the(new)mediaslut

Questex Media welcomed Greg Cornfield last Friday as their new senior contributing writer for SearchStorage Asia.

Wrote Allan Tan for Questex Asia,

Greg is the first of a new breed of writers we are bringing in to specific websites. Greg has a long history in the IT industry. Most recently he was the Asia Pacific head for COPAN Systems (one of the early developers of MAID technology). Prior to COPAN, Greg spent a significant part of his career at Hitachi Data Systems. At HDS, he was a member of the executive committee (worldwide) with Asia Pacific as his base of operations.

He maintains close links with IT heads at companies like HSBC and ATOS Origin.

We will have a regular column for Greg that I am hoping will attract a sound following.

Greg is new to publishing (this is his first real stint in media) but his depth of expertise should give the site a credible voice in the storage industry.

Greg can be contacted at gcornfield(at)questexasia.com.

The Singapore blog-o-sphere is aghast of past Singapore Idol contestant Mia Lee who has officially announced she’s pregnant and the father is one of the Muay Thai fighters of Contender Asia.

Wrote Noctune,

And herein lies the rub. “Good growing experience?” “Be responsible for my actions?”

FFS. Single parents, gay parents, gangster parents, poor parents, uneducated parents and all other non-traditional or ill-equipped households are bad for children.

Yes, in time, we will come to accept non-conventional families. Yes, if these people don’t “pave the trail,” we will never accept non-convention families. But these “trail blazers” have to understand that their attempts to redefine society comes at a cost.

Another blogger seemed to have the inside scoop.

Wrote deadpris,

Why I wasn’t surprised that Maia Lee’s baby’s father is Zidov…. because I knew that Maia hanged out with the contestants of the Contender Asia. She practices Muay Thai, like myself. I’ve met her a few times during the Contender Asia filming and she was really friendly~ (and she’s got very big beautiful eyes too). So she might have gotten close with Zidov and slept with him, so what? I’m not for casual sex, but I don’t believe in speculating the nature of their sex lives and be so quick to judge that she’s a whore.

Hmm, I wonder if the producers of the two shows are already thinking of doing a reality TV of Knocked Up.

Singapore’s most popular blogger, Mr Brown, celebrated Earth hour by switching off his home light’s on Saturday 29 March between 8pm - 9pm (+8 GMT).

F1 Singapore, on the other hand, was reported to have tested its 3000 lux lighting system for the upcoming grand prix in September at roughly the same time.

Wrote F1 Underground,

Singapore Grand Prix organizers mock Earth Hour

It is often said that perception is more important than reality in F1. What irony then, that at a time when Formula 1 is struggling to reinvent itself as an environmentally responsible sport that the organizers of the Singapore Grand Prix have chosen Earth Hour to debut megawatt using streetlights that will be used to illuminate F1’s first night race later this year.

The lights (300 times more powerful than normal street lights) are being tested today when much of the world is turning their lights off for one hour to symbolically bring attention to the growing environmental crisis. The lights (only a fraction of the 1500 that will be used in the race) will be left in place and turned on each evening at 7 PM along with the regular street lights in Singapore for a week.

Wrote Channel NewsAsia,

Singapore has tested a small section of the lights that will be used for the country’s first ever Formula One race in September.

On Saturday evening, a part of St Andrew’s Road was lit up to simulate daylight.

It took about 8 to 10 minutes for the lights - which measure about 3000 Lux - to charge up.

No lights no race!

Is there a difference between bloggers and journalists?

I am not going to go into an argument of whether bloggers are more credible than journalists as it is really like comparing apples and oranges.

But are the two really different?

Bloggers are more social said one observer. The observer highlighted that over this weekend itself, there were two networking session among the blogging community in Singapore.

The first was on Friday night with the one year anniversary of Yebber.com.

The following Saturday morning saw most of Singapore blogging community having a social media breakfast.

Would the journalists do the same? Meet on a Saturday for breakfast as a form of networking session?

Another thing mentioned was how bloggers are compulsive food photo takers.

You can easily identify a blogger in Singapore, especially at the kopi tiams, resturants, fast food centers or cafes, etc…

If he/she quickly whips out his/her digital camera or one that comes in a form of a mobile phone, that person must definitely be a blogger.

But the question isn’t about their compulsive behaviour, rather they are carrying a digital imaging tool in hand. Yes, a mobile phone may not be the best camera around, but there are bloggers who are also carrying Digital SLRs to events.

So why aren’t publishers arming their journalists with a Digital SLRs but they rather outsource the job to freelance photographers?

After a two year hiatus, normal service has been resumed. The anti-Thaksin movement is back where it started, literally and figuratively. It is as if the coup didn’t happen. Then again, the coup accomplished nothing as it put in some geriatric retirees in power to live out their fantasies of playing politician. The military were hell-bent (for lack of a more appropriate term) on reconciliation, yet the division within Thai society has deepened over the past 17 or so months.

