An Interview with Bryan of SapiensBryan.com
September 12, 2005
Today i have the privillage for a few Q & A with Bryan of SapiensBryan.com.
I am reviving of sorts this interview feature that i once had during the beginning days of this Blog,
This months theme will be a focus on Malaysian Bloggers.
Here we go….
1.Name,age and sex.
Bryan Soh, 24+, Male
2.where are you from?
Penang Island, Malaysia.
3.”sapiensbryan”….where did that name come from?
As mentioned in the About
SapiensBryan page in
www.sapiensbryan.com Sapiens is actually the
scientific name for human being. Human being have two sexes, hence, we all
are Homosapiens.
I come across this scientific term in the Biology test book during Form 4. I
thought, since I am a human named Bryan. So why not calling myselfSapiensBryan.
4.what powers your blog? (worpress,blogger..etc..)
I use WordPress.
5.What is your blog about? and why did you choose such a topic?
I blog about all sorts of latest IT/Computer Science news and information.
My blog covers interesting news and useful information about the IT world,
catering for both IT literate as well as non-IT literate readers. You may
finds technical articles from tweaking Wordpress blog to configuration your
browsers. Meanwhile, there are some non technical articles regarding new
products/services launching and funny stuffs as well.
I am now doing my Master degree in business and I found that more than 70%
of my classmates and course mates do not know IT very well. That rang my a
bell. I thought why not I start a blog talking about both non technical and
technical stuffs about IT for all my friends and my readers. We should not
neglect the minor ones. There is always a niche for every blog/website. I
have targeted mine and wish to evolve from there onwards.
Anyway, you might not see me targeting the same niche over time, because we
all need evolution. Adidas nowadays is not the same Adidas in those olden
days.
6. Do you work..or are you a Problogger?
I am now a full time second year student of Master in Business Administrator
(MBA), currently studying in University of Science Malaysia (USM).
I am not a Problogger, yet.
By the way, I do not see any direct relationship between working and
Problogger. I know the term Problogger has been used as a symbolic title to
some bloggers, but I think everyone may have different definitions of the
term “Problogger”. Personally, I think Problogger is a person who produces
great/quality articles in his/her blog, sharing priceless experiences and
witty knowledge with his/her readers, and most of the time, you will get
some values from those articles written.
A Problogger can be a technician in a computer shop, a full time mother with
3 kids, or a slacker. As long as he/she can produce quality articles in
his/her blog, then I call him/her a Problogger. It has nothing to do with
working or not.
7. Did anyone/blog inspired you to blog?
First, I had the idea as I mentioned in question #5, then I saw LiewCF’s
website. It roughly gave me some ideas of which direction my blog is going.
I do not like direct competition, but I believe in leveraging and
supplement.
8. Do your friends blog too?
When I started blogging, none of my friends blogged. However, started from
day one blogging, I got to know more friends in the blogshpere. Recently, I
encouraged one of my best friends to start blogging too, he is AegisRyan.
9. What PR is your blog & how many unique visitors per day?
My blog is currently at PR4. Due to the boost from Google Talk
Theme I
created, there are more than 1,000 unique visitors coming to my blog per day. Here is the Webalizer
Snapshot of
the statistic.
10. Google adsense….made you some serious cash?
Nope, not even enough to cover my hosting fees every month for the past few
months, honestly. Perhaps it will grow in coming months.
11. Google….what do you think of them?
If I would work for any company in the future, Google will definitely be my
first priority. They are Innovative and full of sense of humor.
12. Angelina Jolie or Charlize Theron? :p
Angelina Jolie.
13. Apple or Windows?
Apple, for its design.
14.In your most creative words..finish this sentence:
“To blog means…….”
To blog means to gain.
15. Your Fav Music is..
No specific preference. I listen to Jazz, Pop, Rock, R&B, Hip Hop, New Age,
Classical, Reggae, etc.
16. Your advice to newbie bloggers out there….
Don’t give up, frequently update your blog and keep consistent.
