Last Friday (25th November 2016) marked the first time Stampede got together, physically at one place, and at the same time. If you didn’t know already, we at Stampede work remotely from various places around Malaysia along with other parts of the world. For instance, we have Viki from Hungary and Tony from Indonesia. Both flew down to KL just for this meet-up.

While we have met Tony before when he flew down last year, this marks the first time we were meeting Viki in person. She flew all the way from Budapest to meet us.

Viki arrives in Malaysia!

The reason for this get-together was to attend the JomLaunch 4 in Kuala Lumpur along with having Stampede-related meetings and just plain having fun together. Stampede was invited to JomLaunch 4 because of the voluntary work we did for the JomLaunch team. We designed and build the entire website.

The first thing we did as a team was to have dinner, which we did at Bangsar, KL. We ordered a variety of dishes and everyone dug in to their heart’s content. The tom yam soup was particularly good.

Stampede Dinner with Thai Food!

Once we had our fill, we proceeded to the condo that Shaza booked for us via Airbnb. This location was in the heart of KL and you could see some great sights at the height we were at, floor 41. We dropped off our luggage and got the needed rest for the following day’s event.

One the highlights of that night were the fresh shrimps that Iwan caught himself and prepared for us. You won’t find it any fresher and more delicious than this. It was definitely a great snack to have to produce great dreams that night.

Fresh cooked shrimps by Chef Iwan / Viki taking that honorary food pic

Event day, JomLaunch 4

Saturday happened, and we woke up extra early so that we could get first pick of our seats before the crowd moved in. The sun rose earlier that day and we could see it glowing behind the tall buildings of the city. It was a great sight.

We woke up to this the next morning!

Hopping into two separate vehicles we arrived at the venue earlier than expected. The event staff were still setting up so we had a moment for a quick breather to look around. When the event opened, there was an influx of people getting themselves registered to collect their goodie bags. We noticed that the JomLaunch team had their hands full, so we decided to help them out for a bit.

Shaza & Viki helping out at the reception

Once the crowd had finished moving into the event hall, we followed suit and took our seats. Here’s a quick explanation on what JomLaunch is about. It is an event where participants showcase their awesome ICT (information and communications technology) idea. This can be an explanation of how their system works but most participants brought working prototypes to the event itself. Some of these were ready for public usage. In total, this year JomLaunch 4 had 18 participants. The event started at 8.30 AM and completed by 5.30 PM.

The crowd at JomLaunch 4. Can you spot the Stampede team?

The presentations from each team varied from malware protection to a 3D education game. Here’s a list of what was presented during JomLaunch 4.

1. Eraxen Endpoint Protection – malware protection
2. MMS – motorsport / cub management system
3. RunCloud.io – competitor to ServerPilot.my
4. Bytetuta – AI bot for muslim lifestyle
5. Mytix – venue ticket sales management
6. MyClinic2U – clinic management
7. Ninja iDempiere – plugin for Idempiere
8. Splate – Laravel SaaS boilerplate
9. Soding – talent search and headhunting
10. WhatsTivity – social media platform
11. Telebuzz – telegram bot
12. CerdikApp – communication and monitoring tools for students, parents and teachers
13. MInD Automated Vehicle (MAV) – automated guided vehicle (manufacturing)
14. RobotJualan.com – bot for sales
15. EksploRazi – 3D education game
16. Terapi.my – Uber for home spa service
17. GO.my  – travel assistant
18. HireMe.my – platform to build and share resumes

In the end, the event was a success with every participant getting their time to showcase their ideas. The winner of this year’s JomLaunch was RunCloud.io who’s team built a platform for easy server setup. They were awarded RM 1,000 in the form of a check.

Meeting people

Another thing we like to do at these events is to meet up with other people from the industry. After a year or two, you’ll start to recognize many individuals, start-up founders and their key team members. Sometimes we bump into people who are fond of the work we do and want to get to know us better.

This is Fachrul (left), who got us together for a wefie

It’s really great to know we’re appreciated for the work we do as we put a lot of effort, thought and heart into our work culture.

Close-knit community

It never ceases to surprise us how close-knit the JomLaunch community is. The presentations of each team were well thought off and presented rather casually. This can be seen in the past 3 JomLaunches as well. The organizers did their best to brighten the atmosphere by inserting a joke or two in-between presentations. As the day was a long one, many present were feeling tired at the end of the day, but those jokes helped perk them up again.

