Color changing clothes as a form of new media

Part of the work that my research on Huggy Pajama system involves is the changing of color on clothes. The idea is that the wearable clothes can be used as a form of new media, and become an information display / exchange interface. Color changing can also convey a more emotional feedback to whoever is viewing it, and be a form of emotional expression interface.

The video below shows the current prototype of color changing based on thermal heating and cooling control system.

dissappointment

Another year's chance has passed, and another opportunity gone. I was working hard on a paper for my research project to be submitted to CHI 2009. It's the top conference for the area of my work. So this time around, we worked with a psychologist to design an experiment grounded in psychological theories.

However, the reviews received are not promising. Though the actual paper acceptance results are not out till early December, it is as good as NIL chance now. Not that the topic of the paper was not interesting, in fact the reviewers find the topic "lovely!". Alas, it is , in my opinion a matter of presentation and clarity. We did not make clear certain accepted standards taken from psychology to be presented to the HCI community. And this has caused confusion and lack of understanding on the design of the experiment.

well, certainly an acceptance into this conference would go a long way in supporting the case for my Phd thesis topic. Without it, it means i have to work harder in the coming year to try out for next year's conference. Any way, i have not given up and the lessons learned this time around will be used wisely.

F1 in Singapore!

It's the weekend of the Formula One race in Singapore, and i'm all excited about it. After watching the races for many years on TV, since 1998, this will be my first time attending the actual race!

So last night i was at the practice session, and the sound was just blasting. The engines sound like jet planes on roads! I think it's akin to 10 times the volume in a dance club. It's impossible your heart beat will stay normal, even just listening to the sound of the mega machines.

One thing that i immediately noticed, the teams with the 2 best cars, Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes, the sound of their engines is like music to any fan's ears. The Honda cars has an amazingly loud sound, which is very bothering. But sitting at the Bay Grandstand area, even though the speed of the cars are slowed considerably in this section due to the sharp turns, i couldn't take a good picture with the phone's camera. The only thing i caught is the shadowy trail of the cars.

i will upload pictures from this with a better camera from tonight's qualifying session. till then, got to go!

Siggraph 08 demo reported in Sing Tao Daily Los Angeles

A couple of weeks back, during the week of 10th August, I was in Los Angeles showing a demo of a programming interface and methodology for robots using touch. This is a project in collaboration with NEC in Japan and was developed on top of their robotic platform, PaPeRo.

News link here: http://www.singtao.com/oversea/0813ao42.html


Mr Peter Ye from Sing Tao daily was at Siggraph, and interviewed me on the project that i was showing. According to him, Sing Tao Daily is the largest Chinese newspaper in North America with 3 major offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. With its headquarters base in Hong Kong, Sing Tao Daily has an extensive global network. They have offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Europe and Australia.

Well, not bad, i think :) At least Chinese people living abroad get to know about this project, and hopefully be inspired to do research in similar field.
Anyway, thank you Peter!

Also, a picture he took of me with PaPeRo-san.

By the way, i will give a more detailed account of what happened in the Siggraph 08 conference, and more pictures!

Invited for Youth Cultural Technology Forum in KAIST, Korea

I am invited for the prestigious Young Investigators' Forum on Culture Technology (YCT) this year (http://ct.kaist.ac.kr/yct2008/). The Forum is going to be held in Daejoen, South Korea, from Aug 22th to 23th, 2008. YCT is a highly interactive and intensive workshop for discussing the future of Culture Technology, a term proposed by Professor Kwang-yun Wohn, the Dean of the Graduate School of Culture Technology(GSCT) at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST). 'Culture Technology' covers a wide range of research fields on digital media and related technologies, interaction, design and theory, which are gaining importance in every corner of our surroundings and culture. As a unique and one of a kind workshop that invites advanced graduate students around the world, the YCT aims to facilitate discussion on Culture Technology among young researchers. The program includes a keynote speech, a tour of the seven different labs at GSCT, presentations on Culture Technology by the participants, discussions, excursions, and opportunities to share ideas in an international atmosphere.

Only a dozen of graduate students from all around the world who have insightful and instigating topics to bring to serious discussion were selected. These participants came from different parts of the world, comprising of Australia, China, Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom and U.S.A. The forum fully sponsored the travel expenses and accommodations for all the participants.

The best thing is the flights are fully paid and they give you allowance too!

Appearance in My Paper (Chinese Singapore paper)

Today's My Paper has shown a report about the recent Keio - NUS initiative to set up a research center in Singapore. The research center will be called CUTE which stands for Connective Ubiquitous Technology for Embodiments, and is initiated by the PhD supervisor Prof Adrian Cheok.

Interestingly, a picture of me showing my previous research project, Poultry Internet was selected as one of the projects highlighted in the report! That was more than 2 years ago.

