Event Details

When: Monday, 13th February 2012
Time: 830am-1230pm
Where: Mapletree Business City, Mezzanine Floor, Seminar Room, 20 Pasir Panjang Road, Singapore 117439 (Map)
For more infomation, send an email to ida_ind_dev@ida.gov.sg.

Buildings that are connected to the network includes: Suntec Office Towers, HarbourFront Centre, Shaw House and Shaw Centre. The announcement was made by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) in a press release issued last week.

This initiative could eventually be a boon to tech startups, serving as a catalyst for research and development as well as innovation in the interactive digital media and creative industries.

To help occupants and the public identify which commercial buildings are connected to the Next Gen NBN, IDA will roll out the Fibre Ready! Mark for non-residential buildings.

Said IDA’s CEO Ronnie Tay: “Today, we have 12 service providers offering more than 40 fibre connection packages to cater for both residential and enterprise needs. However, not all enterprises are aware if their premises are fibre ready. With the Fibre Ready! Mark for buildings which have been connected to the Next Gen NBN, enterprises located in those buildings can be kept informed and therefore prepare their premises to be powered by Next Gen NBN.”

Residents too have been signing up for the program. IDA hopes that by mid-2012, 95 percent of homes and offices would be connected to the network.

Has your company been help or hindered in some way by the Next Gen NBN? Share your story with us!

All participants need to do is upload a one minute video on YouTube that “showcases the importance of technology” in their lives.

They should then submit a form to tell IDA about the video. 70 percent of the score will be determined by the judges, while the remaining 30 percent will depend on audience votes.

Only full-time students in Singapore may apply. The contest is open to Singapore citizens, Permanent Residents, or foreigners who are attending a school in the country for at least six months with a valid Student Visa.

The deadline for submission is 16th January, 2012. The second place winner will get a Sony camcorder and S$1,000 cash prize, while the third place participant will walk away with an Apple iPad and S$500 cash.

Event Details

When: Thursday, 10th November 2011
Time: 10am-2pm
Where: Blk 71, 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent #02-18, Singapore (Map)
RSVP by sending an email with details of Company Name, Contact, Email, Business Activity (product/service) – summarized in a paragraph, Remarks/Specify interest in meeting with any company (if applicable), to harville_tan@ida.gov.sg.

It comes in the form of tax deductions of up to 400 percent on up to S$400,000 (US$316,000) of qualifying expenditure incurred per year on each of six qualifying activities, which are:

• Acquisition or leasing of automation equipment;
• Training of employees;
• Acquisition of Intellectual Property Rights;
• Registration of patents, trademarks, designs and plant varieties;
• Research and development activities; and
• Investment in approved design projects.

Cloud computing was only recently included under the Productivity and Innovation Credit Scheme, which aims to help businesses improve productivity through automation. All businesses that have incurred expenditure in the six areas can apply for tax deductions.

Certainly, this is also good news for cloud computing service providers, as companies would now be incentivized to adopt their services.

NFC could soon replace your wallet. Photo: Tom Purves

Singapore may become one of the first nations in the world to see widespread adoption of near-field communication as a payment mode, if this report by Channel NewsAsia is accurate.

Up to 20,000 retail points and taxis may be NFC-enabled by middle of 2012, the result of a S$40 million (US$31 million) investment by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and seven other companies.

They are: Mobile operators M1, SingTel and StarHub, payment service providers Citibank, DBS and EZ-Link, as well as Gemalto, a digital security company.

NFC is a technology that functions like Bluetooth, except that it works almost instantaneously and does not require one device to be ‘linked’ to another.

By tapping an NFC-enabled phone with another similar phone or an NFC tag, which can be embedded into outdoor advertising and other media, users can send or receive content, play multiplayer games, exchange namecards, or pay for items.

IDA is still looking for more partners to come on board.

Merchants who are already accepting contactless payment cards from MasterCard, Visa, or CEPAS will be able to use the new technology.

Eager early adopters who want to try out the technology will need an NFC-enabled phone. Otherwise, they would need to install a bridging device. The iPhone4 and iPhone4S, which is the most popular smartphone in Singapore, has no NFC capability.

