband Internet access at RM50 per month for 24 months.
The package includes a free wireless modem, free Streamyx Zone account and 50 songs download per month for 12 months from TM’s music portal, HyppTunes.
In addition, subscribers will enjoy a 50% discount off the subscription rate on the first month’s subscription fee and a waiver of the RM75 activation and RM88 installation fees.
“TM will visit campuses nationwide to promote the package and expand Streamyx Zone locations to cover the grounds of unversities to offer free Internet access for all students,” Pauziah said.
She added that the netbook offer was limited to the first 100,000 subscribers only. — Bernama
TM Kedah and Perlis general manager Pauziah Taib said the package was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Jan 30 for tertiary students who could not afford to purchase Internet-enabled computers.
“Besides that, it will help increase the computer and broadband penetration rate in line with the national information technology agenda to raise the penetration rate to 50% of households by year-end,” she said.
Only first and second year tertiary students are eligible for the package and must obtain a verification letter from their universities before applying at any TM Point nationwide.
Streamyx Cool Unipack offers the students a combination of both a netbook and free broadband Internet access at RM50 per month for 24 months.
The package includes a free wireless modem, free Streamyx Zone account and 50 songs download per month for 12 months from TM’s music portal, HyppTunes.
In addition, subscribers will enjoy a 50% discount off the subscription rate on the first month’s subscription fee and a waiver of the RM75 activation and RM88 installation fees.
“TM will visit campuses nationwide to promote the package and expand Streamyx Zone locations to cover the grounds of unversities to offer free Internet access for all students,” Pauziah said.
She added that the netbook offer was limited to the first 100,000 subscribers only. — Bernama
Saturday, February 6, 2010
NEWS: Double-digit growth predicted for outsourcing sector
KUALA LUMPUR: The local outsourcing sector is predicted to grow 20% this year, to reach a value of RM1.3bil, according to Outsourcing Malaysia.Last year, the sector recorded a 17% growth.
David Wong, chairman of Outsourcing Malaysia, said the continued double-digit growth would be due to worldwide demand for the service.
“There is demand for business process outsourcing from an airline and telecommunications company in Singapore, an Australian retail chain, and others,” he said.
He would not reveal the names of the companies and said there were other companies looking to outsource systems-integration and computer-aided design work.
Wong said there was also some demand within the country — from insurance companies and banks which are beginning to outsource sales and promotions programmes for credit cards and loans.
Outsourcing Malaysia believes that local outsourcing companies need to scale-up from just providing contact-centre services.
It also believes that the standard of English in the country must be raised for such companies to be better able to compete with rivals in other parts of the world.
Wong said that if our youth do not have a sufficiently high command of the language, this could derail the growth of the local outsourcing industry.
He said Outsourcing Malaysia is constantly having dialogues with the Education Ministry on the importance of emphasising English lessons in schools here.
Outsourcing Malaysia has just released a report, prepared with the help of industry researcher IDC, titled Strategic Planning and Tactical Road Maps for Malaysian Organisations To Become Leading Global Outsourcing Providers.
It is available to members of the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom) for RM800 a copy.
Outsourcing Malaysia is a chapter of Pikom.
David Wong, chairman of Outsourcing Malaysia, said the continued double-digit growth would be due to worldwide demand for the service.
“There is demand for business process outsourcing from an airline and telecommunications company in Singapore, an Australian retail chain, and others,” he said.
He would not reveal the names of the companies and said there were other companies looking to outsource systems-integration and computer-aided design work.
Wong said there was also some demand within the country — from insurance companies and banks which are beginning to outsource sales and promotions programmes for credit cards and loans.
Outsourcing Malaysia believes that local outsourcing companies need to scale-up from just providing contact-centre services.
It also believes that the standard of English in the country must be raised for such companies to be better able to compete with rivals in other parts of the world.
Wong said that if our youth do not have a sufficiently high command of the language, this could derail the growth of the local outsourcing industry.
He said Outsourcing Malaysia is constantly having dialogues with the Education Ministry on the importance of emphasising English lessons in schools here.
Outsourcing Malaysia has just released a report, prepared with the help of industry researcher IDC, titled Strategic Planning and Tactical Road Maps for Malaysian Organisations To Become Leading Global Outsourcing Providers.
It is available to members of the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom) for RM800 a copy.
Outsourcing Malaysia is a chapter of Pikom.
NEWS: Sarawak courts get efficiency boost from high technology
KUCHING: High-tech facilities that include digital video and teleconferencing are helping to speed up judicial proceedings in the state, said Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
With these electronic systems in place, he said, the courts have been able to clear as much as 10 times more cases in the time it took to finish one case previously.
“The recording of court proceedings can also be done more quickly because the task is now computerised, unlike in the past when the details had to be written down,” Taib said.
“This is a great improvement that will help enhance the process of justice in the state.”
Taib was speaking to reporters after visiting the courthouse here yesterday.
He called on the judiciary to be forward looking and to keep improving the quality of their services.
“The training of lawyers should be enhanced in order to improve the performances of those working in the justice system,” he said, citing an example.
Also present during the visit were Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan, State Assembly Speaker Datuk Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar and several court officials.
The Chief Minister had been briefed earlier about the electronic facilities and had participated in a videoconferencing session here with court officials in Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.
With these electronic systems in place, he said, the courts have been able to clear as much as 10 times more cases in the time it took to finish one case previously.
“The recording of court proceedings can also be done more quickly because the task is now computerised, unlike in the past when the details had to be written down,” Taib said.
“This is a great improvement that will help enhance the process of justice in the state.”
Taib was speaking to reporters after visiting the courthouse here yesterday.
He called on the judiciary to be forward looking and to keep improving the quality of their services.
“The training of lawyers should be enhanced in order to improve the performances of those working in the justice system,” he said, citing an example.
Also present during the visit were Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan, State Assembly Speaker Datuk Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar and several court officials.
The Chief Minister had been briefed earlier about the electronic facilities and had participated in a videoconferencing session here with court officials in Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.
NEWS: Blogging becoming a slog
Could it be that blogs have become online fodder for the — gasp! — more mature reader?
SIGN OF THE TIMES: A new study shows that young people are increasingly losing interest in blogging.
A NEW study has found that young people are losing interest in long-form blogging, as their communication habits have become increasingly brief and mobile.
Tech experts say it doesn’t mean blogging is going away. Rather, it’s gone the way of the telephone and e-mail — still useful, just not sexy.
“Remember when ‘You’ve got mail!’ used to produce a moment of enthusiasm and not dread?” asks Danah Boyd, a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Centre for Internet and Society.
Now when it comes to blogs, she says, “people focus on using them for what they’re good for and turning to other channels for more exciting things.”
Those channels might include anything from social networking sites to others that feature games or video.
The study, released on Wednesday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, found that 14% of Internet-savvy youths, ages 12 to 17, now say they blog, compared with just over a quarter who did so in 2006.
And only about half in that age group say they comment on friends’ blogs, down from three-quarters who did so four years ago.
Pew found a similar drop in blogging among 18- to 29-year-olds.
Overall, Pew estimates that roughly one in 10 online adults maintain a blog — a number that has remained consistent since 2005, when blogs became a more mainstream activity. In the United States, that would mean there are more than 30 million adults who blog.
