Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts

12.10.2009

Christmasly presence @ Cellcity

Had a little fun today putting up some deco around the office with Patty!

From the big Cellcity logo at the entrance...


To a ding dong bell at our desks...


Lots have changed over the past year, we worked on tight budgets and we watched our products developed into something better.

Sometimes I wonder why we continue to stay on during the down turns. I had trouble but I had fun too. :) Just hoping for a better outcome I guess?

May we all have a great Christmas.



8.12.2009

Widget development @ Cellcity

Can't remember when I last blogged about work. Since the very beginning, I have moved from gathering data for website content, to managing part-timers for that same purpose, to creating and managing a presence on Twitter for website content promotion. Plus some other duties on and off, like sending out eDMs and updating the coupons on our website. Now, I'm on widgets testing!

Our current main product line is a series of GO widgets (mobile applications), breaking our original DC2Go content into GO EAT, GO PARTY, GO SHOP, and GO EXPLORE. Primary features include browsing and searching for merchants, check out driving directions using GPS, click-to-call for reservations, and share the info with friends via SMS or email.

The Marketing team has been assigned to QA the end products before they finally get published online across various app stores. Recently, we've just approved our first batch of GO EAT widgets for Nokia's S60 5th Edition family. Hopefully they will be up on the Ovi Store shortly. (Nokia still has to test and approve..)

We already have two free apps on the Ovi Store. :)
1) Buses@ Sg A Singapore bus guide lets you know which bus to take and when it will arrive.
2) Check Flights Suitable for any traveler, live updates on flight schedules.

We also worked with DBS Bank in Singapore to put together a free DBS Indulge mobile app! (If you are familiar with DBS promos, DBS Indulge has been ongoing providing DBS debit/credit card holders exclusive dining discounts..) This app is also on the Ovi Store and linked from the popular Hungrygowhere.com DBS Indulge Foodster page.

Couple weeks ago, I also attended, as from a mobile developer perspective, MDA's FutureMobile initiative launch event, where partnering networks (Nokia, Singtel, Microsoft etc.) put together a presentation & demo session to call for talented mobile content and application proposals in mobi lifestyle, games, and healthcare. The objective is to build Singapore into a mobile publishing hub.

Zingmobile caught my attention in particular - they have signed rights to the Jay Chou IP!!! :D So want to see what Jay Chou apps or mobi content people would come up with. I can't decide what I would do either, perhaps I should start my own list. hehe

That's all for now. Hope to bring more status updates on our mobile apps development soon. :p

6.11.2009

@ IMU, June 15-22

Now that the ad:tech show is over, I've got something even more exciting in store for me, starting next week. :)


I can't believe it. This is like the ultimate opportunity I can get to learn all about this whole online marketing thing at once. & it's FREE! The best thing about online courses is how everything can be archived. Makes it very convenient for people from different countries and time zones to participate. Students and professors can come together to form "study groups" on the forums and even use Twitter during class time to live-stream their questions, answers and ideas using the hashtag #IMU.

Have very high expectations for this program. A great training experience, and a chance to "interact" with industry experts like Chris Brogan. Also has a certification exam which adds immense value to this program.

Class schedule online.

Will blog more about the process when the courses start.

@ ad:tech singapore, june 9-10

update:

The ad:tech Singapore ended after two days of keynotes, panels, and workshops, touching on the hottest trending topic in the digital marketing world. There were a number of interesting topics I wanted to join in, but unfortunately, it's still a normal work day for me and I only hold a free visitor pass, so I'm usually out after the first keynote presentation of the day. :\

Don't know what the ad:tech show is? Visit www.adtech.com.

My experience

Considerably my first "official" attendence at a conference, which I went in Cellcity's name but didn't have any name cards to exchange! ><; Yes, so the one thing that I failed most at this show is networking. & What a great opportunity to meet lots of people with the same passion! Definitely need to get my cards made for the next show.

* Many of the tweeps I was following were there too, like @claudia10 and @belindaang, but didn't find a chance to say hi. :\

Part of the reason was probably because my attendence was a "last-minute" thing. I only learned about the show a week ago. It was much related to the online/social media direction that Cellcity is going into, so there wasn't much of an "agenda," just listening in to see what can be learned. I took more of a personal interest attitude to the show, but it did help me to rethink certain issues of Twitter and of social media/mobile marketing in general.

