News Roundup: Impact on International Travellers Due To Exchange Rate Depreciation

Impact on International Travellers Due To Exchange Rate Depreciation

Wego.co.in has reflected and studied the country’s growing concern over the impact of the exchange rate depreciation on international travel. According to them, travellers are scrutinizing every option, searching harder, trying to reduce their costs, and find the best flight and hotel deals online.

Taking advantage of the situation Phuket and particularly Pattaya are gaining popularity and arising as favourite destinations due to low season prices, and airfares at half the cost of those to Bali. Pattaya has risen from under 1 to a strong 4 per cent of international hotel bookings. Dubai on the other hand appears to be tolerating adverse exchange rates with apartments the most popular; a favourite costing Rs 2,262 per night. This is presumed to be due to a surge in the number of Indian businesses setting up offices there, coupled with greater take-up of overseas contract work linked to US Dollar or other hard currency pay.

The trend shows that people are still travelling, but adjusting their options within the same category of accommodation and examining airlines for the smallest variances in fare rather than cancelling plans.

Ezeego1 Spreads Its Wings To Bangalore

Ezeego1.co.in, the e-travel site has extended its footprints to Bengaluru in association with The Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA). ETAA is the sole body that represents retail travel agents in India. With this Ezeego1.com will be the one stop travel platform to the travel agents in Bengaluru and give them access to the huge inventory – over 5,00,000 hotels across the world, 1,000+ international and domestic holiday packages, around 5,336 sightseeing tours and flight bookings across various airlines at subsidised rates.

Both parties have also signed a special partner program wherein Ezeego1 will provide support, education and trainings to ETAA travel agents to maximize their profitability and strive to place the best technical and marketing resources at the member’s finger tips. Also they will help members to cater to the travels needs of their clients more professionally and in a lesser turn-around time.

Tradus Launches ‘Mobile Monsoon’

Keeping pace with monsoons this season is Tradus.in with its new initiative “Mobile Monsoon”, a platform that offers best of the smartphones at additional discounts.

Under the scheme one just has to use the GV code “PHONE” to fetch a surprise discount at the cart. The discounts are up to 39 per cent and the scheme lasts up to July 2, 2012. One can avail flexible payment options like net banking, EMI, debit/credit payments to make a purchase.

Though monsoons are not in yet, Tradus is trying its best to give you a feel of it. Bought a smartphone from the scheme? Tell us more about it.

Yebhi Launches Collection For The Quintessential Contemporary Woman

Yebhi.com has expanded its collection of trendy bags by adding the brand Peperone to its shelves that includes a complete line of ladies handbags, ladies wallets, gent’s wallets, key rings etc.

For the time being only ladies handbags and wallets are available on Yebhi.com but very soon all other products from Peperone will make their way to the online portal.

It also promises cash payment on delivery and a 100 day return policy of the product bought and a reassurance that if the product does not match the taste and standard of the consumer, it can be returned.

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A look at some of the hottest and upcoming Sri Lankan startups

Recently, India Angel Network (IAN) cofounded VentureEngine business plan contest to showcase upcoming startups in Sri Lanka. The contest witnessed 70 plans, out of which 9 companies were chosen as finalists and interestingly, all 9 have been funded by Lankan investors with IAN participating in 5 of these companies.

Here goes the list of 9 finalists:

1. 247 techies

An online remote support company focusing on US micro SMBs and consumers.

2) Lanka BPO Academy

The BPO industry in Lanka currently employs 14,000 people and forecasted to get to 100,000+ people by 2015. Lanka BPO Academy is the only player focused on BPO training currently in the country

3) Wild Trails

Tourism industry in Lanka is booming after the war. Huge untapped opportunity in the $70/room night segment and the startup is focused on building low cost “experience focused” lodges.

4) Wedding Wish List

The startup is focused on wedding registry in Sri Lanka.

5) WhatsUp Lanka

A ‘TimeOut’ sort of service for Lanka, the startup’s alpha version will be ready by August.

6) Trekurious

7) Takaas

8) Nithya Handlooms

9) House of Lonali

There is as much as Rs. 100 million in venture capital available to be divided up amongst the eight ideas progressing to the contest’s finale, according to organizers.

An interesting development and we certainly hope that this propels a better business partnership between startups across the two countries and increases maturity of the overall investing ecosystem.

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Dentsu’s Android Lottery App For Internship Seat

Dentsu, Japan’s largest advertising agency released a new Android app for wannabe students, Lucky Senkou(=selection).

