Here’s a clip of the technology…

We look forward to seeing this technology used for other languages…

It turns out, I didn’t have to dig too far, Plurk’s blog post kind of say’s it all. TechCrunch, NYT, WSJ and many others have also covered this news.

To put it simply, Plurk, a Canada based micro-blogging service that is very popular in Asia is claiming that Microsoft China has “ripped off” their code, UI and design, for their own MSN Juku micro-blogging service. From the looks of the images representing the UI and the code base it appears to be a blatant copyright violation on Microsoft’s part.

So far, only TechCrunch seem to be reporting a statement made by Microsoft:

“Microsoft takes intellectual property seriously, and we are currently investigating these allegations. It may take some time due to the time zone differences with Beijing.”

It’s a weak statement, and looks like Microsoft is going to have a pretty bad week with this headache. However, I don’t think this is just a standard copyright violation, politics is playing a part here…. especially as Plurk is blocked in China!!.

What do you all say?

It’s often forgotten that a big part of Asia speaks Arabic… the Middle East, is after all is ‘West Asia’ or ‘Near East’.  Arabic language came as the 8^th top language used in the web with over 50 million internet users in the Middle East.  The growing rate in Internet usage in the Middle East is a significant 1,907.9 %

I couldn’t believe when I heard the news about the release of an Adobe AIR desktop application for Arabic users.  I’ve always had problems (like with many Arabic speakers) typing Arabic on platforms/systems that weren’t meant for right-to-left languages, especially when you mix English and Arabic alphabets.  So I finally got my hands on the application and started playing around with it.

To start with, Kzalek works on Windows, Mac and Linux with full Arabic font support.  The application has a very nice and smooth interface with clear icons. It has an option to translate tweets from English to Arabic.  I was surprised by the quality of the translation; the tweets do remain meaningful when translated!   Other cool features include Bit.ly URL shortner, Twitpic for uploading images and sound notification for new tweets and direct messaging.

Kzalek is developed by @keepondev. Click here to watch  explanation of Kzalek.

This is an important step in the growing online social networking market in the Arab world.  I’m sure there will be more surprises heading our way.

Below images show the tweets in Arabic and English (click to enlarge):

Here is the list of startups that presented in the DemoPit, as you’ll see they were not all web startups, some offered innovative cameras, bluetooth headsets and gadgets to remotely control your race cars through the browser! My favorites are iTwin, UserHeat and the PatentBueau… all of which should help increase efficiency and productivity one way or another.

From TC50:
iTwin (Singapore)
LifeMee (Japan)
SealTale (South Korea)
SpySee (Japan)

New Japanese Startups (alphabetically listed):
Adlantis
Ataritsuki
Cerevo Cam
Cognitive Function Balance (from Ledex)
Conit
Fabric Video
HaaLee
Istpika
Jingoo
JokerRacer
Lang-8
LinkThink
MOT
Orihime
Pankaku
Patent Bureau
Pixiv
Photiva
Phroni
RainbowApps
Rigureto
Speeda
Tabereko
UserHeat
Wombit

For a more extensive review on some of the stronger demos… click through to TechCrunch’s review of TokyoCamp.

Friendster has launched virtual gifts and the Friendster Gift Shop in Malaysia, which represents  the first in a series of upcoming products the social network will roll out to better monetise its global user base. The virtual gifts and the Friendster Gift Shop products will use the new Friendster Wallet allowing for its users to buy and send gifts to one another. The gift shop initially launches in Malaysia and will be rolled out within weeks throughout SE Asia and globally.

Earlier, Friendster has partnered with MOL AccessPortal Berhad (MOL) for the company to power a prepaid payments platform for Friendster’s 115 million users globally. The introduction of this payment platform, through its stored value Friendster Wallet system, is a critical step towards the social networking giant’s ability to monetise its global user base. Friendster Wallet credit is stored as currency called Friendster Coins and can be spent throughout Friendster’s site for goods and services. It will give Friendster the ability to develop other revenue streams surrounding virtual goods, gifts and games.

This initiatives is  somewhat similar to Facebook – which rolled out its virtual currency earlier whereby consumers can make use of Facebook credit to purchase and send gifts, even in the real-world. I guess it will only be a matter of time for Friendster to also roll this out to the real world. It would really be interesting to see whether consumers would adopt this new form of currencies to make their purchases.

It’s great to see Japan and Korea leading the pack so prominently… and more than 10 times the average speed in the US…

Japan 61 Mbps… at a cost of 0.27 US$ per 1 Mbps
Korea 46 Mbps… at a cost of 0.45 US$ per 1 Mbps
USA 4.8 Mbps… at a cost of 3.33 US$ per 1 Mbps

India’s WiMAX subscribers are expected to touch about 60 million by 2014. It is expected to grow faster in a country like India – with a low fixed line pentration in a large country. The opportunity is expected to be very valuable, with all major telecom players in the bidding race. The government aims to earn a minimum of $350 million from this auction, which is the reserve price.

Google has had an interest in India’s mobile, broadband and VASP space for some time, with some active lobbying being done by Google with the TRAI over matters of future policy – see here.  India has a far greater number of mobile users than internet subscribers. Because of this, search engines like Google as well as any company wanting to grab a share of this large and lucrative pie would want a piece of the WiMAX spectrum.

The most important part of this plan seems to be the establishment of a nationwide Cloud Computing platform called the ‘Kasumigaseki Cloud’, allowing various Government departments to access data and collaborate efficiently. As this excerpt from CloudBook states:

The Kasumigaseki Cloud will enable various ministries to collaborate to integrate and consolidate hardware and create platforms for shared functions. Efforts will be made to efficiently develop and operate information systems with the aim of greatly reducing electronic government-related development and operating costs while increasing the pace of processing by integrating shared functions, increasing collaboration among systems, and providing secure and advanced governmental services.

Additional features of this cloud infrastructure, is the establishment of a National Digital Archive… and the emphasis on creating Green Cloud Data Centers.

It’s good to see such ambitious plans being put in place at Government level.. and I don’t think it’ll be long before we see or hear more about similar eGov initiatives from other APAC markets (especially, South Korea and Singapore).

Yahoo’s famed Open Hack developer event is coming to SE Asia for the first time. While it will be hosted in Jakarta, the event is open to 200 Developers from across the whole region… so better Sign Up quick.

In addition, there are some developer competitions being run in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam… and winners will be flown to Jakarta for the Open Hack event on 21-22 November 2009. If you’re a developer in South East Asia and would like to join the competitions you can sign up here.

According to the YDN Blog:

We are planning on some great talks on the first day around our newest technologies, including YQL, Yahoo! Application Platform, Blueprint and our Geo Technologies. Then it’s down to some serious hacking so you can show us what you can build in 24 hours using our APIs and with anything else you like. Of course there will be some fun and games during the two days, and we will keep you fed and hydrated throughout. Our Open Hacks days have got progressively better each time we do them, so the expectations for the SEA event are high, and we are planning a truly stand out event.

For more on the announcement or previous Open Hack Days click here and here.

Unfortunately, due to my full time job, I only have time to attend 1 evening event per day… so I’ve registered to go to:

Tuesday: Growth Town
Wednesday: Social Innovation Meetup (a time to gather and generate ideas for the camp in March)
Thursday: Ignite Sydney

But there are a lot more very cool and exciting events…

Are any of our readers going to any events in Sydney this week? We’d love to hear from you.

Tweet me on @hiconomics and let’s hook up.