The two keynotes I attended were:
  • Digital Consumers & Interactive Marketing in Asia Pacific - The State Of Play by Steven Noble, senior analyst at Forrester Research (jun 2)
  • The Power of Digital Branding through the Lens of the Obama Campaign by Scott Goodstein, external online director for Barrack Obama's presidential campaign (jun 3)
My thoughts

Digital Consumers & Interactive Marketing in Asia Pacific - The State Of Play
As the opening keynote of the show, I was a little disappointed with the quality of the presentation, to be honest. While it might have been a good statistical introduction to businesses outside of this trade, I think the insiders would expect a little more insight on the future trending of digital marketing. Steven also appeared to have a specific focus on China and Australia, rather than Asia Pacific in broad, throughout his speech. Perhaps a quick comparison with the trends in North America or the Europe might be an interesting addition to the presentation? Or so I thought..

Still, there were some interesting numbers and consumer profiles to share. And the discussion session (interview + q&a) was a lot more exciting - specifically on the use of social media and mobile marketing! I always enjoyed Don Knox's (VP of ad:tech Global) interview sessions, where he posed key hot questions displaying his clear understanding of the audience and the objectives of the show.

You can download Steven's presentation here.

The Power of Digital Branding through the Lens of the Obama Campaign
I'm sure you've heard a lot of talking about the success Obama Campaign by leveraging the online media, social networks in particular. Much expectations were generated around this talk, and I thought the outcome was a satisfiable one. Scott talked about various key factors in engaging social media and mobile in campaigns, the evolution of online marketing and where it's headed to, using his experience in the Obama Campaign as core case study. In the q&a, he also gave strong advice to young businesses who were still rather new in social media marketing. My favorite word from Scott - tastemakers.

Read about @bleongcw's interview with Scott here.

There was another small talk by the Global CEO of Acronym Media (one of the sponsors) - Anton Konikoff. Real straight to the point, Anton gave his audience compact but valuable and insightful overview of the search marketing revolution(-ing) and the impact of social media, based off their Global KDM (keyword-driven marketing) Officer's - Mike Grehan - new whitepaper New Signals to Search Engines.

The whitepaper is available for download here.

Twitter intervention
Now here is a real-time great example of the power of Twitter and microblogging. The best of ad:tech Singapore were live on Twitter! All thanks to @claudia10, @uniquefrequency, @summerisque, @danielgoh, @youareonvisual, and @armchairdude for filling me up on the discussions I missed out on. :)

You can still read the old tweets on #adtechasia. Other great tools life streaming are TweetGrid and twazzup. Try them out the next time!

4.22.2009

Start Go Green on Earth Day

For Earth, every day is Earth Day.


Hit on Google's homepage today and thought "Ooh what's the special occasion today?" It's Earth Day! So I started to tweet a bit about Earth Day. Found some go green/eco websites and tips. Followed few new "green" tweeples. And sad to realize, Singapore is still a quiet city in this aspect.

Some Singaporeans simply do not possess the mindset to go green. And this is reinforced by @AngMoGirl's experience today where she witnessed rejection when a lady asked to have her lunch packed in her own to-go (takeaway) box. Kudos to the lady who brought her own lunch box! Been away from Singapore for few years, I really thought the BYOBD (Bring Your Own Bag Day) was a good change and a good start. I do see shoppers who bring their own shopping bags to NTUC, but seriously not many. And I could imagine a group of those who did not bring their own bags whine about the 10cents they are "forced" to pay for each plastic bags. And reading @AngryAngMo's blog, "Anti-Bring Your Own Bag Day" as one of the top 10 worst consumer behaviors is just not surprising after all.

I don't know what are the best ways to promote green living. It's really up to the person whether they want to do things the better way. But I thought it's not a bad idea to sell money-saving together with energy-saving or the 3Rs - reducing, reusing, and recycling. Especially in Singapore, where I believe most people are more money-minded than eco-minded. I recall receiving a handy booklet in my mailbox couple months back. The booklet contained many tips and guidelines to everyday live, such as save money, look for jobs etc (basically the govt's effort to help its people ease off recession). One of the tips is on air-conditioners: Set temp to 25° for optimal usage and save $X/month (I need to check on the actual number) for every degree you increase! Budgets are tight these days, so these are great tips to follow and really save on money. What's more, it saves energy at the same time!