The app has only a single feature, to let students draw a lottery for the platinum slots of the 2012 internship program at Dentsu. You just need to click the button and wait Dentsu’s contact.

The app description begins with the Japanese proverb “Un mo jitsuryoku no uchi”(Luck is also your talent.). Dentsu might need young people with luck.

Internship, sometimes executed as a cheaper labor, has been becoming popular recently in Japan, where big, stable, well-known enterprises have huge advantages against newly graduating students, who may not get their ideal jobs even after taking hundreds of job interviews. Dentsu is always ranked at the top companies for the students.

Dentsu’s Android Lottery App For Internship Seat

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Entrepreneurship FAQs, Answered by an Entrepreneur

[Editorial notes: There is quite a bit of gyaan around entrepreneurship, but nothing beats simplistic, candid and to-the-point answers. So if you are an early stage entrepreneur, this article is for you. The article is written by Sahil Baghla, a first time entrepreneur.]

As a first time Entrepreneur, I had many questions in my mind. I met with many Entrepreneurs and asked them same questions over and over again. Sometimes I got convinced by the answers sometimes I don’t. Here’s few most frequently asked questions by me and their best answers according to me.

When is a good time to start working on your idea
When you can’t stop thinking about it in a shower.

Single Founder vs Co-founders
Don’t wait ! You can start alone, but you definitely need smart people to grow your business big. Prove yourself and Rockstars will join you.

When should you start talking to the investors
Smart guys always stay in touch with their investors. Famous saying is : When you need money ask for advice and when you need advice ask for money.

Where to find co-founders
Please don’t go to co-founders dating events. Great businesses are built when few friends sit together in a dorm room with open minds.

Where to find tech co-founder
Either in your Facebook friend list or sit in a CCD with codecademy.com

How to generate entry barrier for your business
Chuck it man ! When you start building your business with love and passion you will definitely differentiate yourself from somewhere. Don’t worry about this term at initial stage. Copycats will always be there. Service is only the differentiator in the long run.

What Investors look for in a pitch when Ideas are like buses
Your idea defines you. It defines what problem are you solving and how are you approaching that problem. That will tell all about you. They mostly look for your execution skills so it matters a lot if you are presenting it in a ppt form or as a demo product (An ounce of action worth ton of theory).

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What are your thoughts?

Recommended Read: Shoot me if I ever say these things to a startup team

[Guest article contributed by Sahil Baghla/founder of Bluegape. Reproduced from his blog post.]

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Joi Ito joins The New York Times Company’s Board of Directors

Joichi Ito: Founder and CEO of Neoteny Labs

The New York Times Company announced on 21st June that Joichi Ito has been elected to its Board of Directors. Brian McAndrews, a digital media veteran, has also joined the Board.

“Joi Ito and Brian McAndrews bring deep digital experience to the Board of the Times Company, which will be invaluable as we continue our digital transformation,” said Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., chairman and CEO of The New York Times Company and publisher, The New York Times.

“Joi is world-renowned as a digital innovator and thought leader, with significant expertise in technology policy.”

He is the founder and current CEO of Neoteny, a venture capital firm, and general manager of Neoteny Labs, an early-stage investment fund focusing on Asia and the Middle East.

Since September 2011, Joi has been the director of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is devoted to research projects at the convergence of design, multimedia and technology.

He is board chairman and former CEO of Creative Commons, a nonprofit devoted to facilitating the ability of copyright owners to make their creative works freely available for others to use and share.

In Japan, he was a co-founder of Digital Garage, an information technology company, and helped establish, and later became CEO of, the country’s first commercial Internet service provider.

He was an early investor in numerous companies, including Flickr, Kickstarter and Twitter.

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Corporations look to serious games for organisational learning and development

As the popularity of casual and mobile gaming continues to grow, so too does interest in research around how games could be used to improve our daily lives. Serious games are games that have been designed with a primary purpose other than entertainment.

Business, education and health related organizations are beginning to recognise that the framework and experience of games can be harnessed to address specific problems in the real world.

In late 2009, the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) initiated a strategy  to promote the industry in Singapore. In order to capitalise on the experience of an organisation already well established in the area, MDA contacted the Serious Games Institute UK (SGIUK) based within Coventry University. Established in 2007, SGIUK’s portfolio includes research projects on serious games, mobile applications, 3D animation and virtual worlds.  This research has lead to the development of products that are widely used in the areas of clinical training, obesity awareness, disaster and emergency planning, and sexual health awareness in the UK.

