LinkedIn Opens Office in Hong Kong

Today, LinkedIn officially set up shop in Hong Kong. They were kind enough to invite me to attend as "media" and I reciprocated by posting salient points from their speeches on Twitter (@webwednesday). See the screen cap below.

Plukka eShop at Web Wednesday

Calling all online bargain hunters!

As cross-border social commerce becomes the rage, we've invited Joanne Ooi, Founder of Plukka.com, to take the hot seat at this month's Web Wednesday Social Mixer on 25th April 2nd May 2012.

Joanne describes her business as "a revolutionary social shopping experience and online store offering chic, covetable fine designer jewelry at savings of 70-90%". But I prefer the TechCrunch version, "Plukka is social shopping with a group buying twist — more jewelry buyers means a lower price for everyone".

Watch this "how does it work?" video to understand the value of group shopping via Plukka:



Sign up and spread the word via Facebook.

As per usual, there's a HK$100 entrance fee, which includes one complimentary drink, an enlightening talk, high-quality networking and the chance to win lucky draw prizes.

Our lovely assistant, Vivian, will issue a receipt if you need one. (For students, you can get in for HK$50 without free booze). Thereafter, all standard drinks will be charged at special happy hour prices.

Do spread the word as we may have some great jewelry to give away, if we can twist Joanne's arm. If not, you'll still meet some great people and learn how to start an internet business in Hong Kong selling primarily to the United States.

Field of Cole - Fukushima Earthquake eBook

[This is a guest post to remember the people of Fukushima and to promote an ebook, created by a friend.]

On 11th March 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake (also known as "311 Earthquake") happened.

Thirty minutes after the magnitude-9 earthquake, monstrous tsunami waves crashed into the whole region of the Tohoku shores. Many towns were destroyed and the death toll and number of missing people went beyond 20,000 at one point.

The author of this book, Misukoso, watched the disaster unfold on television news and became deeply emotional by these sorrowful events. These comics are the author’s interpretation of the events based on true stories of the survivors and victims extracted from the local news.

The stories included are:

• A policeman who died in honor of saving civilians;
• A nurse who regretted not being able to save a patient;
• A middle-school student who got separated from her mother after having a fight with her;
• A dog who wouldn't separate itself from its owner even when the tsunami approached... and many more.
• The book consisted of nine short stories and an essay column.

The title of the book "Field of Cole" was derived from the author’s experience when she went volunteering at a disaster site. Soon after the author uploaded a few of these comics on her blog, they became widely talked about over Twitter. Follow @misukoso (Tweets in Japanese).

More than 30,000 people read the comics and were moved to tears reading these comics which got published in Japan later. Then, six months after the earthquake, the series of comics were published in Japan in a book form.

As a condition for publishing the book, the author asked the publisher that all her royalties from the book be donated to the disaster victims and the book be translated into English and distributed as an e-book, so that people all around the world will have the opportunity to know more about people affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and their experiences.

We hope this comic e-book will help the readers think about and remember the people in Tohoku, who are toiling in the long process of recovery.

Download the eBook for Kindle here

Misukoso was born in Niigata prefecture. After graduating from the Faculty of Policy Management of Keio University, worked for a while, and went back to school doing her Waseda University Graduate School of Accountancy.

As she describes herself on her Twitter profile (@misukoso), "会計系の大学院生。自意識をこじらせたオタク。著書「いつか、菜の花畑で」（扶桑社）。生い立ちについては、このページを御覧下さい。"

Intel Outside at Web Wednesday HK

Calling all ultra-nimble digerati,

As governments around the world tighten their belts, we bring you the expanding universe of ultra-thin computers and invite Intel Corp into our midst.

A regular and vocal member of the Web Wednesday audience, Peter Dingle will be sharing with us the future of computing, be it tablets, ultra-thin laptops, brain plug-ins or holographic touch screens. Peter is the Interactive Marketing Manager for Intel in APAC so has plenty of great and inside-out stories to share.

Check out Intel's latest creative move, "Pop-Up Theatre", 60 ultrabooks, choreographed to create the first human digital billboard. We're keen to see this pop up in the bustling streets of Hong Kong!



Keep your eyes peeled! Beware! More importantly, be there! Sign up on our Facebook event invite.

Our 56th social mixer will take place at Bisous, 9/F, LKF Tower, 33 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong. Doors open at 6:30pm and burlesque dancers hit the stage at 9:30pm. The talk will start around 7:15pm so come early to mix and mingle with the 150-200 other digerati.

As per usual, there's a HK$100 entrance fee, which includes one complimentary drink, an enlightening talk, high-quality networking and the chance to win lucky draw prizes.

Our lovely assistant, Vivian, will issue a receipt if you need one. (For students, you can get in for HK$50 without free booze). Thereafter, all standard drinks will be charged at special happy hour prices.

Please do spread the word, as we have some great gifts to give away and some even more memorable ultra-phat people for you to mingle with!

Puma Social speaks at Web Wednesday HK

Calling all after-hour athletes and local digerati,

As part of this year's Social Media Week, which is happening in 12 cities around the world, we have the pleasure of inviting you to mix with the local internet crowd, digital fashionistas, social entrepreneurs and media executives at Bisous, on Wednesday 15th February. Sign up on Facebook.

I have the pleasure of interviewing Adrian Toy, Head of Marketing for Puma in Asia. Puma has been running some very creative campaigns using social media, under the theme "Here's to the after hours athlete" so Adrian will share his learnings using social media to engage consumers across various Asian countries. Visit Puma Social's website, Facebook, Renren and Sina Weibo.



As per usual, there's a HK$100 entrance fee, which includes one complimentary drink, an enlightening talk, high-quality networking and the chance to win lucky draw prizes.

Our lovely assistant, Vivian, will issue a receipt if you need one. (For students, you can get in for HK$50 without free booze). Thereafter, all standard drinks will be charged at special happy hour prices.

For more on Social Media Week, visit Hong Kong website and follow the Twitter hashtag, #smwhk.

Please do spread the word, as we aim to break last year's record of over 300 guests!

Web Wednesday Podcasts

Over the past four years, I've recorded almost every Web Wednesday interview. They were originally posted to Odeo, which consequently went bust and I lost many of the original recordings! You might recall that the founder of Odeo was Evan Williams, who has now hit the big time with Twitter. But, as they say in Silicon Valley, you need to fail twice before you can truly succeed. Read on GigaOm to Evan explain what he did wrong and the lessons her learned from "screwing up with Odeo".

I've also learned some lessons from Odeo, number one being to keep a copy of every file on my own, removable hard drive. I've also found a great new service for hosting podcasts (and music), "SoundCloud". There is a backlog of over 30 interviews waiting to be uploaded, but here are three for you to enjoy first:

Inside Hong Kong's Mobile Apps Environment

One of my favourite things about running Web Wednesday is the amazingly wide range of people that I get to meet, not just on the stage but also in the audience. Off the back of our last social mixer in 2011, "Battle of the Apps II", I had the pleasure of meeting up with Douglas Crets, who seems to have a plum job flying around the world interviewing leading digerati for Re-wired and Fast Company. He also sits on the advisory board of Klout - I wonder what that job entails? (Do tell us, Doug!). Listen to his interviews on BlogTalkRadio and follow him on Twitter (@douglascrets) and the Re-Wired blog.

Unlike my Web Wednesday interviews, this time Doug turned his microphone on me to ask my thoughts on the latest developments in mobile entrepreneurship in Asia. Yes, it is far too big a subject to cover in a 25-minute interview but we made a good job of it. Listen to the interview below and read his blog post here. Thanks, Doug. I enjoyed it.