But still, what a moment that a student like me can be proud of :D

about designers

has it been one month already since the last post? oh my, time passes by so quickly here in Singapore.

i hope i will get back the "mojo" to start blogging frequently again.

anyway, here is something interesting to be said about designers:

The designer is someone who is able to generate creative designs but not able to, or at least not interested in, explaining how they came about. - Daniel Fallman

I guess this rings a bell in me, especially since i am science and engineering-trained. my mind is trained to deduce and think in a rational and logical manner. Even my "wild ideas" seem perfectly grown out of a logical deduction of some established principles or widely observed behaviors.

Notice the way we read or write? it is from a sequential left-to-right or top-to-bottom pattern. Things appear in order. But somehow we know (or rather assume) that creativity stems from the disorderliness of how things normally appear. Pushing the boundary, to put it another way. Or to think out of the box.

So which is human better at? To "design" or to perform in an orderly manner?

Back to reality

It has been almost a month since I came back to Singapore from Japan. There are too many things to get up to speed with, especially research work, moving place and thinking about my next direction in life.

It is rather complicated in my research work. Here I am doing research in an area which is cutting edge in terms of innovation and creativity, yet the work is not really appreciated in the department which I am in, which is electrical and computer engineering. As someone in a position of authority puts it, research work to be done in ECE department has to fall under one of the courses taught by this department. In a way, what is considered good research should follow strictly to the definition of the department. Our research work has been televised on National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Good Morning America to name a few. And yet, it is not considered good research for the electrical and engineering department because it doesn't fall under one of the courses taught by the department. If science started out by having very restrictive definition of what each area is, for example, there is no mixing between science of the electric and science of biology, we will never reach this day when we have areas like bio-technology or even life sciences. I am starting to have doubts about the quality of a university like the one I am in, and whether , given 1000 years, will they ever be able to produce nobel prize winners if this mentality persists.

On another note, I have been away from Singapore since July last year, not a long time by any yardstick, but living abroad enables me to experience life away from Singapore. I certainly miss the way of life abroad. It is not so much a comparison of materialistic standards, like what I can get abroad but could not get here. Sometimes it is just the way the society as a whole perceive life. We all know now the vicious cycle of this modern lifestyle, where one works hard, parties harder (i.e. increased spending), then needs to work even harder. This seems to be more pronounced than ever when you compare the lifestyle in Singapore to that of other countries like Japan and the US (of course with exceptions to certain places like Wall street, where the lifestyle is being idolized by most young, freshly graduated people in Singapore). Perhaps it is because as a whole, Singapore is a city-state, with a high concentration of people all living within the town and central business district. Dressing up, going to places where one aught to be seen at, looking 'high class' (or elitist, or 'atas') seems to be the ultimate aim in life, at least for the younger generation of people. Of course I wouldn't deny such a situation exists in any developed or developing country, but perhaps it is not so pronounced because we still see that most people appreciate the simpler things in life. For example, going to a scenic place on the weekend of appreciate the natural beauty, or having a picnic with friends by the beach. (Talking about beach, I think Sentosa is almost falling out of the category of being a beach anymore...)

No wonder then that more and more of the population who can afford it goes for weekend getaway trip to some other countries. In the pursuit of development and economic prosperity, has Singapore been transformed into a "work only" place where any form of relaxation, peace and tranquility has to be obtained elsewhere?

well, that is not to say that I don't appreciate or is against economic prosperity. I think it is a natural, easy way for people to put their focus on gaining something. Some people aim for spiritual enlightenment, some for love, some for family, etc. It is good that people should have some aim or focus in their lives. Let's just hope that we do not lose our soul in the pursuit of our aims in life.

End of stay in Japan

My internship in NEC is coming to an end soon. I have mixed feelings now that I am going back to Singapore. Two months ago, i cannot wait to get back to Singapore, but somehow these past 2 months, i have explored many places and discovered the many facets of the Japanese culture and life. It is certainly very interesting (とてもおもしろい）.

I made some very good acquaintances here in Japan. ちばくん (Chiba)、しめくん(Shime)、ささまくん(Sasama)　and あきひこさん (Akihiko) are some of the nicest and closest colleagues I have. Fellow intern, Thomas Perrin has been a very close friend also, as 2 lonely people who live nearby will naturally be when they are in a foreign country. The secretary in the lab where I work, しまだ (Shimada) has also been a very nice person who helped me a lot. For example, when we need to call a restaurant to reserve table for dinner, or to call the post office about receiving a parcel, etc... Shimada-san has also been a very entertaining person in the office, providing nice conversation during tea breaks. These are people who will make me miss Japan.

Also, food is another big pull factor for me. The food in Japan is simply unique and tasty. How can you possibly make raw food more tasty than cooked food? Maguro don mixed with ikura is one of my favourite. Also, of course the Kansai specialty like Yakitori, Okonomiyaki, Kobe gyu (teppanyaki style) are other food which i also find extremely tasty and interesting. There are many more Japanese food that I would like to try but have not a chance to. Raw fugu (poison fish) is one of them.