Last year MDA and SGIUK announced a joint call-for-proposals in serious games, inviting established UK companies to setup or collaborate with Singapore-based games and learning companies who would then receive mentorship from SGI in the areas of game design, research and development. This catalyst for collaboration was also designed to extend serious gaming from predominantly education into new sectors such as health care and corporate learning. As a result of the linkage provided by SGIUK, two UK companies, Roll7 and Pixelearning, have already started projects in Singapore, and Pixelearning is even in the process of establishing a Singapore development centre.

Seeing the great support that Singapore has to offer to the serious games industry, and the tremendous opportunities within the Asian region, SGIUK also decided to establish a direct presence in Singapore, via a locally incorporated private company.  Officially opened in October 2011, Serious Games International (SGI) is a private company with an office at Block 71, Ayer Rajah Crescent. Singapore is the first location outside of the UK to host an SGI Overseas Development Centre. Chris Quek, Director of SGI Singapore, notes that serious games are very different from their casual entertainment cousins in the video game world. “Serious games are games that serve a purpose other than pure entertainment. Typical areas of application include health care, education, marketing, corporate training, and tourism,” he said. “We are open to collaborations with local universities in research activities and innovation. We are also keen to commercialize some of the serious game technologies and products created in the UK.”

Teddy's Chocco Shop (Photo: SGI Singapore and FrontSquare).

Since its inception, SGI Singapore has already worked on several industry projects. Front Square from Dublin, Ireland is a company working in the area of game-based learning. It partnered with SGI Singapore to develop Teddy’s Chocco Shop, a training program designed to teach employees the basics of lean manufacturing. I played a couple of rounds and found the gameplay quite familiar, reminding me of other casual games with a customer order component like Gogo Sushi. As Quek, a former educator himself, points out: “That’s exactly the idea. The game should be easy and engaging, but with learning elements introduced at the right moments.”

A core strength of serious games is the opportunity to present and structure content in an innovative way compared to traditional training models. Front Square CEO and Co-Founder Geoff Beggs said, “Typically my clients have at least 500 employees and are in the manufacturing industry. Using games can be a much more engaging and sustainable way of training staff over traditional methods. The employees are able to learn by doing and feel free to make mistakes in a safe environment.” There are many opportunities for serious games in the corporate training industry, but as Beggs notes the greatest challenge is to “Find the balance between scalability and customisation”. However, early stage alpha testing has produced encouraging results and Teddy’s Chocco Shop is about to begin beta trials with a large client in Canada.

But it’s not just an understanding of processes and procedures that serious games can impart. With a technical background and experience in the IT, mobile and startup industries, Quek believes that serious games can also facilitate the development of soft skills within organisations. “Virtual worlds can play a very interesting role in new ways of teaching and learning. [They can] teach things like EQ and skills in communication, management, critical problem solving and collaboration. These kinds of soft skills are extremely hard to teach in a consistent manner in real life, with virtual worlds, new dimensions and possibilities are opened up”.  In fact, Quek’s team has already started building a prototype of a multi-user game in a 3D virtual world, designed to teach such soft skills.

Is your next CEO a Blood Elf? (Photo: World of Warcraft Cataclysm).

There is a growing demand for employees with well-developed soft skills or “21^st century skills” and gaming environments offer a host of advantages to develop and nurture these attributes including digital interfaces that enhance communication through voice and text chat, multi-media platforms, real time feedback, progress tracking and leveraging social networks.

In fact, a few years ago researchers published their findings on leadership in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft in the Harvard Business Review. They concluded, “Leadership in online games offers a sneak preview of tomorrow’s business world. In broad terms, that environment can be expected to feature the fluid workforces, the self-organized and collaborative work activities, and the decentralized, nonhierarchical leadership that typify games. In more specific terms, we found several distinctive characteristics of leadership in online games that suggest some of the qualities tomorrow’s business leaders will need in order to achieve success.” Some of these characteristics included risk taking and the ability to work quickly and efficiently.

As organisations struggle to engage their employees and customers in a world full of distractions in constant competition for our attention, serious games provide a real opportunity for users to engage and interact with content and organisations, in an interactive and meaningful way.

This post was first published on RecognitionPattern.com

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Corporations look to serious games for organisational learning and development

As the popularity of casual and mobile gaming continues to grow, so too does interest in research around how games could be used to improve our daily lives. Serious games are games that have been designed with a primary purpose other than entertainment.

Business, education and health related organizations are beginning to recognise that the framework and experience of games can be harnessed to address specific problems in the real world.