Avinash.vora
June 27, 2005
A quick Thank You to Avinash Vora, for his time in answering this questions.
Head on over to his Blog, to find out more, especially the download section.
The Following are questions submmited to Avinash:
Blog Url: Avinash.Vora
Name:
Avinash Vora
Age:
18
Sex:
Male
Location:
Earth
1. When did u start your blog?
03/03/05, according to the first post on my blog.
2. What is your blog about? what is the main focus?
I basically write about whatever I find interesting and whatever I think
others will find interesting. This could be everything from technology
talk, quantum physics, politics or religion. I try to write for a wide
variety of people and hope that it’s reaching out.
3.YourBlog is powered by? (wordpress,blogger..etc..)
WordPress 1.5
4. Is your blog design custom?
It’s a modified design - it is a modified version of MinimaPlus by the
excellent Theron Parlin of thoughtmechanics.
5. Do you have friends that blog too?
Not many in real life. One, maybe two. Friends I’ve made over the
Internet? Many.
6. Name 3 blogs that captures your attention.
Binary Bonsai - Michael is an excellent writer
and a talented designer.
Airios - That design captivates me.
If Else - Writes some excellent material, and
provides good content.
7. Your Fav Music is..?
That’s tough - but I listen to all forms of rock (folksy/acoustic stuff to
melodic metal), jazz, flamenco (contemporary and classical), classical, and
a very limited amount of rap (grandmaster flash and sugarhill gang).
8. Your motto in Life?
Hmm. “Life’s a bitch, but it’s your bitch.”
9. If you were not blogging..you would……?
…be playing guitar, recording that album that’s on hold.
10.Your Blog has a download section…tell us more about it…
Well, I program from time to time, and some of the stuff I’ve created that I
found useful is up there. This might be my tutorials, some PHP scripts or
any useful software that I’ve written. They usually go up because people
have contacted me with interest to having these items publicly available, or
if someone asks me to code something, then I put that up too. There is a
lot more stuff that doesn’t make the downloads page that should, but I have
to design a better system. Once my exams are over this will take priority.
11.There’s even a link to your devianart page…your a graphic designer?
Yes, I am proficient in Photoshop, and dabbled in 3D Studio Max before. I
love to just open up an empty canvas in Photoshop and just start creating
abstract stuff and seeing where it goes. It’s satisfying to see my thoughts
at that time just flow onto the page.
12. What do you think of Google?
Google…it’s basically mixed feelings. On one hand, I admire them for what
they have done for the Internet - easily the greatest search ever, fantastic
email, aggregated news, images etc. etc. On the other hand, they have got
to where they are by doing some fairly inexcusable stuff. Where have I
explicitly written that I want my copyrighted artwork to be available
through Google Images? Why shouldn’t Reuters be paid royalties for letting
(well, not letting, but Google taking) Google take their newsfeeds and
present it on a site, reducing Reuters traffic.
13. 5 year from now…you’ll still be blogging?
Oh I sure hope so. I’d like to, but life leads you strange places. One
year ago I wouldn’t have thought I would even be blogging.
14. Do you blog on a regular basis?
I go through patches where I make multiple posts a day, to times when I
manage a post a week, to times when I didn’t post for half a month. Ideally
I’d like to make at least one post a day, but time constraints and real life
come in the way.
15. Your advice to people who want to start blogging..
Make sure you customize everything before you actually start blogging -
changing themes, adding new plugins, changing post styles etc. can be a pain
once you have a full database.
Backup often - you’d be surprised how many “good” servers have little quirks
in them. Use phpMyAdmin and backup your database, download the rest of the
content through FTP, and archive it. Make a folder in your hard disk and
keep everything there, ordered by date. When it becomes too big, burn it to
a disc. I have had so many problems when updating the blog core messed up
and WordPress corrupted, and I had to reinstall a previous backup of my
database. I would love to backup daily, but that’s not practical. I would
say a database backup is good every 10 posts, and a content backup is good
at least once a month, ideally once a week.
