I didnt stay for the whole APRICOT 2007 this time as I am needed back in Singapore. On the other hand, the most useful meetings I get out of APRICOT are the side meetings that is usually held just before APRICOT 2007.

Anyway, here are some notes from APRICOT 2007.

1. I was surprised to hear that Area Sensor Network was a very hot topic in APAN. Maybe I need to pay a little attention.

2. ASN are running out (just like IPv4 address). RIRs already trying to get people to migrate from the 16 bits to the 32 bits ASN. Luckily, the transition is going to be as complex as IPv4 to IPv6.

3. For some unknown reasons, a lot of developing country are falling over themselves to host Internet Governance Forum.

4. Oh yea, Marc Blanchet, my co-chair of the IDN Working Group at IETF started his blog. :-)

I have my own thoughts on these issues but perhaps another day.

Just arrived in Bali for APRICOT 2007. More specifically, for the side events in APRICOT 2007 since I normally dont participate in the conference itself.

Also check into the same hotel I stayed when I was here 2 years ago when I was doing site survey to select the host for APRICOT 2007. I am glad APIA decided to pick Bali (altho I jumped a little after the bombing incident last year) cos Indonesia really needs this right now.

But I have faith in the local host APJII and I am sure they will do an excellent job.

This petition by Skype is one of the most significant milestone for the VoIP, or mobile application, industry. It will decide if the wall-garden cellular network will stay or go.

Skype yesterday petitioned the FCC to lay the smack down on wireless
phone carriers who “limit subscribers’ right to run software communications applications of their choosing” (read: Skype software). Skype wants the agency to more stringently apply the famous 1968 Carterfone decision that allowed consumers to hook any device up to the phone network, so long as it did not harm the network. In Skype’s eyes, that means allowing any software or applications to run on any devices that access the network.

It stands on good ground based on the precedence of Caterfone in 1968 but law aside, politics is will likely to be involve. Afterall, you can expect cellular operators to fight it to the end.

Last week, I attended Unconference organized by the local Entrepreneur27. Others like Kevin has covered the event so I won’t but I share some thoughts instead.

Unconference (and also BarCamp a few weeks before) is unique in many ways. It is close to what you get in the typical “cool” or “geek” event in the Silicon Valley. Very loose and informal, but always have great fun meeting people and listen to speakers talking about their thoughts, cool companies and what they are doing. This is a sharp contrast to the other tech conference in Singapore which is usually pretty boring.

More importantly, it is organized by grassroots and not by some in ivory tower up there thinking it is cool to have such event in Singapore. It is put together by students and recent graduates who sincerely believe that such event would be useful (and it is). Many of them spend a 12-18 months in Bay Area thanks to the EDB programme so they are trying to bring the culture back to Singapore.

Now, some may criticize that these events are badly organized or with weak content. While those are true to a certain extend, but bear in mind that these kind of events are non-existence in Singapore before. Regardless, I am sure (a) it will only get better and (b) there will always be complains, however well-run it is.

It is the first of many to come. And I am really glad to see this happening.

This morning, I received an unsolicited request to link to a website. Normally, I just dump them aside but this is an exception. First, it is an article on dailywireless.com, a site that I read occasionally and second, it is a pretty good guide to securing wifi network.

How-to: Secure a Wireless LAN

By now you’ve renamed your Wifi so that hackers won’t see the default name as they sweep for unprotected Wifi setups. But wouldn’t it be even better if hackers and curious neighbors didn’t know you had a Wifi setup at all? Usually, your access point or router is programmed to broadcast the network name (SSID) over the air at regular intervals. While broadcasting is essential for businesses and mobile hotspots to let people find the network, it isn’t needed at home, so eliminate it.

Communities Dominate Brands by Tomi T. Ahonen & Alan Moore

Actually I blogged about this book in 2005. But Tomi just send me the book with an autograph (thanks!), I am obligated to mention this book again.

Although written two years ago, the content is still as relevant today as it is back then. In fact, I would go as far to say most company still dont “get it”.

A few weeks ago, I had an interesting exchange with a lady from a “online” PR firm who still holds the belief that “brand” is a line item on the balance sheet of a company. She believes that because of a bad online rumors, the company ‘brand’ suffered yet failing to realized that (1) there is no such thing as bad publicity and (2) that dispelling the rumors makes the brand stronger.

More important, brand is a by-product of your company behavior. Ultimately, your brand is defined by those who judge you, ie in the hands of the community.

I have a few lunches with a few people the last two weeks. Somehow, the topics always come back to Web 2.0 in Singapore, either entrepreneurs thinking to start one, investors looking for one or media policy makers.