In late 2009, the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) initiated a strategy  to promote the industry in Singapore. In order to capitalise on the experience of an organisation already well established in the area, MDA contacted the Serious Games Institute UK (SGIUK) based within Coventry University. Established in 2007, SGIUK’s portfolio includes research projects on serious games, mobile applications, 3D animation and virtual worlds.  This research has lead to the development of products that are widely used in the areas of clinical training, obesity awareness, disaster and emergency planning, and sexual health awareness in the UK.

Last year MDA and SGIUK announced a joint call-for-proposals in serious games, inviting established UK companies to setup or collaborate with Singapore-based games and learning companies who would then receive mentorship from SGI in the areas of game design, research and development. This catalyst for collaboration was also designed to extend serious gaming from predominantly education into new sectors such as health care and corporate learning. As a result of the linkage provided by SGIUK, two UK companies, Roll7 and Pixelearning, have already started projects in Singapore, and Pixelearning is even in the process of establishing a Singapore development centre.

Seeing the great support that Singapore has to offer to the serious games industry, and the tremendous opportunities within the Asian region, SGIUK also decided to establish a direct presence in Singapore, via a locally incorporated private company.  Officially opened in October 2011, Serious Games International (SGI) is a private company with an office at Block 71, Ayer Rajah Crescent. Singapore is the first location outside of the UK to host an SGI Overseas Development Centre. Chris Quek, Director of SGI Singapore, notes that serious games are very different from their casual entertainment cousins in the video game world. “Serious games are games that serve a purpose other than pure entertainment. Typical areas of application include health care, education, marketing, corporate training, and tourism,” he said. “We are open to collaborations with local universities in research activities and innovation. We are also keen to commercialize some of the serious game technologies and products created in the UK.”

Teddy's Chocco Shop (Photo: SGI Singapore and FrontSquare).

Since its inception, SGI Singapore has already worked on several industry projects. Front Square from Dublin, Ireland is a company working in the area of game-based learning. It partnered with SGI Singapore to develop Teddy’s Chocco Shop, a training program designed to teach employees the basics of lean manufacturing. I played a couple of rounds and found the gameplay quite familiar, reminding me of other casual games with a customer order component like Gogo Sushi. As Quek, a former educator himself, points out: “That’s exactly the idea. The game should be easy and engaging, but with learning elements introduced at the right moments.”

A core strength of serious games is the opportunity to present and structure content in an innovative way compared to traditional training models. Front Square CEO and Co-Founder Geoff Beggs said, “Typically my clients have at least 500 employees and are in the manufacturing industry. Using games can be a much more engaging and sustainable way of training staff over traditional methods. The employees are able to learn by doing and feel free to make mistakes in a safe environment.” There are many opportunities for serious games in the corporate training industry, but as Beggs notes the greatest challenge is to “Find the balance between scalability and customisation”. However, early stage alpha testing has produced encouraging results and Teddy’s Chocco Shop is about to begin beta trials with a large client in Canada.

But it’s not just an understanding of processes and procedures that serious games can impart. With a technical background and experience in the IT, mobile and startup industries, Quek believes that serious games can also facilitate the development of soft skills within organisations. “Virtual worlds can play a very interesting role in new ways of teaching and learning. [They can] teach things like EQ and skills in communication, management, critical problem solving and collaboration. These kinds of soft skills are extremely hard to teach in a consistent manner in real life, with virtual worlds, new dimensions and possibilities are opened up”.  In fact, Quek’s team has already started building a prototype of a multi-user game in a 3D virtual world, designed to teach such soft skills.

Is your next CEO a Blood Elf? (Photo: World of Warcraft Cataclysm).

There is a growing demand for employees with well-developed soft skills or “21^st century skills” and gaming environments offer a host of advantages to develop and nurture these attributes including digital interfaces that enhance communication through voice and text chat, multi-media platforms, real time feedback, progress tracking and leveraging social networks.

In fact, a few years ago researchers published their findings on leadership in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft in the Harvard Business Review. They concluded, “Leadership in online games offers a sneak preview of tomorrow’s business world. In broad terms, that environment can be expected to feature the fluid workforces, the self-organized and collaborative work activities, and the decentralized, nonhierarchical leadership that typify games. In more specific terms, we found several distinctive characteristics of leadership in online games that suggest some of the qualities tomorrow’s business leaders will need in order to achieve success.” Some of these characteristics included risk taking and the ability to work quickly and efficiently.

As organisations struggle to engage their employees and customers in a world full of distractions in constant competition for our attention, serious games provide a real opportunity for users to engage and interact with content and organisations, in an interactive and meaningful way.