I think companies should also encourage eco-living in their workplaces. If it's made a "rule" in office, maybe people will start taking similar measures when they are at home (vice versa). There is a corner in my office right by the door, like a small waiting/reception area, whereby most of the time it's empty. But we never fail to switch on the lights in that corner. Whenever I'm the first few to reach the office, I would deliberately leave those lights out. But strangely the next person who comes in will switch it on. I still don't know why, perhaps to light up our big logo hanging by that wall? And I just saw lights in the conference room were left on for the morning. (Sue beat me to switching them off tho :p)

Eco-living is actually beneficial both ways. Helps the Earth, and helps us save some bucks. So why not do it everyday? For one, I reuse plastic bottles that I fill up with water at work. Use the back side of unwanted printed paper for notes. Even in the toilets, I always see the rubbish bin overflowing with crumpled paper towels at the end of the day. Paper towels literally used up every day before 5pm. It's there for our convenience, but we shouldn't abuse it. Dried your hands with a paper towel? Why not bring it back to your office to wipe your desk? Or tear a piece into two so you can save the other half for later. It's all so easy to do, we just need to put our mind at it!

Useful links:
P.S. Blizzard should implement an Earth Day festival in-game. :)

12.21.2008

name card design 101

Earlier this week, I have scanned over 480 business cards and more than 200 businesses in one and a half day. Quite an accomplishment I would say, considering how much errors the card scanner made. So essentially, I am looking at 960 profiles: 480 during the scan, and 480 during the check. :p

The scanning was not the most boring part (the editing was) because I got to enjoy the 200+ different designs. Some which I liked. Editing was the killer. Can't really put the blame on the card scanner, it's just that most business cards are just not electronic-friendly enough!

These are a few card designs that I picked out, for various reasons:

  • ueeeu. I just thought it had the strangest company name. How do you even pronounce it!? For such a cute name, I would expect its card design to be more creative than conventional as it is now

  • wilsin. Roughly 6cm on its sides, a diamond shaped business card. Quite unique, but card scanners are not smart enough to detect rotated text. You will have to scan the card at 45 degrees (ie. align the text - not the edges - to the scanner).

  • aerodox. Black background with neon white/green text, embossed. Looks cool, but the worst thing to scan. Scanned images retained 0% information. Might have worked with a better and color scanner. The one I used was black & white.

  • yeahpoint. When I designed my first name card, I used a similar concept. Cut-out dot from the "i" in "Yeahpoint". This one's actually better, as the concept incorporated the logo as well. Rounded rectangle makes it a very handy size and hard backing makes it more durable.

  • wego. Heh I like this. Really cute font and clean design. Text is big and clear, makes it easy for the scanner. But its awkwardly rectangular/ovular shape is hard to align properly.

  • upstream. Most interesting logo from the stack. Looks like a fish in the waters, or those mail validation stamps you see at the postage area.

  • mapicurious.com. Simple, clean, rectangular slip, like a small bookmark. Picture on back. Includes twitter, blog information.


-----
Rather than relying on the technology of card scanners (technology is advancing, but there are still limitations), we can actually make a little effort to improve the effectiveness of card scanning.

What constitutes a good business card:

  1. Design. Yes, you want to stand out, make an impression amongst the hundreds of other business cards. Be representative and unique of your trade. Step out of conventionality. As a good start, try to incorporate your logo into your card design (colors, shapes, etc). Although traditional rectangular sized cards are best for scanning (easy to align), but I personally would give in for a nicely shaped business card. I'm thinking of a circle now... :p

  2. Font type. Business cards contain important information. So they definitely need to be readable, not only by humans but also by computers. Even the smallest scale businesses will use a card scanner to electronically keep their business contacts. How to ensure that font you pick is font that works? Take note of font spacing and font size. For example, Arial Narrow will not be a good pick for most business cards, unless the words are huge enough in order for the scanner to distinguish spaces between the letters. Same situation when the words are too small.

