RIP Billy Mays (1958 to 2009)
Remember those As-Seen-On-TV infomercials selling the most incredible products? Like that magical cleaning squirt that will make your whites whiter, and your brights brighter? Or that compact gym equipment that promises you washboard abs in six weeks, flat?
Now, entrepreneurs, you have a chance to become the next great TV salesman, like the amazing Billy Mays. In this special, limited time offer, MediaCorp, Singapore’s number one (and only) broadcaster, is giving you the chance to sell your products to thousands of people!
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Thousands of Singaporean commuters taking the train at the Bugis and Boon Lay MRT stations will be in for a Christmas surprise: They can purchase now groceries by scanning QR codes with their smartphones.
The squarish bar codes are placed next to pictures of the items, which are on a wall. Commuters will then be brought to the Cold Storage website, where they can key in their details and get the Christmas ham delivered to their homes. It’s an interesting integration of mobile commerce and ambient marketing. Read more
Filed under Innovation & Technology, Marketing & Branding, Media, Mobile, News Stop, Technology, WebTags: cold storage, E-Commerce, m - commerce, Mobile Commerce, qr code
A global study by market research company TNS Global has found that 43 percent of Singaporeans don’t wish to engage with brands on social media networks, against an average of 57 percent in developed markets.
This signals a need for brands to adopt a more targeted approach in their social media outreach, or otherwise risk wasting their efforts and contributing to digital media waste.
The findings were announced on 11th November following a study which involved 72,000 consumers in 60 studies. More results can be found on the TNS Digital Life website. Read more
Spotify, an online music streaming service known for its partnership with Facebook, is hiring in Singapore and Hong Kong, indicating that the company could well be expanding to these two places, paidContent.org reported.
On the Spotify website, job postings for a Label Relations Director, Business Controller, Business Developer Director, Regional HR Manager, and Business Developer Manager for the two cities have been put up. Read more
Technology Review, an independent publication supported by MIT, is launching the inaugural TR35@Singapore Awards, which recognizes the top 35 innovators under 35 from Southeast Asia, India, Australia, and New Zealand.
The finalists from the region will automatically enter the TR35 Global competition. They will also be showcased at the Emtech@Singapore conference, which will be held in January 2012. Read more
Internet users in Singapore who’ve visited YouTube today would notice something different: A stylized YouTube logo with a Merlion, and a SingTel/Android ad.
That’s the Singapore version of the largest video-sharing site in the world, which launched today (20th October). This new website promises to give Singapore viewers more relevant local content, which also means more exposure for local content creators. Read more
Updated: 2nd February, 2012
If you’re a big fan of shows like Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank where venture capitalists gobble up clueless entrepreneurs on TV, then you’ll love this one.
Angel’s Gate, Asia’s very own version of such entrepreneur programs, is set to air next Monday (6th February) on Channel NewsAsia at 8pm Singapore time. Ash Singh, founder and CEO of InteractiveSG, which produced the show, revealed that the judges have offered a deal of as much as half-a-million on the program.
No reality show is complete without auditions. For Angel’s Gate, the auditions come in the form of elevator pitches. Quite literally, entrepreneurs enter an elevator where an angel investor stands waiting, and they have only 30 seconds to impress or go home.
One such entrepreneur who passed the test is Chee Yen Lim, CEO of Micropoint Technologies. His product is a drug delivery needle so small that it’s invokes no pain when pressed on a person’s skin. He made the ultimate sacrifice — by demonstrating it on himself.
Chee is appearing on the first episode of the show.
Another entrepreneur that will make an appearance is John Fearon, founder of DropMySite.com (see product feature), the audition was a true Mother-of-God, nerve-wrecking experience. He told me that his mind was a total blank when he went into the elevator, and he had to rely on his countless rehearsals to get the pitch done.
“The cameras in the elevator made it a different experience,” he said.
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Filed under Funding, Innovation & Technology, Media, News Stop, Technology, Venture Capital & Private EquityTags: angel investment asia, Angel's Gate, Dragon's Den, funding asia, karan singh thakral, Ken Mandel, Patrick Grove, shark tank, William Klippgen
Anideo, the Singapore-based app development company backed by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, is back with a new mobile app called Denso, now available on iOS and Android.
It allows you to bookmark videos from a variety of sources and watch it later, whether you’re online or offline (useful if you’re an older dude and a Justin Bieber fan, and you don’t want your colleagues to know). Read more
Singaporeans may only be second-most irritable office workers around, but they are number one when it comes to time spent on Facebook, clocking in at 38 minutes 46 seconds per session. Read more
Last updated: 21st October 2011
ViKi, an international video site which mobilizes its community to translate programs into more than a hundred languages, has raised around US$20 million in series B funding.
This round’s investors include Neoteny Labs, SK Planet, a subsidiary of SK Telecom, BBC Worldwide, Greylock Partners, Andreesen Horowitz, Charles River Ventures, and others.
Prior to this, ViKi has raised a Series A funding of US$4.3 million from the same sources, save for SK Planet and BBC Worldwide, which are new investors. Read more
Filed under Innovation & Technology, Media, Mobile, News Stop, Technology, WebTags: bbc, city hunter, Entertainment, hotel babylon, Hulu, lie to me, mistresses, Neoteny Labs, Viki
