From Dennis McDonald's blog,
'My first vote goes for social networking technologies and the ability they give people to communicate and collaborate across many of the traditional boundaries around organizations, neighborhoods, professions, associations, countries, and other traditional ways of organizing work and relationships. It will be interesting to see, for example, if the Chinese government can continue its current level of political control over its population without also increasing control over how people form relationships and interact with each other both socially and professionally.'
Social networking is already revolutionizing the way we think, communicate, shop and even sleep. When you buy a bedsheet, mattress, or pillow, would you feel better if your friend has assured you on facebook that Brand X is the brand to buy as it gave him a good night sleep? When you shop, do you first consult your friends on where are the good places to hit? Never underestimate the power of collective knowledge... Many companies are jumping on this bandwagon now to harness the power of social networking but the question is how. What does this disruptive technology mean to you?
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Orbius
An extract from my Colleague, Andy's blog and more insights about my internship company...
We're proud to be in Orbius!
Here are a few reasons why Orbius stands out:
Orbius is different from other players in the market because it is specifically designed to support not just individuals but groups - companies, brand marketers, clubs, and organizations. We call these community sites Orbs. It's really easy to create an Orb, apply themes, configure security and start communicating with groups of people.
Orbius is designed to support multiple Profiles. For instance, I have a public profile that everyone can see. I also have a Family Profile, a Friends Profile, and a Professional profile. I can decide who get's to see any of my personal information. For instance, in my Professional Profile I have my resume, links to technology sites and blogs that I like, etc. In my Family profile I can keep family photos and a calendar that keeps track of where we'll be for different holidays, etc. In my Friends profile I share pictures with Friends and I have a comment wall so we can joke around. But these Profiles would be useless if I couldn't control who had access to each of them. With Orbius it is really easy to organize my connections into various groups and then allow them access to whichever profiles I want!
Orbius offers a unique way to join communities and "hide" your identity through Personas. While this may not be useful in all situations, in many communities members share sensitive information about themselves (medical information for example). In these Orbs, members can safely discuss important issues because the other community members will never know their real identity.
Orbius provides a simple dashboard view of changes and updates to all of the communities you belong to. In addition, all messages among Orbius users come through a central inbox, even if the communication is from different Orbs.
By the way, Orbius is free to use. Anyone can set up Orbs and/or Profiles. However, companies who wish to take advantage of extra features including advanced themes, removal of advertising, custom applications and more can do so with a Premium, Corporate, or Enterprise Level Edition of Orbius.
We're proud to be in Orbius!
Here are a few reasons why Orbius stands out:
Orbius is different from other players in the market because it is specifically designed to support not just individuals but groups - companies, brand marketers, clubs, and organizations. We call these community sites Orbs. It's really easy to create an Orb, apply themes, configure security and start communicating with groups of people.
Orbius is designed to support multiple Profiles. For instance, I have a public profile that everyone can see. I also have a Family Profile, a Friends Profile, and a Professional profile. I can decide who get's to see any of my personal information. For instance, in my Professional Profile I have my resume, links to technology sites and blogs that I like, etc. In my Family profile I can keep family photos and a calendar that keeps track of where we'll be for different holidays, etc. In my Friends profile I share pictures with Friends and I have a comment wall so we can joke around. But these Profiles would be useless if I couldn't control who had access to each of them. With Orbius it is really easy to organize my connections into various groups and then allow them access to whichever profiles I want!
Orbius offers a unique way to join communities and "hide" your identity through Personas. While this may not be useful in all situations, in many communities members share sensitive information about themselves (medical information for example). In these Orbs, members can safely discuss important issues because the other community members will never know their real identity.
Orbius provides a simple dashboard view of changes and updates to all of the communities you belong to. In addition, all messages among Orbius users come through a central inbox, even if the communication is from different Orbs.
By the way, Orbius is free to use. Anyone can set up Orbs and/or Profiles. However, companies who wish to take advantage of extra features including advanced themes, removal of advertising, custom applications and more can do so with a Premium, Corporate, or Enterprise Level Edition of Orbius.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
West Coast travel part 1
This is no doubt my longest trip ever, 6 states, 9 cities in 2 weeks. My traveling companions? My university beties =) it seemed just a while ago that Huiling and I were planning the trip and it’s the trip has already ended. But the memories are really here to stay.
Gwen arrived in NY to meet Huiling on 9 july and for the next 2 days, they did lots of shopping and sightseeing. Having been to New York and is limited by the number of leave I am entitled to, I only joined them on 11july. The Pacific Hotel at Chinatown is simply amazingly value for money. For just $67 per night, we get a queen sized bed in a 2m by 2m room. But a small hotel in NY would fetch usually $200 a night. We departed at 7am the next day to catch the Niagara Falls bus and the hilarious error we committed was to take taxi to go down 5 streets. It is different here compared to Philly, when the streets run in sequence. As the hotel is at 100 something street, one would expect 60 streets in between the position of the tour bus which is at 42rd street but apparently, we’re wrong.