Serious vs Freestyle

The closing night

After the event was over, we were very hungry and on our way to dinner. That was when the JomLaunch team caught us off-guard by inviting us out for steamboat. We replenished our tummies and shared a bunch of conversations with one another. Thanks JomLaunch, we look forward to what’s in store for next year!

JomLaunch and Stampede having an awesome dinner

The post Stampede Get-together & JomLaunch 4 appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

JomWeb, a Malay colloquial term for ‘let’s web’, is an initiative by the web and IT community of Malaysia to share and discuss ideas among likeminded people in the industry through a series of events, forum and Facebook groups, and many more.

JomLaunch (‘let’s launch’) is part of these initiatives, showcasing interesting web apps & startup ideas built by Malaysian entrepreneurs. The event involves short presentations where every project owner is given 10 minutes to talk about their project ideas as well as taking questions from the floor later. It was a really great event to catch up and network with Malaysian web and IT community and encountering a myriad of ideas. This third JomLaunch was especially even more special as it was done as part of the events for this year’s Malaysia Open Source Conference, or MOSCMY.

It was the perfect weekend to get all inspired.

Ideas abound

There were 16 projects up for presentations on this day. They were Jooblii, IoT Switch, Tabungku, Hifz, RPZDB, Unimuf, MakanJom, SumberManusia, Quadifi, Putra App, Ordervery, Jom+Help, GoUmrah, CloudHRD, CastMyCode V2 and last but not least NEF’s own project, OtakIT.

Jooblii

Jooblii is a marketplace and online business academy, especially targeted for B2B instead of B2C -think of Alibaba meets Lynda. The platform was created to help new businesses develop the proper skills they need. The project was presented by Lilyana Latiff, CTO for Aleph One and former Joota Product Manager and Co-Founder. Jooblii is also special to us since Stampede is not only present to the event in the capacity of UX team, front-end and programming – we also have our part as a shareholder for the project. Go Jooblii!

Tabungku

Tabungku is a crowdfunding platform for those in need of financial help to cover the medical costs. The founder, Shak Hassan, ran through a good list of problem statements  – among others, while Malaysians love to donate, but there had been no official, dedicated and trustworthy channel. Tabungku was created to serve as a donation platform, as well as to educate and coach people who are in need of donations on the proper channels to get them.

IoT Switch

Probably the only hardware demo, IoT Switch is a smart switch containing 16 inputs and 16 outputs, where a signal will be pushed to the server and to a phone app. The signal can also be sent back to the board, hence bi-directional. An example of usage is you could install it at the window, and it can send you a signal when the window is opened. What’s even more amazing is the project owner, Shahrul Nizam, built the PCB board by himself.

Hifz

Hifz is an iOs app to aid Quran recited and memorization. Presented by serial entrepreneur, Azizi Khalid, who frequently commutes between Perth and Kuala Lumpur, he kicked off the presentation  by going through the challenges for Quran recitation – mainly the difficulty, how it’s time consuming and with steep learning curve, it is easy to feel demotivated. Upon signing up, users will be receiving daily lessons and goals, and verses can be hidden to test user’s memories.

RPZDB

Amir Haris Ahmad is the go-to-guy when it comes to DNS expertise in Malaysia. One of his other projects, DNSVault is being used in colleges and ISPs in the country as well as abroad. In this Jomlaunch, he talked about RPZDB, a database for DNS servers to prevent users from accessing dangerous websites.

Unimuf

Recognising the needs for affordable rental cars for universities, Nadzri Sazali decided to come up with his own Airbnb for cars. Hence the birth of Unimuf, a peer-to-peer car sharing platform. Through Unimuf, it connects the owner of the cars and the users who wanted to rent the car through a simple and friendly interface. Unimuf also will connect users with transporters – those who will drive for you if you do not feel like driving. In the meantime, Unimuf is only available around Gombak.

Makan Jom

Eating out is so synonym with Malaysians to the point that sometimes we have trouble deciding where to go to eat. Recognising this problem, Afirul Afif came up with the idea of Makan Jom (Malay colloquial for ‘let’s eat’), an app for halal restaurants which can searched through locations and food choice. To date so far, the app had received lots of interest – they already have 24,000 installs so far on Google Play!

Sumber Manusia

SumberManusia is a Human Resources app which could help in managing resources for multicompanies and SMEs. Presented by Nasrul Hazim, the Chief Architect, SumberManusia is hoped to be able to solve Human Resources woes in companies, providing features for leave application and approval, claims, payroll and many more. SumberManusia will also provide API for systems who want to integrate the app with their current legacy.

