Posts tagged ‘OpenSocial’
December 21, 2008 @ 2:18 PM
Aside from learning about OpenSocial, I observed a few good real life examples that can be taken as an example for Malaysia’s corporate/creative workplace.
Junk food is important. It’s fuel for the brains. - The pantry at Google.sg office is stocked up just like a tiny sundry shop where I lived. Having a pantry with a high complex mix and balance of (brain) power food & junk food will keep any developer happy! It’s a happy pantry!
Never be afraid of your idea, no matter how silly you think it may be. - Ideas make the world go around. Ideas hatched every second, everywhere around the world. The best way to find out if your idea makes the cut is to share it with like minded individuals or just throw it out to the wild general public & react to their responses. People say to think outside the box. I believe there is no such thing as a box.
Never to be afraid to share. - People might steal your ideas, copy your thoughts, but hey, doesn’t that what makes the world a little bit interesting? Most would think “my idea is original. no one must know about it.” That’s the way of the old school. We are the new school.
Hire developers/staff who are naughty. If they are pranksters, they have a better chance to get things done. - Humor, laughter. The best medicine. This is a requirement in any organisation. You need at least one prankster that can come out with the silliest (funniest) prank or activity in your office. It keeps your environment fee alive.
Always surround yourself with great, good, fun people. - Anti social is good, to a certain extend. Being around like minded individuals stimulates you in ways you couldn’t even imagine.
December 13, 2008 @ 10:36 PM
Google Singapore OpenSocial hackathon has come to an end. But fear not, the next hackathon is coming soon, closer than you think!
To Vinoaj, Andrew, Duong (I hope I spelled your name right) & Chandra, you guys are awesome. There’s nothing better than having a good time with you guys, hacking & stuffing stuff, and also thank you for having me & the rest of the attendees over to your humble abode and thank you to Google for supporting us developers at this side of the world.
Just don’t stop doing this. It’s important. It’s fun!
December 13, 2008 @ 1:00 PM
Now, I’m writing & sitting on a red (my favourite color) relax couch with matching footstool in Google’s Singapore office. I have to say, the first thing I fell in love when I set my foot in the office, it’s their marvelous work spaces and environment. I can imagine myself running around the office screaming “Hellalujah!”, praying for some kindness (and improvements) for my current workspace.
I’ll be blogging (semi) live from The Goog. The Goog. Sounds like a really good title for a cult movie about The Goog(le). Watch this page for (lazy) updates.
1:30PM
Still waiting for the show to start. There’s roughly about 12 10 developers that has arrived. And it seems that I’m the only developer from KL. Met Justin Lee from e27, Budy from Indonesia. etc.
2:00PM
Vinoaj kicks off the hackathon with a kickstart session. He briefly (re)introduces the crowd to OpenSocial & its usage. In a note, 51.com contributes the largest amount of OpenSocial users from Asia, but they recently boycotting OpenSocial with several other socnets from China.
2:30PM
Vinoaj jumps around to give a glimpse of what we will be building (hacking) here today using the iGoogle sandbox.
2:50PM
Bjorn Lee (e27) arrives.
3:00PM
Vinoaj speaks about Shindig. Props to @ropu for his DevFest presentation on Shindig.
3:15pM
I’m getting sleeeeepy. Hardly slept last night. A good adventure this morning searching (and walking) for a hotel/motel.
3.20PM
Vinoaj wrapping first presentation. Now he is talking about “Socializing Apps”.
Pure social apps. Socialized apps.
3:30PM
Vinoaj wraps. Now it’s time for Widgeo.us. Whoops. e27 briefs everyone what they do. My comment: they actually bring students out from their “coconut shell”.
4:30PM
Brainstorming session. Good ideas surfaced.
5:00PM
Hacking starts. Now, who wants to team up with me? Isk isk…
6:30PM
Vinoaj orders dinner. PIZZA!
6:50PM
I’m pretty worked up on my OpenSocial idea. Will continue posting updates when dinner arrives! Hehehe.
