In conjunction with the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix weekend, Future Music Festival Asia proudly features over 60 international, regional and local acts who will be performing in front of an expected crowd of 30,000 global fans across 4 uber cool stages for 12 glorious hours of ground-breaking music.

Date: 17 March 2012 (Saturday)

Venue: Sepang International Circuit, Sepang (Greater KL)

The first edition of FMF Asia will take place at the Sepang International Circuit and will be the official opening event for the upcoming event for the F1 Grand Prix week on the 17th of March.

For more info, visit:

- http://www.futuremusicfestival.asia/

PATCHAY.COM finds out this week that 3 of the Biggest Names in the Internet world have finally, officially landed on our shores!

Last month, Google opened its 2nd Southeast Asian office at the Petronas Twin Towers. For now, the Google Malaysia office will focus in business development and marketing of local content of its web services.

Next time, I just can't imagine people shouting at me: "Open up, quickly open up the Google Rojak web browser!"

Next, the world's largest online payment company PayPal will open its 2nd operations hub in Asia in the suburban Bandar Utama just outside of Kuala Lumpur.

The eBay company plans to hire over 300 ah longs employees for its new customer support centre.

Meanwhile, global phenomenal Facebook Inc has "secretly" began operations in suburban Damansara Perdana just next to Bandar Utama.

Perhaps, this comes after Facebook's acquisition of Octazen, a Malaysian-based company with 2 owners. The new Malaysian office has also been confirmed on Facebook press website.

Amongst global software companies that already have presence here include Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and Symantec.

On a smaller scale, Apple Inc and McAfee also have offices in Kuala Lumpur.

Definitely I won't be surprise to see Skype, Twitter, Foursquare and Research In Motion next...

- THE END -

PATCHAY.COM
THE 20 HOTTEST WOMEN IN MALAYSIA 2010

1. Deborah Priya Henry

Former Miss Malaysia World 2007, the my.EG advertisement girl is voted PATCHAY.COM Hottest Girl of The Year. I think everyone would remember the advertisement came out so often during the World Cup Fever that became quite annoying at times.

2. Hannah Sarah Tan - FHM Malaysia Hottest Woman 2010

3. Yvonne Sim - Winner of FHM Malaysia Girl Next Door 2010

4. Nadine Ann Thomas - Miss Malaysia Universe 2010

5. Marion Caunter

6. Julie Woon

7. Mizz Nina

8. Belinda Chee

9. Leng Yein

10. Sarah Lian

11. Jenna Gong - Winner of Estee Lauder-Canon Most Photo Perfect 2010

12. Neelofa Noor - Winner of Dewi Remaja 2010

13. Diana Danielle

14. Lisa Surihani

15. Nadia Heng - Miss Malaysia World 2010

16. Juliana Evans

17. Dr Jezamine Lim

18. Nur Fazura Sharifudin

19. Chrystal Chia

20. Michelle Lee

And lastly, I think this girl I met during an outing in Klang deserved to be in the top 20.

Other potential contenders:

Alexandra Wong
Amber Chia
Belle Theng - Winner of Miss Chinese Astro International 2010
Daphne Iking
Dawn Jeremiah
Eva Loke
Fasha Sandha
Jennifer So
Jo-Anna Sue Henley Rampas
Vanessa Chong
Shirley Sia
Syafinaz Selamat
Yasmin Hani Richardson

Pictures: For illustration only. Quoting various sources on the Internet.

Internet giant Facebook has acquired a Malaysian-based company

Social networking phenomenal Facebook Inc of Palo Alto, California acquired a relatively unknown Malaysian internet start-up, Octazen Solutions, for an undisclosed sum last week.

According to Facebook, the buyout was a "talent acquisition" which also roped in Octazen's two founding engineers to work with Facebook.

According to website InsideFacebook.Com, Octazen will remain based in Malaysia, making the two engineers the first Facebook employees based in Asia full time.

However, Facebook said, “This won’t become an office… It’s just a talent acquisition and they’ll be considered as remote workers since we’ve opted to let them remain in Malaysia.”

