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What Happened in the Morning Session for CPB2011 Open Day?

Daniel CerVentus — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:54:28 +0000

Thanks to Reshwindblade for the recording this is what went down in the CPB2011 open day. If you are in the tech sector and you missed out what is the Computing Professional Bill 2011, you can check out our write-up and what LoyarBurok wrote.

Here is the video.

Malaysia Government To Screw Up ICT Industry

Daniel CerVentus — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 01:18:28 +0000

Welcome to Malaysia, where the government is trying to push for a new law that requires any computer professional to be certified with a soon to be form Board of Computing Professionals. This board is supposed to determine who is qualified to practice in the ICT industry. This also means all Malaysians who are in the computer industry would probably need to pay a yearly fee to join this board. This is bullshit.

The beauty of the ICT industry it is democratize a lot of stuff. There are a lot of self taught experts or hackers poking around computers. By having a formal organization will hamper development of the ICT industry.

Does it mean these two folks will not be qualify to do anything in the computer industry because they are drop outs?

Here is the draft for the act, judge for yourself
CPB2011 Draft

Update: See what are the public comments for the draft act here.

There is also an open day for the public to learn about about the act here.
When: December 13, 2011, 9.30 am to 5pm
Where: Dewan Perhimpunan, Aras 1, Block C4, Kompleks C, Kementerian Sains, Teknologi dan Inovasi, Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan

UPDATE: Petition to kill the bill is here.

50% of Carlist is acquired by Catcha Media Berhad

Daniel CerVentus — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:05:45 +0000

As Catcha Media Bhd is looking to become an internet conglomerate again and it’s recent acquisition of a decisive 50 per cent stake in car portal, Carlist.my would make this a reality. Carlist was founded on the basis there are a lot of stale cars listed on most traditional sites. It currently boast a total of over 43 thousands car listings.

The 50% stake was purchased for an undisclosed stake but speculation hovers around RM 5 Million with Carlist valued at RM 10 Million. As a comparison, Proto Corporation (Japan) acquisition of MTM Multimedia, the publisher of titles such as Motor Trader, Bike Trader and Autocar ASEAN was around RM109.67 million.

Catcha Media Berhad (“Catcha Media”) announced today its results for Q3 2011, with revenue increasing by 20% as compared to Q3 2010. The announcement coincided with changes in the company’s management, where founder and non-executive director, Mr Patrick Grove, will assume the role of CEO.

Get My Malaysian Business Online

Daniel CerVentus — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 02:43:01 +0000

Recently, Google, Ministry of Information Communications and Culture, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, .my Domain Registry, and iTrain have joined forces to create Get Malaysian Business Online. This is an initiative to get more Malaysian based businesses and entrepreneurs to leverage on the internet. All you need to apply and you be getting.

Free easy to update, customized website
Free .com.my web address for first 10,000 participants. Only RM23 for participants thereafter.*
Ongoing tips and education
AdWords RM200 trial with expert phone support

For more info watch the video below

or visit the site at www.getmybusinessonline.com.my

iBilik Receives Investment from Crystal Horse

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:08:08 +0000

Ocision Sdn Bhd (Ocision) received an undisclosed amount of 2nd round funding from angel investment company Crystal Horse Investments Pte Ltd (Crystal horse) based in Singapore. Ocision owns and manages the website iBilik, a short term accommodation rental platform, currently active in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Ng Say Joe, founder of Ocision, is looking forward to the new partnership. The funding will be primarily used for marketing purposes and to expand the business.

iBilik is an online board for room posting in Malaysia and has made recently inroads in Singapore and Indonesia. Founder, Ng Say Joe is a serial entrepeneur who also founded Malaysian websites PropWall and CarSifu.

Earlier this year, prolific angel investor Tan Swee Yeong from Malaysia has injected the 1st round of funding in May 2011.

This will be Crystal Horse’s twelfth investment within one year, its investees are mostly ICT related and based in Singapore (5), Malaysia (5), India (1) and China (1).

Other notable competitors to iBilik are 701panduan and Mudah.com.my

Remembering Steve Jobs 1955- 2011

Daniel CerVentus — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 01:00:39 +0000

Today, Apple announced the passing of Steve Jobs. Jobs have been the co founder of Apple Computer and came back in 1997 to save Apple from the brink of failure helped created one of the greatest creative and business organization in the world.