Sadly, I don’t think Singapore is ready for Web 2.0. Here are three reasons.

1) Singapore do not have the talents.

A decade ago, when I was programming and running my own MUD, like all owners of MUD back then, I thought of starting a graphic MUD (now known as MMORPG). It is sexy and obviously the next big idea (hint: Warcraft :). I look around see if I can form a team, lots of people interested but no computer graphic folks. I can’t even find one who do 2D computer drawings, not to mention 3D modeling. It is not until a few years later that courses was offered but by then, I was on my next venture.

Thats what happening to Web 2.0 right now. Web 2.0, particularly AJAX, pushes the limited of what you can do with Javascripts and HTML. We really don’t have sufficient AJAX talents in the market. I am not saying there is none (there are some self-starter) but they arent enough to go around.

2) Singapore thinks (and is) too small

Singapore is small, 4 millions people on a tiny island. With just over 1 million people online, any Singapore Web 2.0 community is going to be even smaller. As such, entrepreneurs measure successful very small, ie a successful community if you have thousands or tens of thousands people. Sadly, the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of people so being small is no good.

Thus, any commercial viable Web 2.0 venture must think beyond Singapore, offering something that is “borderless” (to use a term from Jack Welch). The world is your playground but in that space, you would also have to compete with the best in the world.

3) Singapore has no funding for Web 2.0

No, I am not referring to the government. I am pointing fingers at the startup angels, venture capitalists, the investment community in general.

Most money in Singapore is Old Money, money made from property and constructions, from trading – import and export, and from services etc. As such, Singapore investors like business that has solid cash flows, ideally return on investment on 6 months or less. That’s what they used to.

Singapore has very little New Money. There is no Tim Draper who would rather fund “a big vision … that is going to change the world”. We have VCs but there is no Sequioa Capital or Kleiner Perkins kind of VCs who would invests millions in a cash-burning company with little revenue only to be sold to Google for US$1.6b.

Making investment in Web 2.0 defy financial logic. It requires a someone who would say “I don’t know how these guys going to make money but boy, it sound cool and fun. And they remind me of me so what the hell, why not?”. That would normally come from someone who makes (a lot of) money in a similar fashion.

Yes, there are Singapore investors who does that. I met some myself. But the amount they would do for “fun” is sadly too small (20-50k) for a serious Web 2.0 taking on the world.

Thanks to the article on Digital Life yesterday, I received numerous email inquiries about me giving away FONs. If you come to here looking for FON, I am sorry to inform you that that was a few months back and I don’t have any FON left. However, I might be able to get some more later but it will cost me money. So if you don’t mind paying for it, drop me an email at james@seng.sg and I will add you to the list.

Do take note that sharing your wifi might not be illegal but it is likely to be against the terms and conditions of your providers. For example, Singtel has this clauses “Each SingNet BroadBand account is valid for a single user, who applies with a residential line, to login to a single connection session, and not for multiple concurrent logins. If multiple concurrent logins are detected, SingNet reserves the right to impose a fee on the user for each multiple session login at prevailing monthly subscription rates.”

The story started because Hian Hou needed a quote on a story on WiFi mooching a few weeks back and while we chat on the phone, I mentioned FON to him.

Seriously, I couldn’t believe we still talking over mooching. I just saw another rebuttal on the papers today again. You know what? I know “everyone” do it (mooching) but that does not make it alright.

Mooching is like trespassing in real life. You see that nice patch of grass with a “private property sign”, no gates, open space. The shortest way to your destination is to walk across the grass. Do you walk across it? Most people would but if the owner see you, he can haul you to court for trespassing. Thats the for wireless network. The laws protect private citizen property and space. It is ridiculous to expect the laws to state otherwise, regardless of the social norm.

We walk across the grass and if we are catch, we apologies and that normally settles it. Anyone asked why the kid was haul all the way to court? He could have say sorry when the owner catch him. The investigation officer could have mediate it before it goes on to prosecution. The prosecutor could have stop it before it goes to court. But no, it went all the way to court. So why did the owner insist going all the way? What pissed him off so much? And no, I dont think it is over a few bits and bytes.

Finally catch the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore. My wife and me just watch “The Day After Tomorrow” a couple of weeks ago again so much we were drawing parallel comparison between the two movie.

Making it more interesting is that we just watch Penn and Teller: Bullshit! Environmental Hysteria, which present the ugly side of the debate.

But in the end, I think Al Gore wins :) As you can see on the right hand side bar, I have given my pledge.

I will change all my lights to energy saving and the next car I buy will definitely be a hybrid car.