The message the PAD are calling for is the same - a fair and unbiased trial for Thaksin and have him prove himself in court. Thaksin dissolved parliament to avoid a no-confidence debate. Today, his “puppet” PM is trying to amend the constitution to effectively get the lawsuits against Thaksin thrown out. This was after the chief investigator for the first case (Rachada land deal) was transferred to an inactive post. Same old, same old. Nothing has changed. Two years wasted.

Oh, well. The next mob is scheduled for Saturday 5th at Lumpini Park (scene of most of the mid-sized mobs last year, but not the really bigs ones just before the coup). Looks like there will be many more photo opportunities to come. Stay tuned.

Against…

And for…

Keeping the peace

“Live” from Smartbrain..

the usual… Human Development Minister Sutha Chansaeng’s education (or lack, thereof - he got a
degree from the Philippines in 6 months)… to complaining about
Thaksin.. he deaths (2,800 deaths)… and why democracy is not really
that much when you have vote buying (and then law changing to make the
vote buying legal)…

More people are arriving (after work ends I guess)… and the pro
Thaksin mob is still going strong on the other side..

TheMediaSlut has gone partying. So Smartbrain has to take pictures, caption *and* upload… (sigh). TheMediaSlut does not pay Smartbrain enough.

Talk in the auditorium has shifted to the proposed changes to the constitution so that parties guilty of electoral fraud are not disbanded (only the persons involved are banned) and general grumbling (for lack of a better word) on the government being Thaksin nominees and the way it has micromanaged and shifted so many civil servants.

DTAC’s EDGE network is surprisingly fast. Guess not that many people are photoblogging from the event.

 Bangkok is bracing itself for a protest that is not seen since the last coup.

At least 5,000 was seated at the auditorium since 3.30pm. A press conference is expected at 6pm (Thai time).

At the auditorium, there are now a lot of debates on interferance in the judicial process and how the interior minister is too scared to go south - three border provinces.

More updates later.

the(new)mediaslut was invited to a car show in Bangkok yesterday.

This blogger isn’t really a car person but there are some of you who would like to learn more about the car scene in Bangkok.

For more photos, click here.

A young pro-social media networking chick told me that she was at a PR event last night and a senior, very senior, PR professionial made a starking statement about how PR should handle social media.

“We need to take control of the social media scene,” said the very senior PR professional.

She said to herself, ”humbug!”

I would have respond similarly.

Why do PR need to control the social media scene?

That is so unsocialable.

Do you control your friends to like whims and fancy? While  a minority, but not all do.

Rather, the keyword is not control, its about engagement.

Engagement isn’t just about how PR engage the social media scene, but is also how PR engage social media tools.

Incidentally, this senior PR person just created a Facebook account a few days back.

HelloMoto was the tagline that many have associated with Motorola mobile phone’s advertisement.

Yesterday, Motorola has decided to split its mobile handset division.

Wrote Market Watch,

The maker of wireless communications products  announced Wednesday that it plans to split off its handset division from its other business, which provides broadband products and mobility services to markets such as public safety. The deal is expected to be completed sometime next year. See full story.

Was Motorola right to split their handset division?

As a believer of brand extension,  the split might be good for Motorola for its broadband equipment division, but I doubt it might do any good for the increasing sales of the handset division.

Malaysia Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad has attributed the huge loses in the recent election to his party neglect of “cyber-campaigning”. 

Wrote Channel NewsAsia,

“We certainly lost the Internet war, the cyber-war,” Abdullah said in a speech to an investment conference.

“It was a serious misjudgement. We made the biggest mistake in thinking that it was not important,” he said.

“We thought that the newspapers, the print media, the television was supposed to be important, but the young people were looking at SMS and blogs.” 

Will Malaysia bloggers want to be friends with a  government who “vilified” them before the elections?

Only time will tell.

The team at Fairfax Media gets a new a scribe in the name of Carol Ko who joins the publishing house in Hong Kong today.

Singapore based PR folks looking to meet Carol can find her at the Computerworld Singapore security forum in April 2008.

Carol is reportedly taking over the role of Sheila Lam, who was previously the deputy editor of MIS Asia.

Sheila is now an analyst at IDC Asia.

“Why are you launching such a stupid product?”

Fortunately (or unfortunately), the question posed by a chinese newspaper editor was only for the ears of media who sat through the whole farce of a press con (complete with launch gambit involving kids from an orphanage) and gathered together right after to bitch about it.

The product in question is a Malaysian-branded smartbook (a kind of net top that Intel is promoting) and also heard was, “Yea lar…why are they doing it for?”

Similar in specs to the popular ASUS eeePC, this particular smartbook is instead narrowing their potential market to students and more especially kindergarten kids. The result is a toy-like 7-inch or 9-inch notebook complete with kid-safe features like rounded corners and not much else.

Not even a single parental control or some sort of guidance software.

Other features include Wi-Fi, 512MB, 40GB HDD or 2GB NAND Flash memory aaaaaand… a Linux OS.

There is option to upgrade to a very trimmed-down Windows XP Starter Edition for RM99 and when asked if the specs could support a full-blown Windows XP OS, the rep claims that it can.

