Just a collection of stuff (mostly from my old blog)
Danny Hillis talks about a backup plan for the internet, and on the face of it — the idea sounds absurd. Why would anyone have a backup plan for the internet? There isn’t a single IT project worth it’s salt that would register the entire internet failing as a risk, the internet after all was built as a decentralized communications medium that couldn’t be taken down with a...
Everybody’s favourite yellow Malaysian telco decided to start April Fools day a bit early today–either that or somebody in Digi went a bit crazy, and who can blame them with all those yellow men running around the office an’ all. Anyway, they offered a ‘vintage’ phone offer that includes phones like the Nokia 3310, that comes with interchangeable covers, clock and...
Finally after a year of procrastinating I finally sat for my TOGAF exam. I’m glad I finally did it, but I should have done it much earlier. A lot of people wonder what TOGAF really is, TOGAF is an acronym that stands for the The Open Group Architecture Framework–yes it’s a mouthful and you’ve probably never heard of it before, but I personally believe architecture is a...
We often talk about how where the next Apple, Google or Amazon will come from, rarely do we ask ourselves where the next Red Cross or Salvation Army would come from. What’s even rarer is the question of how we can get our local NGO and charities to stop being Jaguh Kampungs and start being real world-changers that affect change in the areas of their focus. Dan Pallotta thinks he has the...
Can Malaysia produce the next Facebook or Google? The short answer is NO. The longer answer is HELL NO! One of the things that pushes my buttons is when people talk about how Malaysia can produce the next Google or Facebook like as though creating a world renowned tech brand is like winning a lottery–submit enough entries and you’re bound to win it sooner or later. These people dream...
I came across a really cool youtube video from the amazing numberphile series that detailed how companies are already analyzing sports and farming huge amounts of data from sport events like football matches. In fact, these guys are basically farming data from events like the world cup, and then hoping that among that mountain of data lies some insights that could prove useful to football...
This is a bit of old and stale news, but in April of 2012, the Information Ministry released a ‘directive’ to ban all movies or films that featured gay characters. In their defence, the Ministry did later clarify that their facebook post wasn’t a directive, but a topic for debate. Of course, there can’t be much defending when the post itself starts with “Berkuatkuasa...
A couple of days back, I decided to buy a Christmas present for my wife. In my usual lackadaisical procrastinating style however–I only decided to buy on the 21st of December, which is barely 4 days from Christmas. In my defense, I already had a great Christmas present in mind–it was something called the fitbit, a full fledge pedometer that not just records your steps everyday, but...
As a tech blog in Malaysia, I thought it’d be interesting to see the latest Auditor-General’s report faired in terms of IT spend from the government. IT spend is a tricky thing, and most don’t understand just how tricky it is, particularly around big IT spend by governments–they often fail. In fact, one of my favorite blogs is dedicated solely to IT failures, aptly...
Tributes are pouring in for Amanda Todd, a teenager who committed suicide after posting the video above describing how she was tormented by bullies and struggling with depression. Amanda’s story was told little by little via post-it notes and it full detail about the extent of the bullying and torment and just how this poor 15-year old girl had experienced her version of hell on earth. The...