“That’s a pretty remarkable thing to have gone from zero to 30 million in the last 10 years,” says David Sifry, founder of blog search site Technorati.
But according to the data, that population is aging.
The Pew study found, for instance, that the percentage of Internet users age 30 and older who maintain a blog increased from 7% in 2007 to 11% in 2009.
Pew’s over-18 data, collected in the last half of last year, were based on interviews with 2,253 adults and have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. The under-18 data came from phone interviews with 800 12- to 17-year-olds and their parents. The margin of error for that data was plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
Rise of social networks
So why are young people less interested in blogging?
The explosion of social networking is one obvious answer. The Pew survey found that nearly three-quarters of 12- to 17-year-olds who have access to the Internet use social networking sites, such as Facebook. That compares with 55% four years ago.
With social networking has come the ability to do a quick status update and that has “kind of sucked the life out of long-form blogging,” says Amanda Lenhart, a Pew senior researcher and lead author of the latest study.
More young people are also accessing the Internet from their mobile phones, only increasing the need for brevity. The survey found, for instance, that half of 18- to 29-year-olds had done so.
All of that rings true to Sarah Rondeau, a freshman at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
“It’s a matter of typing quickly. People these days don’t find reading that fun,” the 18-year-old student says. She loves Facebook and has recently started using Twitter to share pictures of her dorm room and blurbs about campus life, which are, in turn, shared on the Holy Cross website for prospective students.
Meanwhile, New Yorker Jackie Huang hasn’t made a posting on her long-form blog in two years, and she now uses Facebook and Twitter because her friends do — though she’s still not too hot on tweeting.
Now 25, she started blogging when she was in her first year at university, using Xanga and then Wordpress to tell friends, family and a few strangers about anything from travel experiences to pop culture to politics.
“My blog was my own little soapbox,” says Huang, who now works for a communications agency. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m interesting enough for my followers to want to know where I am every hour of the day and what I’m thinking.”
Few doubt that blogging will die. Lenhart suspects that those who blog for personal reasons may focus more on events — a wedding, a trip, a baby’s birth.
Arax-Rae Van Buren, who writes about trends, travel and food on her Kiss and Type blog, is relaunching her site with a mobile audience in mind. “It is imperative that the site design is translatable to a phone,” says the 24-year-old New Yorker.
Short to long?
There also are early signs that “microblogging” on sites such as Twitter might actually create long-form bloggers out of people who get frustrated by the constraints of the 140-character limit.
Already, sites such as Tumblr and FriendFeed have emerged to allow for expansion of thought and content, though it remains to be seen whether those services will catch on with younger people.
“Blogging is actually a quite involved form of self-expression. It takes a lot of time and effort,” says Eszter Hargittai, an associate professor of communications studies at Northwestern University.
She and other tech experts also suspect that fewer young people have an interest in sharing their every thought with the whole world.
“Five years ago blogging was a club,” says Sifry of Technorati. “There was this wonderful, delicious feeling of being able to talk privately or semi-privately with people who shared your interests. And there were few consequences of being able to share with your friends on a blog.
“I think we’re seeing a deeper awareness of the perception of privacy and how that can affect your life if it’s violated.” — AP
++++ http://pewinternet.org/ www.kissandtype.blogspot.com
SIGN OF THE TIMES: A new study shows that young people are increasingly losing interest in blogging.
A NEW study has found that young people are losing interest in long-form blogging, as their communication habits have become increasingly brief and mobile.
Tech experts say it doesn’t mean blogging is going away. Rather, it’s gone the way of the telephone and e-mail — still useful, just not sexy.
“Remember when ‘You’ve got mail!’ used to produce a moment of enthusiasm and not dread?” asks Danah Boyd, a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Centre for Internet and Society.
Now when it comes to blogs, she says, “people focus on using them for what they’re good for and turning to other channels for more exciting things.”
Those channels might include anything from social networking sites to others that feature games or video.
The study, released on Wednesday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, found that 14% of Internet-savvy youths, ages 12 to 17, now say they blog, compared with just over a quarter who did so in 2006.
And only about half in that age group say they comment on friends’ blogs, down from three-quarters who did so four years ago.
Pew found a similar drop in blogging among 18- to 29-year-olds.
Overall, Pew estimates that roughly one in 10 online adults maintain a blog — a number that has remained consistent since 2005, when blogs became a more mainstream activity. In the United States, that would mean there are more than 30 million adults who blog.
“That’s a pretty remarkable thing to have gone from zero to 30 million in the last 10 years,” says David Sifry, founder of blog search site Technorati.
But according to the data, that population is aging.
The Pew study found, for instance, that the percentage of Internet users age 30 and older who maintain a blog increased from 7% in 2007 to 11% in 2009.
Pew’s over-18 data, collected in the last half of last year, were based on interviews with 2,253 adults and have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. The under-18 data came from phone interviews with 800 12- to 17-year-olds and their parents. The margin of error for that data was plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
Rise of social networks
So why are young people less interested in blogging?
The explosion of social networking is one obvious answer. The Pew survey found that nearly three-quarters of 12- to 17-year-olds who have access to the Internet use social networking sites, such as Facebook. That compares with 55% four years ago.
With social networking has come the ability to do a quick status update and that has “kind of sucked the life out of long-form blogging,” says Amanda Lenhart, a Pew senior researcher and lead author of the latest study.
More young people are also accessing the Internet from their mobile phones, only increasing the need for brevity. The survey found, for instance, that half of 18- to 29-year-olds had done so.
All of that rings true to Sarah Rondeau, a freshman at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
“It’s a matter of typing quickly. People these days don’t find reading that fun,” the 18-year-old student says. She loves Facebook and has recently started using Twitter to share pictures of her dorm room and blurbs about campus life, which are, in turn, shared on the Holy Cross website for prospective students.
Meanwhile, New Yorker Jackie Huang hasn’t made a posting on her long-form blog in two years, and she now uses Facebook and Twitter because her friends do — though she’s still not too hot on tweeting.
Now 25, she started blogging when she was in her first year at university, using Xanga and then Wordpress to tell friends, family and a few strangers about anything from travel experiences to pop culture to politics.
“My blog was my own little soapbox,” says Huang, who now works for a communications agency. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m interesting enough for my followers to want to know where I am every hour of the day and what I’m thinking.”
Few doubt that blogging will die. Lenhart suspects that those who blog for personal reasons may focus more on events — a wedding, a trip, a baby’s birth.
Arax-Rae Van Buren, who writes about trends, travel and food on her Kiss and Type blog, is relaunching her site with a mobile audience in mind. “It is imperative that the site design is translatable to a phone,” says the 24-year-old New Yorker.
Short to long?
There also are early signs that “microblogging” on sites such as Twitter might actually create long-form bloggers out of people who get frustrated by the constraints of the 140-character limit.
Already, sites such as Tumblr and FriendFeed have emerged to allow for expansion of thought and content, though it remains to be seen whether those services will catch on with younger people.
“Blogging is actually a quite involved form of self-expression. It takes a lot of time and effort,” says Eszter Hargittai, an associate professor of communications studies at Northwestern University.
She and other tech experts also suspect that fewer young people have an interest in sharing their every thought with the whole world.
