These are “My Top Ten Net Fads in 2008″：

1. 劉林聯婚 (Mr. Lau and Ms. Lam are getting married)

The couple Mr. Lau and Ms. Lam married on Jan 5, 2008. They filmed a series of fun videos including imitation / cover version of the HKSAR Government 10th Anniversary theme song, Matrix, Spiderman and much more. Even for those who don’t know Cantonese, the videos are fun to watch.

2. 潮語卡 (Picture Cards of Trendy Expressions in Hong Kong Cantonese)

So Real Real, a primary school teacher who collected popular Cantonese new words (mostly from his students), refined with proper Chinese-English explanation, phonetic transcription, adding together with illustration of the 60’s and turn the whole thing into a pack of learning card. The cards were named《香港潮語學習字卡》(Picture Cards of Trendy Expressions in Hong Kong Cantonese) or simply 潮語卡. It was a big hit therefore MSN Hong Kong also offered 潮語表情符號 icon download for Windows Live Messenger.

Keywords: 潮語卡, 穌真真

3. 古惑仔Online / 義氣仔女Online (Mobs War)

If you are a Facebook user in Hong Kong, you should have been invited by your friends to join 古惑仔Online (renamed to 義氣仔女Online later on) for more than one time. In fact many people joined Facebook just because of this game. Imagine that you are a junior member of the triad society and you have to sell pirate CD or rob the bank to buy Sauna, Hotel, Casino and heading towards to become a Tycoon via mouse click. Office workers who obsessed to the game will monitor their progress on a hourly basis to collect virtual money from their properties, fight with other evil players and steal their money. 6waves, the company who developed this facebook application claimed that they earn five hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars per month in the interview of Next Magazine Issue 961.

Keywords: 古惑仔Online, 義氣仔女Online, 6waves

4. 活塞男之男人最痛 (Man’s penis stuck in park bench)

It was about the news in every Hong Kong as well as Overseas newspaper headline on Aug 8, 2008, the same day for the Opening of Olympus, a man inserted his penis in a metal park bench for his own style of exercise and became stuck. Luckily his “little brother” remains unharmed as the police and fireman rescued him by destroying the bench. A Hong Kong blogger Dr. SingSit wrote a blog post to explain why the penis got stuck while Kay Lam, a famous Hong Kong Youtuber utilized the information from SingSit and made this 活塞男之男人最痛 video to dig at this incident. The video was being circulated among discussion boards and forum in Hong Kong and there were people saying that this man should get married with the metal bench as husband and wife.

Keywords: 活塞男, 板男根, 卡窿一索

5. 創新戰隊 ( TechnoFrontier 2008 )

Adopting the concept of Japanese Rangers, RTHK made a TV series called TechnoFrontier 2008 to demonstrate latest Hong Kong techonology development to the general public. President of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Dr. Paul Ching-Wu Chu starred as cool “iron-face” Dr. Wu, protecting Hong Kong’s technology from the “Regression Monster” with his 5 color TechnoFrontier. To promote the program, the TechnoFrontier danced in busy locations such as Lan Kwai Fong and the Golden Bauhinia Square in Wanchi with their power rangers costume. Program Playback is available in RTHK website.

6. Legislative Council Election 2008

Thanks to the Legislative Council Election 2008, we got many fun videos to watch including:

IT達人Talk Series by Samson Tam, IT guy will only give birth to baby girl cause their sperm are being killed by the “computer radiation”?
(Unfortunately the video was being removed)

RapTalk by the supporter of Regina Yip, Reginababy, how “sweet”!

“Try our breast” by Gray Chan, sorry I don’t want to try your breast.

7. 黃大仙網上祈福 (Pray for blessing from Master Wong Tai Sin online)

Starting onwards from Dec 22, 2008, believers of Wong Tai Sin can login to Sik Sik Yuen website in Hong Kong and pray for blessing instead of visiting the temple. Simply fill in your name and your worship into the online application form, the information will be stored in the Wong Tai Sin Temple’s database and get printed out periodically. The master of ceremonies will help to perform a series of ritual and making sure that your wishes will be listened by Wong Tai Sin. This should be the 1st religious organization in Hong Kong to adopt information technology in a spiritual aspect.

Keyword: 黃大仙, 嗇色園

8. The origin of FuWa

Not sure who did it but the pictures are self explanatory. There were also “Fuwa fight” video on YouTube but they were all removed due to copyright claim by NBC Universal (Sports).

Keywords: 福娃的來源

9. Diesel’s SFW XXX Party Clip

Yes, internet loves porn and everyone enjoys this video. Brilliant ideas with perfect cover up, my mom also doesn’t that it’s porn indeed.

10. Plurk

Plurk is the coolest social networking application in 2008. Unlike Twitter, plurk allows playback of YouTube videos and picture display within the browser page. It certainly helps to wide-spread the Net Fads in 2008.

