In January 2010 he relocated to Singapore, becoming the first AWS Technology Evangelist for the APAC region. In 2010 he received the “2010 Cloud Evangelist of the Year” award.

Live blog:

Organised by The Digital Movement, BeerOut is meant to be a casual digital/tech conversation over beers.

Date: Thursday, 29th October 2009
Time: 6.30pm onwards
Venue: Loof

RSVP here.

Our friends at Tech65 start their weekly podcast on the following issues that dominated the tech landscape last week: [1] TDM’s Event Blogout 2009 (a) Sweetcron and (b) Register for Blogout here, [2] Nokia Launches Comes with Music service in Singapore, [3] Nokia launches the 5800 Express Music phone in Singapore, [4] How cellphone work and finally, the Byte of the Week : Rockbox. Do click and check out their podcast.

From the Digital Movement: If you think the last 10 years of Google was revolutionary, you’ll absolutely love this! Here’s your chance to pick the brains of the world’s top researchers as they explore the cutting edge in video and image search technology. The Digital Movement (TDM) and The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) invites you to join us for a global technology event at the brand new science and technology hub, Fusionopolis. Do sign up for the event.

On the evening of 22 October 2008, TDM & A*STAR will be hosting an exclusive experts forum with the finalists of A*STAR’s global multimedia search technology competition, The Star Challenge 2008, who will be in Singapore to compete in the grand finals.

Hot off the press from A*STAR, the five finalists (in alphabetical order) are teams:

1. LIG from Laboratoire d’Informatique de Grenoble, France
2. LMS CTS from National University of Singapore
3. NII-KAORI from National Institute of Informatics, Japan
4. SHRC from China (includes members from Peking University)
5. UIUC-YX from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC)

Join us for an exciting evening of discussion and demonstrations with the world’s visionaries in multimedia search. Admission to the event is FREE so bring your friends along for a brilliant time! A networking session with free food and beverage will be made available after the event.

Event Details:
Date: 6:30pm, Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Venue: Level 13, 1 Fusionopolis Way, Singapore 138632

Seats are limited to so sign-up today!
For inquiries please contact TDM at audience@thedigitalmovement.org

A few days back, Gwen and Weichang notified me that our blog is finally reaching our third birthday and our official birthday is 18 July (the day which we registered the domain). Hence it is that time of the year to have the third state of our blog. Believe it or not, our blog has already made it to the third year and we are still growing. Instead of really talking about things which we did this year or not, I like to use this third state of the blog to open up how SGE has maintained its position over the years with her partners, and the many more things which we hope to do within the two years or more.

In the last year, SGE has more or less transitioned from a start-up blog to a normal group blog that services the community. We have streamlined our focus towards the technology entrepreneurship and remains committed to market the events organized by different communities, from our partners: E27 (Garag3), The Digital Movement, Singapore PHP User Group (which will transition to an official society soon), and many others that helped to service Singapore like the Start-Up@Singapore competition. With the rising tides of social media, we are beginning to bring Tech65, the Geek Goddess Show and E-Conversations to bring the elements of audio and video which gives a different feel for our audience. Our Facebook group has already surpassed the other groups on user numbers now at 1000+, and we have passed a quarter of a million unique visitors and half a million page views over the course of the year. We do hope that we will hit the tipping point sometime in the future and reach a million unique visitors within the next two years. Yes, we have made an April Fool’s day joke out of TechCrunch and organized an event with one of TechCrunch editors last month too.

Yet, deep in our hearts, we still think that we are far away from where we really want to go. Let me tell you a few things that people have often asked during community meetings. Why do SGE not have their own events? The answer is that most entrepreneurs (including ourselves) have too much things to do, and we thought that it is better that we can help with the content and bring the awareness of events online organized by our partners. After all, if we are not good as practitioners, then what we say on this site would not be so credible. Speaking of which, one of the co-founders Weichang was recently featured in Zaobao for graduating with his honours in physics, overcoming his cancer illness and have started three businesses successfully on his own.