Soon we embarked on our journey to Buffalo, Niagara. After sitting on the bus for 3hours. It seemed that the bus would never arrive at the destination. It was already evening time by the time we arrived. A light drizzle began to fall but nothing could restrain our excitement to see the much awaited Niagara fall. The falls were actually noticeable from a distance, as there were some mysteriously large clouds of mist. Niagara got its name from its thundering sound of the falling water and no other name could have more aptly described it. We wore our poncho and stepped onto the maiden of the mists and almost as soon as it began to sail, the majestic view of the falls came into view. The falls are nothing like those I have ever seen in my life. The sight of the pure glistening water pouring down from heights was simply incredible. It looked so beautiful, like a painting, so surreal. We were soon drenched by the drizzle and the gushing sprays of water from the shore but even if it means risking our camera to take photos of the falls, it was worth it.
The rest of the trip didn’t occur as smoothly but it was a unique experience together. While I returned to Philly to work, Huiling and Gwen stayed on to go Woodbury to shop the next day.
For the next 2 days, I could hardly concentrate on my work, as there were so many things to settle for the west coast trip. The juniors had also just arrived on Mon and all the memories what I experienced in the first few weeks in Philly came rushing back to me again. All too quickly, 6 months had gone by and we’re seniors already.
Before I knew it, Wednesday arrived. At 4pm, gwen and I practically raced to the 30th street with our luggages and all. In retrospect, maybe it was an omen that we’d always be rushing for our flights and to meet deadlines for our trip. I was sweating profusely by the time we boarded the regional rail to the Philadelphia airport. It was in the nick of time that we reached the platform actually. Phew…
Everything else very much occurred smoothly after that. At the Las Vegas airport, we rented a Toyota Prius, which is supposed to run on only one gallon per 45 miles, which is simply amazing. As we drove down the strip, the sights around us were amazing. Even from the airplane, we could see the dazzling lights of vegas, the city that never sleeps. We recognized the hotels as our car crawled along the road, as there were so many cars on the narrow road. The famous pyramidal Luxor hotel, the grand Bellagio hotel that hosts fountain shows, the Paris hotel with its Eiffel tower lookalike. Circus circus was the conventional kind of hotel but it was nevertheless an enjoyable experience staying there. The room was clean and spacious, just what we needed after a horrible experience at the Fallside inn at Niagara Falls.
Our regret is that we could only stay one night there and a short one for that, as we had to set off at 7am for grand canyon the next day. If I am given the chance to change our itinerary, maybe we would have missed going to LA altogether.
There would be no argument for which why Grand Canyon is recognized as one of the 7 wonders of the world. It took a gruesome 5 hours to drive there, passing over 3 different terrains along the way, the desert, the savanna areas and the green hilly regions. But as we set our eyes upon the place, all our fatigue just melted away. The scene was just so breathtaking. The canyon looks different at every angle and nothing can certainly battle this piece of natural avante garde in front of us. We could only spend hour there but it would take a lifetime to forget the wonderful sight of Grand Canyon.
Gwen arrived in NY to meet Huiling on 9 july and for the next 2 days, they did lots of shopping and sightseeing. Having been to New York and is limited by the number of leave I am entitled to, I only joined them on 11july. The Pacific Hotel at Chinatown is simply amazingly value for money. For just $67 per night, we get a queen sized bed in a 2m by 2m room. But a small hotel in NY would fetch usually $200 a night. We departed at 7am the next day to catch the Niagara Falls bus and the hilarious error we committed was to take taxi to go down 5 streets. It is different here compared to Philly, when the streets run in sequence. As the hotel is at 100 something street, one would expect 60 streets in between the position of the tour bus which is at 42rd street but apparently, we’re wrong.
Soon we embarked on our journey to Buffalo, Niagara. After sitting on the bus for 3hours. It seemed that the bus would never arrive at the destination. It was already evening time by the time we arrived. A light drizzle began to fall but nothing could restrain our excitement to see the much awaited Niagara fall. The falls were actually noticeable from a distance, as there were some mysteriously large clouds of mist. Niagara got its name from its thundering sound of the falling water and no other name could have more aptly described it. We wore our poncho and stepped onto the maiden of the mists and almost as soon as it began to sail, the majestic view of the falls came into view. The falls are nothing like those I have ever seen in my life. The sight of the pure glistening water pouring down from heights was simply incredible. It looked so beautiful, like a painting, so surreal. We were soon drenched by the drizzle and the gushing sprays of water from the shore but even if it means risking our camera to take photos of the falls, it was worth it.
The rest of the trip didn’t occur as smoothly but it was a unique experience together. While I returned to Philly to work, Huiling and Gwen stayed on to go Woodbury to shop the next day.
For the next 2 days, I could hardly concentrate on my work, as there were so many things to settle for the west coast trip. The juniors had also just arrived on Mon and all the memories what I experienced in the first few weeks in Philly came rushing back to me again. All too quickly, 6 months had gone by and we’re seniors already.
