Schedaroo is a time machine for your Facebook updates, tweets, and email

If you’re a heavy social media or email user, there are times where you’d want to schedule messages to be sent in the future.

Be it a reminder to your employee to complete a certain task, or spreading out inspirational tweets for your social media accounts, Schedaroo is an iOS app that lets you do them all.

While there are plenty of apps that let you schedule messages for later, I haven’t really come across one that sends updates for Facebook, Twitter, and email, all at the same time. Read more

Rejected by NUS, computing student Alvin Wang’s online appeal goes viral

Update on 23rd April, 2012

NUS sends Alvin a letter saying that a change of decision is “highly unlikely”. Message from Alvin on his site:

“Please note that as you have already been considered for all your previous choices, appealing for the same choices would be highly unlikely to change the university’s prior decision.” 

This was the exact words written on the letter that I received from National University of Singapore, which happened to be the same words that got me thinking. To me, the intent was simple, to do something now or not to do anything at all. Nevertheless, I apologize if the website have misled you in any way. :) 

A Big Thank You, to the people who have supported me. :) 

Just some further clarification, I was offered Computing (Information Systems Courses), and as the skills that the website portrays, and rightly so, there are no majors in Information System Courses that are relevant to me. When I said Computer Science, I meant Computing (Computer Science Courses), which gives me an option to become a Communications and Media Major. I will be then able to specialize in Content Creations and Mass Communications Group (which is User Interaction and Experience) as well as Games Technology Group. 

While many students would give up after finding out that they’ve been denied entry to the university course of their choice, Alvin Wang is different.

Not taking it lying down, this IT diploma graduate from Ngee Ann Polytechnic created an online resume at helpalvingetintoschool.com to show off his credentials. He hopes to pursue degree in Computer Science at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

The website has caught fire on the interwebs, gaining fans and haters alike. So far, it has already garnered over 11,000 Facebook likes. It’s similar to a website started by Matthew Epstein, called Google please hire me. Read more

Despite brutal competition, Singapore’s fashion industry experiences a rebirth

It's a packed house at the retail launch of PARCO next NEXT's new labels on 14th April.

Globalization has dealt local fashion labels a bad hand.

It used to be that fashion designers in Singapore could fill a niche between mass market apparel from the department stores and expensive luxury brands.

David Wang, vice president of the Textile & Fashion Federation (TaFf), lived in that era. As a local fashion pioneer in the 80′s, the runway for him to maneuver was much wider. Global brands like Topshop, Uniqlo, and H&M were not around to compete for the Singaporean’s fashion budget.

But the times changed.

“During my time, Singaporeans had pride in local brands. The good old days are gone. Now they look at price,” he says, “they’re very practical. If they look at a dress from a local designer that’s $399, they won’t support her. They’d rather go to H&M to pick up an entirely new wardrobe.”

While there’s a lot of hullabaloo these days about the power of e-commerce as a powerful, superlative, enabler for startups, David cautions that the Internet’s low barrier of entry results in more competition. Some blogshops, for example, offer cutthroat prices for their items.

In the face of such a brutal environment, PARCO next NEXT was started in 2010 to prop up the local fashion scene. It is a fashion incubator that picks promising fashion designers and puts them under an 18-month training and mentorship program to learn the ropes of being a successful fashion entrepreneur. They’re incubating the third batch. Read more

Is the revamped LiveShare app the best SMS-killer ever?

There’s a very good reason why Whatsapp is sitting on my homescreen right now, next to the phone function and my Gmail app.

That’s because most of my peers are using it, and being a rather late adopter of the iPhone, I had no choice but to purchase the app.

No doubt, Whatsapp is the dominant cross-platform instant messaging app out in the market right now. Its ubiquity is disrupting the telecoms industry by replacing SMS as the primary text messaging platform.

But that does not make it the best app of its type out there. The revamped LiveShare, developed by Cooliris and available on the iPhone, wants to lay claim to that title.  Read more

ImpulseFlyer, a private sale platform for hotels, gets seed funding from Neoteny Labs

Neoteny Labs, a Singapore-based tech startup incubator, has announced that they are leading a seed funding round in ImpulseFlyer, a private sale platform for luxury and boutique hotels.

