Author Archive for Hedirman Supian

Could Qik be the next big thing after Twitter?

Profile Image of Hedirman Supian
by Hedirman Supian
Published on July 24, 2009

I think live video streaming services like Qik could very well be the next big thing after Twitter (here’s our news report on Qik). It’s still early days yet for live video streaming from mobile phones because cellular networks that can provide mobile broadband aren’t pervasive enough globally (we’re lucky to have islandwide 3G coverage). But when it is, all you need to broadcast live video to an audience of millions on the web is an affordable phone (with a built-in video camera) that can hook up remotely to the Internet.

In my job as a journalist, a live video streaming service like Qik would enable me to report live with a piece of gear that fits in the palm of my hand. Despite the diminutive size of such handheld video capture devices and the lower quality of footage, the ability to witness events as they happen are far reaching. Just imagine, for example, the immediacy at which we could view the atrocities of war or civil unrest as they unfold on the ground in countries like Iran. In such cases, international help could arrive much faster if word got out instantly. And the experience of viewing it is much more engaging and compelling than reading simple text updates from Twitter. It makes the world that much smaller – and much more immediate.

I was initially intrigued by Qik because I had chanced upon a fellow Singaporean working for the web startup. Audrey Tan (check out her Qik page here), who’s currently studying at Stanford and holds a job at Qik as a product marketing manager.

I’ll let her introduce herself via Qik:

Audrey helps us to interview Bhaskar Roy, one of the co-founders of Qik, to give a quick low-down on the live video streaming service and a brief tour around their office:


Categories: Mobile
Tags: , , , , .


ADD A COMMENT


Pleo – man’s best friend?

Profile Image of Hedirman Supian
by Hedirman Supian
Published on July 17, 2009

Movies like A.I., I, Robot and Blade Runner toy with the idea of robots that mimic sentient beings. That future might not be too far off if the Pleo is any indication of things to come.

Observe how our reviewer, Christopher Toh from TODAY’s Plus section, affectionately interacts with the Pleo in the following video. It’s so saccharine sweet, I’m sure the Pleo’s aced some form of Turing test for domesticated robots that can replace our furry friends at home:


Categories: Gadgets
Tags: , , , .


ADD A COMMENT


The iPhone: made for the blind too

Profile Image of Hedirman Supian
by Hedirman Supian
Published on July 10, 2009

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Kua Cheng Hock from Adaptive Instruments while I was covering the launch of the iPhone 3GS here. He’s also from the Guide Dogs Association of the Blind and is the only blind person in Singapore who owns a guide dog as well – he’s working on getting funding so more visually-handicapped people can get one for themselves.

So why was he at the launch anyway? This might surprise you. According to Mr Kua, the iPhone is one of the few phones that’s made to be friendly for the blind right out of the box (you simply need to tweak a few settings to switch on its accessibility features). Apart from verbally relaying what’s onscreen to him so that he can operate it, the smartphone’s built-in GPS and digital compass can help him find his way. Currently, he has to carry multiple devices just to do the same thing. The all-in-one device is much cheaper too and can help him with his email and other work-related activities as well. I’ll let him do the talking:

Oh, by the way, this was shot on location with an iPhone 3GS too.


Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Mobile and iPhone
Tags: , , , , .


ADD A COMMENT


Capturing movies and photos on the iPhone 3GS

Profile Image of Hedirman Supian
by Hedirman Supian
Published on July 10, 2009

As we’ve mentioned in our iPhone 3GS review today, the smartphone captures decent images and movies with its 3.2-megapixel camera. It has a really intuitive way of letting you focus as well. You simply need to tap on the desired part of the image onscreen:


The square above indicates the area I’ve tapped onscreen. On the top right, you’ll see a slider to switch between video and camera mode.

The camera churns out great photos in daylight or well-lit areas despite its relatively low resolution:

Images in low-light conditions tend to suffer from some visible noise as you can see below – but it’s a general limitation of such cameras in phones:

Here’s a typical food shot in an environment with very low lighting (hey, it was closing time). The iPhone manages to pump up the exposure so that your subject is visible:

The 3GS captures VGA-quality video and also allows you to choose an area to focus on as well, just like in picture mode. This opens up creative ways in which you can capture footage. In our example below, we used its macro focus to limit the depth of field, so you can see details on the raindrops and the texture of the car door’s faux-leather trimming:

Note that the videos on this blog have been compressed because they’ve been uploaded to YouTube straight from the iPhone. As with the camera mode, the quality of the video does tend to suffer when you’re in low-light environments, with visual noise becoming rather visible:

If you’d like to see the full quality of the footage that we’ve captured, download it from here.


Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Mobile and iPhone
Tags: , , , , , .


ADD A COMMENT


unConference Singapore 2009: Our pick of startups

Profile Image of Hedirman Supian
by Hedirman Supian
Published on May 21, 2009

It’s encouraging to see the startup scene in Singapore grow so fast. The groundswell isn’t only happening locally though; many startups in Asia see Singapore as a hub of sorts for the region, and some are even looking to set up shop here because the country has government-backed initiatives for startups from the likes of IDA or MDA, good IT infrastructure and an active entrepreneurial community. I came to this conclusion after attending unConference Singapore 2009 last week, an annual event organised by E27, (a local grassroots community that supports entrepreneurs and startups) where startups from across Asia can network and demo their latest products and services. The event is already in its third incarnation and most of the attendees I spoke to noted how much livelier and crowded this year’s session was.

It was also a chance for me to try out something new: blogger-style video interviews. I took the chance to interview three promising startups:

1. Klout by Duration Inc.

Aung Si Thu Hein, vice-president of Singapore-based Duration Inc., presents Klout, a tool it has developed that can help Twitter users track their influence across the web, and also for companies to identify who the big influencers and connectors are in their respective industries. Singapore brands and companies are already using Twitter as an alternative way to spread the word on their services and products. I reckon tools like Klout will grow in importance as social media takes centrestage on the web, and measurement and analytical tools are needed to quantify how effective the medium is.

2. Sparkle by Genkii

Ken Brady, chief executive of Tokyo-based Genkii, gives me a peek at Sparkle, the first virtual world on the Apple iPhone. I’m particularly impressed at how easy it is to use and how neat the graphics looked on the smartphone. Virtual worlds, though exciting and immersive, can sometimes be hard to use and delve into. And you need to be tied to a desktop because it needs hefty processing power to render 3D graphics and you need to be connected to the web. But when you combine virtual worlds with the ease-of-use of devices like the iPhone and the smartphone’s ability to be mobile and perpetually connected to the Internet, it might make it all the more accessible.

3. eJAMMING AUDiiO by eJAMMING

Ben Scherrey from US-based eJAMMING showcased eJAMMING AUDiiO – a piece of software and accompanying service that allows musicians in remote places to meet and make friends and most importantly, to jam together live across the web with little latency (that’s delay to you and me) thanks to peer-to-peer technology. I’m somewhat of a bedroom musician (very amateurish at that) and love twiddling knobs on old synthesizers but find it more fun to jam with others, so I thought eJAMMING was a great idea – it’s been dubbed as a kind of Skype for musicians or an Internet-enabled incarnation of Apple’s Garageband (eJAMMING’s available for both Mac and Windows).


Categories: Apple, Desktop, Gaming, Internet, Mobile and iPhone
Tags: , , , , .


ADD A COMMENT


« Older
hedirman