“Five years ago blogging was a club,” says Sifry of Technorati. “There was this wonderful, delicious feeling of being able to talk privately or semi-privately with people who shared your interests. And there were few consequences of being able to share with your friends on a blog.
“I think we’re seeing a deeper awareness of the perception of privacy and how that can affect your life if it’s violated.” — AP
++++ http://pewinternet.org/ www.kissandtype.blogspot.com
NEWS: Grants and training for private pre-schools
ALOR SETAR: The Government will provide start-up grants for private pre-school operators and even train their teachers in its efforts to make pre-school education a must among the young.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said only 60% of children in the country were attending pre-school at the moment and Government’s target was to increase it to 87% in the next three years.
“The ministry is also identifying longhouses in Sarawak where we can set up pre-schools and this should be done in the next two or three months,” said Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister.
Nice meeting you: Muhyiddin greeting a Siamese elderly, Kam Keau Din Jok, 64, at the meeting with Chinese and Siamese community at the SRJK (C) Choong Hwa, Kodiang in Kedah Saturday. — Bernama
“I will announce details about the grants and training for teachers later. We want to encourage the setting up of more private pre-schools that follow our curriculum,” he said.
“We know that some parents cannot afford to send their kids to private pre-schools, so the Government is looking at increasing the number of government-run pre-schools in the country,” he said after meeting school heads and teachers from Kubang Pasu.
There are an estimated 5,100 private pre-schools in the country. Another 1,600 pre-schools are run by the National Unity and Integration Department and an additional 8,300 by Kemas, the Community Development Department.
Muhyiddin said pre-schools were important because the right educational foundation would enable pupils to cope better when they started Year One.
On the 27 poorly-performing schools identified by the ministry, he said the schools had the potential to improve.
“We may announce the names of these schools sometime this month but I am still debating whether to make it public or not, because we don’t want people to feel bad.
“The reason we have identified these schools out of 10,000 schools nationwide is because they are at the bottom of the list – it is not that they do not have the potential to perform but they need our attention,” he said.
He noted that principles, headmasters and teachers would be rewarded if they could improve their schools’ performance.
“You don’t necessarily have to be in the 20 High Performance Schools to be rewarded, so long as we see obvious improvements in the students’ performance.
“I don’t deny that infrastructure is important but what is even more crucial in ensuring high performance are the teachers.
“Even if you have to teach in a wooden and attap hut, the pupils can do well if their teachers are creative and innovative,” he said, adding that the ministry was studying how it could improve the welfare of teachers.
He noted that the ministry was targeting to have 30 High Performance Schools next year
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said only 60% of children in the country were attending pre-school at the moment and Government’s target was to increase it to 87% in the next three years.
“The ministry is also identifying longhouses in Sarawak where we can set up pre-schools and this should be done in the next two or three months,” said Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister.
Nice meeting you: Muhyiddin greeting a Siamese elderly, Kam Keau Din Jok, 64, at the meeting with Chinese and Siamese community at the SRJK (C) Choong Hwa, Kodiang in Kedah Saturday. — Bernama
“I will announce details about the grants and training for teachers later. We want to encourage the setting up of more private pre-schools that follow our curriculum,” he said.
“We know that some parents cannot afford to send their kids to private pre-schools, so the Government is looking at increasing the number of government-run pre-schools in the country,” he said after meeting school heads and teachers from Kubang Pasu.
There are an estimated 5,100 private pre-schools in the country. Another 1,600 pre-schools are run by the National Unity and Integration Department and an additional 8,300 by Kemas, the Community Development Department.
Muhyiddin said pre-schools were important because the right educational foundation would enable pupils to cope better when they started Year One.
On the 27 poorly-performing schools identified by the ministry, he said the schools had the potential to improve.
“We may announce the names of these schools sometime this month but I am still debating whether to make it public or not, because we don’t want people to feel bad.
“The reason we have identified these schools out of 10,000 schools nationwide is because they are at the bottom of the list – it is not that they do not have the potential to perform but they need our attention,” he said.
He noted that principles, headmasters and teachers would be rewarded if they could improve their schools’ performance.
“You don’t necessarily have to be in the 20 High Performance Schools to be rewarded, so long as we see obvious improvements in the students’ performance.
“I don’t deny that infrastructure is important but what is even more crucial in ensuring high performance are the teachers.
“Even if you have to teach in a wooden and attap hut, the pupils can do well if their teachers are creative and innovative,” he said, adding that the ministry was studying how it could improve the welfare of teachers.
He noted that the ministry was targeting to have 30 High Performance Schools next year
NEWS: Role of teachers in 1School system
In this article, the writer continues to promote the need for 1Session 1School while stressing that educators must strive for excellence.
THE traditional morning greeting Selamat Pagi Cikgu that is said in unison as a teacher enters her class is no longer as enthusiastic as it used to be. In fact, it no longer seems relevant to students. More often than not, a teacher walks in and out of classrooms without any greetings or pleasantries exchanged with her pupils. There is hardly any respect given to the teacher. Have teachers become so insignificant? Do students really think that they can pass all public exams like the UPSR, PMR, SPM, and STPM without stepping into a school?
If education has come to mean only exams, testing memory and low-level knowledge skills, then, we don’t really need teachers. Again, can teachers make a difference? I am prepared to say they should, but I am not sure if they do! The question is, do our teachers have the attributes to make that difference with the current generation of students, whose attitude and demands are worrying?
Many teachers would be quick to say that they are just doing their job, which is to teach and complete the syllabus, so that their students will have a fair chance in the exams.
Are our teachers consumed only by the demands of their superiors and parents, to ensure that their respective schools attain cemerlang (excellence) status?
Most teachers will not hold themselves accountable for the policies and decisions of the school and higher authorities. They will be quick to point out that many aspects of the system are not within their control. Teaching is their job and that is what they have been trained for.
So, what are teachers taught in teacher training colleges and universities?
To answer this question, we need to reflect on the qualities of excellence among teachers. What are the attributes of excellence?
If we can determine the position and extent of these boundaries, we then have the basis for developing ideal professional development programmes that will form the basis for teacher education programmes.
Relating to current needs
Do our current programmes truly have recognisable, quantifiable and justifiable processes in place? Do these correlate to the demands of new market places and careers for new types of learning spaces?
Do these cater to a global community that is now creating “knowledge producers” rather than “knowledge consumers”? This should form the basis for a renewed focus on change for our curriculum, especially in educating and evaluation methods. Teachers need to start making a difference in a world they are seemingly falling out of touch with.
Are our teacher education programmes in universities able to create teachers with personal attributes of the type we are seeking?
Our programmes must be able to develop and enhance the quality of education we offer to our pre-service teachers.
These include attributes such as enthusiasm in educating young minds; creativity in enhancing learning; energy and resourcefulness in facilitating learning; knowledge of current thinking in evaluating whether actual learning is taking place and; dedication and commitment to real world learning processes (this has other implications).
If the answer is “no”, then we must start thinking of revamping our programmes to instil professional attributes related to the area of inquiry, particularly in curriculum processes; teaching and learning; assessment and learning; professional learning; research and learning and dissemination of knowledge and skills through writing.
Teachers, especially those at the upper-secondary school level, ought to have strong content knowledge. Therefore teacher development programmes must produce teachers who are proficient in the subject matter. The teachers must also have a sound knowledge of current issues and new information, aware of changes in the subject, and incorporate them into their regular teaching sessions.