9:00PM
All good things must come to an end. Thank you guys. Thank you Google. I’m tired and sleepy after a sleepless night & an early morning search for cheap hotels (I refused to stay at Hotel 81). I’ll write more about this, after I sleep.
December 10, 2008 @ 3:43 PM
Thank god for pills! I will be heading to Singapore again this Friday for Google’s OpenSocial hackathon. The venue will be at Google Singapore office starting from 1pm on Saturday till late. I’ll be staying again at Uncle Nava’s place (i promise that I will write something about this awesome bed & breakfast motel) and hit me up if you want to hangout afterhours for a drink or something.
November 3, 2008 @ 10:33 AM
I took a 12 hour train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. I was really excited coming for DevFest.
Arrived in Tanjong Pagar train station at about 8 in the morning. Groggy, sleepy & I smell like the train.
Decided to get a room in Little India. Went to the same backpackers hotel I stayed with One Buck Short for a show in Singapore. It’s called Nava’s Place, and Uncle Nava is a really cool guy. I took a picture with him but it didn’t turn out.
According to Uncle Nava, they closed the whole stretch in Little India for Deepavali celebration. I was 1 day too late.
Got myself to Singapore Management University which was only 10 minutes walk from Little India. Met Jason Costa from Google. Fadhil of JomCode is trying his best to persuade Jason to give him the shirt Jason was wearing. Can fit ah?
Cam-whoring with Arzumy of JomCode.
The registration line for the event. They used a Google Spreadsheet form for registration. Pretty neat, I must say. They could have used the manual “tick-my-name” way to speed things up.
The crowd in the conference hall.
Pamela Fox from Google Maps API. She’ll be coming to Kuala Lumpur for FOSS.my 2008 to present this weekend.
Arzumy & Malaysia’s first line of defense. I must say, Arzumy is a cam-whore, instantly setting a pose whenever the camera is pointed at him. Hahaha…
Patrick from the OpenSocial team. His daughter made the best explanation of what “social” really means. Pure innocent.
On the left side of Malaysia’s first line of defense. Okay, we just sat in the front row seats.
Man, I forgot his name. But he’s one the guys behind the Shindig project. No Perl version yet. Hmmm…
Update: His name is Bruno :) Thanks Pamela.
Break time. Food, munchies, drinks!
Jeff from Friendster.
The presenters & Googlers.
e27 dudes. They sure know how to hold an event. Thank you guys!
The only swag I got from the event. Sorry, no stickers guys. Do you notice something odd about this t-shirt?
Group photo! The Malaysian contigent.
My participation certificate now hangs on my wall of short-lived-fame. I need to get a new frame.
Overall, it was hell of an experience attending DevFest. 12-hour train, running around Changi airport like a dufuss, but DevFest made it all worthwhile. Although the hackathon never really did happen, but the talks & being able to converse directly with the people that created and pushed these technology really made me want to contribute more. You can checkout their APAC Developer blog for updates.
And one piece of advice, 30 minutes before your flight departure with AirAsia is considered late & the gates will close & they will sell your seat. So, come super early. Like 1 hour. Or more. And I was only 30 minutes “late”. Ungh.
October 24, 2008 @ 12:01 AM
Next week on Tuesday, me & 30 other developers, entrepreneurs & like minded people from Malaysia will be attending Google DevFest, organised by the great people of e27 Singapore group. The Malaysian team (sounds like a Pesta Bola Merdeka trip) is coordinated by the also great people of Entrepreneurs.my & they did a well good job getting the representatives coming together. Hopefully it will be fruitful trip.
I’ve already bought my train & flight tickets for the trip, so now, I need to prepare an idea or more or less an application for the hackathon. Hell, this is going to be my first time participating in a hackathon and I have no idea what I will be doing. But one thing for sure, I’m going to go there & learn from the Google OpenSocial engineers who have graciously made themselves fly to Singapore for the event. I hope to bring back some knowledge & also goodies!
Wish me luck :D