We consolidated our core competency that we are committed to content and not the rest. We have started publishing press releases for innovative tech companies and venture capital because we are filling a gap that traditional media (like Business Times) do not want to go. We are not against simple businesses by removing their comments because they are often spamming the blog with their advertisements. Sincerely, we want this to be a forum to discuss business issues and not an advertising platform. Other than committed to quality of content, we also want to ensure that the quality of comments and the way how the rest of community view the blog: credible and professional. We believe that this strategic focus is right, otherwise, the government bodies (ACE, SPRING) will not have added us to their resources links. That’s what separates us from the “me-too” sites who failed to replicate what we do.

We don’t want to rest on our laurels and continue to believe in a win-win approach. We work with our partners and groups in Singapore, particularly in helping people to be aware of events and bringing together mainly on the entrepreneurship in the tech sector and service those who happens to be in the niche business of entrepreneurship.

When we first started, no one believed that a business blog like this can create impact and value for the community. In fact, I was ridiculed by some in NUS and government officials that starting a blog like this is the dumbest idea possible. Today, we see people like Prof Wong Poh Kam, director of NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, have followed our lead to start blogging about issues in entrepreneurship and the government websites have acknowledged our presence here.

That is what entrepreneurship is all about: the determination and passion to start something against what others think and in the process convince the detractors that your ideas are correct. So, we have succeeded in a way as a small enterprise (thankfully to a group of contributors and partners who some of them have made it on their own as entrepreneurs) and remained the pioneers of the journey even if the rest who followed after do not acknowledge what we have done.

So what will we like to see in the next two years? In fact, we do have some thoughts and ideas about how we should move forward.

• - A new theme design for the site: Yes, we know that our present theme has been stuck here for almost one year two months. We like to have more features for the site to allow more interaction among readers.
• - Working with groups beyond the shores of Singapore: In fact, we are slowly reaching out to the other Asian countries around us, particularly our neighbour across the causeway. So, watch this space.
• - More content on how to start a business: We really hope to have professionals and practitioners writing for us and see the need to help young entrepreneurs to grow. We have seen all the nominees for Asian young entrepreneurs in Business Week all have done their interviews in SGE, and we hope to see more out there.
• - A possible gathering?: Actually, the founders (Gwen, Weichang and I) hope that we can amass the resources someday to hire an event management group to do an event someday. We thought about it but we usually end up not moving forward because maintenance work for the site is too much to do. In case you do not know, Weichang has spent time to do the backend maintenance like upgrading the site and ensure that our bills to the hosting server are paid while Gwen is busy with her editorial work behind the scenes.

Personally for me, I hope to pass to on the baton of my current role within the next two years and be a chief evangelist for the site, where new people can come and move this blog or site to the next frontier.

We thank all our friends and partners, and many out there for their growing support to our site, and we wish everyone well. As entrepreneurs, we want to remain optimistic and hope that something will grow in the future here in this little red dot.

Yours sincerely,
BL
on behalf of the founders of SG Entrepreneurs

Editor’s Note: SG Entrepreneurs is happy and honoured to be part of this new Asia web initiative. Press Release: We are very excited to announce the OpenWeb.Asia Workgroup, the first workgroup in Asian Internet industry. OpenWeb.Asia Workgroup is a network of premium blogs focused on the Asian Web industry. These sites build efficient channels between Asia web and global industry, and also enhance the inter-communication of local Internet markets.

The web industry is changing. Web platforms is becoming more open and eventually we need open data. ‘Open’ is the hottest keyword and the trend of Internet market. Asia is the most wanted market in the world, but it seems still an isolated place lost in translation.

What people do know about Asia web? Baidu has been recognized as the leading Chinese search engine; Tencent has a massive user base; Mixi is the leading portal in Japan and the Japanese mobile market is very mature and special; Naver is the giant dominating Korean market and Cyworld is probably the only social network actively running out of Asia… What else? Internet is a global service, and is also a culture thing.

Due to the language barrier, many interesting stories have never been discovered by the global audience.

