7 reasons why you must come for Google DevFest

Within 7 days, Google DevFest will be happening in Kuala Lumpur for the 2nd time since last year. I have 7 reasons, why you should come for DevFest.

• For the first time, there will be official talks about Android from Google. Tony Chan, a Developer Advocate for Android, will be talking about the state of Android Market for developers and what's new & important for budding Android developers. What you can expect is highlights on Honeycomb, new Android API features and much more. This is your chance to ask hard questions that concerns you as a Android developer from Malaysia.
• More HTML5 talks. Eric Bidelman & Ernest Delgado, both Developer Advocates from the Google Chrome team, will be presenting 2 topics about HTML5 development. Eric will be sharing with developers the latest & greatest bleeding edge stuff that developers can use in their HTML5 development. Ernest will be showing developers the best & optimized ways on how to make your HTML5 applications available for offline use.
• Vinoaj Vijeyakumar, a Senior Conversion Specialist from Google Singapore, will be showing you how you can take full advantage of Google Analytics and it's developer API for your web & mobile applications. You will learn how you can use data to bring your startup valuable to VCs. His sessions is great for developers that work mostly in analyzing data and marketers.
• Luke Mahe, Developer Programs Engineer from the Geo team will showing you how to take advantage of Fusion Tables for your mapping or geo projects. Fusion Tables is a service from Google that helps you visualize and publish your data as maps, timelines and charts.
• Hands on codelab sessions. We didn't get to do this last year, but this year we manage to organize 2 codelab session on Google Analytics and Fusion Tables.
• Awesome schwags from Google!
• Free food and meet other developers like you!

So, what are you waiting for? Register now to book your seat!

Date: 29th September 2011
Time: 9:00AM - 7:00PM
Location: Asia Pacific University College of Technology & Innovation (UCTI / APIIT)



How to get there? You can take the STAR LRT and there is a bus that can drop you off at Technology Park Malaysia.

Register for your place in Malaysia's biggest developer event!

Thank you for using TimeToBuka.com

Assalamualaikum,

First of all, thank you for using TimeToBuka.com. I hope that you have find it useful during this holy month of Ramadhan. The whole idea is to help you (and myself) figure out the time to break fast. In time, I'd like to improve this application but I need your help with that. Help me understand why, how, what makes you find TimeToBuka useful (or not useful).

Thank you for spending some of your time and Selamat Hari Raya to you. Be safe & be jolly :)

Start Your Engines! Google App Engine Hackathon in KL

On June 18th - 19th 2011, GTUG Kuala Lumpur and Python Malaysia group will be holding a App Engine developer hackathon at F-Secure R&D Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Learn about Google App Engine

The goal is to have developers building applications atop the Google App Engine platform. The event will include presentations on the major new features of Google App Engine and how to mashup App Engine with other web services.

Ikai Lan from Google Developer Relations team will be on hand to help and to answer questions throughout the event. You will also be supported by the developers from the community.

About Ikai Lan

Ikai is a Developer Programs Engineer working on Google App Engine. Prior to Google, he worked as a software engineer building social and mobile applications at LinkedIn. Ikai is an avid technologist, consuming volumes of material about new programming languages, frameworks or services, though more often than not you'll find him advocating pragmatism over dogma in the solutions he proposes. In his free time he enjoys the California outdoors, winning Chinese language karaoke contests and playing flag football. He resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he watches in anguish as his favorite sports teams implode season after season.

When and Where?

The event will be held at F-Secure, Bangsar South in Kuala Lumpur, on June 18th from 10am to 4pm on June 19th.

F-Secure Malaysia (M) Sdn. Bhd.
Block 3A, Horizon, Bangsar South,
No. 8, Jalan Kerinchi
59200 Kuala Lumpur.

What's the schedule?

Saturday, June 18 2011
0800 - Registration & breakfast.
1000 - Presentation by Ikai Lan from Google Developer Relations team.
1100 - Presentation by developers from F-Secure.
1130 - Presentation by a representative from CodeAndroid Malaysia.
1200 - Team formation.
1300 - Hackathon begins.

Sunday, June 19 2011
1300 - Hackathon ends.
1400 - Presentation by developers.
1500 - People’s choice awards.
1600 - Breakout sessions. Go home.

This is the general guideline for the 2 days and we’ll play it by ear.

Build With Us, or Build Your Own

The hackathon is mainly aimed at developers. We will use the information shared at the event to build up a working Google App Engine application throughout the 2 days 1 night, which you can code along with us. On the other hand, if you already have a great idea for what to build, bring that idea along. Even better, bring along anything you can prepare ahead of time (sketches, designs, web page mock ups, etc.) and use the time and information provided to develop your idea into a working application, then share it with the world.

Space is limited, so sign up now! Note: Facebook confirmation will not be used for final registration into the event. We will need you to RSVP your attendance.

Contact Nazrul Kamaruddin at nazrul at gtugs dot org for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Can I Code In?

App Engine is the suggested development platform - which means you can code in Python or Java - you can build your application on anything you want, as long as it's somehow using the Google stack. If you're a Ruby fan, check out jRuby. If you want PHP, you might want to try Quercus, which runs PHP on Java.

