The original Thai "Hello" actually means "Have you eaten rice yet?", says this short article about travelling in Bangkok. It brought a smile to my face because this is identical to the Cantonese greeting <食咗飯未> that I have grown up with. Have you eaten rice yet? Its use has long since faded and it sounds funny today to greet each other with this. Who care about the boring rice when you can have any fancy food throughout the day? This phrase really takes you back to a time when after a hard day at work, people would enjoy the simple pleasure - a meal with a bowl of rice.

2006.08.07 [culture, language] - comments

BBC reports a research suggests that fast web access is encouraging more people to express themselves online. More than just for fast access, it is changing the way people use the internet. Users are actively posting content to the internet as oppose to being passive consumer.

"Broadband is putting the 'me' in media as it shifts power from institutions and into the hands of the individual," said John Craig, co-author of the report. And with the relatively high broadband adoption rate in some Asian and European countries, I expect a lot of innovation in communication will come that area.

Interestingly the report is commissioned by the net provider AOL, a company that tried to downplay broadband.

2004.12.03 [culture] - comments

It was said that blogging has become so popular that there are perhaps a million people around the world doing that actively. But among these active bloggers I observed a trend, many of them do not prominently post some "About Me" information, some background about the author, your profession, the organization you are affiliate with, what part of the world are you from, etc. In their blog there may be a hundred outgoing links pointing to anything they deem valuable, but the 'About Me' link either does not exist or is tucked in some inconspicuous place far less visible than links to other bloggers.

To blog is to express yourselves and your opinions publicly! It is odd that the author would avoid revealing some of their background at the same time.

I say that not because I am voyeuristic. But because it is not only what you say that is important but also who you are. It is difficult to judge the authority and creditability of a post without really knowing who the author is.

2004.08.20 [media, culture] - comments

The 7th Webby Awards was presented on June 5th. It has wound down dramatically to become an online only event. The Webby web site itself is rather hard to navigate. It takes me a while to find the winners' 5 words acceptance speeches. Don't miss out Howard Rheingold's animated keynote speech. Now that the venture capitalists have receded from the Internet gold rush, individual innovation and creativity are once again making the web exciting.

Some of my favorites are still winners from previous years. It shows that web as a medium can be fun and artistic.

2003.06.08 [media, culture] - comments