Get help from people who know how it’s done - WordPress for example has an
excellent support forum where people can get help. When I started off, I
knew nothing, and had to teach myself. Head over to the support forum of
whatever blog software you choose and ask questions, search for similar
problems to yours.
16. Decribe your blog in less than 500 words.
The absolutely crazed corner of the Internet of a programmer/web
designer/musician/digital artist/photographer with a love and knack for
sarcasm and the art of subtle satire.
[How about 25?]
Thank You to Avinash Vora for his time.
Nullmind’s Lair
June 17, 2005
Blog Url:Nullmind
Name: Carlos Rego
Age: 31
Sex: Male
Location: Cardiff, UK
1. When did u start your blog?
I started blogging with MT back in April 2003, initially all my
entries were (and some still are) private, back then I was going thru
some tough times, and used the blog as a means to release my
frustration and confine to a digital medium, but still keeping it to
my eyes only, but lately I have been revisiting those same entries
and slowly making them public .. for the past year however, all my
entries are public, I believe the more you blog, the bolder you
become and open up more.
2. Did anyone inspire you to Start a blog?
Not really, back when I was a kid, I had a journal, it sounds the
sort of thing girls do, but I loved mine, I would draw allot on it
and take notes of new experiences, places and things. The succession
of it to a blog was a natural one.
3. What powers your Blog? (blogger/wordpress..etc..)
Currently is powered by Wordpress, initially when I started I was
using MovableType, but I never been too keen on CGI (perl), so at the
end of 2003 I moved to b2evolution .. but after seeing that project
go nowhere (development stalled) I decided it was time to move on,
MovableType was the obvious choice .. another tool I use and love is
“ecto” .. it allows me to create my posts in OSX, complete with
images and technorati tags and then publish them to the blog, very
handy.
4. Name 3 blogs that inspire/captivate/captures yr attention.
Not sure if it qualifies as a blog, but close enough, http://
slashdot.org/, other than that, i just jump on technorati and look
for blogs on whatever tecnorati categories I am writing that day, and
the occasional check on the linuxCult.com blog’s - http://
linuxcult.com/forum/journal.php
5. Your Fav Music
I’m a big fan of Project bands like “Deep Forest” … I also enjoy
Enya’s music, basically any mixture of classical and techno will do
me in, I cant stand POP .. but then again, I am getting old.
6. Do You Blog regularly?
Sometimes 2-3 times a day, then i’ll go a couple of days witouth an
entry, I only blog what has meaning to me, I hate the fact most blogs
nowadays are all news oriented, I wont comment on a news-topic unless
I feel strong about it, most bloggers seem to just copy the news
article into a post and call it a blog.
7. How many friends of yours Blog too?
I know of 3 or 4 who do, sometimes they need a little incentive to
get writing again, but it’s catching on.
8. Did you design your own Blog?
I took an existing skin (MX4) and went to work on it, it gave me the
layout structure I was looking, if you look at it and the skin it’s
based, it’s quite different now, I also went on a mission for cool
plugins, I was able to nicely integrate jVisitors with the theme, and
my DVD collection as well.
9. What do you think makes your blog interesting?
I write about the simplest of things, and the coolest of things (that
I buy), I love to shop for the latest and greatest on the tech world,
when i get myself a new toy I make sure to write about it from my
point of view, the everyday joe, and no the paid reviewer.
I also write about everyday stuff that mean something to me, I might
see a stupid sign on a road and write about it, I try to write mostly
to myself, and not for an audience.
10. Your advice for people just beginning to start a blog…..
Like Nike says “Just Do It”, a blog is a great thing for prosperity,
I envision 20 or 30 years from now, having my kids read it and go “I
never knew DAD was like that”.
11. 5 years from now..do u think u will still be blogging?
Of course, I have much more of myself that I wish to share with
others, especially my family and growing kids.
12. The future of Blogs…..where would it lead to? in your opinion.
Personal journals haven’t changed for milenia, I dont think blogs
will change much either, there might be a few cool gizmos and plugins
here and there, but ultimately it is a bonified digital journal,
people telling the world their story, secrets, hope and dreams ..