You can also use a wide range of Google tools and APIs for the creation of new applications, from its App Engine platform to services like Maps, Search and Android.

What Do I Need?

We will provide facilities, power, food and refreshments and experts to help you learn to use Google App Engine and write your application. Just bring your laptops, ideas and enthusiasm to complete the mix. Plus anything else you need to build an app (iPone or Android, books, etc). You can download development environments for App Engine. Best place to be prepared is at Google Code site.

Who Owns the Code I Write?

You do. Unless you're using something that belongs to someone else. We would like to take a few screenshots of promising projects and share them with the developer community. Also, we would like to highlight the people's choice of applications.

GTUG KL Office Hours with Vinoaj Vijeyakumar

Photo courtesy of iTrain

On May 3 2011, Vinoaj Vijeyakumar, a Googler from Google Singapore headquarters dropped by Kuala Lumpur and hosted a meetup with the community from Kuala Lumpur GTUG. He shared with us tips and tricks on how to fully utilize Google Analytics for web and mobile applications.

Here are some notes on his presentation:

• Use Goals to analyse your users engagement with your website, web app and mobile application.
• Use Event Tracking to track your users' behavior and improve on your website, web app and mobile application user experience.
• Google Analytics for Mobile is important for Android application developers.

You can follow along his presentation slide below.

I hope for the next Office Hours meetup, Vinoaj would tell us some dirty secrets on how to use Website Optimizer tools. Thanks for coming by Vinny!

Google I/O Extended is 3 days away!

We're coming close to Google I/O 2011, and GTUG Kuala Lumpur is glad to be hosting the I/O Extended event happening on May 10, 2011. It's part viewing party, part commune event for developers and people who are deeply interested in Google technologies and developer APIs. You'll be mingling with other developers from the community and will be watching the opening keynote live from Moscone West Center, San Francisco by Vic Gondutra from Google.

Here's the full agenda of I/O Extended KL.

11:00 PM on May 10, 2011 - Arrival of developers.
11:50 PM on May 10, 2001 - Opening address by GTUG Kuala Lumpur.
11:59 PM on May 10, 2011 - Special appearance.
00:00 AM on May 11, 2011 - Livestream of opening keynote from Google I/O.
01:30 AM on May 11, 2011 - Breakout sessions.

Location of I/O Extended

iTrain, 7th Floor,
Block E, Megan Avenue 1,
189 Jalan Tun Razak,
50400 Kuala Lumpur. (click here for map)

How to get there: Take the LRT and alight at Ampang Park station. Walk towards Bank of China building and Megan Avenue is right behind the building.

Share the love

When you're at the I/O Extended, please take photos and share with the world by using the Twitter hashtag #ioxkl! Don't forget to email me your photos if you're too shy :)

I understand that some of you will be travelling via public transportation, and since the nature of this event will be at midnight, I personally encourage those who have transportation (driving a car) would offer a ride to those that don't have their own mode of transportation. Pay it forward.

See you at I/O!

We have a venue! #ioxKL

Choosing a location is not easy. You have to consider a lot of things, but 1 major important criteria is the internet speed. After deliberating a few locations in Kuala Lumpur, I've finally come to terms by choosing iTrain as the venue of choice for this inaugural "live" event. They have speedy internets!

iTrain, 7th Floor,
Block E, Megan Avenue 1,
189 Jalan Tun Razak,
50400 Kuala Lumpur.

iTrain has been our supporter from day one of inception and together we've come up with various training programs on Google technologies, notably Android application development training for beginners, intermediate & advance. If you're interested, lookout for Mike (also known as Bikesh) at the event.

How to get there

Take the LRT and alight at Ampang Park station. Walk towards to Bank of China and Megan Avenue is right behind the building.

Here's a brief agenda of what's going to happen at the event on 10th May 2011.

2300hrs: Arrival of attendees. When you arrive, make yourself comfortable, find a seat, open up your laptop and share with everyone on what you're up to!
2350hrs: Opening I/O Extended keynote from a special guest.
0000hrs: Live streaming from Moscone West Convention Center, San Francisco.
0130hrs: Breakout.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me prior to the event. When you're at the I/O Extended, please take photos and share with the world by using the Twitter hashtag #ioxkl! Don't forget to email me your photos if you're too shy :)

Join the fun at Google I/O Extended in Kuala Lumpur

This year is yet another record breaking for Google I/O: Tickets were sold out in 59 minutes! So, for those who couldn't make it for Google I/O (that includes myself), the awesome people from Google Developer Relations team has agreed to work together with GTUGs worldwide to organize Google I/O Extended.

What is Google I/O Extended? It's part viewing party, part commune event for developers and people who are deeply interested in Google technologies and developer APIs. You get to mingle with the coolest developers from all around Malaysia (and Singapore apparently), share ideas and thoughts with each other, and most importantly, together we will be watching the live keynote from Moscone West, San Francisco, USA. Expect to hear something really good from Vic Gondutra, VP of Engineering from Google.

