BarCamp Malaysia 2009

I missed out on a great BarCamp Malaysia this year. I attended the first one held last year organized by the same folks. However, this year’s BarCamp looked awesome and we had live micro-blogging (via Twitter) from the speakers as well as the participants. Awesome!

Here’s a quick video done by thebackpackr to summarize the weekend event passed.

Honestly, this video really showed me what I missed – fun, speeches, sharing, caring, dancing and more importantly, networking. Sorry I couldn’t attend folks. This weekend was one where I had my hands full.

And if you were wondering what’s the gist about BarCamp.

BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants who are the main actors of the event.

Source: Barcamp.org

And as Daniel says, “It can be about anything: art, drama, theatre, tech, business, finance and oh so many knowledge & interesting stuff that is out there and living inside us that is just waiting to burst out!”

Watch the video and see there was even dancing class for swing.

Google Mail is Now 5 Years Old

While everyone was busy celebrating April Fools Day on April 1, some might have forgotten Google Mail was launched on April Fools. Well, I only realized this minutes ago and would like to extend my wishes to Google for Gmail.

By the way, awesome cake and I’m sure it would’ve been tasty. And thanks for Gmail, it’s totally changed my email culture and needs for a small business like Simpleet Solutions.

MSN Website Submission is Broken

A value-added service for website design in Malaysia is assisting clients to submit their websites to search engines. Three of the more popular search engines worldwide are Google, Yahoo and MSN. Though Nielsen reported in 2006, the accumulative total of users using an alternative nearly surpasses MSN Search.

So there I was about to submit a client’s website to the MSN search engine. Filled the security code and valid URL, only to be returned to the same page telling me to again fill in a valid URL. I even tried my own URL and it still returned the same error.

Looks like the MSN website submission is broken or in geek, borken.

By the way, Malaysia website design companies who charge you for website submission to Google, Yahoo and MSN are cheating you. It’s absolutely free to submit your website – unless you register for their premium service, like Yahoo Directory.

Search engine optimization (SEO) indeed is a broad area today, so make sure you do some homework before hiring a Malaysia SEO consultant. Or, are you still paying the Malaysia website design company for website submission? (premium services excluded)

Inspired Judgemental IE6 Splash Page

If you practice website standards either as a website designer or website developer, you’d know the countless frustration working with Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). But here comes something you can put all your anger into and let out expressively – especially, if you write a blog.

The judgemental IE6 splash page was inspired by Joe from Hugs for Monsters. The splash page is not to be taken seriously but a joke, so start laughing!

Anyway, I’ve deep hate for Internet Explorer 6 so thought of bringing this to the Malaysia designers and developers who hate it too. If you do, create your own judgemental IE6 splash page and who knows, we might create a revolution.

P.S: You can click on the image for a 1024 x 768 version.

Does Your Company Celebrate April Fools Day?

I was wondering if Malaysia companies celebrate April Fools internally. Not so much as to pull a fast one on their employees or prank their colleagues, but share the fun with even their clients. Something as harmless as the one YouTube did this year.

Also, my blog commenter recently shared with me via email he was caught in the prank done by Google in Gmail.

As I spaced out (something I do often), I also thought would only small Malaysia companies be more adventurous in doing this. Or, do even the medium and multi-national corporations (MNCs) do it?

It could be a simple idea (website or company closed down) to an all out April Fools video. At the end of the day, have Malaysia companies weighed the benefits of doing an April Fools for their colleagues and their clients?