The company is co-founded by Steven Gong, who is the CEO, and Andy Croll, the CTO. Steven had previous experience in the online travel industry and consultancy fields, while Andy has worked as a developer and consultant prior to joining the startup. Read more

Spelldial’s ambitious plan combines the best of Google and Facebook

Albert Padin is something like a mini-rockstar within the technology startup scene in Cebu, Philippines.

At 24, the entrepreneur is three years behind his schoolwork, and he is in no urgency to complete his studies. Yet, he was the invited guest speaker at his university’s graduation ceremony.

Truth is, Albert did not graduate because he has decided to focus on his startup, SpellDial.

Actually, starting this business is part of his graduation requirements at the Center of International Education. But since students can choose how long they will take to complete the course, Albert decided to spend more time to bring SpellDial forward.

While he could have submited his report earlier, he notes that students who end up with successful businesses can win Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

“Some students take five years before they graduate, but when they do they build solid businesses,” he says, “if I want to graduate, I want to graduate with an award. There’s no rush really… I can keep doing this, until I want to work for something else, which I don’t want to.” Read more

Accelerator-on-a-ship will embark to Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam in 2013

Last year, we wrote about Blueseed, an incubator-on-a-ship that is anchored near Silicon Valley.

We think we’ve found something cooler. Check out Unreasonable at Sea, an accelerator program geared towards tech entrepreneurs who want to take their products to different shores.

They are doing it quite literally too: Ten teams from around the globe will participate in a 100-day program aboard a ship that will port at 14 different countries (subject to changes): Read more

Helping Singapore startups enter Indonesia: iStart@Indonesia – 23 Apr

As part of the series of market access support, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is organising the iSTART@INDONESIA programme. IDA will work together with prominent Indonesia-based incubators/accelerators, to help Singapore-based start-ups enter the Indonesia market. They would be tasked to help participating companies understand market dynamics, and connect with key individuals with the intent of securing customers, investors, and partners – through a variety of targeted meetings, events and workshops organised for the delegation. IDA is seeking companies with a working Product, and the necessary resources (finance & manpower) for expansion into Indonesia to join-us for the programme. Read more

Selling on Craigslist and eBay sucks; try ShopSpot instead

Sure, many people use Craigslist and eBay to sell stuff. But they’re designed in an era where PCs were cutting edge and smartphones were nothing more than curios carried around by geeks.

Now, with smartphones replacing laptops as the primary Internet device for consumers, there’s a gap in the market for apps designed to make buying and selling on the mobile phones easy.

That’s where ShopSpot comes in. It is a mobile marketplace that promises to make shopping as simple as tweeting. The iOS app, which is now available for download, is developed by Thai national Natsakon Kiatsuranon and team. They are incubatees at the JFDI-Innov8 Bootcamp in Singapore. Read more

Rocket Internet’s Zalora denies they’re in bad shape; Oliver Samwer’s visit routine

If this report by Willis Wee from TechinAsia is true, Zalora is in bad shape, and the feared Oliver Samwer visited Singapore two days ago for a marathon eight-hour “motivational talk”.

These allegations are false, claims Tan Wee, managing director and co-founder of Zalora Singapore, an online fashion retailer owned by the infamous Rocket Internet.  He denies the article’s suggestion that “the meeting is probably triggered by complaints Zalora has received from its customers so far.”

In fact, Tan Wee reports that his German boss was in fact quite happy with progress.

“The exact conversation he had with me was: ‘Tan Wee, good job, things are going well,’” he says. The visit was in fact a routine one, and this was the third time they had met in Singapore.

Since Zalora launched in Singapore and Malaysia, it has received a lot of complaints about slow delivery times on its Facebook Pages. Some items were not received even after two weeks.

While he acknowledges that many of the feedback are valid, and that they’re learning, Tan Wee questions if a few Facebook comments are enough to paint an accurate picture of Zalora’s health. Read more