One of the best things that I like to do during my free time here is to explore the scenic places which are so abundant in Japan. It seems like the government has so well planned that every area has at least 1 scenic places so that Japanese can visit these places every other weekend. Well, that is actually not a logical explanation as most of these places exist since a long time ago. I had the opportunity to live in Japan during the amazing Autumn time, the cold winter and now, also a little bit of Spring, which has kind of a crazy weather (in one day, the temperature can be between 9 deg Celcius to 20 deg Celcius). Different seasons give a different view and feel to different places. Take Kyoto, which is a very popular tourists destination. Each season, the view is equally amazing, but you get different experience. I am worried what will I do now on my weekends in Singapore?

I had this wonderful opportunity to live in Japan, and to work in NEC which is such a well known company throughout the world. Moments that I spent here will forever be cherished and it will also mark a very unique time of my lifetime. Somehow during this time in Japan, I learned to manage my relationship better and this has serve to benefit my personal relationship with my family and girlfriend.

Thank you Japan, ありがとうございました！

The Tibetan Problem... Not!

i was just having this conversation on the same topic with Thomas yesterday, because Parisians were causing some problems during the olympic relay torch.

i told him that i think this big drama is not due to China. It is due to the media playing up what will help them sell newspapers and advertisements, and politicians taking opportunities of this situation to make them look like heroes / angels.

i don't know exactly what is going on in Tibet because i have never been there. But more and more i am feeling that yes, granted China's human rights record is not perfect (the most famous incident being the riot at Tiananment), but which developed country has been perfect? Even for the US there are so many covert operations going on behind the scenes that are not known to the world. They can even kill their own president (JFK). Somehow, the bad thing about China is not about its record, it is the incapability of doing things quietly (something US is very good at, like targeting its own citizens in the name of national security). So because of this, China becomes the perfect victim for the brutal political play of many parties, be it NGOs, governments, etc. Of course I do not think that the Chinese government are not smart. In fact I believe they have a good grasp of what other nations perceive of it. But China being such a big country, internal political control is always more urgent than managing external political perception.

So there is a big hoohah about the Olympics now. Some parties are threatening boycott, even pressuring the US president to boycott the Olympics in China. Why is this situation played up so vividly when China is the host? The olypics has nothing to do at all with the Tibet situation. The Tibetians have lived like that long before China is awarded the hosting of the olympics. Yet, the timing of this situation made me feel the Dalai Lama is making use of this situation for his own political gains. Obviously, the Olympic hosting committee has considered this issue, and China's past record before awarding it the Olympics, and obviously, they have agreed there are more pros than cons in China being the host. So i really don't think it is out of coincidence that this has to happen now. Someone (many parties, even) are making the most of the situation for their own sake, not in the name of peace or justice. True peace is not achieved by rioting.

On the other hand though, i feel empathy for the billions of China's population. How the world thinks of Chinese people today i believe is not the fault of the normal citizen. I would say that the decisions of the Government has shaped how the world thinks of it. Yet, in my opinion, we cannot say that the decisions made by the government is wrong. I believe that in a country as large and with as many population as China, you need a strong , even authoritarian government to control things. I am Chinese myself, even though I have never lived in China, i want to feel proud of being Chinese. History shows Chinese as being the most advanced in science and technology, in government and political structure, etc. How we lost all these status in the world, i cannot yet comprehend (i always think that it is because Chinese, in nature, have a more self-centered nature, pursuing their own short-term gains). So perhaps the Communist system is a necessity for self-centered Chinese people.

So with the current events happening, it is easy to feel discriminated against if you are chinese. My opinion though, is not to be too concerned about what other people think about this incident, if all their thoughts are shaped only by reading mainstream media without doing their own research. We cannot doubt that the media has become a very powerful tool in shaping and launching propaganda around the world.

The world is just a big stage, and there are many actors on this stage, all contributing to the drama that unfolds. We can be passionate, but we must stay calm in order to look past the insignificant noise to see the real cause or root of any problems/events. If we allow ourselves to be drawn into the arguments and fights, it will be a vicious cycle. We need to stand back, and be able to look at the stage as an audience in order to analyse what goes on on the stage. Well, I am sure you can do something about this. Having a positive and clear thinking of the situation and not allow yourself to feel discriminated is a good start. I realise i have been following this principle lately, "There are always 2 or more sides to the story. Humans, being opportunist in nature, will naturally take side that benefit them. Always have the clear picture in mind, and balance your views".

what is the common 'language'?

Language is created by mankind as a tool for communication. When we communicate, our aim is to share or pass certain information to another person. Passing information is only one side of the story. In order to communicate effectively, the information shared needs to be understood by its intended audience.

