RA says it has been an interesting few days and I’m always trying to find something new or interesting that’s happening around Brunei (or outside Brunei). I recently covered Dato Siti Nurhaliza event in collaboration with AirAsia Megastore last Tuesday and that was worth the trip even if it was only a 24 hour trip. I think that’s already the highlight of the week for me and I still can’t believe I was just sitting next to her during the press conference *lol* Ok, that was my sakai moment indeed.. Thank you to AirAsia once again for making it happen.

Before I go on, I would like to express my deepest condolences to Myron and Leslie on the passing of Kathy (their late mother) yesterday. I’ve seen her from time to time during functions and though we hardly communicate but I could feel your courage to go through the pain. May you rest in peace.

Yesterday I attended the Think Big Innovate Forum 2012 and it was a pretty good line up of speakers. I was particularly impressed with Ash Singh, the founder of Turbanizer (apps), who had an interesting presentation on tips on starting a business. Though I have to say that one of this 50 tips that he shared advised us to “avoid business plans” *lol* Now this is something very rare since we have been nurtured by our teachers and business leaders on the importance of business plans. I believe there are pros and cons to this notion.

I was a bit surpirsed that Aulia aka @Salsabeela had little time for her introduction at Think Big Innovate Forum 2012 because this lady is a good inspiration for many young entrepreneurs. A move by the organiser to make her get more spotlight would have made more impact on the audience who made up of mostly young people. She’s a blogger, a write, a publishing company, a fashion designer and a determined entrepreneur. Now that’s an awesome resume to have indeed. Overall, it was a good seminar session organised by Asia Inc Forum and iCentre.

Ash Singh stole the show while being moderated by Delwin Keasberry of Asia Inc Forum at Thing Big Innovate 2012

Aulia Halimatussadiah (2nd left) from Indonesia was one of the panelists at Think Big Innovate 2012

Wow, it’s good to see that BIBD is expanding its benefits by partnering with Royal Brunei Airlines in an agreement where you can earn Royal Skies Miles through BIBD’s rewards programme – Hadiah Plus and Frequent Flyer Programme. So for every $1 spent on BIBD Credit Card, you get two Hadiah Points or with $2 spent on BIBD Debit Card, you get one Hadiah Point. So now with the new agreement, customers can redeem Royal Skies Miles if they want to. The other options they have is redeem cash back or annual fee waiver or an option to donate to charity. Eight Hadiah Points equates to 1 Royal Skies miles. Oh yeah, one more thing, to redeem it, you need at least 8,000 Hadiah Points. You can redeem by contacting BIBD’s call centre 223 8181 or by filling in the air miles redemption form at any of BIBD’s branches. Thumbs up to BIBD and RBA on the collaboration.

BIBD’s CFO Hajah Noraini and Acting CEO of RBA/Chief Officer Group Services Maswadi Hj Mohsin exchanging documents on the new collaboration

Another interesting week has been these teasers that have been coming out in the papers which numerous tag lines such as “Smile More”, “Little Things” and “Slow Down” and I bumped into familiar faces handing out cards in strategic places. I caught one at Airport Mall last week. I think something big is happening and I’ve never seen a company really spending a lot of marketing and brand awareness on such campaign. You can visit their facebook page –> redefined journey and you will stand a chance to win a flight too.. Hmmmm.. The clues are pretty obvious but let’s see what will happen next.

Good teaser and creating a good hype over the past week or so

This was taken at the Airport Mall last week

A big shout out to Brunei DPMM FC on their victory last night. They won a hard fought batter and it was also a must win situation if they wanted a good chance to win the S•League title from table leaders Tampines Rovers. Their 3-1 away victory against Hougang United FC gave them a point behind the leaders and now the title decider will be next Friday 2nd November where Brunei DPMM FC will take on Balestier Khalsa at the National Stadium while Tampines will take on Harimau Muda. I still remember DPMM FC coach Simunic said that their target was being in the Top 5 but now with only one point behind and a 99% chance of winning the S•League title, why not just go for the kill. I do hope that the stadium will be filled with DPMM FC supporters and also Brunei supporters as DPMM FC have represented Brunei in the past few years in the S•League and this is also a title decider. I expect the tickets to be selling like hot cakes too.

Sairol of DPMM FC holding the New Paper (Singapore newspaper) and he can’t wait for the final match on 2nd November. He hopes the public will come in numbers for the much anticipated match against Balestier. Well done, peeps!!

Another thing I want shout about is the amazing looks of the new iMac from Apple. Finee.. Apple announced the new iPad Mini but it didn’t steal the show for me as I’m hardly a tablet user. My iPad 2 is only active when I do my presentations or if I fly overseas. I’ve been eyeing for the latest iMac and boy, the screenshots of it doesn’t disappoint. The new 21″ iMac will be out in November while the 27″ will be out in December. I will probably sell of my 2010 iMac and target the 27″ model and the price starts at USD 1799 for the low specs while the 21″ starts at $1299. As for the iPhone 5 or the iPad Mini, they aren’t my priorities unless you want deliver them to me as my birthday present this January 2012 *lol*

Ok, I am sold!!!!!! Can’t wait!!!

For your info, this Monday 29th October, there will be a Google Developers Festival and it’s organised by Google Developers Group (GDG) Brunei and DST and it will feature an invited speaker which will talk on variety of product areas, code labs and all-day application development hackaton. This is part of the DevFest 2012 event. The 2 day workshop hopes to discover local developers, new talents and budding entrepreneurs at the same time. This is indeed a good opportunity to have such workshop in Brunei and with the growth of smartphone users in Brunei, this opportunity must be not taken lightly. Then again, the event has been sold out according to the website registration. This really shows the dedication of our local community in the development of ICT. I shall be covering this event and hoping to gain more knowledge.

A sold out event this week for GDG DevFest 2012

This is a strange incident to take place in Brunei. The power of whatsapp is also quite overwhelming as I received a few of these shocking pictures on my phone. It was not know what was the motive behind the commotion that took place near Gadong. He is apparently a Filipino in his 30s and he just walked naked in public. He also kinda caused some public disorder as he attacked a person and also reacted when he was confronted by the Royal Brunei Police Force. He actually works as a mechanic. As of now, he’s in the custody of the Royal Brunei Police Force. Image was courtesy of Whatsapp (source unknown).

The Filipino was apprehended by the police after the 15 minute ordeal. Not sure what his motive was or why he did it in the first place. Bizarre indeed!!