Now in beta, apparently, Megaglobe is going to be launched pretty soon.

Megaglobe claims to be one better than other search engines, including Mr G, with prioprietary technology dubbed “Pay Per Valid Click,” which claims to protect advertisers from invalid clicks. And as all advertisers know, click fraudsters are real money leeches.

It claims to be available in 45 languages. 45? Does Google even have that many?

To add further credibilty to its claims, Megaglobe is has been accepted into the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), which members also include luminaries such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

In addition, it claims to have 310 URLs and most major currencies (to be more specific: 50) will be supported for its advertisements and “sp*ns*red spots.”

For those interested, you can get beta testing codes by writing to them via press@megaglobe.com.

Indonesian heartthrob couple Irwansyah and Acha did a 45-minute concert at Sabah Cultural Centre, Penampang last night. There were about 3,000 to 4,000 people in attendance.

They advertised the concert to start at 8.30pm but even at close to 9pm the MC was nowhere to be seen. By the time she appeared I initially thought Nirina (the other lead in the movie Heart) put on weight. But alas, she’s apparently a Sabahan who tried to sound Indonesian.

By the time the local band (I think) Rimba completed their supporting act it was already quite late and some in the audience were making their impatience heard. I said I think because I recognised one of the keyboard players as my former housemate many years ago.

One of Rimba’s singers (Puteri Anggun if I’m not mistaken) made the gross blunder of asking “can I sing one more song?” for surely she was greeted with groans and boos.

But it must be said: Rimba were quite good. In fact they were the band for the night. It’s obivious that this was their biggest date because at the end I could see some bandmembers high-fiving each other.

The sound system was adequate, I’ve heard worse.

The video below is Irwansyah’s first song of the night (it was already almost 10pm), before my batteries ran out. Call it lack of preparation, but I was not even supposed to be there (long story).

Video taken with the only capture device I had - a cheap digicam. This was the highest zoom I could get.

After the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE 15th Feb 2007:

This is my comment about the VCD of the concert I got and the concert in general. Originally posted at Kadus Entertainment website:

mau komen VCD songkuigombui @ Boliou Productions. Good try, tapi sini ada beberapa komen membina:
- tempat kau ambil video tu ngam ngam di tengah, oleh itu kena blok orang (selalu nampak kepala penonton): kalau artis di tengah tidak nampak - kalau artis pigi kiri/kanan baru nampak. Kalau boleh kau pigi depan lagi. Kalau tidak pun, kau pigi tepi kiri atau kanan, atau pigi belakang tapi pakai stand supaya boleh zoom.
- kau tidak pakai video stand? mcm gagaran banyak /kurang steady
- mcm talampau capat zoom-in & out

Ttg venue: macam panas saja tu, ada beberapa orang berkipas pakai kertas saya nampak. Aircon tidak cukup kuat ka?

Tentang persembahan artis pula: Semua boleh tahan juga.

Ujian sebenar kehebatan seseorang penyanyi atau apa sahaja performer adalah performance dia semasa live. Sebab tiada lagi first take, 2nd take dsb. Kau ada satu peluang sahaja. Dan bagaimana seseorang performer tu handle perkara-perkara negatif akan menentukan tahap profesionalisma dia. Contoh: Aznil semasa AF3 kalau tidak silap “pura-pura” strut across stage utk bagi mikrofon dia kpd penyanyi yg mikrofonnya tidak berfungsi.

Saya fikir artis kita perlu lebih berani utk buat sentuhan baru / versi alternatif utk lagu mereka. Cth lagu “Adaa” oleh Clarice. Lagu itu tahun 2004 lagi saya sudah dengar. Kalau isu penonton sudah “overdose” lagu itu, kenapa tidak buat versi baru. Inilah dinamakan live performance, boleh buat sesuatu yg tidak disangka. Ini satu taktik memancing undi juga. contoh: versi threadbare - Clarice nyanyi dengan gitar akustik sahaja, ataupun rentak lain. Kamu semua pernah dengar “The Actor” oleh Michael Learns to Rock kan? MLTR ada buat satu versi yg ada alternate melody - hebat! Terus saya minat balik itu lagu.