Herewith exist the problems that have consumed mankind since eons ago. In parent-baby relationship, we often hear the term 'baby talk', which is a method of communication where parents talk to their child using self-created language which is unintelligible to outsiders not within the circle of parent-child bonding. Somehow, even though no one taught us how to talk in baby language, we tend to feel like 'yes, the baby understands me better if i talk this way'. I would term this, communication of the intended mind or heart. It involves not only voice, but also a lot of arms and body movements to catch the attention of the baby, as babies are attracted by big movements. Somehow, even though there is no common language devised for parent-baby communication, humans have gotten along fine in this aspect.

The problem in communicating, ironically, seems more apparent in relationships between grownups. When young child grows up to become a teenager, oftentimes parents have a hard time communicating with their child. The reason for this is beyond the scope of this writing. My question is, if there truly is a great desire for both sides to communicate, or to be understood, why would this stage be more difficult than when the child is a baby? The young teenager would already have mastered at least 1 spoken language, and it 'should' therefore make communication simpler. However, we know this is not the case. Perhaps it is because we have simply failed to desire for the other person to understand us. We take things for granted, that they have now learned spoken language and would therefore understand every word we say. Such a common scenario illustrates the double edged sword that language can be, powerful yet destructive if not properly understood.

Similarly, in relationship between man and woman, boy and girl, problems in communication often wreck havoc even after some perfectly nice time. It is said that Men are from Mars and women from Venus. Perhaps it is true that the way men and women think can never be the same, or they can never look at the same thing from an identical perspective. When an argument arises, both sides would want the other to listen to what they have to say. But is listening enough? Or is the spoken language a tool powerful enough to be the common platform for understanding two different mindset?

Perhaps the most powerful language of all goes back to when we are babies. We communicate with joy and laughter when we are happy, we cry when we are sad or in pain or hunger, we show extreme curiosity when we see something new, we sleep when we are tired. We speak no words besides the occasional "ee, oo, aah, ..." but everyone around us seems to understand us and love us. (of course there is a possibility of adults being higher in tolerance towards little cute babies) Perhaps, spoken language adds confusion because of its complexity. The gestures and language we used when we are babies are simple, few and commonly understood.

So what would be the common language between men and women? Perhaps the common language is not even a spoken language. Think about the power of hug. Sometimes when words cannot mend a breakdown in communication, a nice warm hug can be the solution. We understand what a hug is, and we can sense the sincerity of a hug. It is an intimate form of communication, yet not too intimate to be used in the public if the need arises. Whether we are from Africa, America, Europe or Asia, we understand the intention of a hug, and also we know the other person will understand us. That is the true common language.

Reminiscing the little kitty moments

Once upon a time...

The picture that cheated our hearts! Seeing how cute, adorable and harmless she is, this little kitty that a friend's cat gave birth to won our hearts instantly. Don't you just want to hug that little kitty?



This cute little kitty is finally called Twinkle by the new caregivers. For the first few days after she arrived at her new home, she slept a lot. Either she's too tired or she is still a little baby needing 18 hours of sleep a day :)




And finally when she woke up, she was just in a playful mood, yet not entirely accustomed to her surroundings, she just rolled on the sofa.



Ok I got a little playful with Twinkle, and did these. Knowing her curiosity, i purposely left a gaping hole leading into the plastic bag, and Twinkle did what she always does, slowly finding her way into the bag. And my fingers could not resist the temptation to tie a knot on the bag and left a hole only big enough for her head to pop out... Doesn't she look like the wolf in little red riding hood? Only much cuter hehe...

Doesn't Twinkle look like some hiphop nigga with those oversized Fila socks? yo, yo! wazzup! haha... Ok, please don't call SPCA.. it's just some moments of fun and laughter :D

Mexican Dinner Night

Here are some pictures to an evening of dinner filled with joy and laughter at a Mexican restaurant in Osaka. After Japanese class one evening, we decided to go to town for dinner.

Mango Margarita!~!

Lime Margarita!~!

Cecilia, a friend from Japanese class

The bottles of hot sauce are really super, duper hot.
They're called "Sudden Death" and "After Death"

For a French guy who is not used to spicy food, it is a great achievement for Thomas.

Gupta, a colleague in NEC and Thomas

new place

Despite only extending my internship period for about 3 weeks, I have to move to a new place (which fortunately is quite near to the old place). Initially I thought this doesn't make sense, as another intern student (my good friend Thomas) is staying put at his same place with an extension of more than 2 months. So why can't a 3 weeks extension be allowed to stay put as well?

Today, the answer surfaced. Apparently, there has been a mistake! :D The manager in charge of booking our new place confused me with Thomas! Well, I wasn't angry or anything, in fact i felt the situation was kinda funny :) So actually, Thomas has to pack within a day and move to the new place because he also only got to know today. Since I have already packed all my belongings, I offered for him to move to my old place , which is separated by 1 room in between. This would certainly be much more convenient, despite I having to move to a new place which is strategically less convenient than the previous place. But the solution is obvious. If I were to be selfish, it would highly inconvenient both parties, the manager in charge and also Thomas.