13. your motto in life
Try not to look back, and try not to dwell on the mistaques of the
past … the future is allot more fun, that’s the way I try to live,
sometimes it doesn’t quite work that way, but I’ll keep trying.
14. If you were not blogging you would……..
Work, I’m a workaholic ..
15. Google…what do You think about Google?
Google is a outstanding, clutter free search tool, it is also the
depiction of lust, it’s over inflated stock makes it bigger than
media companies like Time Warner, who gross 10x as more than Google,
it shows us what a messed-up financial times we live in.
16. What do You think Makes your Blog Special?
It’s not a news repository.
17. what is your blog mainly about?
Everything that is part of an ordinary geek’s life, from the latest
cool supercomputer, to the family trip, just a human being’s small
part on this increasingly small planet.
18. Decribe your blog in less than 500 words…
NullMind’s Lair is the blog of a multi faceted individual, who loves
computers, art, traveling, family and work.
It depicts every day events, and once in a while, very opinionated
comments about the state of the society we live on, the blog does not
have a single theme, the blogger does not have a single interest.
Null also uses the blog to share any tips or tricks he might come
across on his everyday job as a Sysadmin that other might find useful.
Blog Url:Nullmind
Floobo !
June 2, 2005
Blog Url:Floobo
Name: Sid Egg
Age: 16
Sex: Male
Location: B.C.
1. When did u start your blog?
About December, however, I have only recently started updating it daily.
2. Did anyone inspire you to Start a blog?
Naw… I did it more as an experiment/just for the helluvit.
3. What powers your Blog? (blogger/wordpress..etc..)
Wordpress, with some plugins and some modifications by me.
4. Name 3 blogs that inspire/captivate/captures yr attention.
AwesomeBlogs ;), ProBlogger.net, and Google’s blog
5. Your Fav Music
Green-Day and Blink 182
6. Do You Blog regularly?
3-10 posts a day! 
Yes
7. How many friends of yours Blog too?
Very, very, few.
8. Did you design your own Blog?
No, just a few modifications from a beautiful pre-designed template.
9. What do you think makes your blog interesting?
The sheer traffic numbers
10. Your advice for people just beginning to start a blog…..
Make sure you ping to Technorati! It sends some pretty good traffic (not a
LOT, but very targetted).
11. 5 years from now..do u think u will still be blogging?
Yeah, likely, although I think blogging will’ve changed a bit.
12. The future of Blogs…..where would it lead to? in your opinion.
I really don’t have a clue, I’m not a “futurologist” and I don’t have much
interest in speculating because I am likely to be wrong
13. your motto in life
Hmm, dunno.
14. If you were not blogging you would……..
Be blogging? 
I don’t really know, I’d probably be mountain biking.
15. Google…what do You think about Google?
Google is god. Floobo has a lot to do with Google and Search Engine
Optimization.
16. What do You think Makes your Blog Special?
The sheer traffic numbers, again?
17. what is your blog mainly about?
Webmastering, Google, Search Engine Optimization, and profit.
18. Decribe your blog in less than 500 words…
Floobo is a general purpose webmastering blog with information on
large-sites/influencal sites such as Google and Yahoo, as well as
information on advertising networks, searhc engine optimization and many
other things.
Simple Thoughts - simple solutions for complex problems.
May 23, 2005
If you like to read, and have time for it…tan this blog is your cup of tea!.
This is the blog of Angsuman Chakraborty.
let me tell you, this blog is full of content…lot’s of it!.
From javascripts to finding a cure to diabetes,
You can find it all at this blog.
check it out..:)
Blog Url: http://blog.taragana.com
Name: Angsuman Chakraborty
Age: 31
Sex: M
Location: Kolkata, India
1. When did u start your blog?
2003
2. Did anyone inspire you to Start a blog?
I had taragana.bloodspot.com from 2001. I wanted to start my new blog on my
server and have more control and customizability over the system. So
blog.taragana.com was born.