The programmes must also be able to give some meaning and purpose for the students. This can be done by providing relevance of knowledge to real-world industry.
Enhancing communication skills
To do this, teachers must be competent in enhancing language and communication skills, and have the ability to synthesise data, discuss and present thoughts and opinions across the curriculum.
They should also be competent in presenting multi-disciplinary and multi-perspective content in an integrated way to form coherent thoughts resulting in plans of action.
Only then will our teachers be able to provide understanding and relevance to students in the incorporation of appropriate cultural, moral and ethical values everyday, be it locally or globally.
When our programmes are able to bring out and instil the above attributes among our new breed of teachers, then we can expect them to make a difference to their students.
These teachers will then possess core skills in instruction and facilitation of knowledge.
The next great hurdle in a nutshell is evaluations.
My colleagues will elaborate on this in the next article. Teachers should be able to evaluate students in meaningful ways that focus on grasps of high-level strategic knowledge, as opposed to the testing of low-level declarative knowledge.
The new breed of teachers would be:
● proficient in the usage of technology and media tools in instruction;
● capable of planning and managing a classroom;
● competent in communication skills and understand the importance of developing personal skills;
● skilled in appreciating pupils’ difficulties and proficient in differentiated instructions and evaluations; and
● competent enough to address pupils with special needs and motivate and stimulate students’ appreciation for knowledge and lifelong learning.
The new programme is no longer a dream, but one that can become a reality.
The School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Penang, is going to start the Engage Programme – Education for Sustainable Global Futures, with a number of schools, institutions and stakeholders, at the varsity to formulate a curriculum for now and the future.
We strongly believe that the programme will produce teachers who can and will make a difference.
We ask that all Malaysians be involved in the Engage Programme that will hopefully be created for and by Malaysians.
This will eventually result in a call not for separate streams of schools, but for 1School that will create a globally relevant 1Malaysia.
Prof Abdul Rashid Mohamed is the dean of the School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. He is currently working with his colleagues on a proposal to transform the landscape of Malaysian schooling and higher education systems. He can be contacted at
rich@usm.my.
THE traditional morning greeting Selamat Pagi Cikgu that is said in unison as a teacher enters her class is no longer as enthusiastic as it used to be. In fact, it no longer seems relevant to students. More often than not, a teacher walks in and out of classrooms without any greetings or pleasantries exchanged with her pupils. There is hardly any respect given to the teacher. Have teachers become so insignificant? Do students really think that they can pass all public exams like the UPSR, PMR, SPM, and STPM without stepping into a school?
If education has come to mean only exams, testing memory and low-level knowledge skills, then, we don’t really need teachers. Again, can teachers make a difference? I am prepared to say they should, but I am not sure if they do! The question is, do our teachers have the attributes to make that difference with the current generation of students, whose attitude and demands are worrying?
Many teachers would be quick to say that they are just doing their job, which is to teach and complete the syllabus, so that their students will have a fair chance in the exams.
Are our teachers consumed only by the demands of their superiors and parents, to ensure that their respective schools attain cemerlang (excellence) status?
Most teachers will not hold themselves accountable for the policies and decisions of the school and higher authorities. They will be quick to point out that many aspects of the system are not within their control. Teaching is their job and that is what they have been trained for.
So, what are teachers taught in teacher training colleges and universities?
To answer this question, we need to reflect on the qualities of excellence among teachers. What are the attributes of excellence?
If we can determine the position and extent of these boundaries, we then have the basis for developing ideal professional development programmes that will form the basis for teacher education programmes.
Relating to current needs
Do our current programmes truly have recognisable, quantifiable and justifiable processes in place? Do these correlate to the demands of new market places and careers for new types of learning spaces?
Do these cater to a global community that is now creating “knowledge producers” rather than “knowledge consumers”? This should form the basis for a renewed focus on change for our curriculum, especially in educating and evaluation methods. Teachers need to start making a difference in a world they are seemingly falling out of touch with.
Are our teacher education programmes in universities able to create teachers with personal attributes of the type we are seeking?
Our programmes must be able to develop and enhance the quality of education we offer to our pre-service teachers.
These include attributes such as enthusiasm in educating young minds; creativity in enhancing learning; energy and resourcefulness in facilitating learning; knowledge of current thinking in evaluating whether actual learning is taking place and; dedication and commitment to real world learning processes (this has other implications).
If the answer is “no”, then we must start thinking of revamping our programmes to instil professional attributes related to the area of inquiry, particularly in curriculum processes; teaching and learning; assessment and learning; professional learning; research and learning and dissemination of knowledge and skills through writing.
Teachers, especially those at the upper-secondary school level, ought to have strong content knowledge. Therefore teacher development programmes must produce teachers who are proficient in the subject matter. The teachers must also have a sound knowledge of current issues and new information, aware of changes in the subject, and incorporate them into their regular teaching sessions.
The programmes must also be able to give some meaning and purpose for the students. This can be done by providing relevance of knowledge to real-world industry.
Enhancing communication skills
To do this, teachers must be competent in enhancing language and communication skills, and have the ability to synthesise data, discuss and present thoughts and opinions across the curriculum.
They should also be competent in presenting multi-disciplinary and multi-perspective content in an integrated way to form coherent thoughts resulting in plans of action.
Only then will our teachers be able to provide understanding and relevance to students in the incorporation of appropriate cultural, moral and ethical values everyday, be it locally or globally.
When our programmes are able to bring out and instil the above attributes among our new breed of teachers, then we can expect them to make a difference to their students.
These teachers will then possess core skills in instruction and facilitation of knowledge.
The next great hurdle in a nutshell is evaluations.
My colleagues will elaborate on this in the next article. Teachers should be able to evaluate students in meaningful ways that focus on grasps of high-level strategic knowledge, as opposed to the testing of low-level declarative knowledge.
The new breed of teachers would be:
● proficient in the usage of technology and media tools in instruction;
● capable of planning and managing a classroom;
● competent in communication skills and understand the importance of developing personal skills;
● skilled in appreciating pupils’ difficulties and proficient in differentiated instructions and evaluations; and
● competent enough to address pupils with special needs and motivate and stimulate students’ appreciation for knowledge and lifelong learning.
The new programme is no longer a dream, but one that can become a reality.
The School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Penang, is going to start the Engage Programme – Education for Sustainable Global Futures, with a number of schools, institutions and stakeholders, at the varsity to formulate a curriculum for now and the future.
We strongly believe that the programme will produce teachers who can and will make a difference.
We ask that all Malaysians be involved in the Engage Programme that will hopefully be created for and by Malaysians.
This will eventually result in a call not for separate streams of schools, but for 1School that will create a globally relevant 1Malaysia.
Prof Abdul Rashid Mohamed is the dean of the School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. He is currently working with his colleagues on a proposal to transform the landscape of Malaysian schooling and higher education systems. He can be contacted at
rich@usm.my.
NEWS; Boosting ICT in schools
TO promote the usage of ICT (information and communications technology) applications amongst primary schoolchildren, Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) recently organised a multimedia-based educational programme called Digital Story Telling.
The programme, organised in collaboration with the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), aimed to promote the use of ICT applications in learning and teaching. The first phase of the programme, which recently concluded, was held in 11 schools across Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Johor, involving a total of 160 participants.
