Live blogging LinkedIn DevelopherDelhi Girls hackday… first womans only hackday in India!

LinkedIn DevelopherDelhi Hackday has kicked off at the SlideShare Delhi office. This is the first of its kind event in India. And its happening at the same time as Developher Mountain View, being organised by LinkedIn over the weekend. Exciting times with two co-occuring events separated by 12000 kms and a 12 hour time zone difference!

In case you missed the announcement, this is the link. The prizes on stake are Macbook Airs for the winning team, and Apple iPads for the runners up team. And the hackday judges are Dave McClure (Silicon Valley guru, geek, entrepreneur, investor) & Rashmi Sinha (CEO/Founder at SlideShare). Rashmi is also a judge for DevelopeHer Mountain View.

Its 11:00 AM and a bunch of geeky girls have invaded the slideshare office. Participants include SlideShare internal teams, a team from LinkedIn, women developers from startups, services companies, global multinationals, students. And some have flown in from Bangalore & Mumbai just for the event.

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Explained: The Technology implementation behind launching Social Features [Zomato shares it all]

[Editorial notes: Zomato recently launched social features on the site and Ram Singla, Zomato CTO shares how the company implemented social features.]

It took us just over 2 weeks to enable socialfeatures on Zomato. The journey was packed with rapid iterations, complex engineering challenges and intense coding sessions.

There are two core challenges in adding social features to any app. The first challenge, is to engineer a platform that manages the interconnections between the users and disseminates the information between the connected users realtime. This challenge becomes harder and harder as the number of active users on the site and the interconnections increases. The second challenge, is to create an engaging user experience which makes it easy for user to connect, share and consume social information.

To engineer the social platform we kept our strategy simple and stupid: whenever possible we used a proven technology and used the right tool for the right job. Our stack for the social platform is amalgamation of several open-source technologies – Redis, MySQL, Krati Data Store, Apache Thrift, JavaEWAH Compressed Bitmaps, Faye, JRuby, NodeJS and PHP.

Redis servers collates realtime information about user activity on the site and disseminates that information down the social graph realtime. We store user activity list on per user basis in Redis. Redis notifies our PHP workers when the activity list is updated. PHP worker on update – find all the online subscribers of the activity; update their notifications list in Redis and publish messages to their channels on Faye Server. This architecture lets us perform lazy computation and help us save computation power for disseminating realtime information.

Apache Thrift, Krati Data Store, JavaEWAH Compressed Bitmaps and JRuby forms the part of our remote service which stores our social graph in high-performing persistant compressed bitmap format. Some of the highlights of this service are compact bitsets with extremely fast bitwise operations e.g. A random 10K cardinality bitset for arbitrary 32-bit integers takes less than 2MB of RAM compared to 512MB RAM consumed by uncompressed bitmap; can perform 10000 sets per second and 50000 membership checks per second on an index; can load a million cardinality index in less than 650 ms; can persist the same in 1500 ms and can traverse the bitset in less than 250 ms.

Faye messaging server running on Node.js help us deliver realtime notifications to the logged-in users in a predictable and consistent manner. Low latency and low overhead of Faye server helps us save hundred GBs in bandwidth. Our messaging setup consists of a master and two workers which load balance the subscribers. MySQL servers functions as the persistent store for all the user activity and user connections. We do not store transitional data in MySQL and use Redis for the same.

To provide the engaging user experience, we have baked Facebook deeply into our application. It takes less than 10 second to connect your Facebook account to the Zomato account and getting connected to your friends on Zomato. Eating out is social activity and sharing your experience with your friends provides an excellent story for your Facebook Timeline. Just by enabling one setting on your profile, your activity gets automatically posted onyour Facebook Timeline. On top of this, we provide both push and pull mechanisms to consume information from your network. When you search we seamlessly integrate recommendations from your network. And we push realtime notifications to keep you up to date with your network.

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Recommended Read: How to: Build a Large and Scalable ECommerce Platform [by Amitabh Misra, Vice President and Head of Engineering at Snapdeal.com.]

[We invite guest writers to share their insights with Pluggd.in audience. Do connect with us, but before that, we request you to read our guest author guidelines.]

