Website Review: Churp Churp Redesign

Before I start talking about the new ChurpChurp website, here’s a trick question to the Churpers or even, Nuffies working in ChurpChurp office.

How many times have the ChurpChurp website been redesigned?

5? 10? 1? 3? Well, jump into the time machine thanks to Archive.org and let me show you some of ChurpChurp’s older website designs.

Back then everything was kind of flat. And gloomy? Probably because of the darker hues.

It started to look more pleasant thanks to the lighter hues. Then in that white empty box was where you’d see a Slideshare about ChurpChurp and what it was offering to publishers.

But the redesign didn’t end there.

I’d say this was the most drastic redesign from the previous. The content area was revamped and the focus began moving into campaign sharing. Even the inside of ChurpChurp was streamlined for publishers to access their paid campaigns. In addition, this was the redesign when ChurpChurp’s team implemented the sign in using Facebook.

Then finally, approaching the end of 2011, ChurpChurp’s team introduces a new website design.

The newly designed ChurpChurp to me is a much cleaner and organized website now. No more feeling of my eyeballs jumping from corner to corner scanning the website. Though like any redesign, they’d still have quirks to think about.

Double sign in with Facebook and Twitter buttons

Maybe they’re trying to save bandwidth. But they seriously should create another button for the sign in with Facebook and Twitter. Just having the header say Sign Up isn’t the same as the button reading; Sign up with Facebook.

Responsive web design for the win

Hell yeah! Great effort from ChurpChurp’s team implementing this to the new website. And if you didn’t know, responsive web design is basically optimizing a website’s layout to the screen resolution. Here’s an example of it on ChurpChurp.

The screenshot on the left is my browser resolution at 1024 x 768 and the right is what you would see when viewed on your iPhone in portrait – works in landscape too.

The first screenshot of the new website above is for resolutions larger than 1024 x 768. My browser resolution was at 1680 x 1050 for that view.

For a deeper yet clear explanation about responsive web design, have a read through this article by Smashing Magazine.

Share it like it’s Facebook

One of the interesting additions to this new rendition is the story exploration. Think of WordPress.com and Facebook combined. In WordPress.com it encourages other publishers to read featured blogs.

Like Facebook, when you post a link, it’ll also try to retrieve the first image of the post. Thinking about it, I’m wondering if this is powered by Facebook. Or, did the ChurpChurp technical team manage to come up with a similar script. Hmm…

Hashtag it like a #churp

Honestly, this was a feature I never knew existed and I wonder if it works and how will it work.

Apparently, all I have to do is tweet with a link and hashtag it as #churp for it to be posted under ChurpChurp’s stories. Please do let me know if you successfully did it. I’m also going to experiment with this.

Now I’m not sure if it’s because this feature is new, but I believe most of the posts in Stories are right now by the Nuffies. And I’m wondering, how does this compliment their other blog aggregator; Innit?

So, what’s next?

Well, ChurpChurp definitely needs to look through their responsive web design again because it’s not there yet to me. Other than that, maybe Timothy and Ming should look at integrating all the services closer – Nuffnang, ChurpChurp and Jipaban. As right now, each of it stands on its own. But hey, that’s just me living in my spaced out world.

Yes And Samsung To Offer The Best Value In Performance And Mobility

Malaysia’s fastest mobile router and Samsung GALAXY Tab 8.9 bundle to offer consumers the best mobile performance that’s big on value

KUALA LUMPUR — EMBARGO until November 25, 2011 — Yes, one of the most advanced 4G networks in the world, today announced its collaboration with Samsung Malaysia Electronics (SME) Sdn. Bhd., a leading mobile phone provider, to offer the best in mobility and performance. In conjunction with the launch of the Samsung GALAXY Tab 8.9, Yes and Samsung are offering a special package that combines Malaysia’s fastest 4G mobile router, the Yes Huddle, with Samsung’s latest tablet, the GALAXY Tab 8.9.

Designed to offer true mobile broadband performance, the package offers a total saving of RM159 when compared to the devices being purchased separately.

“The Yes Huddle is a perfect companion for the Samsung GALAXY Tab 8.9. Mobile internet devices like the Samsung GALAXY Tab 8.9 along with other smartphones and tablets need an amazingly fast mobile network to make the most out of their capabilities. Current 3G networks are not built for data. Yes 4G is the only mobile network that can offer this amazing performance consistently. Yes just works” said Wing K. Lee, Chief Executive Officer, YTL Communications.

“The Samsung GALAXY Tab 8.9 is another outstanding result of our constant innovation and commitment to revolutionize ultimate mobility on-the-go powered by state of the art technology for powerful performance that comes in a sleek and stylish design. We are glad to be able to partner withYes 4G, a truly high performance mobile broadband service that can deliver immensely fast connectivity consistently within a mobile environment. With the Samsung GALAXY Tab 8.9 and the Yes 4G Huddle tie-up, we hope to bring the best in performance and mobility to our customers.” said Kwon Jae Hoon, Managing Director, Samsung Malaysia Electronics.

The Samsung GALAXY Tab 8.9 is available from today at all authorised Samsung retailers for RM1,299. For even better value and performance customers can choose the Samsung-Yes 4G bundle that combines the Samsung GALAXY Tab 8.9 (RM1,299) with the Yes Huddle (RM399) inclusive of Yes ID (worth RM50) and Yes credit worth RM90 (RM30 over 3 months) for a total of RM1,679. The Samsung-Yes 4G bundle is available from 25 November until 31 December 2011 at Senheng, Harvey Norman and Yes Retail outlets.

