Our greatest enemy isn’t sugar, fat or empty calories. Rather, it is the overflowing rivers of content streaming from our handheld devices, laptops and television screens.
Swirling on our smartphones like endless puffs of cotton candy, those pleasurable bits of videos, photos, text, and comics can gobble up hours of our time. Along the way, our attention spans are also torn to shreds.
Ben Simpfendorfer of Silk Road Associates
Are China and India still the “factory” and “outsourced service provider” of the world? How big is the market for Muslim-friendly products and services? What are the promises and perils of trading in the East?
In a sweeping expose on the dynamic forces shaping the “New East”, Ben Simpfendorfer’s The Rise of the New East provides an in-depth view of how the economic resurgence of Asia and the Middle East are changing global markets. Spanning halfway round the globe – from Turkey to the United Arab Emirates to India, South East Asia and China – the book brings one on a fascinating tour of the complex business characteristics governing our neck of the woods.
What is the value of your likes, follows, and friends on social networks? Is more necessarily merrier?
Thanks to a recent episode on Michael Stelzner’s Social Media Marketing podcast, I was intrigued with the notion of generating a Return On Relationship from Ted Rubin, an experienced social media marketing expert.
Have you voted for your favourite blogger yet? (from Singapore Blog Awards 2014)
Yes, it is time yet again for the Singapore Blog Awards. Organised by Omy.sg, this annual competition cum celebration of what’s new, hot and happening in the blogging scene is in its 7th year running, with over $30,000 worth of prizes to be won.
This year’s awards has a total of nine Editors’/Judges’ Choice categories and three new Followers categories. Other than the old favourites like Best Family blog, Best Food blog, and Best Photography blog, a Best New Blog award category has been created to acknowledge newbie bloggers who started their blogs in the past year.
Do you wanna fund a start-up?
If so, good news! StarHub’s Crowdtivate – an Asian-focused crowdfunding platform launched in April this year – now has 12 Asia-based projects available for support. As a rewards-based platform, Crowdtivate mandates that listed projects should provide different levels of rewards for funders of differing quantums, with a minimum sum of S$5. Often, funders will enjoy a special “early bird” price for a new product as its backers.
Nick Vujicic is a man on a global mission. And boy is he creating waves wherever he goes.
At the tender age of 31, Nick is a motivational guru, evangelist, and author of several bestselling books. A celebrated speaker, he gets invitations to speak from all over the world – Australia (Melbourne was his childhood home), Europe, US, China, India, Africa, and South East Asia (including Singapore). He is also an avid swimmer, surfer, sky diver, and actor.
Are you a public relations or PR professional? If so, what do you see yourself as?
A) Purveyor of the corporate spiel, coated with sugar, spice and everything nice;
B) Hustler for significant editorial coverage on newspapers, television news and magazines;
C) Guardian of your organisation’s corporate brand;
D) Gatekeeper to your head honchos; or
E) Spokesperson, communicator and messenger?
“There are thousands and thousands of people out there leading lives of quiet, screaming desperation, where they work long, hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.” – Nigel Marsh
How much stuff do you really need in life?
Do the things that we own end up owning us instead?
“Everyone wants to succeed at sales. Most people don’t. It’s not that they can’t. It’s just that they don’t know how.”
Filled with motivational quotes like the ones above, Jeffrey Gitomer’s The Sales Bible is a hard-hitting, no-holds-barred compendium of ideas and techniques to boost one’s success in sales.
What do you get when you combine exquisitely prepared Italian cuisine with nature-inspired imagination?
Inspired by the ancient Greek word Gaea which means “Mother Earth”, Gaia Ristorante and Bar is located at the Goodwood Park Hotel. Infusing natural elements in the aesthetics of its decor and food, the venue houses a martini bar, dining rooms of various configurations and an inner courtyard dining room decked to resemble a garden. Lush and luxuriant, Gaia features plush leather booth seats, elegantly comfortable arm chairs and a glass-enclosed wine cellar cum private room that seats 10.