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Kudos For Moving Full Steam Ahead into China

China is one of the mobile markets that looks set for huge growth. And time to time, we hear startups in Southeast Asia wanting to do things in/for the Chinese market. But few really did it. I heard the Burpple team was wanting to localize its social food journal app for the Chinese market. And then bam — a month later — the startup came out with a sweet-looking Chinese iOS app.

I was pleasantly surprised when I first learned about it. Few startups have the balls to move full steam ahead, especially when it comes to China. So that piece of news came to me as a signal on how decisive and fast-moving the team is and I thought it deserves kudos for that.

When I dig deeper on why China is part of Burpple’s radar, co-founder Elisha Ong explained to me:

Chinese food culture is deep and its history is long. With China being one of the most popular countries on Burpple, it was natural for us to move to localize the app to make it more effortless for users to use – coupled with one of their favorite social networks, Sina Weibo. We want to create a platform where people in China can use to remember, organize and explore curated food moments effortlessly.

The team also tried several popular Chinese apps, such as Weibo, WeChat, and QQ, to understand how apps in China work. They also explored deeper on how Facebook and Instagram translate their features into Chinese in a way that makes sense while maintaining the fun and spirit it has in English. Elisha shares more:

We creatively came up with our own terms and descriptions right from the welcome screen to a user “burppling” (打嗝) their favorite “food moment” (食刻) into their “boxes” (箱簿). Other terms include “reburp” (转嗝), and of course the app name Burpple (饱贝食记) which means a precious and sumptuous food journal.

Burpple is only available in iOS for now but I was told to “stay tuned” for the Android version, which seems to suggest that it is already in the pipeline. Most smartphone users in China are Android users anyway, so it is necessary for any mobile-first startup to have that in place.

To team Burrple: I think it has been good execution thus far and kudos for moving full steam ahead!

The post Kudos For Moving Full Steam Ahead into China appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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Breakup: No more Tweets on Linkedin

Earlier, it was easy to share your tweets on Linkedin, but now your Tweets will not be visible on Linkedin anymore.

Here is the latest email from LinkedIn :

————

Twitter recently evolved its strategy and this will result in a change to the way Tweets appear in third-party applications. Starting today Tweets will no longer be displayed on LinkedIn.

Twitter-LinkedIn Breakup

We know that sharing updates from LinkedIn to Twitter is a valuable service for our members. Moving forward, you will still be able to share updates with your Twitter audience by posting them on LinkedIn.

How can I continue to share updates on both LinkedIn and Twitter? Simply start your conversation on LinkedIn. Compose your update, check the box with the Twitter icon, and click “Share.” This will automatically push your update to both your LinkedIn connections and your Twitter followers just as before.

What changes can I expect to see on LinkedIn? Any conversation you start on Twitter will no longer be automatically shared with your LinkedIn network, even if you synced your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.

————

What’s up with Twitter?

Well, the company is focusing on building a consistent Twitter experience through the app ecosystem and in the process, reach its billion dollar revenue target by forcing users to visit Twitter website (or use the acquired app, Tweetdeck).

“As always, we’re hard at work building tools that make it easy for developers to build common Twitter features into their own sites in a simple and consistent way. Some examples of these tools include the Tweet Button, Follow Button, embeddable Tweets and the search widget. Ultimately, we want to make sure that the Twitter experience is straightforward and easy to understand — whether you’re on Twitter.com or elsewhere on the web.

We’re building tools for publishers and investing more and more in our own apps to ensure that you have a great experience everywhere you experience Twitter, no matter what device you’re using. You need to be able to see expanded Tweets and other features that make Twitter more engaging and easier to use. These are the features that bring people closer to the things they care about. These are the features that make Twitter Twitter. We’re looking forward to working with you to make Twitter even better” [official blog post].

In short, Twitter is building its own ‘Twitter ecosystem’ (and inventory for advertising dollars).

Watch this video where in Twitter’s Biz Stone and LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman announced the partnership (in 2009)

[Image credit]

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Review: HCL ME U1 Android Tablet

There has been a sudden splurge of sub 10 k tablets in the market in the last few months. From Funbook tablet, to the Mercury tab to the much hyped Aakash, the market has seen all and left customers confused. While a lot has been written (actually written–off) about Aakash, judgements on other tabs are still taking shape. We were able to lay our hands on the HCL ME U1 and juggle with it. Read on.