So we went according to the original *wrong* plan and save everyone the trouble. Well I can't say that I have a bad deal, at least I have a new , clean room, and poor Thomas has to live in my old room and take care of my dirt and dust... sorry!

In the bigger picture, I thought I am already quite fortunate to be living in this location, which is nearer to town. The new interns would have to move in to another far away place, which is nearer to the Office, but far away from town. I like this place and am thankful to be living here. It will be another 1 month and 10 days to go from now before I leave Japan, and I plan to cherish every minute of it.

It's all about the "feel good" factor

Did you remember what transpired since the 2nd half of 2006 and for 3 quarters last year? Stock markets around the world rallied like there is no tomorrow, with pundits all agreeing that the benchmark would go higher and higher. In countries like China (including Hong Kong) and even the whole of South East Asia, places like Singapore and Malaysia, investors (mere speculators perhaps?) have sky high confidence. You hear many people getting into the 'hot' jobs in the financial sector or real estate. There is money to be made all around, and nothing can seem to go wrong as the tide of big investment funds poured in.

Fast forward to now, as I write this entry, there is pessimism everywhere. It all started with the housing credit problem in the US, and suddenly it seems that all the banks or big financial institutions in the US made the wrong bet at the same time! As one company announced its huge losses, it started off a domino effect that seems to get the ball rolling, revealing more and heavier losses. Perhaps that is what the whole idea of the free market system is about. When confidence is high and no one is looking or asking questions, do whatever it takes to make money out of money. Banks lend each other money, and they lend to any consumers that would walk into a bank, even those without good credit rating. And perhaps the going is so good that, there isn't a need to hedge their bets in something else. Or maybe they are even putting most eggs in one basket (ok this last point doesn't seem possible). But did you see what happened to Bear Stearns? How can a big financial company, worth 20 plus dollars per share on the stock market, turn into a $2 per share company overnight? There is no other explanation besides making a bet larger than they can bear, and making that bet all in the same direction.

So the Fed Reserve is doing all that seems possible, even with some new creative ideas, to try to shore up confidence and stop the slide. But it seems like when confidence is low, whatever ideas and however good they may be, comes to naught.

Take a look now at the local Singapore market. I have been looking at the HK and Singapore market for a couple of years now, and can make the conclusion that investors in these 2 countries are highly sensitive to new information. At a glimpse of any bad or remotely bad sounding news, the people scramble for cover and sends the market tumbling. So right now, both markets, due to the bad news coming out of US are many times oversold. Whatever valuations companies have, doesn't matter anymore. It is funny, because you would think that due to globalization, economies would try to divest and not rely too much on the US as their main dependant economy. I would think that Singapore, and other countries in south east asia can now depend on the rising dragon of China and India. But what happen is that, people in these countries still get cold feet when the big brother sneezes.

And so now you see, the property market in Singapore is starting to slow down. Just a few months back, people are queuing up at every new property launch, and most units are sold within the first day itself. I am not sure if so many people actually have the money to own (the more expensive) condos compared to public housing apartments. Perhaps they are taking big loans in view of the ever ascending stock market (at that time). So would there be a credit crunch here in Singapore too? If it does happen, I would just turn on the loud speaker and laugh at all the financially unsavvy people out there who tends to follow the crowd. Ha ha!

World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders 2008

Wow, am I impressed, (though not surprised given his over achieving nature) my Phd supervisor cum mentor Professor Adrian David Cheok has been selected by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as one of the young global leaders for 2008. link

Some interesting notes from the site:

This honour is bestowed each year by the World Economic Forum to recognize and acknowledge the top 200-300 young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.

The current community of Young Global Leaders represents over 60 countries and includes Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Co-Founders of Google, USA; Crown Prince Haakon of Norway; Malvinder M. Singh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Ranbaxy Laboratories, India; Hiroshi Nakada, Mayor of Yokohama, Japan; Nicky Newton-King, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, JSE, South Africa; Carlos Danel, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Banco Compartamos, Mexico; and Jack Ma Yun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Alibaba Group, People's Republic of China.

It is our belief that this community of committed individuals can actually change the status quo. They are not only a preview of what effective, collaborative leadership in the 21st century might look like, they are actually putting it into practice today.

I feel honored to be learning from a visionary and passionate person like Dr Adrian. Hopefully, I might walk down the same path one fine day.

Like bees to honey

It is interesting that even in this era where democracy rules, people clamour for those in power. They can be on one side of the fence one day, and somehow magically teleported to the other side of the fence the next day. One case in point is the recent elections in Malaysia.

Long has it been known that most mainstream media are outrightly pro-government (the Barisan Nasional government to be precise). Newspapers that one can buy from the stands seldom give positive coverage to the opposition parties, let alone show their pictures. The media publicity glitz is all focused on only the government people, the PM being the biggest attraction.

And then, the unthinkable happened. Suddenly, mainstream newspapers started showing a more neutral and balanced reporting after the elections where the opposition coalition swept through most major west coast states. An opposition figurehead who was just a few days ago vilified, is now reported as leading the coalition to implement positive changes to the state administration.