BarCamp Hong Kong 2008 Sep 6 was a great event for sure but it was a bad timing for me.  I reported 2days sick leave this week and still not fully recovered from flu.  Yesterday night (Sep 5) my nose was still running non-stop and I thought I couldn’t make it.  Therefore I am so glad that my nose loves BarCamp but I regret that I couldn’t make more friends cause I don’t want to pass on any virus.

The Opening

Hyperlocal Networking by Mickey Fong

Comparing to last year BarCamp, my keyword for this year is “UPGRADED”.  We got a NICER VENUE with 5 conference rooms (Turner International), MORE DRINK OPTIONS (Latte, Expresso, Chinese Tea with nice coffee mug and “lovely ah sim – sorry forgot her name” to serve us, really thanks her for all the extra works during Saturday.  And of course the well-known Hong Kong bloggers’ friend Drinkazine Tea.), MORE GADGETS (T-Shirt & badge by Dookaz, Lanyard by Flying Tiger Web Design, Mobile Charm by Yahoo!) and MANY MORE! Thanks to all the sponsors, the “hardware” are gorgeous and talking about the “software”, the 6 sessions that I attended in Room 1 (I stayed in Room 1 cause I had to record the talks for MobileRadio) were also excellent.  You can have a glimpse of the talk “Creative Commons Hong Kong by Ben Cheng” in Facebook while more audio and video clips will be available in MobileRadio.hk later on.

This year more people use Cantonese to conduct their presentation.  I am so glad to see it happens cause last year was English only, like people didn’t dare to speak their mother tongue but Hey! this is BarCamp Hong Kong and speaking Cantonese is normal.  This change would certainly help next year’s BarCamp promotion.  Another good thing is the organizers did remind everyone to help cleaning up the trash, I am sure that lovely ah sim will be very happy when she goes back to the office on Monday.

I’ve uploaded my photos to Flickr but I recommend everyone should take a look at the photos from Ryanne, her photos are ALWAYS SUPER NICE.  And once again I want to thanks all the sponors and organizers for making BarCamp Hong Kong happened, I’M LOVIN IT!

Readings:
Flick Group – barcamphongkong2008
Twitter #barcamphk
Web Wednesday – Twitter – Visualising Conversations at BacampHK
BenLauPedia – 今年在Barcamp講的題目
網絡暴民 Jacky’s Blog – Barcamp HK 2008
案內人隨筆 – Barcamp之後…
Cracker, best before expired – BarCampCamp
d. otted rhythm – ’tis barcamp again!!!
GPS development on iPhone – iGPSD Team in BarCamp 2008
Sammy dot HK – What’s new in BarCamp Hong Kong 2008
reality – BarCamp Hong Kong 2008
南朗山下 Beneath Nam Long Shan – BarCamp: 香港唯一的網路工作者博覽會
yelotofu – Another Barcamp bites the dust
影．腦．者 – 自由講學園地 BarcampHK
栗子現場直播 – Barcamp
Martin Kou’s Blog – BarCampHK 2008
Ross and Sarah in Hong Kong – This one time, at BarCamp…
An Expat Educator in Asia – Barcamp HK 2008: Well worth the time.
My Journey to Japan – BarCamp Hong Kong 2008
belleliu.com – Reflections on BarCamp Hong Kong 2008
edin.no-ip.com – Review from BarCamp Hong Kong 2008
Way’s Blog – Barcamp Hong Kong 2008
鳩扑 – arcamp hong kong 2008 完成！

An UnOfficial BarCamp FAQ

What is BarCamp?

Bar? A place for drinks; Camp? A place for people to mix together, meet each other and learn something new.  In fact the BarCamp tradition is to fix the presentation topic the night before BarCamp in a “Bar”, then people go into the “Camp” on the next day to meet new people and learn new stuff.  Putting the 2 places together = BarCamp (This is a “Daisy explanation”, you can ignore it.)

What can I do in BarCamp?

• Watch, and be watched
• Meet people and kill more trees (with your business cards)
• Presentation or Observation (It is not a mandatory requirement for you to “speak and present” in the BarCamp)

I need to attend BarCamp from 9 to 5?

No, you can join after your Saturday half day work.

If I am not Tech Geek, can I join?

Daisy is a “low tech girl” but is still joining, cause I want to learn more.

Oh my English is just “so so”, the BarCamp is “Pearl Channel” right? I am afraid……

Hey I am Cantonese, come on!  And BarCamp encourage everyone to use their mother tongue to present (will find a translator for you) so no worry.

Honestly, I don’t know how to communicate with people and I am not prepared to, how can I join this event?

You can take photos and upload to Flickr Group “barcamphongkong2008“, use Twitter and add #barcamphk in your message to report anything about the event.  You can also upload new stuff to the BarCamp Facebook.

