Web 2.0 Asia

I met with Cherise Fong of CNN, who visited Korea to do a follow-up on CNN's previous coverage on Korean IT titled "Eye on South Korea".

I took her to Samsung's Anycall Studio in Shinchon, where Samsung displayed the latest phones. I took a picture of her with Samsung's sleek 10 megapixel camera phone and printed it out right on the spot, using the Pictbridge printer there.



Then we talked about "why Seoul" as the IT development center, how Seoul is compared to cities like Tokyo (similarity vs. difference - eg. Japanese people more into mobile than web, etc), why I started a blog in English, etc. We then went on to talk about lots of other things - favorite cities, life in HK/Seoul, family life in Asia, etc. It was a very fun conversation.

Time and again, I realize I learn tons from conversations with people. Anyone reading this blog and visiting Seoul is welcome to drop me a note and, although I'm generally quite busy, I would be happy to have a lunch/dinner/coffee with you whenever chances allow.

My contribution for CNN, titled "A day in the (digital) life of a South Korean boy", was featured on a special section called "Eye on South Korea". Some exceprt:

Insoo Kim, 14, is a typical junior high school student in Seoul. Like all his classmates, Insoo's main means of communication with his buddies is text messaging.

Insoo doesn't even have to take the phone out of his pocket to send an SMS. He knows how to slide it open, which buttons to push how many times to reach the "Send SMS" menu option, compose the entire text message, and hit the send button -- all without even looking at the phone. This is especially handy when he needs to send an SMS during class.

Yes, some Korean kids do can send an SMS without looking. You can check out the rest of the article here.