In the US, trail runs are already underway by Google Wallet to enable NFC payments.

So far, the technology, which has been around since 2004, has seen a rather slow adoption rate, mainly due to the infrastructure needed as well as buy-in from a large number of partners.

Nonetheless, all the crucial players are pretty much on board (except Apple), and all the technology needs to take off is mass adoption.

Personally, I’m pretty stoked that EZ-Link is involved — which means I may be able to take the train using just my mobile phone. I hope banks like OCBC would sign up as well, and also companies like Google Wallet, Visa, and PayPal.

Depending on how this trial goes, the next phone I purchase might just be an NFC-enabled Android phone.

More on NFC:

Near field communication support for Google+ mobile app
Sony Ericsson jumps onto NFC bandwagon
Swiff lets merchants accept credit card payments using their mobile phones

Interested entrepreneurs must submit an executive summary by 30th September, 2011. There will also be an industry briefing on 1st September, 2011. The summary should cover the initiative’s eligibility and evaluation criteria (more details on how to apply here). The first call was issued in December 2010.

This funding program is part of IDA’s iSTART initiative, which aims to nurture startups in Singapore with a multi-pronged approach: Increase business viability and growth in overseas markets, enhance entrepreneurial capabilities and train developers.

In 2010 and early 2011, iSTART organized two trips for Singapore startups to visit Silicon Valley where they received mentoring, pitched their ideas, and attended events (see story).

Besides Infocomm Investments, which is the VC arm of the Singapore government’s Infocomm Development Authority, other investors include the London-based Atomico, which is the VC firm of Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström (read SGE’s article about him), American “super angel” Ron Conway, and the Founder’s Fund, which was started by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.

Endeavour Vision, a VC firm based in Switzerland, and founding investor Charles Lho of Korea also participated in this round of funding.

Quid collects data from the global technology sector, then organizes and visualizes them into information that is actionable. Decision makers can use the software to discover opportunities, derive investment strategies, and identify standout companies. Microsoft is one of Quid’s clients.

The Challenge, which aimed to get participants trained in mobile app development, also encouraged them to make use of some 5,000 datasets from 50 local government ministries and agencies, all available for developers on data.gov.sg.

Available datasets can range from information on the financial, physical, and social health from 4,591 senior citizens to the breakdown of new flats sold by flat type.

ShowNearby, a location-based services search app, won first place for the company category with their use of location data on services and amenities. Also, Parks “Live” @ SG, which allows users to explore Pasir Ris Park using augmented reality, secured top spot for the individual category.

With the theme “Bridging People and Technology with Design”, the Rainmakers put Fox onstage together with four other Silicon Valley-based designers and/or start-up founders; Luke Wroblewski of Bagcheck, Jason Putorti of Votizen, Garry Tan of Posterous and Y Combinator, and Jessica Mah of inDinero.

Three hundred participants made up of design and product enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and students based in Silicon Valley attended the event held at the AOL Auditorium on Jun 20, 2011.

Panellists (from left): Garry Tan, Kevin Fox, Luke Wroblewski, Jason Putorti and Jessica Mah

Audience. Photo Credits: Quek Siu Rui

We bring you the key takeaways of the panel discussion:

Q1. What does design mean to you?

Jessica Mah: Helping solve problems for users. In the case of InDinero, design is about helping business owners track their money online. It does not matter how something looks visually, but more of the user interaction.
Jason Putorti: Design is a process. In design, we work to find the intersection between user needs and business needs.
Luke Wroblewski: It depends on whom you ask the question to. To me, design is all encompassing.
Kevin Fox: Design can be anything. But it has to be functional, appealing and gratifying. It is important to give joy to the users.
Garry Tan: Good design is making something that people want.

Q2: What is your top principle in web design?