If it really IS able to support at least Windows XP Home Edition, I would consider getting one. But at same time I don’t want people to mistake that I’m using my niece’s or nephew’s toy!

Such a shame.

Somebody from PR Agency Hill and Knowlton PR agency has pissed off Michael Logan, multimedia editor for the South China Morning Post.

Wrote Logan,

Michael Logan wants to bannish all PR people to heck, especially those who work for Hill & Knowlton.

Sing with me now (to the tune of the lemon tree)!

“I wonder why, I wonder how….”

This is what happens if you run a company and don’t use any input from Public Relations professionals.

Seriously, had the marketing department or management, where doubtless this poorly crafted idea came from, ran this through the PR department, it would not have gone public since PR guys usually have more common sense since they are thinking about the company’s relationship and reputation with customers.

The litmus test is quite simple: How would YOU feel if someone did that to you, penny pinching their way into your wallet?

Would YOU pay extra to get rid of the crap a computer company put in there in the first place?

I sometimes wonder if the way we do business nowadays, with the constant requirement of annual growth, is the proper way of doing business. Constant growth, with planetary resources not efficiently managed, is just not sustainable.

Never mind that Sony QUICKLY CAVED to customer outrage and canceled the charge, the damage is already done. Plus, if this happened the first time, Sony could easily say “sorry” and people would forget. But many still remember the CD rootkit fiasco, the activist surveillance issue and of course, the worldwide battery recalls. Don’t believe me? Check out Sony’s Wiki page and all the links to its sources and judge for yourself.

The old way of doing business is dead.

Now, corporations have a bigger responsibility to their customers, partners, suppliers, communities and environment, not just increasing shareholder value at any cost. And that means listening to some common sense.

John C Dvorak of PCMag.com has an interesting view why print media dying.

Two reasons. Print printing news that can be found on the web and the publishers are not paying good money for good writers and editors.

Where do these writers and editor go for more money? Public Relations!

Wrote John,

I think much of the problem stems from what I’ve been harping on for years: redundancy. Simply put, there are too many newspapers selling the exact same news. And because the owners of these papers do not understand the fact that the public hungers for original material, different from all the rehashed AP stories, papers will continue to slide.

I can assure you that if you plot the amount of money paid out to writers against salaries paid to executives at the same companies, the writers get the short end of the stick. Today a competent newspaper reporter could easily make twice as much money if he or she was in PR. What does that tell you about priorities?

Generally speaking, when there are layoffs at a newspaper, first the support staff goes; then the reporters, along with a few editors. This cheapens the product; and the public senses the cheapness and rejects it. The paper’s income is further reduced, resulting in a downward spiral of quality.

Rednano.sg is a search engine, not a new iPod nano colour!

Singapore Press Holding, with much media fanfare, launched Singapore’s only localised search engine yesterday. Note: Media fanfare as SPH is the publisher of most of the daily media here.

Interestingly, SPH started a Rednano Pte Ltd with an issued capital of SGD2.

Though it is position as a search engine, I think the money spinner for Rednano.sg won’t be in search but in the directory.

I won’t be surprised if the sales team start soliciting companies to pay premium for top position in the directory section.

Yellowpages.com.sg better watch out!

I can think of many other ways where Rednano.sg can make use of this search feature, but they have to pay me!

Newsweek has an exposure on how Indonesian workers are trapped in a situation where working for USD540 for three years is their only fruit of labour.

Wrote Newsweek,

It’s a typical Malaysian company, one of many small makers of the cast-aluminum bodies for hard-disk drives used in just about every name-brand machine on the market. But that’s precisely the problem: it’s a typical Malaysian company. About 60 percent of Local Technic’s 160 employees are from outside Malaysia—and a company executive says he pities those guest workers. “They have been fooled hook, line and sinker,” he says, asking not to be named because others in the business wouldn’t like his talking to the press. “They have been taken for a ride.”

It’s not Local Technic’s fault, he insists: sleazy labor brokers outside the country tricked the workers into paying huge placement fees for jobs that yield a net income close to zero. “They say they were promised 3,000 ringgits [$950] a month,” the manager says. “How can we pay that? If we did, we would be bankrupt in no time.”

Usually, I don’t post about my personal life but when my mother-in-law makes a comment on her perception on media, mainstream or social, it is too hard to resist the temptation.

I was showing my father-in-law some of the Malaysian blogs that covered the recent election.

As they were Malaysians, it wasn’t a surprised that my father-in-law paid quite an attention to what was written on them.

My parents-in-law arn’t the most computer illiterate around and their perception of their sons using the computer only to play games, which is only sometimes true.

My father-in-law was pointing to every word on the screen and reading them aloud. Because of his bad eyesight, I had to increase the fonts on the Firefox browser to +3.

After ever post, he would give his own verbal personal comments about the post.

Here’s when my mother-in-law decided to chiped-in.

“Only the news written on the web is the unedited truth,” my mother-in-law commented in Cantonese.

“The newspaper is too edited by unseen hands that I wonder if that is the true news.”

By the way, Rockybru has a new post on about a mainstream media french kissing new media. The way he describes it, I say its incest!