Here's the current itinerary for the event:

• Where: Location to be confirmed. I will send the exact location to your email.
• When: Live keynote will start at 00:00 hours on 11th May 2010. It will end at 01:30 hours.

Snacks will be served during the whole event. I will update attendees via email provided during registration.

Register here to book your place. If you can't make it, please let me know. I'd like to make sure everybody gets a chance to join in the fun.

P/S: If you can show me your latest project (or side project) using Google developer APIs, you might walk away with something very cool! Show me the apps!

GTUG KL in 2010.

Usually you'll get this kind of reporting at the early of the year. But it took me some time to make time to go back & follow up on what has been happening in the year 2010 for the GTUG Kuala Lumpur community.

2010 was the year of the Android. Together with the core team members of CodeAndroid Malaysia, we've been working really hard to promote and build up the developer community for the Android platform. But that is for another blog post. Now, let's have a recap on what happened last year.

6 February 2010.

Our first meetup of the year. At this meetup, we introduced CodeAndroid Malaysia and their line of Android applications developed by the core team members. CodeAndroid Malaysia objectives for 2010 is pull in more interest in Android applications development. We've said that we will put more effort in growing awareness and most importantly knowledge in Android development. Here's what we've reached so far in 2010:

• Technical Partner at HTC Android Garage 2010. We presented to an audience of 200 people on how to get started in Android development and showcased homegrown applications developed by developers from Malaysia. We also shared with audience about our favourite Android applications.
• We've partnered with iTrain to provide training courses for those who are interested in Android development. We have trained over 50 upcoming Android developers at the iTrain facility and other parts of the country. We've also helped developers get started in Android at Celcom's League of Extraordinary Developers Challenge program.

20 March 2010.

Chrome extensions mini hackathon. Presented a tutorial on how to create an extension for the Google Chrome browser. What did we get? A Google Chrome extension for DevFest developed by Leonard Lee, a GTUG KL community member. Wuhoo!

13 June 2010.

Our first Office Hours session with Wesley Chun, a visiting Googler from Mountain View, California. A number of Python developers from Malaysia attended this event and Wesley was more than glad to bounce questions & answers with them. We're looking to invite more Googlers to come to Kuala Lumpur and connect with the local community!

16 July 2010.

Google DevFest Kuala Lumpur. The mother of all GTUG KL meetups (as tweeted by our friend, @sweemeng). Over 300 developers attended this event and was awed by presentations from the Google Developer Relations team. Daniels Lee on Google Maps, Google Places and how to find coffee; the dynamic duo Timothy Jordan & Bob Aman on Google Buzz and the Open Web; Patrick Chanezon on Google Predictions API & App Engine. We took this chance to highlight some of the best work from Malaysia as well.

Reza from Terato Tech presented Undies, an iPhone application to find out what kind of underwear people around you are wearing; Leonard Lee shared his experience about developing the Chrome extension for DevFest 2010.

18 September 2010.

A 1 hour tutorial on how to prepare existing or new web applications (and websites in many regards) for the upcoming Google Chrome Web Store. Showcased in this meetup was a webapp called TimeToBuka. TimeToBuka is a simple webapp for Muslims in Malaysia & Singapore to check for breaking fast times. It was built on App Engine using Google Spreadsheet as the database & a little bit of jQuery to make it work. It's HTML(5) compliant and is available on the Chrome Web Store. At Barcamp Bangkok this year, I presented an overview on how I used different technologies to build this webapp in 4 days.

All Mashed Up - A HTML5 Mashup Story

View more presentations from Nazrul Kamaruddin.

16 October 2010.

Swee Meng, GTUG KL community member, organised a meetup at HackerspaceKL with Graham Dumpleton, the creator of mod_wsgi for Python.

12 October 2010.

Timothy Jordan was in town again and wanted to meetup with developers. Instead, he got a classroom of students and lecturers from Multimedia University in Cyberjaya, conversing with him about the Open Web. This meetup was organised by Ikhwan, a GTUG KL community member.

That was last year. So what's coming for this year? This year will be a continuing focus on Android. CodeAndroid Malaysia has gone places last year and will continue to do so this year. We're also planning to have more mini (and large) scale hackathons and showcase applications developed using Google technologies. And one lesson that we've learned is to organize a meetup at least a month before. No more last minute planning!

If you have suggestions on what kind of Google technologies you would like to learn, which Googlers you want to meet, email your suggestions to nazrul at gtugs dot org.

A honeycombed Google Code periodic table

Google Code released this periodic view of all the available developer APIs from Google. It's a really cool visual representation in a form that's familiar to geeks. When you hover over the Android (or Mobile) icon, you'll get to see the related APIs in the same category.

Got this tip from @ropu, a software engineer from Argentina. He was a presenter at the first Google DevFest in Singapore a few years back.

Honeycomb Preview SDK released.

In other news, the Android team has released a preview SDK for Honeycomb! Hurrah! Now developers can start building (or porting) new or existing apps for the tablet format. Apparently, any applications developed from this preview release won't be able to make it to the Market just yet. However, developers will have the chance to prepare themselves and their apps when it's officially released. You can start reading about the new SDK and fire up your Eclipse to download that honey. It's the beez knees!