Jessica Mah: Test your design out with people. Go through your mock-ups with people.
Jason Putorti: I come from an advertising agency background. To me, user comprehension is very important. What is the most important thing in the page for the user?
Garry Tan: People do not get copy correctly. As a result, users get lost. This is a big problem. Designers should think about how they are communicating to one single person, what is in their mind, and what needs to be done to make the person do what they intend.
Luke Wroblewski: This is a big question. To me, the number one principle is “Do no harm.” Do not communicate the wrong thing and waste the users’ time. Today, time is the most precious thing. Wasted times means doing harm.
Kevin Fox: Design should make something very easy to understand yet seemingly invisible. Design is creating things to make things more productive.

Q3: Is there a shortage of designers in Silicon Valley? If there is, what can be done?

Jason Putorti: The stereotype of a designer in Silicon Valley is someone who has done “XYZ”, has “N” years of experience and maybe lives in San Francisco. The point is, most of them are happy. It is tough to move these guys unless they are inspired. However, most people (founders) do not have things that are really inspiring. Great designers want to work on something inspiring; something that is going to create social impact and change the world.

Founders have to think bigger and have an inspiring vision. This way, he/she can attract people to solve the big problem.

Secondly, consider thinking outside of the box. Look further out. For example, I have worked with designers from Sweden.

Jessica Mah: There is a massive reliance on design help. For example, think of a businessperson trying to recruit an engineer. This is like a start-up founder trying to recruit a designer but do not know how to design.

Kevin Fox: Designing is like cooking. Anyone can cook. There are recipes to follow for baseline design. But they are recipes. Imagine yourself as a chef. You have the recipe, but you start to play with the recipe, create your own techniques, explore what works and does not work. What are the patterns? How do people think? How to make new things that people like? This is the path for people to become designers.

Luke Wroblewski: When start-up founders say they are looking for a designer, they are not looking for a designer. For example, when I hear people saying “I need someone to create killer user experience”, it is too late. You already made the product. You already designed it. You already created the user experience. The sheer fact that you got that far means it is too late.

When people say that they want a designer, the designer has to take the technology and make it meaningful for people. The question in designing is what is the core essence of the product?

Many people have the misconception of the word “design”. People think it is making a product fanciful, when design is the core of the product.

Also, people tend to separate product from user experience. Fundamentally, product is the user experience.

Q4. For a coder who would like to learn design, what skills should I pick up? Which component (e.g. Typography, Copy) is the most important?

Kevin Fox: Get to the core. Components such as typography and copy are the makeup.

Luke Wroblewski: There is no need to take a class. Just put things out there, see how people use it and then iterate and move on.

Also, remember that engineering is crucial. There is no design without building something on the web. It is about collaboration – I learnt most about design from my engineering co-founder. He sees the system. He tells me what can be done and cannot be done.

Jason Putorti: Focus on interaction design and usability – everything comes in later.

Rainmakers LIVE! 2011 was organised by Julian Koo, Amanda Lim, Tay Kah Hong, Lucas Ngoo and Ang Sea Law together with NUS Entrepreneurs’ Association (NUSEA). NUSEA consists of participants of the one-year NOC in Silicon Valley programme, where participants take classes at Stanford University while working full-time in a Silicon Valley start-up.

Rainmakers was the name used by Gwendolyn Regina Tan (editor’s note: yes, the Gwen from SGE) when she produced the first NUSEA newsletter back in 2005. Later on, Rainmakers LIVE! the conference was conceptualised and organised by Gwen and the rest of the NUSEA executive committee then. Her Silicon Valley juniors have since then continued to carry on the legacy of the brand.

During the mixer, attendees got to enjoy the food catered by Coho and were invited to leave their feedback on Surveylicious a mobile survey platform. Surveylicious made giving feedback easy and fun amidst the bustling networking taking place at the lobby of AOL.

The Rainmakers LIVE! event is sponsored by Infocomms Development Authority of Singapore. AOL is the venue sponsor.

This article was contributed by Ridza Salim and the Surveylicious team. Surveylicious is a location-based mobile and web platform that enables businesses to collect constructive feedbacks from their customers in real-time. Surveylicious is also the winner of Stanford’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp pitching competition 2011 sponsored by Sequoia Capital.