TM executive vice president government sector Datuk Kairul Annuar Mohamed Zamzam, said: “We are impressed with the works that the students produced, considering that they are still at primary level.
“We are happy to see that the programme has enhanced the knowledge and skills of the students, and increase their ICT awareness. We really hope that they will continue to utilise the knowledge acquired in their learning environment, which in turn will help to improve their academic performance.
“It is also hoped that this programme will benefit the teachers equally as they can fully utilise the ICT knowledge in their teaching, which in turn will provide a more interactive and interesting learning environment in schools.”
Proud smiles: The winning group from SK Seri Belahan, Johor pose with their plaque.
During the programme, pupils and teachers were provided with trainings and classes on ICT peripherals, movie-making software such as PhotoScape, PhotoStory and Audacity, as well as multimedia applications.
The pupils then used their new skills in groups of four or five, to create a short movie on Malaysia’s culture, heritage, environment, tourism and social values.
At the end of the four-day programme, the short movies were presented to a panel of judges, and a winner from each state was selected.
Group 1 from SK Padang Sebang won the contest for Melaka while Group 3 from SK Amar Penghulu and Group 1 from SK Seri Belahan were the winners for Negeri Sembilan and Johor, respectively. Winners received an MP4 player each as well as an appreciation plaque.
The schools that participated in this programme were among the 25 adopted schools by GITN Sdn. Berhad, a TM subsidiary company which provides laptops, wireless access points, and training classes to adopted schools via its GSB TechnoGogy Learning in Schools (GTL Schools) programme.
The submitted movies can be viewed at the SchoolZone portal at
www.schoolnet.my.
The programme, organised in collaboration with the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), aimed to promote the use of ICT applications in learning and teaching. The first phase of the programme, which recently concluded, was held in 11 schools across Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Johor, involving a total of 160 participants.
TM executive vice president government sector Datuk Kairul Annuar Mohamed Zamzam, said: “We are impressed with the works that the students produced, considering that they are still at primary level.
“We are happy to see that the programme has enhanced the knowledge and skills of the students, and increase their ICT awareness. We really hope that they will continue to utilise the knowledge acquired in their learning environment, which in turn will help to improve their academic performance.
“It is also hoped that this programme will benefit the teachers equally as they can fully utilise the ICT knowledge in their teaching, which in turn will provide a more interactive and interesting learning environment in schools.”
Proud smiles: The winning group from SK Seri Belahan, Johor pose with their plaque.
During the programme, pupils and teachers were provided with trainings and classes on ICT peripherals, movie-making software such as PhotoScape, PhotoStory and Audacity, as well as multimedia applications.
The pupils then used their new skills in groups of four or five, to create a short movie on Malaysia’s culture, heritage, environment, tourism and social values.
At the end of the four-day programme, the short movies were presented to a panel of judges, and a winner from each state was selected.
Group 1 from SK Padang Sebang won the contest for Melaka while Group 3 from SK Amar Penghulu and Group 1 from SK Seri Belahan were the winners for Negeri Sembilan and Johor, respectively. Winners received an MP4 player each as well as an appreciation plaque.
The schools that participated in this programme were among the 25 adopted schools by GITN Sdn. Berhad, a TM subsidiary company which provides laptops, wireless access points, and training classes to adopted schools via its GSB TechnoGogy Learning in Schools (GTL Schools) programme.
The submitted movies can be viewed at the SchoolZone portal at
www.schoolnet.my.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
NEWS: Less funding for technopreneurs this year
KUALA LUMPUR: Technopreneurs hoping for funding from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) are in for a tougher time this year.
And the predicament has upset several applicants who are already not happy over the red-tape encountered when applying for such grants.
The ministry said its 2010 budget for such grants has been cut by RM1bil, leaving RM2.7bil in its coffers to be handed out to deserving applicants.
“Funds are quite limited for this year,” said Suhaimi Hamzah, deputy undersecretary for the commercialisation section at Mosti. “Sole proprietorships and certain partnerships and companies have about 10 months left to apply.”
“Our e-content grant funds have already run out,” he said.
Suhaimi was speaking at the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Malaysia seminar on government grants and financial assistance for Malaysian companies, held in the capital on Tuesday.
Mosti has several funding programmes for various fields of research, development and commercialisation, including biotechnology, industrial, information and communications technology (ICT), sea to space technology, and science technology.
Another source of funding for technopreneurs is the Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC), which oversees the nation’s ICT initiatives.
The 10th Malaysia Plan, to be announced in June and which will only kick in next year, may or may not see an increase in the amount of future government grants.
Not happy
S. Mano, a grants application consultant in the trading and manufacturing industry who was at the seminar, complained to In.Tech about the funding programmes.
He said many of his clients are unhappy with the grants system at the various government agencies.
“There is so much bureaucracy in the application procedure that many of my clients are frustrated over it,” he said.
Mano claimed that some of the government agencies are unprofessional. “What is supposed to be a 60- to 90-day procedure takes as long as 10 or 11 months,” he said.
“Also, there is simply not enough money to go around and now, it looks like there will be even less after the cuts.”
Others among the seminar attendees expressed similar frustrations with the grants programmes but declined to be quoted.
Many technopreneurs have given up on government grants and are hoping to find finanical assistance from elsewhere, Mano said.
“Business is bad right now. It is going to be a tough year for us,” he added.
MDeC said delays are to be expected because there is money involved. The government agencies want to ensure that the funding goes to deserving technopreneurs, it said.
Mosti officials could not be reached for comment at press time.
And the predicament has upset several applicants who are already not happy over the red-tape encountered when applying for such grants.
The ministry said its 2010 budget for such grants has been cut by RM1bil, leaving RM2.7bil in its coffers to be handed out to deserving applicants.
“Funds are quite limited for this year,” said Suhaimi Hamzah, deputy undersecretary for the commercialisation section at Mosti. “Sole proprietorships and certain partnerships and companies have about 10 months left to apply.”
“Our e-content grant funds have already run out,” he said.
Suhaimi was speaking at the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Malaysia seminar on government grants and financial assistance for Malaysian companies, held in the capital on Tuesday.
Mosti has several funding programmes for various fields of research, development and commercialisation, including biotechnology, industrial, information and communications technology (ICT), sea to space technology, and science technology.
Another source of funding for technopreneurs is the Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC), which oversees the nation’s ICT initiatives.
The 10th Malaysia Plan, to be announced in June and which will only kick in next year, may or may not see an increase in the amount of future government grants.
Not happy
S. Mano, a grants application consultant in the trading and manufacturing industry who was at the seminar, complained to In.Tech about the funding programmes.
He said many of his clients are unhappy with the grants system at the various government agencies.
“There is so much bureaucracy in the application procedure that many of my clients are frustrated over it,” he said.
Mano claimed that some of the government agencies are unprofessional. “What is supposed to be a 60- to 90-day procedure takes as long as 10 or 11 months,” he said.
“Also, there is simply not enough money to go around and now, it looks like there will be even less after the cuts.”
Others among the seminar attendees expressed similar frustrations with the grants programmes but declined to be quoted.
Many technopreneurs have given up on government grants and are hoping to find finanical assistance from elsewhere, Mano said.
“Business is bad right now. It is going to be a tough year for us,” he added.