Saya nampak susah diaorang mau konsentrasi utk lagu yg perlu tunjukkan emosi serius disebabkan sorakan penonton. Macam Sekar Madusa, dia mau buat muka serius pun tersenyum juga. Kalau persembahan biasa ok, tapi ini pertandingan, ada juri! Ini satu perkara yg perlu diperbaiki. Walau macamana penonton teriak/sorak pun, kalau lagu memerlukan mood sedih, kau mesti boleh buat mood yg sedih. Ertinya: fokus 100%. Sebelum lagu start dan selepas lagu habis kau bolehlah lambai lambai kah, flying kiss kah dsb dsb

Bagi saya, isu peserta yg “terlalu banyak goyang” (peserta pertama?) semasa menyanyikan lagu sentimental tidak apa - ini caranya sendiri utk “project emotion / feelings.” Yang penting tidak terlalu ekstrim.

Tentang lagu, memang hampir semua lagu tu hooknya kuat - ertinya dengar sekali terus suka. Oleh itu tidak ada isu ttg populariti lagu - memang akan instant appeal to the masses.

Kalau kesilapan sikit-sikit masa performance tu mmg sukar dielakkan: Kirk Hammett (Metallica), pemain gitar lead top 10 di dunia dulu saya nampak sendiri “tersumbang” dia punya mainan utk gitar solo ke-2 (yang part laju mandarahus tu) lagu “One.”

Di satu thread lain saya ada komen ttg pakaian MC: macam tidak kena pada tempatnya sebab semua artis dress up, dan dia tshirt saja dan tidak tuck in lagi tu.

Lagi satu, MC patut pegang cue card saja (perhatikan cara Aznil Nawawi) - itu kertas program yg dia bawa talampau besar.

Last sekali, patut ada sesi “break the ice.” MC berbual “small talk” dengan artis sebelum / selepas diaorang buat persembahan. Mungkin tidak cukup masa?

So far itu saja lah, saya baru tingu tu VCD 2 kali
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As you might have known, Hain Jasli won the inaugural Juara Lagu Dusun.

Venue: Ranau Community Hall

Date: 3rd February 2007.

Credits: Unofficial (amateur) video taken by Songkuigombui aka Boliou Productions. More info at http://kadusmusic.tambalut.com

RTM also took video, duno if they going to release the official version.

After the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Doing research for my other blog, I came across the English Channel 32.8km swim-across story of a few years ago. Reading it would seem like a Malaysia-Singapore show of “who is more groovy.”

The second Malaysian to swim across the English channel is Lennard Lee.

* occupation then: medical student at Cambridge University
* when: July 2004
* time: 9 hours and 45 minutes.
* age then: 20.
* Honours: The first Cambridge undergraduate to accomplish the feat. At Cambridge, he’s also captain of the swimming team and broke several university swimming records. I am not sure if I’m seeing double, but I saw his name listed as captain of the Oxford University swimming team later.

Contrast that to the first Singaporean to do so, Thum Ping Tjin, 25

* occupation then: doctorate student in Commonwealth History at Oxford University
* when: August 2005
* time: 12 hours 24 minutes
* Age then: 25
* Honours:  Rhodes scholar. Member of Singapore national swimming team. Has participated in the Olympics. The first Oxford graduate to accomplish the feat. At age 16, went to Harvard. Captain of Oxford’s swimming team.

These are incredible achievements, worthy rolemodels for our students: not just to be excellent academically, but also in other fields.

Incidentally, the first Malaysian to do so is Abd Malik Mydin, 28 in August 2003. He’s also the first South East Asian to do so. He achieved it in 17 hours and 42 minutes.