From what I’ve seen over social media over the last few months, I thought that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) would win more seats. I believed that there would be a bigger change, I believed that the people would put into action what they were so vocal (online) about. But then I stopped myself and looked at the people in my social circles, the people I interact with online. We are a tiny, tiny middle class online savvy minority. It is because your social circle expected a certain outcome that you did too. But we do not represent the majority, and we don’t even interact with them. Do you really expect to predict how they will vote? My father is Sarawakian, and I lived there for many years of my life. I lived in Kuching, but I know that in the interior and rural areas there are so many Malaysians who are not like you, who are not like me. Did I expect them to vote for PR, no. Did I expect them to vote for BN, yes. Why? Because that is all they see, that is what they know, the bribe money that they get means so much to them because they have close to nothing. And it’s sad to say that that is the majority that we do not know.

…

Gandhi took 32 years to fight for independence. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years in the fight to end apartheid. And we’ve been trying for what, 10 years? Come on Malaysia, grow up.

via TED.com.

The Android platform is also now surging past iOS in terms of smartphone sales. This month, Kantar reported that in the first quarter of the year, Android’s percentage of U.S. smartphone sales was 51.2 percent to iOS’s 43.5 percent.

but

Apple device owners tend to do more mobile web browsing, as has been widely known for a while. But they’re also increasingly likely to stay with apps over time – reports have shown that iOS users are more loyal to the apps they download, for instance.

But perhaps most importantly is the fact that some number of Android owners aren’t downloading mobile applications at all. Google tacitly acknowledged this fact earlier this month, when it made a change to the way it measures Android version adoption on its Developers site. The company explained that, going forward, it would only show data reflecting those devices that had visited the Google Play Store.

Or in other words, there are enough Android devices out there which are not visiting the Google Play Store to affect the data that developers most care about – people who might download their apps.

via The Loop.

xkcd: Alice and Bob.

via TED.com.

xkcd: Perl Problems.

Farish Noor explains the complicated history of the various people of North Borneo and the Philippines in his column where he says:

“In the midst of the chest-thumping, saber-rattling jingoism and hyper-nationalism we see rising in both Philippines and Malaysia today, we ought to take a step back and look at ourselves honestly in the face.”

Historically the people of Sabah are a complex mix. With the formation of countries and borders, people who are connected by history and blood are now separated by that thing we call “citizenship.”