Read an interesting article that says that President Barack Obama is a PC. Don’t know whether that’s true, but it sure is interesting info to share.

Some excerpts from the article.

Exhibit A: "He sees the Intel logo every morning." (Okay, it’s the only exhibit. But I’ve always wanted to say "Exhibit A," and this seemed like a good opportunity.) Now, many Apple products do use Intel chips, right? Mac systems, though — as the sharp folks over at All Things Digital, who first noticed the sure-to-be-contentious quote, point out — don’t flash the logo around in the way that PCs do. So, even if it’s just a result of the White House’s Windows system stockpile, it looks like the leader of the free world is likely a man of Microsoft.

Check out the full article here. Uh Oh, Apple Fans: Looks Like Obama Uses a PC

It is the first time for me to have my “face” in a magazine. Being a person who prefers to stay out of all this, it took me a long time and much persuasion from friends to put my picture in the article. As they say, people attached credibility when they can put a face to what people write. So being a pragmatic person, just “la” do it lo

So this here’s my first article, about a Silverlight technogy with Deep Zoom feature. It allows you to zoom in to your pictures. 

You can download the softcopy here but the best way is. Buy a copy of HWM magazine; it features damn cool stuff about happenings in the IT world.
Here’s some links that you could checkout that I mentioned in the article

• HardRock Memorabilia
• My Own Photozoom album. (Cool wedding pictures courtesy of Daren Chong)

To view this, download Silverlight and here’s the softcopy of my Silverlight with DeepZoom article

Here are some snapshots of my article.

DeepZoom Tech

Hardrock - Best example of DeepZoom Technoglogy

Some steps on how to do DeepZoom

Just read some articles that Obama’s inauguration will be stream using Microsoft’s Silverlight technology…

Silverlight has been chosen to stream U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony live on the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s Web site. Microsoft is also working with CNN using its Photosynth technology. Check it out @ Silverlight to Stream Obama’s Inauguration and Microsoft, CNN team up to make historians out of inaugural attendees

Watch Obama here @ http://www.pic2009.org/content/home/

Microsoft is having an event this Friday, 23rd Jan. Its all about how to write secure codes for your .NET applications. So for those folks who don’t need to balik “kampung” check it out.

Visit the link here to register yourself. http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/events/devseminar/

I always wanted to stay focus on stuff related to technology in my blog. But this clip really inspired me. It really makes me realized that how lucky we are and there should be no concrete reasons for us to give up. This reminds me of an email I read about

“if you complaint that you have crappy shoes, wait till you see a person without legs”

In this clip, I saw someone that have so many reasons to give up but did not. I don’t know about you guys, but I will be keeping this for a crappy day to pull myself up.

Cheers and enjoy

A couple of weeks back, Microsoft announced an USD300 million advertising campaign to change its brand perception. This got me thinking, can you ever change people’s perception? Does it matter that a company would be willing to spend USD 300 million to change perceptions?

Being a person who likes to poke into things, I went search about it do see whether:

1.       Does having a good perception give some leeway when companies fumble?

2.       Can you ever change the perception others have on you? Even with Microsoft’s cash coffer?

I found some interesting facts. Apple with its excellent reputation of delivering products that consumer wants also fumbles with some recent launches. Its MobileMe, IPhone 3G and its AppleTv was not exactly a smooth launch. But consumer’s perception towards it was still positive and they received nowhere near the hostility of Windows Vista. In true perspective, Windows Vista has a bigger consumer footprint and its performance will have a bigger impact towards consumer. Therefore, it is no surprise that consumer perception towards it is negative.

I for one, have a Windows Vista installed in my laptop. After SP1, I must admit that it works really well for me apart for some minor hiccups. But imagine, an aunt of mine who does not even own a computer share her piece of mind to me about the negativity of Windows Vista. Perception really counts! It can create a delusional reality where people can form an opinion about something without even looking at the facts.

So Microsoft really needs to spend the money to change its image. But would they succeed? One good example of a brand perception turnaround was Volkswagen’s Skoda brand. Skoda is a car brand with Easter Europe heritage that have a very bad reputation in producing poor quality cars with bad design. Apart from improving its quality, Volkswagen also embark on a marketing campaign to reposition its brand. Skoda came out with ads that make fun of itself and highlight the positive aspect of its product. Now, Skoda is one of the fastest growing brands in Europe.

I guess Microsoft is in the right direction with its ads. I must admit that I don’t really understand the message that it’s trying to delivered in the first 2 ads staring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. But I enjoyed the latest “I’m a PC” campaign which I find it refreshing and highlight the contribution and positive aspect of Windows. Which in my opinion, credit should be given when credit is due. Windows does contribute in connecting the people around the world.

Anyhow changing perception is a long and hard process and this will be just the beginning of Microsoft marketing campaign. Meanwhile I learn 2 lessons from my research. First, I should not be blinded by hearsay and unfound perceptions but should research into the features. Second, I better invest RM300 in some wardrobe makeover. This perception thing is really dangerous, and I don’t have the money to change the perception of others.