  3. Content & Layout Probably best to keep things simple for now (aligned text). For best results, stick to having just one piece of information for each line. If you really want to have two side by side, note the spacing between them. State clearly what each information is. (ie. If it's an email address, use headings like "email:" instead of "e." These tend to be mistaken as part of the email address.)


That's all for now. Will add when more comes to my mind. Happy designing! :)

12.11.2008

Tell me this is no bug in my mee.

updated tasty ratings (Apr 15):
ECONOMY RICE STALL Rating: ★★
NOODLE SOUP STALL Rating: ★
(yes, I started to eat at this stall again. so far no other bad incidences)
CHICKEN RICE STALL Rating: ★★
(closed down!?)
ROTI PRATA STALL Rating:
(still haven't try yet)
FRUIT & DRINKS STALL Rating: ★★
(their pineapples usually quite juicy and sweet. despite watermelon juice being too plain, the starfruit juice is good)
-----

EEEK!! MY GAWD! I was happily eating my fish beehoon soup today @lunch until I realized some weird looking thing in my spoon.. WOORRRRRRRRM!!! Eeeeeeeeeee~ And I thought it tasted not bad the first time, so I ordered it again today. So gross that I lost my appetite. Here is the evidence:


-----
This kopitiam (cafe) was opened just recently, downstairs of my office complex. Convenient location for people working @Jackson Square, Toa Payoh. There are 5 stalls: 1) 菜饭 economy rice stall 2) noodle soup stall (the one that sells $4 fish beehoon soup) 3) chicken rice stall 4) roti prata stall 5) fruit & drinks stall. So I guess I'm never eating the noodle soup there again. Have a slight noodle soup phobia now.

GG, just look at the color!! Plus, the first time I bought this, it was like 2/3 of this size. Same price. Kaya + butter toast was $1.20 for 2 slices. A mini cup of ginger tea (those instant packets) is $1. I have yet tried the other 2 stalls, but I heard the Indian stall charges insanely as well.

THE ONLY GOOD VALUE: the chicken rice stall is good! GREAT service/attitude and cheap!! Only $2.50 for a plate of chicken rice and a small bowl of soup (refillable)!! The first time I ate there (off peak hour ard 3pm), the towkay even came to refill my bowl with HOT soup!!

imma macau guru.

I have visions that Cellcity is turning me into a Macau-knows-all guru! For the past week, I've been crunching in geo-coordinates and Portuguese-named streets into our Macau city info database. Not a difficult task, but certainly TIME + ENERGY consuming. And this week, I'm getting the chinese version into place. If you're planning on a trip to Macau, perhaps I could share with you some insights on where to visit. ;) Or you could just wait till our Macau city guide is launched. I'm not so sure when that is though.

Sometime in between the tedious and mechanical data entering work, I got an overview of Cellcity's future web 2.0 strategy. Parts of it are still in development, but it sounds exciting enough already. We also got a new eDM platform, waiting to iron out some technical issues. I hope I get to be involved more in our mainstream marketing activities asap. Slowly getting there, little by little.

-----
This database work is taking too much of my time though. I heard that this job used to be done by part-time students. But due to the controversial quality of content, it has been taken in-house, helped out by various colleagues. Macau has been handed down to me to fill up all the bits and pieces (which turned out to be a lot). In the near future, I will be building more databases like this (from scratch). There are.. after all, 50 cities in total you see.

10.31.2008

Innovolt on NBC 11Alive!

Woo my ex-colleague's on TV!? click.

Awesome job at the GreenBusiness Works Expo, wishing I could be there to witness. :p

P.S: I recently thought of Innovolt.. a rather constructive one for my usual idling personality. Something I've been wanting to do during the early Innovolt days, but failed to do so. Maybe this time I finally have the heart to complete it. :)

6.26.2008

Uploading 2-3/5


  • Whee~ finally finished the Gen. 3 project specifications tho a day late.. more like a draft I would say, but meh, that's the best I can do for now. =p Will see what's next on Thurs. =(

  • Info site status: still on hold. I put the text into a word doc today so the prof could edit over it. Stupid me didn't think of that before. Mmm.. 不够完善。

  • Website edits: 1) Video link still needs to be updated on 26 other pages. Plus I need to add a fullscreen option. 2) Job openings changed. More interns. No more NPI. Add technician. 3) Create a form that allows customers to submit information for product registration.