MDeC said delays are to be expected because there is money involved. The government agencies want to ensure that the funding goes to deserving technopreneurs, it said.
Mosti officials could not be reached for comment at press time.
NEWS: Setting up a virtualised datacentre gets easier
KUALA LUMPUR: Corporations that need virtualisation, datacentre and networking infrastructure and services now have a single contact point instead of the usual three.
Data storage company NetApp Inc, networking company Cisco Systems, and virtualisation company VMware Inc have collaborated to offer a design architecture to build virtualised datacentres.
Mano Govindaraju, country manager for Malaysia and Brunei at NetApp Malaysia, said corporations will no longer have to buy three pieces of technology and put them together.
“We are taking that headache away,” he said.
He explained that setting up a virtualised datacentre is usually a painstaking process because it requires dealing with multiple vendors, as well as studying hardware and software specifications.
With the design architecture developed by NetApp, Cisco and VMware, the task is simplified to the point where the customer only needs to decide on system requirements and how much it wants to spend.
“We will come in and build a virtualised datacentre to your specifications. We will also network it for you,” said Sean Ong, director of commercial mid-market for Cisco Systems (Malaysia).
“We provide the expertise and the design architecture. Just tell us what applications you are using, how big your database is and some other details, and we do the rest.”
The prospective customer can approach any of the three companies.
Virtualised datacentres are getting popular because corporations are able to reduce the amount of servers needed — cutting down on storage space and energy consumption. Most company servers typically use only 10% of their capacity, claim proponents of virtualisation.
For more information, go to www.imaginevirtuallyanything.com.
Data storage company NetApp Inc, networking company Cisco Systems, and virtualisation company VMware Inc have collaborated to offer a design architecture to build virtualised datacentres.
Mano Govindaraju, country manager for Malaysia and Brunei at NetApp Malaysia, said corporations will no longer have to buy three pieces of technology and put them together.
“We are taking that headache away,” he said.
He explained that setting up a virtualised datacentre is usually a painstaking process because it requires dealing with multiple vendors, as well as studying hardware and software specifications.
With the design architecture developed by NetApp, Cisco and VMware, the task is simplified to the point where the customer only needs to decide on system requirements and how much it wants to spend.
“We will come in and build a virtualised datacentre to your specifications. We will also network it for you,” said Sean Ong, director of commercial mid-market for Cisco Systems (Malaysia).
“We provide the expertise and the design architecture. Just tell us what applications you are using, how big your database is and some other details, and we do the rest.”
The prospective customer can approach any of the three companies.
Virtualised datacentres are getting popular because corporations are able to reduce the amount of servers needed — cutting down on storage space and energy consumption. Most company servers typically use only 10% of their capacity, claim proponents of virtualisation.
For more information, go to www.imaginevirtuallyanything.com.
NEWS: Not many Chinese would shed tears if Google exits China
BEIJING: When the online fantasy game World of Warcraft was yanked from China last year because of a bureaucratic turf battle, the millions of Chinese players were outraged.
An online chat session to discuss the problem attracted 32,000 indignant gamers. Tens of thousands filed complaints with China’s consumer rights agency — in one day.
An Internet addiction expert who defended the shutdown on national television found himself bombarded with angry phone calls and death threats.
But there’s been little evidence of similar popular protest since online giant Google said it might shut down its google.cn search engine and cease operations in China.
In fact, many of the country’s 384 million Internet users appear to greet the news with little more than a shrug.
“If Google leaves China, we’ll lose one search engine. But we still have other choices,” said 28-year-old Deng Zhiluo, who works in marketing in Beijing. He said while Google’s search results are more “international,” most of what he wants can be found on Chinese competitor Baidu. “For locals, Baidu is enough.”
The indifference of many Chinese points to a telling challenge for Google in the world’s most populous Internet market. The Chinese Internet world is youthful, with people under 30 making up 61.5% of the online population.
While the company is drawing kudos in the United States and elsewhere for battling China’s Internet censorship, the cause isn’t generating much popular support among China’s wired teens and 20-somethings.
“It’s like in the United States saying, ‘You can’t use Yahoo! search anymore,”’ said T.R. Harrington, CEO of Shanghai-based Darwin Marketing, which specialises in China’s search engines. “What would people say? ‘So what? I’ll use Google more, and I’ll try Bing and I might try a few other ones ... I don’t care.’ ”
Some Chinese admire Google’s stand against censorship. After the Mountain View, California-based company threatened three weeks ago to shut down its search engine citing cyberattacks from China, a few dozen Chinese laid flowers outside Google’s Beijing headquarters. A few hundred joined a “Don’t Go Google” website, which has since been shut down for unknown reasons.
Circumventing
Beijing may yet be interested in seeking an accommodation. Blocking Google sites could encourage more Chinese to seek ways of getting around Internet controls. That’s what happened last year when two government agencies prohibited Chinese sites from offering World of Warcraft while they battled over the right to regulate the lucrative online game. Local stores started selling access cards that allowed Chinese fans to play the game on Taiwanese servers.
Yet the trouble Google is having generating support among Chinese underscores how successful the communist government’s control of information is. While authorities have set up an extensive network of Internet filters, blockades and monitoring — dubbed the “Great Firewall of China” — that’s only part of the picture. China’s permissible Internet universe is flooded with choice, with 3.2 million registered websites offering news coverage and diversions from shopping to music downloads.
Chinese in their teens and 20s are known for their consumerism and disdain for politics. Most just aren’t interested in scaling the “Great Firewall,” according to Kaiser Kuo, a Beijing-based technology analyst. Their favourite online activities: Listening to music, chatting with friends and playing videogames.
For many sites blocked by the government — including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter — there are readily available government-approved Chinese substitutes: Youku and Tudou for videos, Kaixinwang and Renren for social networking. Sina.com, the largest Internet portal, runs a Twitter-like microblogging site.
Baidu is known for being better at Chinese-language searches and searching Chinese sites. The Nasdaq-listed company runs a popular message board, online encyclopedia and vast MP3 library. Baidu has 58.4% of China’s search engine market, compared with Google’s 35%, according to Analysys International, a Beijing research firm.
Also hurting Google is the official media’s ability to shape public opinion. Reports in state-run media, the only media there is in China, have glossed over Google’s allegations about China-based hacking attacks. Many young Chinese believe Google wants to leave because it’s being drubbed by Baidu.
State media recently hardened its stance, accusing the US Government of being behind the dispute as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on China to investigate the cyberintrusions that led to Google’s threat to pull out.
“Google’s image is becoming more and more negative,” said Rao Jin, an online entrepreneur who recently launched google-liar.com. “Google and the CIA definitely have links.”
Rao’s views may sound extreme, but the 25-year-old has been successful in tapping popular sentiment in China. He is the founder of anti-cnn.com, launched during ethnic rioting in Tibet in March 2008 and aimed at exposing alleged bias in Western media reports. It still receives one million pageviews a day.
Some of the anti-Google articles Rao posted on google-liar.com were in fact found with the help of Google, and he and his friends use the company’s Gmail e-mail service. But they are preparing to switch to a Chinese e-mail provider, he said.