Oh the BarCamp seems gorgeous but I am just a student, is there any discount for the entry fee?

Hey the BarCamp is FREE FOR EVERYONE! So don’t think, register in Facebook or Wiki and JOIN NOW!

Is there a better FAQ?

Here you are from last year (still by me, hoho)

Talking about bloggers, some people may think that they are hard to deal with, some people may think that they have their own language and people outside of their circle won’t be able to talk to them.  But they are all wrong, bloggers are fun, lovely, willing to help and cheerful.  Therefore Lenovo invited we bloggers to their new IdeaPad Lite S9/S10 product launch event.  This was also the 1st time that a large scale computer hardware company started their conversation with bloggers in Hong Kong.  This is a good sign reflecting Hong Kong bloggers slowly develop their influence in the society as well as in media industry.  By the way I did plan to apply the olympic media pass but I do not have enough annual leave so I didn’t do it.

During the event, Lenovo introduced their new product line IdeaPad S9, S10 and some other notebooks as well. I am not going to talk about the tech specs here cause I am not good at hardware, but I am impressed about their event arrangement.  An official product introduction followed by models catwalk show and lucky draw, not spending too much time but the presentation was effective.  And thanks to Lenovo, I got a S9 notebook from the lucky draw!!!!!  In fact I just get rid of my EeePC 701 recently and I need a replacement, this is just perfect for me.  I wish I can have a pink S9 and continue to be a pink blogger with my pink Sony T2 and pink iPhone porch.  The stylish S9 come with 5 colours and Lenovo is going to launch a special “Buy 2 get 3” promotion on August 20.  “$2.9k x 2 = 3 notebooks = 1 notebook/$1.9k” is very attractive indeed.  Really worth considering if you and your friends or family want to buy new notebooks.

I am trying to upload the models video to Youtube but it is taking too much time, still uploading >_< You may check out my YouTube channel later on.

Update: The upload finished!

Readings:
My Flickr Set – Lenovo Blogger Meeting 20080815
BenLauPedia – 恭喜Sammy於Lenovo首次Blogger聚會上抽中大獎
Sammy dot HK – Lenovo Blogger 發佈會抽中了 IdeaPad S10
庫斯克的床 kursk’s bed – 唔收錢系列(7) Lenovo IdeaPad Lite
庫斯克的床 kursk’s bed – 唔收錢系列(7) – Lenovo IdeaPad Lite(續)
ClubEddy 步落癮 – Lenovo Blogger Meetup – S9/S10產品發佈
天佑的自由天地 – Lenovo Blogger Event
小鹿斑比 – Lenovo S9, S10 香港首個Blogger 發佈會
在下【阮瑪莉】 – LENOVO HK Bloggers Event 收獲豐富
Lenovo Connections – Blogger meet-up in Hong Kong 联想与博友的聚会

Listening:
MobileRadio.hk – Lenovo S9 S10 Idea Pad 記者招待會錄音片段

Yes, I am writing about Google again and again as I am a Google Advocate.  On tonight (July 22) we bloggers gathered together in Lumiere IFC to join the “Google Maps Blogger Meeting“.  Google just launched their Google Maps Hong Kong version maps.google.com.hk where people can search for their favourite restaurants, movie schedules, Wi-Fi hotspots, tourist attractions  and much much more in English or in Chinese (The search is bi-lingual, very strong indeed).  Google joined partnership with Openrice.com, FilmPlay.com, Hong Kong Education City, Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Hong Kong Tourist Association and PCCW to create all these location coordinate and contents within the Google Maps environment.  As an individual  user you may share your favourite restaurant or car park location with your blog audience by creating your own map via the “My Maps” function and share it with the HTML code embedded or e-mail.  If you are a corporate user you can go to the “Local Business Center” to register your lcoation and let the business come to you.  Google said that the business location submission to Google Maps Hong Kong version will be available to the public within 15minutes if all the information provided by the online registration form is correct.  For developers, Google offers Maps API for them to play around with.  In case you have the time and effort you may create your own version of Google Maps website.

I find all these very interesting and can’t wait to test them on my new iPhone (I eventually can get it after the complaint) as Google Maps provides mobile interface www.google.com.hk/gmm I also met a lot of old and new friends from the events but there were too many people.  If I missed saying Hello to you let’s do it next time, or maybe one day, you can find my company/me in the Google Maps as well.

The photos were all done by my Genie III.  Isn’t it cool to have another look and feel of the event?