  • Many other things that I will not have the time to do. I should at least finish my operations manual so I could hand down the trivial tasks to Alyssa.

  • I just want to do as much as I can. For my own sake.

6.24.2008

Uploading 1/5...

Yawnz.

My whole body is aching bad and I am feeling awfully drowsy from today's team lunch. (Not that I'm usually awake at work :p) Buffet again at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. Something more today though... A CAKE (& a card)! My gawd.. A farewell celebration for me as this is my last official week at work. So sweet. :) For some reason, I've always been teased around by my bosses and colleagues. I guess it's because I don't talk much?? :x But all that's fun, so it's okay.

I have a 2-page project specifications to finish by tomorrow. Darn, I forgot about it ever since I got home on Friday. Haha! It's for revamping the Innovolt website to Generation 3. 2nd meeting on Thursday with people from ObjectNet. It's a pity I couldn't stay to see this project gets completed. It'll be a great experience to further boost my resume. ;) Grr, they could have started this earlier though. :( But at least during the time I'm here in Atlanta, I will be "assisting" with the project as needed. Don't know what that means exactly. :\

The info site that I wanted to do is ~80-85% completed. Putting them into html then getting them approved by the technical people (that's basically just Dr. Divan). Looking great so far, personally. The proofing part is usually the worst part. >< Some people just prefer something else that is not your style.

We'll see how things go.

6.13.2008

"I'd love to spend hours troubleshooting @#$% computer."

Wah sianz.

Since I arrived in the office this morning around 10+, I have been scratching my head and chin *pulling my hairs* trying to fix a silly Vista problem for this guy from our partnering company (they do concept design/development and initial manufacturing), who just arrived from India recently.

The problem was..
Somehow this morning around 8, after a forced shutdown, his default Windows account profile could not load up correctly, so a temporary profile was created, and he could no longer access information previously saved on the original profile, including old emails in Outlook. Now, the problem is actually pretty straight forward. The old account no longer function properly; we want to restore old emails, and documents saved to that user account. A straight forward solution would be to create a new profile and copy the documents/application data from the old account to the new one. Open Outlook and boom! Everything should have been perfect.

Unfortunately, we were so distracted by the Windows scan disk (or check disk), it kept prompting whenever we restarted the system. Looks like it would help with the problem. I mean, you would have assumed that following instructions, step by step, should get things fixed. But not really. The check disk kept hanging at 3%, restarted, and it hung again.

From this point on, my decisions just spell out how plain stubborn my brain is structured. In chinese, I would call myself "死脑筋". It's a common type of structure among people, but not one of a creative or wise person. Instead of going back to the original problem and finding alternatives to solve it, I tried to drill through a chain of secondary, tertiary problems stemming from the initial failed check disk operation.

Sigh. Stupid leh. Waste of my time.

6.03.2008

Last month at work

...and counting down to my sis's EDD (Expected Date of Delivery). =)

Woot finally.

I'm recreating my online portfolio and adding in projects from work. Too lazy to revamp my website right now, so using webjam as the temporary solution. Erm.. looking back now, seems like I haven't achieved much over the past 8-9 mths!! =D haha ha ha T_T *shhh keep this to yourself wink*

First, the Squirrelville video. Just a couple of weeks back, I heard that some executives at Only Green 4 Me saw my video series and wanted to hire me on some projects. Unfortunately, I could not offer you any more details about this company, their "website" does not help either. But apparently they are our first distributor for Innovolt products. Whee.

Then comes the "major" website upgrades. Mainly involved changing the organization of the content, adding in new content, and giving it a newer look (home page: product views, animated banner, "buy now" link; connecting website to webstore). This is the so-called Generation 2 website: commercialized.