Before I knew it, Wednesday arrived. At 4pm, gwen and I practically raced to the 30th street with our luggages and all. In retrospect, maybe it was an omen that we’d always be rushing for our flights and to meet deadlines for our trip. I was sweating profusely by the time we boarded the regional rail to the Philadelphia airport. It was in the nick of time that we reached the platform actually. Phew…
Everything else very much occurred smoothly after that. At the Las Vegas airport, we rented a Toyota Prius, which is supposed to run on only one gallon per 45 miles, which is simply amazing. As we drove down the strip, the sights around us were amazing. Even from the airplane, we could see the dazzling lights of vegas, the city that never sleeps. We recognized the hotels as our car crawled along the road, as there were so many cars on the narrow road. The famous pyramidal Luxor hotel, the grand Bellagio hotel that hosts fountain shows, the Paris hotel with its Eiffel tower lookalike. Circus circus was the conventional kind of hotel but it was nevertheless an enjoyable experience staying there. The room was clean and spacious, just what we needed after a horrible experience at the Fallside inn at Niagara Falls.
Our regret is that we could only stay one night there and a short one for that, as we had to set off at 7am for grand canyon the next day. If I am given the chance to change our itinerary, maybe we would have missed going to LA altogether.
There would be no argument for which why Grand Canyon is recognized as one of the 7 wonders of the world. It took a gruesome 5 hours to drive there, passing over 3 different terrains along the way, the desert, the savanna areas and the green hilly regions. But as we set our eyes upon the place, all our fatigue just melted away. The scene was just so breathtaking. The canyon looks different at every angle and nothing can certainly battle this piece of natural avante garde in front of us. We could only spend hour there but it would take a lifetime to forget the wonderful sight of Grand Canyon.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Own something from Coach! You can afford it now =)
Getting a present for yourself or your friend? Get Coach!
NWT Black Coach Signature stripe wristlet going for only S$80!
NWT Brown Coach Mini Skinny going for only S$65!
NWT Brown Coach Signature Stripe Skinny going for only S$70!
Email me at shopaholic@singapore.com
Interested buyers only.
Payment through atm or internet banking
Thank you!
Can't believe I stayed home on a long weekend
Gosh... Can't believe I stayed home for 2 days, another weekend of the precious 50 weekends I have here. Which means I wasted 2% of my time in USA. Hahah maybe wasted is a strong word... At least I saved money from travelling, $200 if I went to Orlando/ Chicago, $100 if I went to Cape May. And I vacuumed and mopped my apartment's filthy floor. Yea and blogged twice in a week (which is so rare), blogged on my business website, sent out the mass mailers to customers, updated the sprees, tidied up the documents for my business, shopped online!
Planned to go Cape May with my friends on Sat and Sun but Friday night I went to bed in a ruined mood as my eyelid was swollen again. Woke up with cold the next morning so I basically slept all the way till 10am. Woke up when hunger struck me but soon went back to slumber at noon... Could hardly do much yesterday but to plan for the Las vegas trip and cook dinner. Fried rice again =(
Yup and as I wrote earlier, I went to Woodbury and burnt my pockets on Friday so at least I went somewhere. Trying to sound optimistic here...
Today was much more productive as I woke up hungry at 7am. Settled breakfast and some business stuff before hitting the gym. I'm so going to miss the Upenn gym come Aug 31 as my membership would expire. Really like the facilities there, the towel service and the proximity of the gym to home. I'm going to the gym everyday till Fri, when I'm heading off to NY to meet Huiling and Gwen. We're going to Niagara falls together! Hope I can borrow Amin's camera so that i can capture that gorgeous maid of the mists... They then return to Philly with me on Sunday but Huiling is flying back to San Francisco again on Mon. Gwen gonna stay here till Wed before we head off to Las Vegas! West Coast, here we come =)
Planned to go Cape May with my friends on Sat and Sun but Friday night I went to bed in a ruined mood as my eyelid was swollen again. Woke up with cold the next morning so I basically slept all the way till 10am. Woke up when hunger struck me but soon went back to slumber at noon... Could hardly do much yesterday but to plan for the Las vegas trip and cook dinner. Fried rice again =(
Yup and as I wrote earlier, I went to Woodbury and burnt my pockets on Friday so at least I went somewhere. Trying to sound optimistic here...
Today was much more productive as I woke up hungry at 7am. Settled breakfast and some business stuff before hitting the gym. I'm so going to miss the Upenn gym come Aug 31 as my membership would expire. Really like the facilities there, the towel service and the proximity of the gym to home. I'm going to the gym everyday till Fri, when I'm heading off to NY to meet Huiling and Gwen. We're going to Niagara falls together! Hope I can borrow Amin's camera so that i can capture that gorgeous maid of the mists... They then return to Philly with me on Sunday but Huiling is flying back to San Francisco again on Mon. Gwen gonna stay here till Wed before we head off to Las Vegas! West Coast, here we come =)
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