The Malaysian Insider

OCT 18 – I’m sure you’ve heard the news – one billion customers served! Just like that popular fast food franchise company that has a clown as its number one salesman.

That’s it folks! YouTube recently exceeded one billion video views in a day. Is this a big deal? This is a big deal! On the same day, CSI, the most popular show on television at the moment only pulled in 15 million viewers.

Think about it. There are almost 7 billion people on earth. An estimated 2 billion of them have Internet access. That means half the Internet population of the world are YouTube viewers. If that’s not a big deal, that I don’t know what is! (Okay! Some might argue the recent spat in the MCA is a bigger deal. I grant that to you. I guess I’m just a techie geek!)

SEPT 18 — Once upon a time, there was a guy named… Zac! Zac Azron. Quite a good-looking guy, in fact. Most girls wanted to be with him while most guys wanted to be him (some guys also wanted to be with him!).

Always dressed casually, he had the rugged and boyish good looks which just screamed sex appeal. But this story is not about Zac’s good looks. It’s about a situation which Zac found himself in.

JUNE 21 — Zan Azlee scours the Internet for interesting videos. The abundance of idle time forces him to write responses to the videos he views. This week's video can be viewed here.

I’m a very New Media guy. I have a website, a blog and a YouTube and even Twitter page. I have one of the latest PDA phones and two iPods. I produce and direct digital films. And I have been an IT journalist for the past nine years. But somehow or rather, I had never subscribed to an online networking site. Until, of course, Facebook came along.

Friendster never appealed to me. MySpace just flew past my head. But Facebook had a magical effect on me. It was as if Sofea Jane’s pot of rice from the movie "Perempuan, Isteri dan... " appeared on the monitor of my notebook. I can’t explain why but I signed up and was immediately poking people I did not know.

JUNE 3 — “Assalamualaikum,” said the woman on the other line.

“Wa’alaikumsalam,” I replied.

“Boleh saya bercakap dengan Ustaz Zan Azlee?”

“Err… Zan Azlee bercakap.”

“Saya nak bertanya, saya baru sahaja membeli rumah. Perlukah saya samak lantai dan dinding rumah tersebut?”

Zan Azlee scours the Internet for interesting videos. The abundance of idle time forces him to write responses to the videos he views. This week's video can be viewed here:

MAY 15 — I never like taking responsibility for mistakes I've made. It means admitting that I was wrong at something. And when I admit that I’m wrong, it means that I’m not perfect. I can’t stand not being perfect. The reason being, I am perfect.

So I guess I can relate to people who can’t seem to admit to their mistakes. Let’s say, for example, the mayor of Crumble Rock City wants to develop his town. He encourages the construction of buildings all around so that the city looks modern and sophisticated.

Construction begins and any Tom, Dick and Harry’s company can develop land everywhere. Approval by the city’s authorities is lax and given out like pennies on the sidewalk. Skyscrapers line the cityscape. Hills are filled with buildings and valleys are filled with houses.