One can say that the HCL ME U1 has killer looks. The moment you un-box the device you can feel you are laying your hands on a classy device, unlike most tablets in this range. Its glossy white shell looks elegant but is an absolute fingerprint magnet (wherever you touch you are bound to leave your imprint).

The tab sports a brilliant 7 inch 800×400 Capacitive touch screen display and runs on Android 4.0 ice-cream sandwich OS. What makes its looks even more enticing is the absence of any physical buttons on the front and back of the device. There are only 3 buttons on the side – one for power ON and the other two for volume controls. Basically since it is an ICS device, that gives all functions of home, running apps, recently closed tabs and applications on the home screen itself, it doesn’t need to have physical buttons. This makes the appearance even more sleek and clean.

The shell has a front facing 0.3 megapixel camera but it would have been great if HCL had also provided for one at the rear. But that’s high hopes because none of the tabs in this category has it.

The only problem the tab possesses in looks is that the display looks too integrated in the shell. For example if you want to check for internet settings your touch tends to get too close to the shell and at times the response turns sluggish. It is also too irritating if it keeps happening all the time.

Features & Performance

The HCL ME U1 is powered by a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor backed by 512MB DDR3 RAM. The in-built Wi-Fi power device sports a 4GB internal storage that can be expanded up to 32GB with a MicroSD.

When it comes to features the tab has similar or more features than what is offered by competitors. For music lovers the tab provides for a multi-format music player with internal mic, built in high quality speakers and a 3.5mm audio jack. Watching videos, movies and pictures on this HD quality tab is a pleasure. Well, well, well, the tab comes built-in with the Saavn application that makes listening to music and creating playlists easier. And for movie buffs there are the apps like ‘Watch free movies’ or ‘YouTube Videos’ that you could download from MESmart Apps. We loaded a few movies to the tab and it worked well. The only problem was volume…it was low even on high levels. Infact HCL has partnered with Hungama.com for wherein all you need to do is to enter a 12 digit e-coupon code that comes with the tab and watch unlimited movies.

For those who think this tab is only suited for personal use, think again! The U1 comes pre-loaded with professional apps like LinkedIn, Push mail and ThinkFree Office, to keep you connected. You could also download productivity apps from MESmart.

The biggest disadvantage of HCL ME U1 is that it does not have Google Play. Though one can download Google Play from the internet but it is a pretty tedious process.

As social networking is an integral part of every individual now, the tab comes pre-loaded with Twitter. But the missing link is that there is no pre-loaded Facebook that most others provide for. And the one available on MESmart is old and sluggish. Word of caution – Do not download Opera Mini on the tab. It hangs midway and slows down the device.

Talking of connectivity options the HCL U1 tab is at par with its competitors. It sports a universal USB port and a mini USB port. Apart from Wi-Fi you can connect to the net on-the-go via a 3G dongle. It would have been great if the tab allowed for a video calling facility. Also missing is a HDMI port which is provided by Attitude Daksh and BSNL Penta. All-in-all it would have been great if HCL was a little more thoughtful.

It’s interesting to note that some of the apps, like Saavn, Cleartrip etc that open on this tab are upside down. As in if you flip it from landscape to portrait it opens upside down. Once flipped it takes a little time to load in but thereafter performs pretty smoothly. We played some games like Ninja that comes pre-loaded on the tab, Tic-Tac-Toe, Solitaire and Angry Birds, downloaded from MESmart and those worked well too.

Battery life of the tab is at par with competition. It is powered by a 3600mAH Li battery that lasts for 5-6 hours depending on the usage.

Alternatives

The HCL ME U1 seems a good deal for Rs 7,999. Other tabs with similar features are Micromax Funbook, Karbonn Smart Tab, Auxus AX02 and Zync Z990 priced at Rs 6,499, Rs 6,990, Rs 9,990 and Rs 6,490 respectively.