It seems like people give in to those in power. When the oppositions are not in power, nothing they do or say can ever be correct. Given the issues that politicians talk about which are subjective in nature and depends on which side of the fence you are sitting, it is sometimes amazing that journalists can report on an issue like the answer is a dead given and that the other answer simply does not hold any water.

So even though we consider ourselves living in a modern era, the nature of humans who submit to those in power, subscribing to the fittest survive principle, still very much influences the way we think and behave.

Au revoir Japan?

How time flies. It is almost mid-March now, and by the end of April, i would have to say goodbye to the land of the Rising Sun. (I always thought that Japan is the first country to start a new day, but I soon found out that Australia is 2 hours ahead of Japan. A check on the Internet shows that Tonga is the first country to cross to a new day)

I have been working relentlessly in Japan and had fun doing it too, thanks to the opportunity given by NEC's C&C research lab in Ikoma, Nara. I started back in October 2007, and until now i have managed 2 big milestones, a small project demo at the end of last year, and a Siggraph submission from early January to the end of February. And during this time, i had to balance the day job at NEC with night job at home working on research back in Singapore. It was tiring (still is) but I keep saying to myself, the time is now to achieve a personal breakthrough in terms of my infant research career. There was some really satisfying results, my research team in Singapore, my supervisor Professor and I (through many hours of coordinated work and Skype meetings) manage to produce our first full paper for Huggy Pajama project which was accepted to this year's Interaction Design and Children conference in Chicago which will happen in June. This was certainly not a piece of cake, as I took 2 full weekends off, besides working every night till late, sleeping at 3 am and waking up at 7 am for 2 weeks. Ok I admit, i am not like some people who can do with 4 hours of sleep a night. Apparently, Donald Trump claimed that he lives like that, with 4 hours of sleep a night, in order to stay competitive. Well, competitive to the point of jeopardizing one's health for wealth is certainly not worth it. Ok, that explains why he is a rich bastard and I am still here slogging for peanut paycheck. Well, as I always insisted to anyone who asked, I am in the pursuit of knowledge business, not (yet) the pursuit of wealth.

My internship in NEC has taught me a few things about the work culture and also the people culture here. At first, the 'way' ideas and opinions are communicated are not obvious and direct. I guess Japanese people have a preference to communicate ideas and feedback in a more indirect manner. This may seem frustrating at first, especially for some one used to the more open manner which we communicate in Singapore. However, i have grown to respect this way of communication, as I think it reflects a more civilized manners. Another point which i have observed is the huge amount of respect and commitment one has for the institution of the company and therefore one's boss. I learnt that when you work, you work as a team, and contribute your time fully to ensure the success of your team. It is not so apparent in my research lab, as the head of my lab, Dr Keiji Yamada implements a very open and non-traditional research environment. However, in other labs, i have heard that company comes first, even ahead of the family. This is not to say that it is a bad thing, perhaps it is this characteristics of Japanese companies that today we are able to see so many creative and high quality products from Japan. I do not work here long enough to be able to pinpoint the pros and cons of this characteristics, however my gut feeling is that if I am the boss of the company, I would be very happy if my employees have such mindset.

Even though, traditionally, one might think that in Japanese companies, bosses or managers manage their team in a top-down approach, it was surprising to learn that American or Western managers typically has more power than a manager in a Japanese company. In Japan, it is still very much a one-company-a-lifetime policy for both employers and employees alike, though i heard that this is starting to change. When a company hires a new employee, he or she is like part of the big family, and the company will provide training and learning to equip the new family member with ever improving skills or knowledge. A manager here do not actually have the power or rather it is not in the culture to lay off employees, no matter how bad or how lazy they are. So managers have a big challenge managing and motivating their team to produce the results they want. I am very impressed at how Japanese companies and the Japanese economy as a whole are able to be at their position as the second largest economy in the world, despite not having the power to layoff workers. Perhaps, as we know of Japanese people being creative, the managers have equally creative methods of managing and inspiring their subordinates.

One thing that i will definitely miss when I leave Japan is the food. Food in Japan is not flamboyant nor exotic, but it is simply fabulous. As with all Japanese made products, quality is always emphasized, so you get the best in quality no matter what the price of the meal. Perhaps one day, I might come back to Japan again, if only to satisfy my taste buds.

Winds of change indeed... what next now?

After all has been said and done, the winds of change did happen indeed. and it was not only a wind, it was a typhoon. The political landscape in Malaysia will be witnessing major structural changes and the growing force of the opposition cannot be dismissed. The onus is now on the opposition who controls 5 states (3 major ones i.e. Penang, Perak and Selangor) to prove that they can walk the talk.

Back in 2004, the electorate gave PM Abdullah's government an unprecedented 92% of total votes casted. That was more than a landslide by any yardstick. It threatened to pummel the oppositions into oblivion, and history to remember them as once having a presence in Malaysia.

