It’s a marketing term.

That was the reply of Outblaze founder and CEO Yat Siu when asked what he thought of “Web 2.0″, a term that is over-used, over-hyped, and often associated with obscure companies. The idea behind Web 2.0 - interlinked platforms, social software, and online services that encourage user contribution - is one of the most powerful, promising, and appealing aspects of the evolving Internet, but surely we must retain some perspective. Let us not forget the late ’90s bubble heyday of the prefix “e-”.

Yat was being interviewed at the sixth Web Wednesday, held at Lotus on Pottinger Street in Hong Kong on Wednesday November 7, 2007, for an audience of 130 or so hailing from diverse technology and marketing backgrounds.

The podcast of the interview will be available shortly on the Web Wednesday web site. We’ll update with a direct link as soon as possible.

Open Source: live it and love it, as we’ve said since 1998. Outblaze CEO and Founder Yat Siu was interviewed by CIO Asia magazine on the region’s growing use of open source. Read the article here (October 2007 issue).

Extract:

Outblaze has a strong in-house programming capability and focuses on web technology, which is why it has profited from open source software ahead of most Asian enterprises. But the company’s success with open source may point to the future of Asian IT.

You may remember Forrester Research senior analyst Jeremiah Owyang’s visit to Hong Kong last month and particularly his photographs and commentaries on the ultra spicy Szechuan dinner he enjoyed his first night here. At the time Jeremiah interviewed Outblaze CEO Yat Siu on the state of the Web industry in Hong Kong and the video is now available - go to Jeremiah’s video post to watch it (or click the screenshot below).

Jeremiah is clearly a fan of the Cyberport, the high-tech facility where Outblaze has its headquarters. Take a look at his write-up and photographs.

FON is a fascinating concept in this age of Web 2.0. We’ve all heard reams about user-generated Web content: Wikipedia, YouTube, and many others have become household names. FON goes a step farther and brings us a global user-generated WiFi network, and what’s more it does so free of charge. Or, rather, for USD 39.99, the price of a small proprietary WiFi router called La Fonera that grants you entry to the world’s largest (and free!) WiFi community.

Now the Net is abuzz with the news: FON has joined forces with BT to make FON accessible to over 3 million of BT’s Total Broadband customers, creating a potentially unrivalled WiFi community. (more…)

On the evening of September 18, 2007, bloggers and members of the Web community in Hong Kong gathered for drinks at one of Hong Kong’s most exclusive establishments, the Prive’ lounge on Wyndham street, in the city’s hottest entertainment district. The event was kickstarted by Angus Lau and Jeremiah Owyang, and sponsored and hosted (and ultimately organized) by Outblaze. The turnout was good: over 80 people signed up at the wiki event page and around 70 showed up. For nearly three hours industry people and enthusiasts mingled, drank, ate, and made merry.

Jeremiah, whom I met at the event for the first time, turned out to be a pleasant and insightful fellow who genuinely cares about social media communities everywhere - traits that will no doubt serve him well in his new role at Forrester Research as social computing senior analyst. He blogged the event and took numerous photos, so have a look at his post.

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