In his two reign in Apple, he helped push the GUI, the Mac, ipod, ipad, iphone and ipad. Steve Jobs have changed the media and how we consume media with itunes and Pixar.

We are here on this very complicated world for a very short time and we are not going to get a chance for people to remember much about us. For Steve Jobs, his vision was clear and we will remember him for his commitment in creating. I agree with Steve, “People with passion can change the world.” Rest in Peace Steve.

Read about Steve Jobs at his Wikipedia here.

Election Fever Hits Singapore and Entrepreneurs There Is Doing A Zuckerberg

Daniel CerVentus — Fri, 06 May 2011 05:50:59 +0000

I never really like politics when I was younger. In Malaysia it was never about solving real issues. Well as I am growing up, it seems that politics is the same all around the world until now. Social media have added a whole lot of needed seasoning to the once plain and horrible taste of politics around the world. From the work that the SunLight Foundation does to Govt 2.0 initiative from O Reilly, there seem exist more tools out there to make this whole thing less scary, more participatory and more fun. A couple of young and enterprising entrepreneurs in Singapore is trying to emulate Mark Zuckerberg’s success by building a social app for the up coming Singapore General Election.

Mark’s app that got him into a lot of trouble in Harvard called FaceMash and a lot of notoriety, while Eason and Yugene from StorePair.com is called IlikeYou. These two Malaysian who are currently based in Singapore created an application where you select one of the two politician in Singapore that you like.

If you want to find out more about StorePair.com see the video below. (the site doesn’t seem to be ready)

So What Email Solution TriCubes is Using?

Daniel CerVentus — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:05:51 +0000

The Malaysian people seem to be outrage with the government decision to appoint TriCube Bhd. to create an email system for Malaysia. The cost of the project is RM 50 Million for 10 years. Not only it is going to cost the government a lot of money but the people using have to purchase a usb device that is going to read your SmartKad. It is also understood from Tricubes Bhd has confirmed that it will charge government agencies about 50 sen for every email sent to Malaysians who are account-holders. There are even a bunch of MyEmail clones which bootstrap USD 50 to make fun out the whole thing such as myoh.my using Google Apps. So with such a high tech investment in Malaysia with email solution what email is Tricubes using internally?

So check this out.

They are using Google Apps themselves.
To see for your self head over to http://webmail.tricubes.com

Terato Tech Rejects Grants and Aims To Be Faster Growing Startup 300KM North of Singapore

Daniel CerVentus — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 09:26:56 +0000

Grantpreneurs, a word coined by Colin Charles formerly of MYSQL means a person who create business solely to hunt down free money disbursed by the government. Great startups funding programs such as MDEC PreSeed Grants and Cradle in Malaysia is usually plagued by these people who do not add value in the ecosystem but being parasites in spending the money should be meant for more deserving budding entrepreneurs.

Recently Reza of TeratoTech who was previously accused by some people of being a “grantpreneurs” out right rejects the offer Networked Content Development Grant (NCDG) with a very interesting letter.

Reza Fahmi RazaliI has been in the IT industry from the young age of 17, sweeping up international IT awards such as the APICTA and APMITTA with his maiden project, terato.com, a portal for teens and car modifications with over 2 million hits and 50,000 members. Reza is currently CEO of Terato Tech which builds app such as Undies and AiYo Magazine. Reza also is serving as TeAM council for the first time.

Kiip.me is finally launched.

Daniel CerVentus — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:11:44 +0000

After announcing a round of USD 4.1 Million dollar, Brian Wong’s startup Kiip.me is finally launched. According to their site

We created a network and the technology to help enable brands to reach you when you win – at the achievement moment – with a reward. It helps brands build a one-to-one connection with you, while thanking you, and it brings us all closer through the authenticity of a value exchange.

So what is Kiip? Check out the video below. Do watch out for a cameo of one Kevin Rose.

Kiip: A Welcome from kiip on Vimeo.

The question is how would Kiip.me fare compare with sites like Groupon or even Chalkboard in getting customers to business.