There are so few Web2.0 companies in Hong Kong, even a yakuza could count them with one hand only. At least those few guys should know each other, if not forming a business network, right? Therefor I met with P.K. Chan–CEO of Team and Concept–some days ago for a coffee session.

P.K. just came back from the US, where TnC showcased their product Editgrid at the recent Under the Radar Conference: why Office 2.0 matters. Editgrid is an impressive collaborative online spreadsheet-editor, just out of beta.
What I like about Editgrid is its clean design. P.K. and me discussed why so many Hong Kong websites feature a seemingly dull and unprofessional design. Agreed, webdesign doesn’t matter so much in Hong Kong, but its websites are an important part of Hong Kong’s global media-presence–and mostly the only thing being visible overseas. So it seems to be a too easy way out for the majority of businesses here, to skip web-design (or internet-adoption, for that matter) alltogether.

Anyway, it was a nice reaching-out and I guess I will try to keep contact to P.K. and TnC for some potential synergy effects.

I really like Flickr a lot (despite their utterly flawed user-experience) — images on our blog are hosted at Flickr, for example. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder at a news I read at BBC UK, about Flickr going local in Asia, namely in Hong Kong and Taiwan:

“The site, using traditional Chinese characters, will initially target users in Hong Kong. The next target market will be Taiwan, it said. Yahoo did not mention any plans to build its China user-base. The Flickr in Chinese will offer all the main features which are available on the English-language version, a spokeswoman said.” (BBC News)

Pardon me, but a localized Flickr in Hong Kong doesn’t spell big business to me. Even though Hong Kongers are (in my opinion) vigorous picture-takers, I have yet to be convinced that Flickr HK will extend the chinese-speaking userbase here beyond the ones already using Flickr.
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Wired’s mouthpiece for Yu Ling, wife of reporter and dissident Wang Xiaoning, allegedly being jailed by a whistle-blowing of Yahoo Hong Kong:

“Moments later, government agents swarm through the front door — 10 of them, some in uniform, some not. They take Wang away. They take his computers and disks. They shove an official notice into Yu’s hands, tell her to keep quiet, and leave. This is how it’s done in China. This is how the internet police grab you. … ‘Yahoo betrayed my husband and deprived him of freedom,’ Yu says through a translator, her voice trembling. ‘Yahoo must learn its lesson.’” (Wired.com)

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Hello Hong Kong. Now also i’m back in town. It’s amazing to see how much this city is changing within a few months. Where is the cat café now? Why there is a parking lot instead of the ferry terminal? Many questions for a jet lagged designer.

Financial Secretary Henry Tang presented a $20 billion surplus package of tax rebates and social and economic promotions last week, after Hong Kong’s government recorded a record budget surplus for 2006/07. This put an end to a lot speculations which were on the beat lately, on how the cash injection should be spend best. Details can be found here.

$210 million will be spend to “install WiFi networks enabling free Internet access by the public in government facilities such as libraries, parks and community halls.” (news.gov.hk)
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