In Europe, there is LeWeb3 annual event for European bloggers and companies; globally, there are a number of conferences such as Web2.0 Expo, but there are only a few focused on Asian web companies. A startup in a European country may soon become a popular name in Euro, but in Asia, people rarely hear the news out of their neighbouring countries and region.

Asia needs to open-up. Asia needs more stages where the local web industry can represent themselves. Asia needs more channels that can help local market in each country and region communicate and cooperate.

The editors of member sites of OpenWeb.Asia workgroup are all working closely in the local web industry of different Asian countries and regions. Currently workgroup has members from China, Japan, Korea, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, HongKong and it is expected to expand to other countries/regions in Asia soon.

As a representative of Asia web, this workgroup will actively participate various global industry events and establish partnership with global Internet authorities.

With the aid of this workgroup, we hope that the latest industry information, concept and technology can be better translated and adapted to Asia and more local companies and activities can be recognized and heard by the global market.

Asia must be a more active member of the global Internet industry in near future. So what is the first big thing coming out of the workgroup? We are very happy to say that the plan for the first pan-Asia Web2.0 conference is to be announced. Many thanks to Chang of Web20Asia.com, he is leading the organizing team this year. Global and local market leaders, startups, venture capitals, local officials are all welcome to this conference to share the vision of the future of Asia web.

Let’s enjoy the Asia web!

The Digital Movement, together with Google and IDA, brings to you an exclusive evening with the VP of Engineering and Chief Internet Evangelist of Google, Vinton G. Cerf. Come down on the evening of 23 May 2008 to discover Vint’s perspective of the up and coming trends of the Internet and find out what great stuff he is doing in Google! Vint will be covering on the topic of “Tracking the Internet into the 21st Century” before engaging the audience in any discussion and questions that you might have!

As a “father of the Internet”, Vinton Cerf will share his perspective on the future trends of the Internet in the 21st century. The Internet has been constantly evolving and Web 2.0 has driven enormous changes in recent days. Along with the rapid economic development in Asia, the largest Internet user population is also found in this region. How will the Internet shift in the future, and how will our lifestyles change with the shift? Vint will share what it takes to meet a bright new future of the Internet.

• Date : 23rd May 2008 (Friday)
• Time : Registration starts at 6.30 pm
• Venue: Suntec Convention Centre Level 3 Room 325

Admission is free and light refreshments will be provided.

Please visit our website at www.thedigitalmovement.org or direct your browser to this URL to register here.

Biodata:

Vinton G. Cerf is vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google. He is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies and applications on the Internet and other platforms for the company.

Widely known as a “Father of the Internet,” Vint is the co-designer with Robert Kahn of TCP/IP protocols and basic architecture of the Internet. In 1997, President Clinton recognized their work with the U.S. National Medal of Technology. In 2005, Vint and Bob received the highest civilian honor bestowed in the U.S., the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It recognizes the fact that their work on the software code used to transmit data across the Internet has put them “at the forefront of a digital revolution that has transformed global commerce, communication, and entertainment.”

From 1994-2005, Vint served as Senior Vice President at MCI. Prior to that, he was Vice President of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), and from 1982-86 he served as Vice President of MCI. During his tenure with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from 1976-1982, Vint played a key role leading the development of Internet and Internet-related data packet and security technologies.

Since 2000, Vint has served as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and he has been a Visiting Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 1998. He served as founding president of the Internet Society (ISOC) from 1992-1995 and was on the ISOC board until 2000. Vint is a Fellow of the IEEE, ACM, AAAS, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Engineering Consortium, the Computer History Museum and the National Academy of Engineering.

Vint has received numerous awards and commendations in connection with his work on the Internet, including the Marconi Fellowship, Charles Stark Draper award of the National Academy of Engineering, the Prince of Asturias award for science and technology, the Alexander Graham Bell Award presented by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, the A.M. Turing Award from the Association for Computer Machinery, the Silver Medal of the International Telecommunications Union, and the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, among many others.

He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA and more than a dozen honorary degrees.

Here’s the flyer for the event: