Sales, Social and Tech

A few months back, the Chicago Sun-Times decided to sack its entire team of photographers and replaced them with journalists carrying an iPhone.  Most shocking is that one of the photographer was a Pulitzer Prize winner.  The consequence of doing so is best left to looking at the front page of two news daily covering the same topic.  From  http://suntimesdarktimes.tumblr.com/post/53967466726/front-pages-june-26-2013 No rocket science brain needed to see the difference in quality of the work of a professional photographer and a iPhone carrying journalists, though no offence was intended for the latter.

Pressrun.net found it amusing that a BBC interview with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was "censored". Wrote Pressrun.net , It’s amusing to see the Singapore newspapers have not run the complete BBC interview with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The broadsheet Straits Times and the freesheet Today have not published the last question asked in  the interview, which can be heard in a five-and-a-half-minute audio clip on the BBC World Service website. The interviewer said: “Finally, Prime Minister, I read that you are apparently the highest paid head of government in the world. Your salary is about four or five times what President Obama gets. Are you worth all that money?” PM Lee laughed and said: “I am not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings.We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent – what is the job worth, what is the quality of the person whom you want. We need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which ar...

Last week's social media news was about the Facebook Home, a launcher which sits on top of the Android app, which will show you your Facebook updates, without the need to go the Facebook app. When I saw the video above, it reminded me of a scene in Minority Report where a newspaper updates itself to give the reader the latest story. We are already seeing newspapers using Facebook to update readers on the latest news via their Facebook Page. With Facebook Home, will we start seeing the newspapers that updates itself?

Singapore Business Review removed a commentary by STEFANO VIRGILLI about "5 things 'Ang Mo' people dislike about doing business in Singapore" and cited that it did not "has been removed for not being in line with the contributor guidelines for sbr.com.sg". Thanks to Google Cache, the act of removing the article is just an act of something worth hiding and is easily available with just a Google Search. Stefano's commentary can be found here . I reread the commentary and this 5 things are what my Ang Mo bosses and colleagues have shared with me through the years of working.  Why did Singapore Business Review find it not in line with the contributor guidelines is a mystery.  Did the commentary offend an advertiser?

As I was reading the The AIMS-Town Council issues via the blogs, it hit upon me that the way we search and consumed our news has totally change. Thanks to both technology and non-technological reasons. Dr Teo Ho Pin released his 26 paragraph rebuttal as a press release and Facebook Post Before Facebook, before Internet, one had to wait for the print media to report on releases. Radio and TV had the upper hand as they could release it earlier on air. But now, the release is made via a Facebook Post  where everyone can like, share and comment. In doing any of this three, the news would be easily spread from friend to friend. Back then, without the Internet, the only way to share the news was to pass the newspaper to a friend. There would be coffee shop talk but comments usually disperse at the speed of sound. Newspaper report, bloggers analyse  This is where the local newspaper struggle. I believe there are some journalists who would like to go deeper into the story ...

Singtel MIO TV has stop the delivery of popular pre-school channels CBeebies and Luli. A check at the Singtel MIO TV channel page has confirmed the missing pre-school channels.   How are parents going to explain to their kids of the lost of CBeebies and Luli? A blogger posted his disappointment over the silent disappearance of CBeebies and Luli. Jimmy Mun wrote, “I signed up with miotv last year for two channels only: CBeebies and Luli. “It is not even one year yet, and yet miotv has managed to lose both channels with little warning. Yes, they have lost Luli rights as well, and they did not announce anything until the channel was dropped. miotv now has absolutely NOTHING to offer preschoolers. “If I am not on contract, I will terminate my miotv subscription immediately. “The set top box is now a white elephant .”