“If Google left, the world would keep turning .... It actually wouldn’t have a big impact on China,” he said. “But if Google left, it would have a big impact on itself.” — AP
An online chat session to discuss the problem attracted 32,000 indignant gamers. Tens of thousands filed complaints with China’s consumer rights agency — in one day.
An Internet addiction expert who defended the shutdown on national television found himself bombarded with angry phone calls and death threats.
But there’s been little evidence of similar popular protest since online giant Google said it might shut down its google.cn search engine and cease operations in China.
In fact, many of the country’s 384 million Internet users appear to greet the news with little more than a shrug.
“If Google leaves China, we’ll lose one search engine. But we still have other choices,” said 28-year-old Deng Zhiluo, who works in marketing in Beijing. He said while Google’s search results are more “international,” most of what he wants can be found on Chinese competitor Baidu. “For locals, Baidu is enough.”
The indifference of many Chinese points to a telling challenge for Google in the world’s most populous Internet market. The Chinese Internet world is youthful, with people under 30 making up 61.5% of the online population.
While the company is drawing kudos in the United States and elsewhere for battling China’s Internet censorship, the cause isn’t generating much popular support among China’s wired teens and 20-somethings.
“It’s like in the United States saying, ‘You can’t use Yahoo! search anymore,”’ said T.R. Harrington, CEO of Shanghai-based Darwin Marketing, which specialises in China’s search engines. “What would people say? ‘So what? I’ll use Google more, and I’ll try Bing and I might try a few other ones ... I don’t care.’ ”
Some Chinese admire Google’s stand against censorship. After the Mountain View, California-based company threatened three weeks ago to shut down its search engine citing cyberattacks from China, a few dozen Chinese laid flowers outside Google’s Beijing headquarters. A few hundred joined a “Don’t Go Google” website, which has since been shut down for unknown reasons.
Circumventing
Beijing may yet be interested in seeking an accommodation. Blocking Google sites could encourage more Chinese to seek ways of getting around Internet controls. That’s what happened last year when two government agencies prohibited Chinese sites from offering World of Warcraft while they battled over the right to regulate the lucrative online game. Local stores started selling access cards that allowed Chinese fans to play the game on Taiwanese servers.
Yet the trouble Google is having generating support among Chinese underscores how successful the communist government’s control of information is. While authorities have set up an extensive network of Internet filters, blockades and monitoring — dubbed the “Great Firewall of China” — that’s only part of the picture. China’s permissible Internet universe is flooded with choice, with 3.2 million registered websites offering news coverage and diversions from shopping to music downloads.
Chinese in their teens and 20s are known for their consumerism and disdain for politics. Most just aren’t interested in scaling the “Great Firewall,” according to Kaiser Kuo, a Beijing-based technology analyst. Their favourite online activities: Listening to music, chatting with friends and playing videogames.
For many sites blocked by the government — including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter — there are readily available government-approved Chinese substitutes: Youku and Tudou for videos, Kaixinwang and Renren for social networking. Sina.com, the largest Internet portal, runs a Twitter-like microblogging site.
Baidu is known for being better at Chinese-language searches and searching Chinese sites. The Nasdaq-listed company runs a popular message board, online encyclopedia and vast MP3 library. Baidu has 58.4% of China’s search engine market, compared with Google’s 35%, according to Analysys International, a Beijing research firm.
Also hurting Google is the official media’s ability to shape public opinion. Reports in state-run media, the only media there is in China, have glossed over Google’s allegations about China-based hacking attacks. Many young Chinese believe Google wants to leave because it’s being drubbed by Baidu.
State media recently hardened its stance, accusing the US Government of being behind the dispute as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on China to investigate the cyberintrusions that led to Google’s threat to pull out.
“Google’s image is becoming more and more negative,” said Rao Jin, an online entrepreneur who recently launched google-liar.com. “Google and the CIA definitely have links.”
Rao’s views may sound extreme, but the 25-year-old has been successful in tapping popular sentiment in China. He is the founder of anti-cnn.com, launched during ethnic rioting in Tibet in March 2008 and aimed at exposing alleged bias in Western media reports. It still receives one million pageviews a day.
Some of the anti-Google articles Rao posted on google-liar.com were in fact found with the help of Google, and he and his friends use the company’s Gmail e-mail service. But they are preparing to switch to a Chinese e-mail provider, he said.
“If Google left, the world would keep turning .... It actually wouldn’t have a big impact on China,” he said. “But if Google left, it would have a big impact on itself.” — AP
NEWS: Yahoo! keeps AP in its content corner
SAN FRANCISCO: The Associated Press has signed a licensing deal with Yahoo! Inc that gives the news co-operative a steady stream of revenue at a time less money is flowing in from newspapers and broadcasters.
The announcement by both companies on Monday didn’t disclose the financial terms of the agreement.
AP says it is still negotiating to renew its online licensing agreements with two other companies with far deeper pockets, Google Inc and Microsoft Corp. Google stopped posting fresh AP content on its website in late December.
Stung by the AP’s first downturn in revenue in years, AP’s management has said the co-operative needs to make more money from the online rights to its stories, photographs and video as more people flock to the Web for information and entertainment.
It’s unclear whether the AP achieved its financial objectives in the Yahoo! deal.
Yahoo! described AP as an important part of its efforts to keep its nearly 600 million worldwide users informed. “We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with AP for many years to come,” the company said in a statement.
The duration of the new contract wasn’t disclosed. Yahoo! has been posting AP content on its site since 1998. Its website also relies on other services, including AP rival Reuters, as well as reporters that it employs.
The formula has worked well for Yahoo! even as it has struggled in other key areas, such as Internet search and social networking. Yahoo! pulls in the biggest US Internet audiences in news, sports and finance, according to the research firm comScore Inc. — AP
The announcement by both companies on Monday didn’t disclose the financial terms of the agreement.
AP says it is still negotiating to renew its online licensing agreements with two other companies with far deeper pockets, Google Inc and Microsoft Corp. Google stopped posting fresh AP content on its website in late December.
Stung by the AP’s first downturn in revenue in years, AP’s management has said the co-operative needs to make more money from the online rights to its stories, photographs and video as more people flock to the Web for information and entertainment.
It’s unclear whether the AP achieved its financial objectives in the Yahoo! deal.
Yahoo! described AP as an important part of its efforts to keep its nearly 600 million worldwide users informed. “We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with AP for many years to come,” the company said in a statement.
The duration of the new contract wasn’t disclosed. Yahoo! has been posting AP content on its site since 1998. Its website also relies on other services, including AP rival Reuters, as well as reporters that it employs.
The formula has worked well for Yahoo! even as it has struggled in other key areas, such as Internet search and social networking. Yahoo! pulls in the biggest US Internet audiences in news, sports and finance, according to the research firm comScore Inc. — AP
NEWS: Govt teams up with eBay to aid SMEs
KUALA LUMPUR: Online auction site eBay and its payment provider PayPal have signed a deal with government-controlled SME Corp Malaysia that will benefit small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
“We want to help the SMEs break into e-commerce to give them a competitive advantage in the global arena,” said Datuk Dr Mohamed Al Amin Abdul Majid, chairman of SME Corp.
“By taking their business online, they will be able to compete with the larger firms — local and international.”
Under the agreement, eBay will organise education services and e-commerce workshops in several major cities across the country. These eBay education specialists will be onsite to help interested SMEs get started.
