The TechBlogger

Ever experienced instances where your workstation starts to chug along very slowly?  Or more specifically, have your web browser ever become unresponsive, or crash without any warning?  Well, this has happened to me more times than I care to count.  If you were browsing the Internet, chances are that the problem can be traced to Flash running amok – 9 out of 10 times.

Below is a screenshots of Flash misbehaving.  Note the memory and CPU utilization.

This screenshot shows the updated situation after I killed off the offending Shockwave Flash process.  Notice the clear dip in processor utilization.

This issue outlined here is particularly disruptive if you’re working at a cafe without any accessible power outlet.  If not detected and rectified immediately, the laptop’s runtime can get dramatically reduced by the excessive processor utilization, cutting short your stay there.

Now, can you imagine your iPhone (or iPad) running Flash?  Essentially, the juice in your device or smartphone could well be drained within a few hours.  No wonder Apple wasn’t keen to support Flash on the iPhone. Having said that, I’m not sure how this would work out for tablet devices like the JooJoo, which supports Flash.  When I interviewed him, founder and CEO Chandra did tell me that the Internet tablet gives “5 hours of continuous operation.”  I’ll report back on that once I get the final production unit for review.

Ironically, having Flash crash my browser one time too many was the factor that made me switch from Firefox to Chrome.  The Chrome browser offers superior process management (every tab runs as a separate process), which allows me to selectively shut-down errant tabs.  The overhead is slightly higher, but I think its a fair price for grater browser stability.  Unlike Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, a misbehaving instance (or tab) won’t be able to bring down the entire browser.

As an independent tech writer, I find it a little hard to explain what I do at times.  Well, not in one line anyway.  The result is that I invariably end up describing myself as a lecturer for the sake of simplicity.  Of course, I do teach a few days per week at Republic Polytechnic in Singapore, and derives joy in that.  I actually spend many more hours per week doing writing, however.

This page contains a list of publications and websites that I currently contribute to, and should shed some light as to what I do.  Publicists are welcome to contact me if they have a relevant product to review, story pitch or news.

I’ll try to keep this page updated.

IT Business Edge SMB Tech

I write the SMB Tech blog over at IT Business Edge.  In a nutshell, IT Business Edge is a site targeted towards IT executives and decision makers to provide them with a strategic overview of running IT.  Or to quote from the About IT Business Edge page, it provides “a service that combines the strength of advanced online search techniques with the critical thinking of experienced industry journalists.”

For sure, you won’t find regurgitated reports there but seasoned journalists critically analyzing the latest enterprise IT developments and giving their take on them.  In fact, many of my colleagues there have years of experience numbering in the double-digits either practicing, or reporting IT.  It’s a worthy site to bookmark.  Alternatively, you can subscribe to the free newsletters here.

ITBusinessEdge.com belongs to a network of sites including CTO Edge, Data Center Edge, Network Security Edge, and Unified Communications Edge.

FierceCIO:TechWatch

I am the editor for FierceCIO:TechWatch, a twice weekly IT news update covering topics on security, hardware and storage news, networking, storage, and more.  The aim here is to keep readers updated on key developments and news pertaining to IT.  So if you are a busy executive, but want to stay in touch with the latest happenings in the enterprise, then this is the right place to visit.

The TechWatch e-mail newsletter is sent out twice weekly to over 29,500 active IT management professionals, and comes under the Enterprise IT vertical of publisher FierceMarkets.  FierceMarkets is a leader in B2B e-media, and also has many other publications in the life sciences, healthcare, finance and telecom industries, totalling well over 900,000 registered newsletter subscribers.

Colleagues Judi Hasson, Lynnette Luna, and Ron Miller write on CIO, MobileIT and Content Management newsletters respectively.  Judi also writes the GovernmentIT.

CBS TechRepublic

CBS TechRepublic caters to IT professionals, and was the very first site I started writing for back in 2007.  I wrote for the (defunct) IT News Digest blog edited by Sonja Thompson then.  The folks there are really wonderful people, and they do an excellent job in helping its vibrant community of IT professionals network and learn.  At the moment, I continue to contribute to its Network Administrator blog and Product Spotlight blog, and recently, its new Smartphones blog.

DailyTech

DailyTech is a leading online magazine dedicated to covering up to the minute CE, PC and information technology news.  Readers lean towards the well-educated and the techie crowd.

Tech at Play

Tech at Play is a technology blog that is edited and maintained by me since 2006.

The TechBlogger

You are currently at The TechBlogger, and you can find out more about the rationale behind the creation of this blog from the About page.

In addition, I also contribute sporadically to ArsTechnica.com, AsiaOne, ZDNet Asia, as well as various IT trade publications locally and in the region.

Just came back from a trip from the office of Fusion Garage, the Singapore company that created the JooJoo tablet.  I spent some time using the device (It’s exactly the same as the one demo’ed in December 2009) and also spoke to founder and CEO Mr. Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan about the JooJoo.

Now that we are nearer its launch, I was able to confirm some key information (Production has started) pertaining to the final hardware (USB port stays).  I also quizzed Chandra on his take about the Apple iPad, and if Fusion Garage will be modifying its pricing (no)  in the wake of its unveiling.

I’ll post the rest of the details shortly in the full write-up.

Update: Write-up is now live on Ars Technica.  JooJoo maker: iPad won’t crowd us out of tablet space

Last week, the tech world waited with bated breath as the Apple iPad tablet was finally unveiled at a media event put together just for this purpose.  By now, you have probably committed its hardware specifications to heart; such is the sheer volume of related news reports.  As @Alvin_Yap tweeted, “Wonders why there are is little tech news these 2 days. Oh! Cos all talking bout iPad”

Watching anxiously from the sidelines are the folks from Fusion Garage, though for very different reasons.  A Singapore company, Fusion Garage has demonstrated a touch screen tablet called the JooJoo just two months ago in December 2009.  Built from the ground up as a tablet for browsing the Web, the JooJoo bears striking resemblance to the iPad.

With the same price point as an entry-level iPad however, a collision with juggernaut Apple appears inevitable.  Indeed, the ability for the JooJoo to generate sales could well be severely impaired to crippled, given that the iPad has far more capabilities.

And this is on top of legal troubles from a botched partnership with Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.  (As I write this, I received an e-mail from Fusion Garage that the company has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit) On whether approaching TechCrunch in the first place was a mistake though, a VC friend of mine noted: “It’s better than no publicity at all.”

For today however, the more pertinent question is actually: Will the JooJoo be dead on arrival?

I’ll have the chance to speak with Fusion Garage founder and company CEO Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan tomorrow about the JooJoo, courtesy of an interview opportunity that was scheduled earlier.  I’m excited to see the completed software on the JooJoo, which Gizmodo says was only 75 percent complete in December.

More importantly, it’ll be a week since the iPad was announced, and it would be a fantastic opportunity to hear what Fusion Garage has planned to compete with the iPad.

More pictures below

Continue reading

A friend forwarded some of the below images to me, which gave me a good laugh.  I’m not sure who to credit here, but I’ll add in the relevant links if someone could point me in the right direction.  In the meantime, enjoy!