But what a (rather expected but still surprising) turnaround! Malaysia is a young country, where voters are generally satisfied with the growth achieved for the past 50 years, and people attributed the achievement to the incumbent coalition government. Status quo has remained the same despite a few attempts by the opposition to galvanize the voters to make the change. In the year 1995, there were huge crowds at opposition-held rallies, but that failed to translate into real votes. In fact, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) almost got a complete wipe-out led by their leader Mr Lim Kit Siang. The strongest challenge in recent times happened in the year 1999, when the popular and charismatic , then deputy PM Mr Anwar Ibrahim, was sacked and jailed rather abruptly. It was Dr Mahathir's final election as the PM, and he got through amidst a significant reduction in majorities of votes casted.

What has happened now? Never before has the opposition controlled states like Perak and Selangor. Penang was once under the then opposition Gerakan founded by Dr Lim Chong Eu, but it later joined the BN coalition. Suddenly, not only constituencies, but states are beginning to fall like nine-pins to the opposition's lose coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS. Where and how did the voters find the courage to sacrifice the period of stability and status quo to bring in the new voices, would need serious post-election analysis. This year will go down as one which is very significant for the political landscape in Malaysia. If the opposition controlled states would see important changes from the past government and bring the desired justice and eliminate corruption, we might see the opposition even taking over the federal level government as well! We would then see a country with 2 major parties, National Front and People's Front Party. But only if the opposition do not each pursue their own agenda, and are willing to be tolerant and work towards a common ideology.

Some interesting post election changes has already been seen. In the state of Perak, where the majority of seats are won by DAP, the opposition has surprisingly got together quickly and elected a chief minister from the Islamic PAS party. It is indeed a great chance for PAS to prove that they are no longer the conservative, extremist party, but one which is tolerant and can bring benefits to other races. Personally, I am sceptical. Perhaps the people had enough of what they perceive as a lack of fairness and justice in Malaysia. It is a strong rebuke to the Government coalition.

What will the federal government do now? Will PM Abdullah, who is seen as weak, make way for his deputy Najib Tun Razak? Or will we see the strong arms tactic that will stifle democracy after this unexpected upset in the elections? Interesting 4 years ahead for Malaysia.

Will the wind of change turn into actual votes?

I was having a discussion a couple of days ago with a fellow Malaysian, who is a law student in UCLA. It seems rather interesting that while US is thousands of miles away from Malaysia, both are witnessing an exciting year due to the election process taking place.

In the US, there is more euphoria than ever being generated by two Democratic party candidates, Mr Obama and Ms Clinton. Usually, at least in the past 2 presidential elections, the excitement on the ground is always on the formidable Republican party and their election machinery. Queues would form at their voting grounds. What is happening today is the opposite. There are also reports saying that registered republican supporters are joining in the fun at the Democratic primaries as well!

It is certainly good, even for the citizens of other countries, to see this happening in the US. We are (apart from the US people) just simply sick and tired of the current administration, the way they handled the war in Iraq and their constant unwavering and totally convicted support of their ally, Israel. I mean, what has China or Russia done that deserve you to label them as threats when Israel kills their neighbors all the time? Well, of course we cannot make presumptions that the President-to-be will have a different stand. But we are all hopeful (desperately? ) that things will change, and the sole superpower will demonstrate more sensitivity and humility in the face of other nations.

So we have seen that there is talk about a strong winds-of-change brought about by the Obama camp. It is of course too early to judge whether Obama will walk the talk or simply just talk the talk. While Clinton has proven that she has the experience and the backing to be the president, we cannot but doubt her sincerity to bring about a change in the attitude of the US and to provide a good, clean, uncorrupted leadership to the US. While I do not think that President Bush is a bad person, i believe he had his hands tied down by factions from the money generating oil companies or whichever other money-motivated cronies the family might have. Obama brings about a freshness and a willingness to depart from the way things have been for a long time in the white house. So, we go on to hope, with his ideals.

In parallel, there is the election which is about to happen in Malaysia tomorrow (Mar 8th) and the talk is that many parliamentary seats (or even states) will go to the Opposition party. This is judged by the huge amount of crowds turning up at Opposition-held ceramah or speeches, while the Govt held events only attract a proportionally much smaller crowd. And the opposition leaders are riding on the events happening in the US to galvanize the Malaysian electorate that the wind of change is blowing here too. Exactly what practical changes that they can bring for the benefit of the people, we do not yet know. One thing is for certain, the rhetorics have been coming, fast and furious, and the people have been entertained by them. So, the post-election analysis, we will get to know whether the people are buying it, or this is simply another flash in the pan.