The table below shows the savings and items included in the Samsung-Yes 4G Bundle Package:

Samsung	Yes 4G	Savings
Samsung GALAXY Tab 8.9 WiFi	Huddle (RM399)	Total value before savings: GALAXY Tab 8.9 + Yes Huddle + Yes ID + Yes Credit = RM1,838
	Yes ID (RM50)
	RM90 credit (RM30 x 3 months)	Total value after savings GALAXY Tab 8.9 + Yes Huddle + Yes ID + Yes Credit) = RM1,679
Device value: RM1,299	Package value: RM539	Total savings: RM159

P1 Celebrates New “Potong Stim!” Campaign at Comedy Thursday

Kuala Lumpur - Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn.Bhd. (“P1”), Malaysia’s first and leading 4G wireless broadband service provider, lived up to its reputation of having a sense of humour when it sponsored Comedy Thursday at Zouk KL on 6^th October to celebrate its new Potong Stim!™ campaign.

The theme of the night was, of course, “potong stim” and some of the five comedians – Papi Zak, Kavin Jayaram, Rizal V. Greyzel, Steve Northcott and special guest comedian from New Zealand, Tony Christiansen – shared their “potong stim” moments.

Similar to P1, Comedy Thursday started three years ago from ground zero and according to Lai, P1’s sponsorship of the Comedy Thursday event is its way of supporting all things fresh and local – in this case, local comedy and comedians.

Matt Bellotti, Editorial Director of Time Out KL, said “We started Comedy Thursday in May 2008 outdoors at Asian Heritage Row with about sixty people in the audience.  Now we are in Zouk, with over 350 people and tonight we celebrated our 10,000th guest!  Comedy plays a very important role in any society, so it’s great to see companies like P1 encouraging our comedians to continue and thrive and hopefully to inspire others to try comedy or just to come out and support it.”

Michael Lai, CEO of P1 explained that the Potong Stim theme came from P1’s desire to inform the public that using your mobile broadband dongle at home is “potong stim”. “We just don’t say it like anybody else because we embrace humour and also try to entertain through our communications,” said Lai.

P1’s latest Potong Stim!^TM campaign informs that a mobile dongle is not built for home use but  for light surfing when you are out and about.  For optimized broadband at home, a modem with a larger antenna that is connected to a higher voltage power source is required to ensure a stronger signal that can penetrate through layers of walls.

A P1 research conducted by Frost & Sullivan showed that 93% of broadband users in Malaysia are frustrated with their broadband experience just by using their mobile dongles at home and, as a result, P1 responded with the ONE 69 Plan. The plan includes a home modem, a mobile dongle and 100 minutes of free voice calls to fixed, mobile and IDD numbers bundled in for only RM69 per month.

“The ONE 69 Plan is really the best value broadband plan in the market today,” said Lai.  “The low price point is designed specifically for mobile broadband users who are used to paying in the range of RM50 to RM90. With the One 69 Plan, they get an attractive 3-in-1 bundle and more importantly, they don’t have to “potong stim” their home broadband experience!”

P1 treated its guests, comprising of members of the media, resellers and some customers to a fun night of laughter.

Steve Ballmer Statement on Steve Jobs’ Passing

Statement from Steve Ballmer

“I want to express my deepest condolences at the passing of Steve Jobs, one of the founders of our industry and a true visionary. My heart goes out to his family, everyone at Apple and everyone who has been touched by his work.”

Statement from Bill Gates

Bill Gates has also issued a statement, which is posted at his personal Web site, The Gates Notes http://www.thegatesnotes.com/Personal/Steve-Jobs.

“I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.

“Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.

“The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.

“For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.”

Hotmail Reborn

Hotmail Brings New Amazing Innovative Features to Power Users Backed by 15 years of experience, the largest web-based mail service in the world delivers continuous innovation in spam filtering, performance, storage and mobile platform compatibility, all designed to meet the needs of power users.

Kuala Lumpur, 4 October 2011 – In conjunction with Hotmail’s 15th anniversary this month, Microsoft has announced five new amazing innovative features for the largest web-based email service in the world. A culmination of the numerous learnings and feedback gathered over the past 5 to 6 years from Hotmail’s large user base of more than 360 million people worldwide, the new features offer improvements in vital areas of spam filtering, performance, storage and mobile platform compatibility exclusively designed to meet the needs of power users.

“We’ve all used Hotmail at one point in time, and we loved it for its features and simplicity. Things are a little bit more complicated today. People want more than just an email address. Users want huge storage space, seamless integration with instant messaging and contact management as well as easy access across mobile devices. With our latest Hotmail release, we are bringing all this and more to our users. Hotmail has come a long way since its humble beginnings. It is now more feature rich, more integrated and more secure than ever before. It’s the perfect time to fall in love all over again with Hotmail,” said Barrie Ooi, Head of Windows Live, Asia Pacific, Microsoft.

Hotmail now on Android

The only official Microsoft mobile app for Hotmail that gives you easy access to Hotmail so you never miss an email.

New features from Hotmail

Selected features introduced with the latest release of Hotmail today.

1. Newsletter filters including “unsubscribe me”
2. Scheduled cleanup
3. New folder management
4. Flags – done right
5. Categories powered by Sweep

Hotmail is just one aspect of the many wonderful things to be announced from Microsoft in the following months. So keep a look out for the latest from Microsoft.