3. What powers your Blog? (blogger/WordPress..etc..)
WordPress 1.5.1, my hard work, custom designed theme and several plugins for
better usability.
Please see http://blog.taragana.com/index.pup/about-this-site/ for details.
4. Name 3 blogs that inspire/captivate/captures yr attention.
BoingBoing
PaidContent
Wired News (almost traditional media actually)
5. Your Fav Music
Devotional songs written by Ramprasad in Bengali.
Any song which forces me to think to contemplate.
6. Do You Blog regularly?
Nowadays yes, few times a day. I tend to blog in sudden spurts of activity.
7. How many friends of yours Blog too?
Two, Kyle Hart (Director, Axiope Inc.) & Edward Kiruluta (CEO,
LeenoSystems).
8. Did you design your own Blog?
Yes, custom designed the theme from scratch. Most of the plugins are also
developed by me.
9. What do you think makes your blog interesting?
The blog is rich in thoughtful content and original analysis of technology
and health topics.
It solves difficult questions on Java and web technologies (often with code
sample), explains hard-to-understand scientific papers in simple terms for
common man (or woman) and cuts through the fluff of traditional journalism.
Simple Thoughts is a labor of love.
The main weblog Simple Thoughts Blog is actually an aggregation of several
blogs like - Simple Thoughts on Diabetes, Simple Thoughts on Java Software,
Simple Thoughts on Google, Simple Thoughts on Spam Watch etc. Each blog
comes with its own RSS and Atom feeds. You can also subscribe to the
headlines (and excerpt) by daily email. Even the search is focused on the
current blog. So if you search on the java blog, you will get matches from
Java blog entries only.
I have taken significant effort to ensure each blog and each article has
highly context-sensitive related content and links to encourage further
reading. People on average read around two articles every time they visit. I
am hoping it would improve with the recent changes.
10. Your advice for people just beginning to start a blog…..
1. Try out a topic that you definitely enjoy talking about. Don’t care about
acceptability etc.
2. Avoid profanity, even though it may make you interesting to some people
(case in point Hani’s BileBlog).
3. Write when you feel like. Blogging should be fun, not a chore.
11. 5 years from now..do u think u will still be blogging?
I think so, hopefully not at this rate.
12. The future of Blogs…..where would it lead to? in your opinion.
Today traditional media like newspapers and television channels determines
by and large what we should think and how we should act. It modulates our
opinions to a great extent as they are the primary source of information to
the external world. It is easy to manipulate the common man by anyone who
controls large media conglomerates.
Blog allows the common man to become a journalist. It breaks the hegemony of
traditional media outlets like newspapers and television channels. It allows
greater freedom of expression. It gives a voice to Joe Smith and Jane Jones
(Tom, Dick & Harry if you are British).
However in the long run it also necessitates creation of better filters to
get to the useful content, from blogosphere noise.
13. your motto in life
“I do not care for liberation or for devotion; I would rather go to a
hundred thousand hells doing good to others, silently like the spring - this
is my religion”
– Swami Vivekananda
14. If you were not blogging you would……..
Perform as CEO, meet with my managers, think about our coming product,
contemplate, relax by watching some cartoon shows or on treadmill etc..
15. Google…what do You think about Google?
Google has redefined the search space for text as well as geographic search.
I am skeptical about its few recent ventures like GWA, for privacy and other
concerns which I detailed in my Google Blog - Simple Thoughts on Google
16. What do You think Makes your Blog Special?
Please see answer to Question No. 9.
17. what is your blog mainly about?
About Technology with focus on Java and Web technologies
About Health with focus on Diabetes.
Simple thoughts is an aggregation of several blogs as explained in response
to Question No. 9.
Please see http://blog.taragana.com/index.pup/about-this-site/ for further
details.
18. Decribe your blog in less than 500 words…
Thoughts and analysis on technology and health issues with original content,
code-samples, latest news and views from CEO’s Desk.
Tag Cloud
Links