In my opinion (which may not be so accurate given that i have not been on the ground, been living in Malaysia permanently for the past 9 years), i feel that seats will go to opposition not because of their strengths but because of the infighting in the government party and also general unhappiness over the leadership provided by the current Prime Minister. We are ashamed and jaded by all the constant out-in-the-open bickering and fall out among ministers and politicians who hold prominent positions in the government. But can the opposition offer a real alternative? I am quietly hopeful they will gain more force in parliament, and not to become an insignificant part of the Malaysian political system, like in neighboring Singapore.

So as we hold our breath, awaiting the outcome of the elections, we can only pray that something good will turn out in the end... same for the US presidential elections.

How my research interest started

When I was in my teenage years, even while awaiting entry to the university, I have never had the slightest impression that I would become interested in the research field, let alone becoming a researcher. As was the rage during the late nineties, aspiring teenagers wanted to become dotcom entrepreneurs and I was one of them.

However, my aims and aspirations changed when I got my first taste of the research field. I was quite a good student up to my university years, judged by my academic and extra curricular results. However, something went amiss as I started my term in university. I simply could not find my footing. That was until the end of my third year, when students typically had their internships during the vacations. I was accepted as a research intern in the Mixed Reality Lab, and my view of research changed forever.

Life used to be about graduating with exemplary academic results and extra curricular activities from school, and landing that job which puts one on the fast track to success, or so the teenager perceives. However, being a researcher made me realize that the pursue of knowledge and the invention of new things can and do lead to a huge amount of satisfaction. The best thing that I derive from research is the opportunity to work with bright and brilliant minds from all walks of life. Even in the small community of my lab, there are researchers from many different countries and exhibit different thinking and personality. These different perspectives enabled me to expand my views and thinkings, and gave me the courage to believe in my own ability to pursue research.

In the beginning, I did not think that I would have the ability nor the intellect to be in this field. However, I was fortunate to have stumbled across the works of my current supervisor, Prof. Adrian David Cheok. After going through all the research works that he was working on, I gained interest. For me, it was his vision on research that finally convinced me that I had passion for research. Eventually, I developed the belief that this is what I like and this is what I can do. I learned that, as in every big obstacles in life, breaking things down into smaller parts and solving problems in incremental steps are very important methods in research. Most importantly, I realized I have the patience and perseverance for research as well.

Currently, my research interests lies in helping people to communicate, specifically people in remote locations. Current voice, textual and video communication tools have served us well in enabling remote persons to exchange information, be it work or private matters. However, such remote communication tools certainly lack the physical interaction present in daily person to person communication. In addition, current communication methods are sometimes inadequate for us to express our intended mind or feelings. Shapes, icons and color all play a part in giving expressions to the mundane messages being communicated day in and day out. I hope to find the effective communication tools and methods for the busy people of today to help them enhance their relationships with loved ones.

Fooled by Randomness

Recently, I read a very interesting book about probabilities (actually quite a comprehensive treatise on probabilistic applications on the real world), and how it applies to our lives, and in the financial market (particularly so). This book is by Nicholas Nassem Taleb.

The interesting point is that, the author goes about illustrating how not only the common people, but specialists and professionals in their jobs would go about making absurd claims which are counter to what statistics and probability could tell us. I suppose this book would be more understandable and readable to the person more in tune with mathematics and computer programming, as most concepts are gathered from here.

However, simple examples are often used to highlight how people make fools of themselves. The author mentions that, journalists are actually entertainers, paid to entertain us with daily doses of insignificant events (or what a signal engineer would consider noise).

One important concept to illustrate of how he thinks traders are foolish. He claims that people are more prone to enjoy making small profits, daily, than to look at the expected profits in the longer term. Traders, or people who buy and sell securities and options, tend to be not open to the idea of losing small but making big. Instead, they multiply the small amount of profit to be made by making big bets. These are what lead to blow ups, situations where people make huge losses which they can no longer tolerate, emotionally and monetarily. It is a given that there are black swan events in the real world, especially so in the financial markets.

What are black swans? Consider this claim, "All swans are white" made by a person after observing say maybe all the different lakes available in the US. Can this claim be 100% true? It definitely cannot be, as what he has not observed does not give a confirmation that the un-observed event or thing is not present. It takes only 1 black swan to negate the claim.

Similarly, people in the financial markets tend to make absurd forecasts on the market based on past data. Can we say that we know everything about the market just by looking at (the maximum) all the historically available data and derive a causality to pinpoint the market direction tomorrow? Furthermore, the author also claims, most of the time, so called financial analysts or economists tend to retrofit explanations unto past data. Well, this is a very serious flaw, as it means anyone can come up with anything that sounds reasonable to the 'conventional thinking' to explain past data. Journalists in particular, who are not trained in these specific fields (like finance, mathematics, medicine, engineering), tend to oversimplify and over assume numbers and results.

Back to the main concept, so the author believes that since there are black swan events in the market (2 examples are the 1997 crisis, and the 9/11 attack), events that cannot be predicted, yet lead to severe market downfall, we should not overestimate our knowledge of the market. And his strategy is to profit from these events.