This post was first published on RecognitionPattern.com

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Women VCs Rule More Often At China Venture Firms Than In Silicon Valley

Women venture capitalists are getting ahead faster and farther in China than in Silicon Valley, with few exceptions.
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NonStop Games: Social HTML5 Games with a Twist

Guest writer Vlad Micu has been a freelance game industry journalist for over five years while running his company VGVisionary. He is also the managing director of WindowsPhoneFans.com. Currently residing in Bangkok, Thailand, he is pursuing his dream of making video games as the game producer of arkavis, an up and coming casual game studio.

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In an old Singaporean office crammed with start-ups lies the humble shared space of the up-and-coming HTML5 social games start-up NonStop Games (nonstop-games.com), formerly known as Dollar Isle creator GamesMadeMe. Founded on the friendship and shared ambitions of the former Wooga head Henric Suuronen and ex-Nokia business development manager Juha Paananen, the studio is redefining how HTML5 is used to develop cross-platform, fun, and community-based social gaming experiences.

They’re currently working on their newest title Paint Stars (see screenshots below), whose community recently marked the production of over 500.000 drawings. I sat down with the duo to talk about creating the Instagram for painting, avoiding app store dependence, and using games as a web-link to make sharing your creations the easiest thing ever.

Friendship, CTO power, and start-up foundations

Friends since high school and gamers for life with a similar educational background, Suuronen and Paananen couldn’t wait to start a company together. The spark that initiated their first ideas for founding NonStop Games came with the rising popularity of browser-based games back in 2010. Paananen explains:

There came a time when browser-based games were slowly taking over client-based ones. We felt the same thing was soon going to happen in mobile phones and tablets.

NonStop Games’s main goal is to make its HTML5 software so fast that it almost feels like a native app. Suuronen notes:

That is the main sore spot in HTML5. You pushed the button, but it takes time to load and you don’t know what is happening at that time. That’s not very app-like. This is where we put a lot of effort, so you push a button and a color change tells you it was pressed. If it’s loading, there is always a load-bar. All these small things that make it feel responsive.

Instagram for painting

With the user numbers and sales of OMGPop’s hit dropping drastically, a drawing game might not appear to be the safest bet for any studio. But for Suuronen and Paananen, the concept introduced by that title felt strongly underdeveloped. The duo realized that the success of an app like Instagram and Draw Something doesn’t lie in the core activity of taking photos or painting. Suuronen argues:

It’s about things that you want to show off. Some people draw just for themselves, some just take photos for themselves, but most want to show what they’ve done and kind of build their online photographic or painting identity. Suddenly they get followers commenting and liking and loving their work. When I saw this drawing genre rise in popularity, I realized it can have exactly the same impact as Instagram. I’m painting and I want to get my friends to comment on it. I want to come back and see that I’ve got 20 new likes or 50 new comments. This is the real driver for me to draw more.

HTML5’s capabilities to work around any filtering system on school computers even got some schools in the US to already ban the popular Paint Stars from their computer labs.

The game’s exponential growth in user activity and engagement is easy to measure by looking back at only 4000 daily paintings from just one week before this interview was held. Suuronen says:

I don’t even dare to think about how much it will be in a week, in two weeks. I am most happy about our hypothesis of people wanting to comment and like each other’s paintings being true.

The number is now at nearly 30,000 pictures being painted daily and it is growing every day. A recent release and change in functionality doubled the daily amount in one day. “It is all about the details,” Suuronen adds.

The next challenge for Suuronen and Paananen is to discover how paintings can get to services other than Twitter and Facebook.

Who needs an app store?

A NonStop Games’ browser game that runs just as fast as a native app might not need to be inside an app store anymore. Better yet, users can always play an HTML5 game that is instantly fully updated after it is launched. Paananen explains:

We are not saying the app store is a bad channel, and we will be launching our games in the app stores too by wrapping them into a standard app. But being outside of app stores gives you a lot of advantages. You can just move faster. You don’t have to submit anything and wait for approval. Instead you can submit updates live anytime and there is no installation process. It helps things become much more instant, and viral too.

His partner Suuronen adds:

We already make money with different solutions, but it could be better. Facebook credits on mobile seem very good and each day it’s getting better for us. We’re using HTML5 because it’s a new technology with real user experience benefits. But as it is new technology means that it won’t be easy. We also have the opportunity to be among the first to get it right, which is definitely worth the extra effort.

I’m told that NonStop Games are currently preparing for the next step in their journey, which they will hopefully be able to announce later this summer. Paananen adds on a final note:

Man didn’t go to the moon because it was easy!

The post NonStop Games: Social HTML5 Games with a Twist appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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