AllFacebook.com, a website that calls itself the unofficial Facebook resource, pointed out on its site last Saturday that Facebook has been working with Octazen for an unknown period of time.

Octazen makes software that helps Facebook grow its user base by encouraging existing members to invite their e-mail contacts.

The fact that Facebook has experienced explosive growth for the past few years was nailed down to Octazen's tool which founder Mark Zuckerberg had said was "the primary source of growth" for its social network.

Facebook has over 400 million users including 250 million added last year, but has been quiet on the acquisition front, preferring to acquire talent rather than products. Octazen is only the third ever acquisition by the company.

According to online websites, the number of Facebook users in Malaysia surpassed the 1 million mark in early March 2009.

The acquisition of Octazen comes as Facebook is fending off a challenge from Google with the launch of the latter’s Buzz social network.

***

Reporting by The Malaysian Insider and Malaysian Mirror.

I did 21 things when I was 21.

#1

I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Accounting and Finance.

#2

I invented spaghetti bolognese (beef) with sliced bacon. Trust me, this is not too bad.

Overall, my cooking skills went up and came down, and then I stopped altogether ever since I came home.

#3

I watched one of the world's largest fireworks in Sydney. Close to 1 million people witnessed the spectacular and in terms of turnout it was probably larger than the one in New York City (due to economic crisis?).

#4

I did my first ever forest hiking at Blue Mountains National Park. The local breeze vanished the summer heat from my memory - as it was raining throughout the return journey and I was soaking wet.

#5

I experienced 48C heat wave in South Australia. Despite the sweltering condition, I was touring Adelaide City all by foot because the public transport was suspended for a few days.

#6

I was on the flight 5 times within a period of 4 weeks. With AirAsia, I hope I could fly more often and longer distance this coming year.

#7

I packed and left Brisbane for good. It was a difficult decision for me but I had not much choice but to seek my career back home.

#8

I made Singapore my second home. Most of family members had moved southwards to Singapore and it was obvious for me to be somewhere near them.

#9

I became an uncle for the third time. Everybody say Hi to little Sam!

#10

I shopped alone in an almost abandoned mall. It was not surprising, as much as I wanted to explore the hidden secrets there that is probably the four seasons Quattro club.

#11

I video-conferenced in Bloomberg. Surrounded by sophisticated equipments and being hosted by Mr Adrian Valenzuela, it was most unfortunate that I did not appear on "Bloomberg Live" with Haslinda Amin (lol).

#12

I attended fifteen "BIG" graduate interviews during this time of economic crisis. Met many great people along the way.

#13

I visited a farm for the first time. My agricultural working visit included a large feedmill, a modern broiler house (chicken farm), slaughtering factory and a giant freezer room.

I learnt that the chickens sold in Tesco were well fed but may not be fresh all the time.

#14

The feeling of being treated and respected like a General Manager is very nice.

#15

I upgraded my weblog to Patchay.Com, played Facebook and became addicted to it, and received my first Nuffnang cheque.

#16

Unbelievably, I signed up for gym (and lessons) for the first time.

#17

My write-up entitled "Kuala Lumpur Real Estate Roundup 2008-2012" was applauded many times over. From journalists to marketing people, I've been contacted for information related to properties. I hope to become a freelance magazine contributor next year.

#18

I went up to the 61st floor (non-public area) of Petronas Twin Tower. The view is awesome from my room.

#19

I had my first colleagues gathering.

#20

I ate, and worked on Saturday, both for the first time in Hard Rock Cafe (I was there for 2 weeks as their external auditor). Lamely called "Batu Keras Kafe" when translated to Malay.

#21

I attended the 1st Annual Young Corporate Malaysians Summit. Bumped into Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, lunched on the same table with Omar Mustapha (managing partner of Ethos & Co) and shook hand with Datuk Johan Raslan (chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia).

*** *** ***

Goodbye 21. Today I turned 22 years old.

Coincidentally, I would like to wish my Dad Happy Birthday too !!!