A series of massive earthquakes hit Japan at 5.45 GMT today, causing widespread devastation in the form of landslides, floods and even a 4-metre high tsunami. If you have family and friends in Japan, and want to keep track of everything that is happening, here are a few ways to do so:
Google’s Person Finder The search giant launched “Person Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake” shortly after the earthquake hit. The Web-based app allows you to look for a person by searching his name, and, should there not be a result, let you create a new record for a missing person. The service is available in both Japanese and English, and should be very handy for those trying to locate a loved one.
Live blogs Many news outlets are live-blogging the catastrophe on the fly, including BBC News, Reuters, and The Guardian. Accompanying the live blogs are interactive maps, videos, and pictures. You can also contribute by submitting information on the unfolding disaster.
YouTube Arabic news network Al-Jazeera is providing live coverage over on their channel.
Twitter Twitter is an excellent place to hear what people on the ground are saying. Virtually all trending topics right now are about the disaster, including #prayforjapan and #tsunami. Searching for “Japan earthquake” on Twitter also yielded numerous results.
If you have any other ways of tracking the earthquake, do share them in the comments below. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people affected by the disaster.
The Internet has been abuzz with Google’s announcement of Buzz, their new social networking platform that they just announced about a day ago.
Of course, Facebook is the king of the hill in the social networking space that Google is going after.
Reams of commentaries and news analysis has been written about this — here are some excellent ones by PC Mag and TechCrunch — so I’m not going to delve into the history and just go straight to the point with my comments.
With Buzz bundled in Gmail natively, my gut feel is that it has a good chance of taking off, especially with the huge Gmail install base. Went to the Buzz website to find out more, but apparently it’s not available for Singapore yet.
Here’s their statement on the site:
We’re still rolling out Buzz to everyone, so if you don’t see it in your Gmail account yet, check back soon.
*Update*: It’s now up for me. That was fast!
That’s about it for the newspoint. The story I really want to write, however, is how Google has been taking over all the tools I’ve been using.
Techgoondu had the chance to be at unConference 2009 held yesterday at the Biopolis, thanks to the kind folks at e27 who had put together an excellent program that brought together some of the top forward-thinkers in the region. Here’s a recap of what I felt were the highlights of the event:
Panel discussion: Innovation in Asia and where is it heading? …
That’s what a new application, now pre-installed on the recently-released Sony Ericsson C510 candy-bar phone, promises.
Shown to a group of media here on Wednesday, it’s offers “zero-click” access to your Facebook pals’ status updates because it shows up on the main screen without you having to go into any menu. It’s Sony Ericsson’s latest attempt to hook up its users to the social media world easily.
What you get is a scrollable list of your pal’s status updates on-screen – and you can click on their faces to interact more. It’s a bit like the live RSS updates on the main phone screen that Sony Ericsson currently offers on some of its phones, which to me, is an excellent tool.
We have groups like The Digital Movement (TDM) and e27 running all kinds of events from Barcamps to Blogouts to Unconferences, with much of the content revolving around social media and start-ups.
Do we really need another social media get-together platform in Singapore?
The folks behind 24seven — bloggers Claudia Lim and Kelvin Lim — think so. And thus Tweet Tuesdays was born.
Interested in free publicity? Techgoondu is organizing a “Meet the Techgoondus” session next month on March 10th (Tuesday) for tech startups in Singapore.
The reason we’re doing this is because start-ups make for great stories but often they don’t get enough notice. Also, it’s a fun way to build a bottom up grassroots tech community in Singapore.
First, a group picture of who we are. Wanted to find a way to tag individuals, like in Facebook, so I used Phlook. For those that have not heard of them, Phlook is a pretty cool Singapore-based social platform start up that allows you to manipulate and share photos.
Use the “notes” function in the sidebar to see the tagging.
A photo of the Techgoondu folks in our last meetup where this idea was hatched. Unfortunately, both Roland and Stephanie are missing.
Call me impressed with blobs meet Facebook concept! Having used the new Facebook Xperia panel briefly last week, I must say this alternative mobile interface for Facebook is one of the best to date. Better than Facebook’s own insipid mobile version.
I don’t have a screenshot to show, but click on this link to see what I mean by blobs. Basically, Xperia X1 owners who have installed this free panel will be greeted by a Facebook home screen where their friends’ thumbnail photos float quiveringly in blobs around you. Click on a blob to read your friend’s latest status. Better yet, viewing inbox messages, updating status and all those other addictive Facebook chores are all neatly and intuitively collated in the panel.
And the best part is of this panel is that it is surprisingly fleetfooted, something which the other Xperia panels are not. It’s free for Xperia owners, who can go download here.
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