“The SMEs will also receive dedicated account support and discounts on selected fees,” said Jeff Liao, eBay’s chief executive for Greater China, South-East Asia and Japan.
The discounts include a waiver of insertion fees and selected features for the first 100 eBay listings, as well as a 25% discount on fees for the first 100 payments received via PayPal.
PayPal recently added the ringgit as an official trading currency, making it more convenient for Malaysian users and businesses to operate on eBay.
“There are a lot of misconceptions with regards to transactions on the Internet in Malaysia,” said Abdul Majid. “We hope this partnership with the world’s largest e-commerce platform will go a long way in making Malaysians more comfortable with trading online.”
“We want to help the SMEs break into e-commerce to give them a competitive advantage in the global arena,” said Datuk Dr Mohamed Al Amin Abdul Majid, chairman of SME Corp.
“By taking their business online, they will be able to compete with the larger firms — local and international.”
Under the agreement, eBay will organise education services and e-commerce workshops in several major cities across the country. These eBay education specialists will be onsite to help interested SMEs get started.
“The SMEs will also receive dedicated account support and discounts on selected fees,” said Jeff Liao, eBay’s chief executive for Greater China, South-East Asia and Japan.
The discounts include a waiver of insertion fees and selected features for the first 100 eBay listings, as well as a 25% discount on fees for the first 100 payments received via PayPal.
PayPal recently added the ringgit as an official trading currency, making it more convenient for Malaysian users and businesses to operate on eBay.
“There are a lot of misconceptions with regards to transactions on the Internet in Malaysia,” said Abdul Majid. “We hope this partnership with the world’s largest e-commerce platform will go a long way in making Malaysians more comfortable with trading online.”
NEWS: Better year predicted for IT vendors
KUALA LUMPUR: Industry researcher IDC expects IT spending by businesses and other users in Malaysia to perk up this year. It predicted an increase to RM6bil by year end — up from the RM5.64bil recorded last year.
It said the rise will be mainly due to pent-up demand caused when companies here postponed purchases in the wake of the global economic slowdown last year.
Roger Ling, IDC Asean research manager for software, said the companies are expected to spend on new hardware, broadband and cloud-computing capabilities.
“Companies want to cut (operating) costs (to increase competitiveness) and are opening up to cloud computing,” he said. Cloud computing enables businesses to use applications off the Web without having to pay licensing fees for each computer the programs run on.
IDC believes local small- and medium-scale enterprises will be particularly drawn to this type of operational savings.
IT spending will also get a boost from the Government’s efforts to increase broadband penetration and its scheme offering 100,000 Internet-capable portable computers to university students at a special price.
Telcos to gain
IDC also predicts that the nation’s telcommunications industry will grow by 4.4% this year, compared to 1.7% last year.
The growth will come from an increased demand for wireless voice and data services, due to the higher penetration of smartphones which are getting cheaper.
“You can get a smartphone for less than RM1,000 these days,” said Lincoln Lee, telecommunications research manager at IDC Asean.
“We see that smartphone shipments will hit 1.8 million units this year, growing by 19.8%. This is close to the double digit growth of 20% the year before,” he said.
This continuing move toward mobile computing will also result in the growth of HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) broadband services, said IDC.
“The demand will come from tertiary students, sales staff and residents of new townships,” Lee said.
It said the rise will be mainly due to pent-up demand caused when companies here postponed purchases in the wake of the global economic slowdown last year.
Roger Ling, IDC Asean research manager for software, said the companies are expected to spend on new hardware, broadband and cloud-computing capabilities.
“Companies want to cut (operating) costs (to increase competitiveness) and are opening up to cloud computing,” he said. Cloud computing enables businesses to use applications off the Web without having to pay licensing fees for each computer the programs run on.
IDC believes local small- and medium-scale enterprises will be particularly drawn to this type of operational savings.
IT spending will also get a boost from the Government’s efforts to increase broadband penetration and its scheme offering 100,000 Internet-capable portable computers to university students at a special price.
Telcos to gain
IDC also predicts that the nation’s telcommunications industry will grow by 4.4% this year, compared to 1.7% last year.
The growth will come from an increased demand for wireless voice and data services, due to the higher penetration of smartphones which are getting cheaper.
“You can get a smartphone for less than RM1,000 these days,” said Lincoln Lee, telecommunications research manager at IDC Asean.
“We see that smartphone shipments will hit 1.8 million units this year, growing by 19.8%. This is close to the double digit growth of 20% the year before,” he said.
This continuing move toward mobile computing will also result in the growth of HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) broadband services, said IDC.
“The demand will come from tertiary students, sales staff and residents of new townships,” Lee said.
NEWS: Double-digit growth predicted for outsourcing sector
KUALA LUMPUR: The local outsourcing sector is predicted to grow 20% this year, to reach a value of RM1.3bil, according to Outsourcing Malaysia.Last year, the sector recorded a 17% growth.
David Wong, chairman of Outsourcing Malaysia, said the continued double-digit growth would be due to worldwide demand for the service.
“There is demand for business process outsourcing from an airline and telecommunications company in Singapore, an Australian retail chain, and others,” he said.
He would not reveal the names of the companies and said there were other companies looking to outsource systems-integration and computer-aided design work.
Wong said there was also some demand within the country — from insurance companies and banks which are beginning to outsource sales and promotions programmes for credit cards and loans.
Outsourcing Malaysia believes that local outsourcing companies need to scale-up from just providing contact-centre services.
It also believes that the standard of English in the country must be raised for such companies to be better able to compete with rivals in other parts of the world.
Wong said that if our youth do not have a sufficiently high command of the language, this could derail the growth of the local outsourcing industry.
He said Outsourcing Malaysia is constantly having dialogues with the Education Ministry on the importance of emphasising English lessons in schools here.
Outsourcing Malaysia has just released a report, prepared with the help of industry researcher IDC, titled Strategic Planning and Tactical Road Maps for Malaysian Organisations To Become Leading Global Outsourcing Providers.
It is available to members of the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom) for RM800 a copy.
Outsourcing Malaysia is a chapter of Pikom.
David Wong, chairman of Outsourcing Malaysia, said the continued double-digit growth would be due to worldwide demand for the service.
“There is demand for business process outsourcing from an airline and telecommunications company in Singapore, an Australian retail chain, and others,” he said.
He would not reveal the names of the companies and said there were other companies looking to outsource systems-integration and computer-aided design work.
Wong said there was also some demand within the country — from insurance companies and banks which are beginning to outsource sales and promotions programmes for credit cards and loans.
Outsourcing Malaysia believes that local outsourcing companies need to scale-up from just providing contact-centre services.
It also believes that the standard of English in the country must be raised for such companies to be better able to compete with rivals in other parts of the world.
Wong said that if our youth do not have a sufficiently high command of the language, this could derail the growth of the local outsourcing industry.
He said Outsourcing Malaysia is constantly having dialogues with the Education Ministry on the importance of emphasising English lessons in schools here.
Outsourcing Malaysia has just released a report, prepared with the help of industry researcher IDC, titled Strategic Planning and Tactical Road Maps for Malaysian Organisations To Become Leading Global Outsourcing Providers.
It is available to members of the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom) for RM800 a copy.
Outsourcing Malaysia is a chapter of Pikom.
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