Other personal developments include:
1) building professional relationships with different vendors. The webstore is the first, where Michael and I worked on getting it set up with CoreXpand. Then comes the problem with the actual selling online. Securing credit card transactions, authorizing transactions online, and processing the authorized transactions.. Selecting the compatible Gateway, hiring the right merchant bank.. Was fun getting involved in the decision making/problem solving process, even when I was only just assisting. The second one was sort of a project I initiated. Well.. they approached me first but I went on with the discussion and finally received a proposal from the company. Search engine optimization is what the company PointMetrix does. While no decision has been made yet, I think I'll send in a note before I leave to remind them of the proposition. Looking to totally revamp the website, so further actions will only likely take place after the Generation 3 upgrade.
2) getting things done... and follow up!! 2 major events. Assisted in getting peripherals designed, printed, and ready for the show. First, the ITEX show in Vegas - feb (sadly, I did not go on the trip). Then, our official launch event, with a press conference and reception - apr. Very basic principle that you already follow in elementary school: meeting deadlines. Now the key is to follow up. It's something that my dad has stressed repeatedly in the past before.. then my eldest sis as well.. and now my boss too. So reeeeaaally important. Following up with the people from ITEX (that was Michael's job) then the people who we invited for our event - I did a newsletter for that which my bosses thought was fantastic and very much impressed.

Being the youngest in the office, I think my colleagues and bosses dote on me much. My bday celebration.. "slacked" hours :x ..and always praising me for good work oO I've seen ppl come and go.. Blanche and Madhav, always bringing to the office joy and laughter. I've seen new ppl joining the team.. Michael and Tania, then Alyssa, Lanecia and Jason. Kudos to Michael for the help and snacks and photos (!!); Tania for getting me paid on time =D Seen people grow, and more kudos to Michael for his work attitude and capabilities. Sometimes I get inspired.. *sometimes* And now, it's my turn to say good bye..

My last tasks on this job:
1) Finish up the addition I wantED to make to the website. So I can put it on my portfolio too. IMPT!!
2) Finish up the product brochure that I started *ahem* week*s* ago.
3) Listing ideas and next steps that I feel is required for a Gen 3 website. Generally modularity and flexibility is of highest importance. Then comes the theme and content upgrades.. I've had those ideas but didn't have time to make it happen.
4) Train Alyssa to perform some of the routine tasks I'm on.. web admin, email stuff, IT stuff..

My family is coming June 15!! =D So time is running low.. and there's packing and many other things to settle.. cat stuff, visa stuff, air tix, money... T_T

Last day of work: June 30.

2.01.2008

crunchyroll@work

What are the advantages of bringing your own lunch box to work?
1) You can save $$.
2) You don't have to commute to anywhere. Just stay at your desk!
3) The privilege of staying at your desk is so that you can enjoy your mini theater during that 1-hr lunch break.

I just started watching this Taiwanese drama (those so-called 偶像剧), "They Kiss Again". Some of you may be more familiar with the chinese title, 恶作剧2吻. It's a sequel to the Taiwanese version of Itazura na Kiss (aka 恶作剧之吻 or Mischievous Kiss), originally a Japanese drama (adapted from manga) starring Kashiwabara Takashi and Sato Aiko.

I actually never liked Taiwanese drama. Just not used to the way they talk, their dialogues, despite having lived in Taiwan for 2 years. But this is actually the second Taiwanese drama that I've watched. And I like this one. Not too cheesy, at least for now. In the first 2 episodes, 湘琴 (Kotoko) and 直樹 (Naoki) went on their honeymoon! And it was sooo sweet. It was that feeling that hooked me on to this drama. The life of newlyweds.

Envious.
Indulgence.
Imagination.

1.26.2008

Getting on with work...

I'm slowly accepting that there are certain things I can't control. At the same time, feeling more relieved as things may not turn out as bad as I imagined. But, I will never know what's in store for me in the future. Good or bad.

I'm actually getting happier at work these days. Got some great accompany here in the office. They realized that they missed my birthday last week. So this Wednesday, they bought me a cake, a card and flowers, and even sang me a birthday song in the office.


Thank you Blanche, for making all these happen. You may not know how much impact this had on me *A LOT* when I was still feeling so miserable about my birthday. Especially that redeemable coupon for 2 round trip air tickets...it really meant a lot to me. Truthfully.

I'll be earning extra bucks from one of my bosses soon. He has his other company website that needs some revamping. Yay, more $$!