2009 in 9 hours

Change.

The thing about being human is that this is the only constant. The question is, do you change for the better or change for the worse?

I've not drafted a 2009 resolution. I don't think I will. The things I need to change are right there on top of my head all the time. It's more about mustering the will to do it.

God give me grace.

I am not anti-social...

...but I do like being non-social every once in a while.

Well, I guess I owe everyone some kind of an explanation having dropped off the face of the planet for the past couple of weeks. The truth is, it's not that I've gotten struck down by some strange disease or crashed my car into the retaining wall of some hillside development in protest. No, the truth is I've been on a bit of a holiday.

And while I'm on holiday, I realised I don't feel half-initiated to spend time thinking of clever, slightly sarcastic things to say on my blog. Or on Twitter. Or by mass SMS spam.

That said, I'm back. And boy, do I feel out of touch. It's so bad that I have some bloggers updating me on the latest Nokia announcements instead of the other way around. (Truth is, I just let you guys feel I was out of touch... hehe. Right...)

So give me sometime and I'll get right back into the game, okay?

In the meantime, here's photographic evidence of skills you never knew I had that emerged during Christmas. Amazed? Yeah, so was I.

Blessed belated Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

PS. If you sent me a Christmas greeting and I did not reply, I'm so sorry. Christmas is the busiest period of the year for me, and I'd like to take this time to wish you back - a blessed belated Christmas. Give me a call and I'll sing some carols to you over the phone to make it up.

The new equation

Holidays + Blog = Zero posts.

Seriously, "more" time doesnt' really equate more time to blog. Instead, I find myself wanting to stay away from the computer.

And who said my generation was born with keyboards stuck to our fingers?

Want to buy my 'used' MP3s?

You don't know it yet, but here's a possible game-changing story you should read.

Years ago, I remember following a friend into a local used CD store. I remember looking carefully to see if the CDs had any fine scratches or little chips. I made sure I would only choose those CDs that had album covers and inserts intact and in good condition.

Now I'm wondering how closely people will look at my used MP3s when I decide to sell them. Or can I even (legally)? I mean, if you can sell a book or a CD second-hand, you can sell an MP3 right?

More than turning a profit, I think this is really what Bopaboo is trying to explore. "Let's push the law and see how far we'll go" seems to be the mentality.

And I'm all for it. I mean, eventually "digital property" will need to be defined, and right of first-sale is one of those issues that's getting fuzzier with every MP3 track released. So while I'm probably not going to count thru my MP3 collection and put them up for sale at Bopaboo, I'll be watching closely for the (non) action in court to see how this case pans out.

The thing about mashups and UGC

A while back, in the marketing world, UGC (user generated content) was the catchword. Every other marketing campaign had "UGC this" and "UGC that". I didn't get the big deal about this, until now.

It's really fun! For context, check out Eevon's blog here.

You are your DNS

A story on Jon Udell's blog interested me a couple weeks back. It was about the concept of having your personal information stored on DNS (Domain Name System - e.g. "google.com")

The base idea is that your DNS like "davidlian.com" for example, can be the repository for your contact information. So, instead of dialing my mobile number, you can input "davidlian.com" and press call.

This doesn't change your contact information. My mobile number is still my mobile number. My email is still my email. But the DNS centralises all these pieces of contact information.

Taking this a step further, what I'd like to see is context aware applications and data-entry fields that can detect what you're trying to do. So if I key in "davidlian.com" on my mobile number, it will dial me on my mobile. If I key in "davidlian.com" in an email field, it will send me an email. If I enter "davidlian.com" on my web browser, it brings me to my webpage.

So to get in touch with me, all you'd have to do is remember "davidlian.com".

Of course, as simple and intuitive as it sounds, I think there will be challenges to privacy and security. Arguably, you can already find almost anyone connected to the internet via Google or Yahoo; but the ease of just entering someone's DNS and instantly reaching them reveals a whole new level of privacy and security concerns.

Still, I like the sound of this concept and I think if worked on, it could well be something for the future.

Nokia Insider, take a bow

W00t?

Yesterday night was pretty awesome right up to the point where the Emcee started announcing the Technology Campaign finalists. Then the butterflies started fluttering. I thought I'd had a premonition that we didn't win. The night became good again in about 5 minutes.

The purpose of this post? Nokia Insider was actually about more people than the two who went up on stage. I'd prepared some key talking points (secretly, in my N96) but tradition dictated we didn't do an acceptance speech. So let me do this here:

To the client, Hazel - Thanks for your support and more importantly trusting us to run a campaign like this. Like many things done the first time, not many clients would have been willing to take the risk, but Nokia did and we're glad for it. More to come next year, for sure. A shout out to Joanne here too for all the support she's given (you know what that is).

To the Insiders - Suanie, KY, ST, Kim, Smashpop, Paul, Erna, FriedBeef, Su Ann, Goldfries - thanks for the kind words. I hope the programmes worked as well as we set out to do and that you've gained as much as we have from your honest feedback and great enthusiasm. It's what's made this programme a success.

Of course, to the rest of the blogosphere - you know who you are and we hope you've enjoyed participating in the stuff we've done.

Finally, to my colleagues at Text 100 Malaysia - Vicky, Eevon and Libby - wait till Christmas for a surprise!

Fa la la la la, la la la la!

PS. I also wanted to tip a hat at those guys from Fleishman-Hillard sitting across the room. :) Okaylah, not "those guys", but ex-colleagues okay? Great work and kudos on your TWO wins! Nico especially, you should be super proud!

First Christmas Present

Woohoo! Yay! Errr... 

Hey! I'm not a coffee-addict anymore. Just 2 cups a day now (most days) and only five cups if I really, really need to stay perky.

Anyway, thanks guys ( this means Vicky, Libby and Eevon - who blogs here and is really funny). The time and effort spent making this Christmas present very personalised means a lot!

Everytime Christmas comes around...

I'm reminded of this song...

Bill Nighy cracks me time everytime. Haha!

[Edit: Replaced the original raunchy version with something safer for the kids who read my blog :)]

So I had to blog about the Nokia N97...

This may not be the most un-biased opinion ever, but can I just say this is the mobile device I am most looking forward to in 2009? As always, disclosure: I do PR work for Nokia but nothing I post on this is related to work. Just personal opinions.

Specs are, officially, 

• 3.5 inch nHD screen]
  
• 32GB internal memory, expandable to 48 GB
• Touch Screen, with Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• 5 Megapixel Carl Zeiss camera
• 3.5G, HSPA, EDGE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios
• Built in GPS and accelerometer
• N-Gage compatible

What I think was more important was the interface design and functionality of the device. The ability to add feeds and widgets is not something totally new (yes, I've seen it on those Windows Mobile devices) but the functionality seems design of the interface seems much more integrated. Still, the best of the Nokia N97 only comes out when the device is connected to the internet all the time. I see Malaysians getting there (using internet on their mobiles) but I don't think 2009 is the break through year.

So, what do you think?

Links to friends who had thoughts:

RovinGeek