Sales, Social and Tech

Forbes India ended its 2010 with accusation of them plagiarising the cover of Pragati India’s cover of October 2010. Nitin Pai, editor of Pragati - The Indian National Interest Review, tweeted , Forbes India Dec 2010 cover http://j.mp/i7dqXs plagiarises from Pragati Oct 2010 cover http://j.mp/e6BL09 . For those fearful of the clicking on j.mp links, take a look at the covers below to see if it was right for Nitin to accuse Forbes India for plagiarism. But seriously, how many ways can we expect Superman to rip off his shirt?

Overhead at the customer is not always right , Me: “Thanks for calling [credit card company], how can I help you today?” Caller: “I bought my crops on Farmville using your card. I forgot to water them and they’ve all died. Am I covered on purchase protection for that?” Me: “Seriously?” Caller: “I thought you’d be like that. Thanks anyway.” *click*

It seems like FaxGate issue between the Malaysia editor and Microsoft Malaysia has been settled. Apparently, Weber Shandwick, the PR agency responsible for sending out the press release still have request from IT journos from Malaysia to send them press release via fax. Unfortunately for Kashminder Singh, group managing editor at One World Solutions which publishes MobileWorld Asia, he was still part of that mailing faxing list and thus got thesame faxed press release three times in a single day. Microsoft Malaysia PR has since asked Weber Shandwick to remove Kashminder from the faxing list. Le Fax est mort. Vive le Fax!

Stop the press! Forget Windows 7 or the Windows Mobile. Forget the Kinect. Forget the advent of micro-blogging sites like Twitter or even Instant Messaging. Microsoft decided the best way to send out its press releases to the IT publications in Malaysia is via, wait for it… the good old fax machine . (I linked a description of what a fax machine is for the younger readers here who have not seen or used one before.) This delivery process irked Kashminder Singh, group managing editor at One World Solutions which publishes MobileWorld Asia. “Can someone explain why a tech savvy company like Microsoft is still using faxes to send press releases??,” asked Kashminder on his Facebook Wall. In reply to comments made by his friends, Kashminder added “I understand but Microsoft (the creators of the word tech, in a way) is communicating with tech publications in this case. When a tech company communicates with a tech company, it shouldn't have to be through fax, right?” A Malaysian ...

iPads, Print-on-Demand Slowly Transform Magazines in 2010 If you haven’t download the TODAY app for iPad, don’t waste precious Gs on it. Flickr Should Have Built Instagram. But They Didn't. Here's Why . Here’s what happen when you drag your feet on innovation. You lose out on the real opportunities. Take The Red Pill: The Rise Of The Hybrid Startup “You see the same attitude in other industries: who in technology wants to work with retail bankers, teachers, doctors, restauranteurs? As a result, hybrid businesses have little or no competition: technology companies want nothing to do with the real world, and real-world companies struggle to develop competitive technology.”

Database “shut down” permanent? The Bangkok Post is rumoured to be printing the first and last edition of their popular IT supplement, Database, of 2011 on 5 January. An anonymous source at The Bangkok Post highlighted that the lack of advertisement revenue for the IT supplement was the main reason for the Impending permanent shut down. The Bangkok Post is also said to have pulled the plug on their Motoring supplement. Long time contributor, Grahame Rogers, will be starting his own AMITIAE (Apple, Mac, IT, iOS, Asia and Everywhere else) blog at amitiae.com which will go “live” on New Year’s Day.

Beware of what you buy in China. The big difference is the iPed runs on Android.