Readings:
My Flickr Photo Set
BenLauPedia – Google Maps 正式登陸香港、Blogger聚會
d. otted rhythm – Google maps launch party!
天佑的自由天地 – Google Maps Blogger Meeting
Sammy dot HK – Google Map Blogger Meeting
Jan’s Tech Blog – A Photo and Video Story of Google Maps Party
在下【阮瑪莉】 – Google Maps香港發佈會
my notebook – 直擊Google Maps香港版發佈會
田三填四 – 吃喝玩樂，盡在港版 Google Map
奕日回憶錄 – Google Maps Blogger Meeting
鷹頭獅巢_Podsafe音樂特區 – Google Maps 香港版登場，Blogger聚會
網絡暴民 Jacky’s Blog – Google 地圖發佈會點滴
熱血生活小品 – Google map HK launch event
案內人隨筆 – 第一次Google活動
DrinkaZine Blog – Google Map 香港「登陸」了

People are crazy about iPhone, everyone loves this gadget and is going nuts.  We had a iPhone Party on yesterday (July 17, 2008) with presentations from the developers, content providers as well as 3 Hong Kong (My photo set is in here).  I also want to enjoy all these but how the hell I can get an 3G iPhone?

I am an existing 3 Skypephone user, help 3 to promote Skypephone by installing their Facebook application and got featured in Next Magazine.  BUT SO WHAT?  I could never get an iPhone!  I still have half a year contract with 3 Hong Kong while 3 committed to 100% rebate the 3 Skypephone if I change to another 3G phone within the Skypephone contract period, and it should be the only reason why I couldn’t get an iPhone via the official channel – online registration.  In fact I queued up on July 1 and nearly all of my friends got called from 3 to pick up their phones but I have nothing, no call, no SMS.  Then on today, I call up their service center:

“I am no. xxxx-xxxx, got an iPhone online registration and the reference no. is XXXYYYZZZ, may I know when can I get my white iPhone?”

“Sorry Ms. Fung, we got no stock…….”

“When can I get it?”

“Sorry we don’t have it now……”

“But all my friends registered later than July 1 got it already!”

“Sorry……”

“And my other friend walked in the 3Shop yesterday also got it!  Don’t tell me that you have no white iPhone available”

“Sorry……”

“I want to speak to your manager, NOW!”

“Really very sorry, she is on the line.  May I take your request and have her to call you back within 3days.”

“……”

New user acquisition is important so loyalty can be trashed?  I just want to play by the rule and wait for the call but 3 didn’t appreciate it.  If 3 loves to give out all their stock to the walk-ins that’s fine, I’ll definitely switch to another service provider (with a better data plan) and get the iPhone from other countries.

There are tons of complaints in various Chinese discussion forum, talking about 3 Hong Kong badly treat the existing users.  I know that I am not the only one but I am still SUPER UNHAPPY!  3 Hong Kong spent $$$ on iPhone Party but they just don’t care about their potential, loyal users within the party, sucks isn’t it?

From Wikimedia Hong Kong First Anniversary Conference

Almost one year ago, on 14 July 2007, Wikimedia Hong Kong was established as the local chapter of Wikimedia. In this year we have almost finished the relevant registration procedure. In March 2008, Wikimedia Hong Kong was officially recognized as a Wikimedia Chapter by The Board of Trustees of Wikimedia Foundation.

The Provisional Directory will launch several activities during the first anniversary of WMHK’s establishment, to promote and advocate Wikimedia and her web 2.0 endeavors. This year we would to focus on topics about Web 2.0 and education.

Charles presentation was nice but I missed part of it cause I were late.  Anyhow I managed to take some photos.  See the kawaii Wikipe-tan cosplayer, she wore blue contact lens to imitate the character 100%.  SUPER CUTE!

Charles and Wikipe-tan

Panel: How to promote Wikimedia and her web 2.0 endeavors in education sector?

Readings:
My Flickr Set: Wikimedia Hong Kong First Anniversary Conference 20080712
Facebook Event

June 28 was the Firefox 3 Kick-off Party, I helped out as an receptionist. The party was fun and you can find out more details in blog posts from others cause I was working and was not able to report the full details of it. However I still managed to take some pictures, you can view them from my Flickr photo set. FON was so generous to offer food, one day free WIFI pass, octopus card pouch for each participants and lucky draw items as well. Everybody was having a great time! If you want to learn more about Firefox in Hong Kong, please join the “Firefox Hong Kong” Google Group and hope to see you all in the Firefox 4 Kick-off Party.

Readings:
My Flickr Photo Set
My road to Firefox (My Chinese blog post) 我的Firefox之路
Blog and Photo Coverage of the Firefox 3 Kick-off Party
Firefox 3 Kick-off Party Wiki

See the video in SCMP.com as well.

Sorry that I were late on that day ( June 6, 2008 ) and raining was super heavy therefore I really can’t write any “informative stuff” about this event, however I took couple of photos and met some great people! For example Henry who is working for EditGrid now, I am surprised by his wealth of knowledge. And thank you CC for buying us the pizza so that we could have a great night of chatting and eating.