Technical Specifications

• Dimensions – 192.8×117.28×12.53 MM
• Screen size – 7 inch
• Touchscreen – Capacitive
• Operating system – Android 4.0.3
• RAM – 512 DDR RAM
• Processor – 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU
• Storage internal/external – 4GB/32GB
• Front facing camera- 0.3MP
• HDMI/USB port – No/Yes
• Battery – 3600mAh
• App store – MESmart
• 3G- Yes via dongle
• Network – Wi-Fi
• Phonecall – No
• Audio playback – Yes, Multi Format Video Player
• Video playback/ Recording – Yes/ 720p and 1080p capable
• Weight – 350gms

Price – Rs 7,999

Verdict

• Looks: 4/5
• Features: 3/5
• Ease of use: 3/5
• Performance: 3/5
• Value for Money: 3.5/5

Pros:

• Good built/ Sleek design
• 1GHz processor
• Full USB port
• Good battery life

Cons:

• Absence of Google Play
• Soft speakers/ Volume
• Absence of HDMI

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A clear picture incorporating a company in Singapore

Looking to incorporate your company in Singapore? Here are the key points on how to do it and what to look out for.

In 2010 we conducted market research and asked entrepreneurs in Singapore if they understood how their company had been incorporated. 60 percent of entrepreneurs who incorporated a Singapore company, had no clear picture of the incorporation process. This article aims to make the process and purpose of incorporating a private limited company in Singapore clearer.

When you sit down to incorporate a company, there are a few details you will need to have in front of you.

Company name.The name you would like to call the company.

Registered mailing address. A PO Box will not do. You can use your personal residence as the address.

Business activity. You need to understand how the company will make revenue, so you can best select what industry classification you want to apply (or SSIC).

Who will be the directors? At least one of them needs to be a Singapore resident.

Who will be shareholders? Shareholders can be local or foreign, individuals or corporate holdings. Shareholders can be directors.

Paid up capital. The minimum is $1. We recommend $1,000 as most local banks in Singapore require a minimum deposit of $1,000 to open a corporate bank account.

Share issue and allocation. The number of shares you plan to issue and the allocation of those shares to each shareholder. So if you issue 1,000 shares, and your paid-up capital is $1,000, the shares are worth $1 each today.

Company secretary. Appoint one within six months of incorporation.

The incorporation normally takes three days. It is done in two steps. Step One, the company name is registered. An administrator from ACRA checks the name is not taken, too similar to another name or offensive.

Assuming the name is approved, the company is incorporated. There are four important documents that are issued in soft copy once the incorporation is successful.

1. Bizfile

The first one is the bizfile. This outlines the company name, registered business number, shares and paid up capital. It also indicates the registered mailing address, who the shareholders are, the directors and the company secretary.

2. Memorandum and Article of Association

The second document is the Memorandum and Article of Association or MAA. This is the cover sheet. This document is important because it determines how the business is governed. When you incorporate, you are issued a standard MAA.

However you can have a legal person look over it and change the clauses. You may decide to amend the MAA to change distribution rights of dividends or control rights (how decisions are made).

Most importantly you will need this document to open a corporate account with a local bank.

3. Share certificate

The third document is your share certificate.

4. First board resolution

And lastly, you have the first board resolution which makes the appointment of the shareholders and directors official.

Download samples

All these documents are provided as original soft copies, and should be printed and stored in the company registry.

Download

To help guide you next time you need to incorporate a company, you can go to the app store and download our iPhone app. We have also created an online form to help you submit the details of your incorporation.

About Futurebooks

Futurebooks is Singapore’s and Hong Kong’s most progressive bookkeeping company. Futurebooks offer affordable incorporation, bookkeeping, business planning and brokering, to entrepreneurs with big ambitions. Whether your goal is to be acquired or to be more profitable this quarter, Futurebooks provide planning to keep your business on track and bookkeeping services that streamline the journey.

Using cloud computing solutions like Intuit’s QuickBooks Online, Xero, SaaSu, DropBox, Workflowmax, Vend, salesforce.com and Google Enterprise, Futurebooks are able to offer clients productivity improvements and reductions in the cost of accounting. Visit our website and chat to us live or follow us on Twitter.

About the author

Anthony Coundouris is the founder of an accounting and analytics firm Futurebooks Pte Ltd. Anthony is obsessed with helping start-up companies incorporate, conduct industry analysis and develop positioning. He has ten years experience in media and marketing, and was founder of Firestarter, a digital marketing agency.
Firestarter was acquired by Novus Media in 2010.

Need a hand incorporating? Drop us an email.

Comparison of Singapore company structures

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