Quadifi

Quadifi is an interesting project – it is a Wifi controller which enables you to manage your Wifi Hotspots easily on the cloud. Currently in its beta phase, Quadifi provides an easy to use web interface and will soon come with its own plug-and-play router. An example of businesses who could use Quadifi are cafes, restaurants and public places offering wifi, paid or free.

Putra App

Putra App is an application for public transport users – even the name comes from (pu)blic (tra)nsportation – to share information and check out schedules for public transportations. On top of a simple registration, Putra App also offers offline capability, enabling you to access previous loaded data of schedules and traffic information without Internet connection. Users are also able to share real-time data with each other, hence enabling movement from place to place using Kuala Lumpur public transportation services.

Ordervery

Ordervery is an online system that help to solve manual and semi-manual dropship businesses by giving them an automated system. This further allows the businesses to focus on product and new product development, and their sales team can further focus on marketing and selling activities. No more headache!

Jom+Help

Jom+Help is a system to help enlist the help of volunteers through a Yes/No based question and answer series. Framing the problem statement through the experience of having so much headache when asking for help through Whatsapp groups, Jom+Help hopes to be able to simplify the process through its simple interface Targeted towards NGOs and non-profit organisations, there were a lot of feedback for Jom+Help, mainly requesting for the poll to be more than just a Yes/No- based question, but more towards being able to add up more options.

Go Umrah

Go Umrah is basically Trivago for umrah (which is a pilgrimage to Mecca performed by Muslims that can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to the Hajj). The app allows you to compare a number of umrah packages according to budget, time and other necessary conveniences from your end. There is a lot of potential for this app so we have a feeling that once the app gets a better grasp of the user experience, this app could shine.

CloudHRD

CloudHRD aims to simply Human Resources system by providing an easily accessible application of HR suite. Designed to serve small-to-medium sized organisations, CloudHRD provides features such as leave management, employee information, payroll, claims and also tasks. What’s even more interesting is CloudHRD comes with a very intuitive user interface, for example  Trello-like easy task management for employees as well as Facebook-like social timeline for employees to communicate with each other.

Cast My Code V2

Cast My Code V2 is yet another project by Zulfa Juniadi, currently ranked as the No.3 PHP Developer in Kuala Lumpur. Always passionate about coding, Zulfa developed Cast My Code V2 as a web app for sharing code and slides between teachers’ and students’ screens in real time. In the future, Zulfa plans to polish the app with a better UI as well as allowing live video streaming between teachers and students.

OtakIT

The presentations were concluded with a short stand-up presentation by Iszudin Ismail on OtakIT, an online publication revolving around the news and information in the world of web and IT in Malaysia. Fully written in Bahasa Malaysia, the platform hopes to be able to reach more Malay-speaking web and IT community. In the meantime, OtakIT is also looking for writers – so do contact Iszudin if you are interested to join!

Loosen up those muscles

Well, desk job dwellers like us – programmers, designers, writers etc. – aren’t typically know for our superior levels of physical fitness due to spending long hours in front of the screen, typing away and sitting all day. Being tethered to our machines often leads to a sedentary lifestyle for us, and a high occupational correlation with obesity.

Being aware of this fact, the organisers of JomLaunch made an initiative to invite Prof Azlan Ghanie of Senaman Melayu Tua (Ancient Malay Exercise). The exercise is an ancient form of physical exercise that focuses on breathing techniques, stretches and movements to strengthen the body. Azlan had turned to this exercise form after he was suffering from a stroke at 32, which left him partially paralysed.

“Although I sought all sorts of treatments ranging from modern to traditional, I didn’t show signs of improvement. I eventually started to practise various techniques of Senaman Tua (which I had learnt from my father) and my health gradually improved,” recounted Azlan, who is also the founder and editor of Seni Beladiri, a monthly magazine dedicated to the Malaysian martial arts scene.

Under his quiet demeanour, Azlan, or known as Sifu Azlan to his followers, showed a rigorous demo on how to loosen up those muscles after a long day of sitting at the desk. He had some of us standing together with him to perform the exercises. Fun times!

Close-knit, casual community

What we also noticed is that, while the projects are very highly thought-through, the manner in which the presentations were conducted were really casually done. We could see some of the presenters were quite nervous – so the organisers cracked some jokes and that helped lighten off the stage fright.

As we work remotely, we only stalk recognise the faces of wonderful and experienced folks of Malaysian web community through their Facebook accounts and posts. Imagine our delight when we got to meet them face-to-face and discuss so many interesting things, from the Delphi days to the era of Internet of Things, over nasi campur and teh tarik.

It was great meeting everyone, and looking forward for JomLaunch 4.0!

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